Witchfinder General (Michael Reeves - 1968)

Witchfinder general was directed in 1968 by Michael reeves, and produced by Tigon Films, Reeves had also directed films like "The long ships", "The sorcerers" and "the oblong box". Witchfinder general is basically about a man who travels the country from county to county, village to village and is consulted upon people who have done wrong, these people are said to be witches. His job, along with his assistant is to find and execute these witches. Meanwhile a soldier is on the hunt for this executer, after he had a run in with his soon to be wife, when he finds him in somewhat unusual circumstances, he axes him to death, before his fellow soldier shoots him in the head. The soldiers last words were "you took him from me".

The film showed off an era when the hippy ideal was at an end and the was a rise in anti-authority. People were no longer taking orders from higher authority people, they were making a stand. The film shows people taking orders, and the goings on seem to be strange and wrong, as soon as someone stands up, in this case the soldier, his wife is tortured as punishment for him. The film shows how big authority figures can be so powerful.

The film is put into the horror category because of the brutal scenes that the film contains, it does not contain your normal horror iconography like, monsters, dark sky's and thunder and lightening, but the amount of gore fits this film into horror genre. This film is more about putting a message across and thats why we subject ourselves to watch it and the violence involved. Scenes of brutality include, a man being axed to death, people being lowered off a bridge to drown, people being hung from a tree and someone being burned to death. It shows the authority that some people have, and as we watch we realize that what is being shown is wrong, this factor keeps you watching and interested.

The original lead role was given to Donald Pleasance, but people, and the producers saw this as ineffectual and a very much ludicrous authority kind of figure. The AIP wanted Vincent Price to play the leading role as they saw him more fitting to the role, so the director had a re-think and as he did the script was gradually changed.

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein - (Kenneth Branagh 1994)

Mary Shelly's frankenstein is much more different than the previous in 1935. First of all the most noticeable thing is that it is in color as apposed to black and white. A wider range of camera shots has been used due to the advance in technology, less camera work is done by hand and more still shots with no dither. I think that the film does somewhat fit into the horror genre, due to the dark thundery nights when frankenstein sends out a search party for his little brother. Frankensteins monster is the main reason why we could argue for this film to go in the horror genre, and the fact that it is an attempt to recreate human life form. 

Peoples expectations have changed over time. In a horror film viewers expect to see blood and gore, so there is demand for this, so for this reason more gory scenes are implicated into the film. An example of this is when the monster stabs his hand into elizabeths chest and brings out her beating heart. The film is exactly as you would expect it to be, simply a man creating human life and a whole bunch of other things going wrong. This simple story line allows viewers to build up their own story line prior to viewing and then relate this back to the actual film as they watch and make comparisons. The films cultural attitude has changed in some way. In the earlier version in 1935 the monster follows a village and kills people in the village, in the later version 1994, due to the closeness of the family's to date, this is used as the monster seems to go after frankensteins family an the people dearest to him, his brother, then his father and then his wife, before going after him to bargain a deal for a wife for himself.

The content and narrative have not changed to much. The monsters killing spree in the previous film is on random villagers whereas in the latest film, the monster concentrates on getting his own back on his creator, frankenstein in this case. By killing his brother and taking part in the execution of frankensteins maid. The content may not have changed much because it doesn't need to be altered in any way. The story line is fairly strong, people have always wondered wether it is possible to recreate human life and by making a film that induces this, people will be interested in watching the film. 

As technology has advanced, although the films narrative has not changed, the style in that it is portrayed has changed. The camera work has become more fluid, as in they have used more cameras on dolly's and non dither shots. The sets are more open to the natural world in the modern version, whereas in 1935 the sets all seemed to be set up inside and artificially. The advance in technology has meant that now the film is in color, if it had been made in black 

and white again, it may not have got many viewers, due to demands of the public for modern 

features. Technology has also meant that the costumes and special effects have had to have been up to date, also due to the demand of new advances. Due to the genre restrictions in 1935, the same sets were used for different scenes, to save money. Also the costumes were more basic and effects were not as good. Nowadays due to the huge sums of money involved in producing a 

modern film, the use of modern special effects, the best costumes and natural outdoor sets, is almost unlimited to producers. 

Bride Of Frankenstein - James Whale 1935

Bride of Frankenstein fits in with the horror genre as it explores elements of supernatural beings. Although this is the case it also fits in with a number of sub-genres, comedy and science fiction. Various elements make it fit into the horror genre, first of all the monster is the prime example, second, the sets are generally dark and there is usually thunder and lightening echoing in the background.The elements of comedy come from when the monster is in the house with the old blind man, having a drink of wine and a smoke, it is also a bit ironic, as it should really happen.
The science fiction comes from the fact that there is an attempt to explore into the supernatural and re-create human life from the dead.



The film was produced by James Whale in 1935 who worked for universal. Back then they decided to give each film producing company/Franchise a certain genre to concentrate on and produce films for. Universal was given the task of producing horror movies for a number of years, hence the making of "Bride Of Frankenstein".

From a modern day viewpoint i think that the film was put together well considering the circumstances. The fact that universal had only one genre to concentrate on meant that it was therefore their only focus, meaning that the results should have been exactly as they should have been. The use of repeated sets, dark backdrops, thunder and lightening and the integration of the monster gives the film most of the necessary features that a horror film should have, although with a hint of sub-genre plotted in between.

Links to social and technological environments are present during the film. When the monster stumbles upon the house with the blind man playing the violin, this shows a link to a social environment, eating and drinking together the two build up a bond. During the creation of the monster, it shows links to a technological environment, the machinery used seems very modern for the times and ideas used are advanced. The camera work is very much distorted during the movie, lots of canted shots are used to give a feel of emotional unrest. Overhead shots are a common occurrence in the film, these help to set the scene and give an idea of the layout and where various things are in comparison to others.

In 1930 i think the audience would have enjoyed the film, the attempts to re-create human life would have interested the audience. The use of modern technology for that day would have also appealed to people. The fact that the producers had only one genre to concentrate on, would mean that people who were only interested in horror movies would have gone to watch. This would mean that anyone who watched it should enjoy it, because they chose to watch that specific genre over any other.

The benefit of genre to the audience is that it lets them know what to expect during the film. Although in this case it was a horror the sub-genres make it more viewable and flexible to the viewer. They would have been expecting the monster, thunder and dark sets, but then with the sub-plotted genres, it gives the viewer a rest from constant horror and may make them laugh or giggle.

The benefit of genre to the producers means that they can concentrate on one specific genre and use repeated sets. If they know what they want and what they have to produce less money can be spent on unneeded props etc. Also they can single out the main features that they need and make it to the best standard they can. Camera work can be specifically altered to give the working genre more of an effect, such as canting the camera to give emotional unrest or the effect that something is wrong, or high shots on a stand to set the scene.