It takes an acquired taste to have an appreciation for scary movies. Many people when asked if they favour this genre will automatically say no. A reason for this is that setting of the stories tend to mirror what we know as reality. They are generally normal people, either in the past, present, or future who have unexplainable “paranormal” or horrific things happening to them. Even without studying physics, one can describe things that happen in these films that would not happen in real life, yet they often are able to make people imagine enough “what if” situations and cause fear. A big thing used to add the thrill is when objects in the film, be it inanimate or living beings move without any force. Situations like these are often involved in films with paranormal happenings. In physics we know the reason objects do not move is because there is a balance of forces that keep it from moving. Only when one of the forces become unbalanced to the other causing movement. Three scenes that will be focused on will be one of the chair scene from Poltergeist, the ouija board scene from Paranormal Activity, and the climax of The Babadook.
Poltergeist was released in theaters in 1982, directed by Tobe Hooper and written by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, and Mark Victor. It follows the story of the Freeling family, who moves into their newly built home in a suburban area. What the family quickly discovers is that it is haunted and weird things begin to happen at the house. The youngest family member, Carol Anne, claims it to be the “TV people”. In the beginning of the film, one of the weirdest thing to happen in the beginning of the story is that the chairs have the ability to move on their own. In one scene the mother, Diane, neatly sets the chairs around the table. She looks away for a moment and when she looks back completely startled. The chairs have magically appeared to be stacked on top of one another on the table. She turns to Carol Anne and asks “Was it the TV people?” Carol Anne calmly replies with an “uh huh.” Diane then asks “Did you see them?” Carol Anne then replies, “uh uh. Can you?”. In a following scene Steve, the father, is just coming home from work. Diane rushes out shouting that he needs to see something. She drags him into the kitchen where one of the kitchen chairs is now in the middle of the kitchen floor. Diane tells him to watch what happens. Moments later, the chair begins to shake and then slides quickly across the kitchen floor into the eating area. Diane then proceeds to sit Carol Anne down where the chair had been in and she too slides across the room. The family can find no logical explanation as to why this is happening. It is not until much later on in the movie that it is revealed the suburban neighborhood has been built on a giant indian burial ground and that the Freelings are unfortunate victims of the angry spirits’ wrath.
Paranormal Activity was released to US theaters in 2009. It is directed and written by Oren Peli. Though the setting and part of the story is different, it follows a similar plot to the 1999 Blair Witch Project in that people attempt to videotape weird paranormal activity. In the case of Paranormal Activity it is a young couple who has just moved into their new San Diego house and wanting to document the strange things that were happening. Both of these films have their frightening moments, but what Paranormal does use that Blair Witch does not make use of moving objects on their own. One of the most memorable scenes would be with Micah’s ouija board, which is used in hopes to converse with the spirit in the house. Katie, his girlfriend, gets extremely upset as he disobeyed her wish that he would not get one and both of them storm out of the the house. Shortly after they leave the house, what is believed to be the spirit enters the room. Strange but subtle noises begin and there is a breeze that blows on the couple of plants that are in the room. Following that, the planchette quickly begins to jerk around as if it has a completely separate force moving it; unaffected by the unexplained breeze. Towards the end to this scene, not only does the planchette stop abruptly but it also lights the board on fire, even though there was no shown evidence of any kind of friction, especially on such a smooth surface, that could cause combustion. The film is completely littered with examples similar to this and without them, would make it a much duller film. Compared to the Blair Witch Project, while it is still a bit scary but it’s more due to anticipations of what you think might happen and not due to paranormal activity that defies the laws of physics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evoa_UWUob
The third scene to be looked at will be is from The Babadook, which was released late 2014 and directed and written by Jennifer Kent. The story tells of a stressed and severely depressed single mother, Amelia, who has a lot of trouble raising her son, Samuel. Sam is constantly telling everyone of a monster who hides in his wardrobe, calling it the Babadook. It is thought that the boy has severe psychological issues but what the mother soon discovers is that the Babadook is quite real. Over the course of time, things begin to escalate with the mother being possessed by this monster and attempting to fight it off and protect her family. In the climax, Amelia has been able to escape the possession of the Babadook; however, that does not mean that the monster is gone. Samuel looks up at his blood drenched mother and says “You can’t get rid of the Babadook” and Samuel is what seems to be immediately pushed to the staircase and then flies up it to Amelia’s bedroom. Amelia runs up the stairs to save her son as she finds him being thrown against the wall several times. She then grabs Samuel and jumps onto her bed and the bed begins to violently shake under them. Again, there is not any presence of a being doing this and when Amelia calls out the monster asking what it wants from them, it physically appears across the room; no where near her or Sam.
The third scene to be looked at will be is from The Babadook, which was released late 2014 and directed and written by Jennifer Kent. The story tells of a stressed and severely depressed single mother, Amelia, who has a lot of trouble raising her son, Samuel. Sam is constantly telling everyone of a monster who hides in his wardrobe, calling it the Babadook. It is thought that the boy has severe psychological issues but what the mother soon discovers is that the Babadook is quite real. Over the course of time, things begin to escalate with the mother being possessed by this monster and attempting to fight it off and protect her family. In the climax, Amelia has been able to escape the possession of the Babadook; however, that does not mean that the monster is gone. Samuel looks up at his blood drenched mother and says “You can’t get rid of the Babadook” and Samuel is what seems to be immediately pushed to the staircase and then flies up it to Amelia’s bedroom. Amelia runs up the stairs to save her son as she finds him being thrown against the wall several times. She then grabs Samuel and jumps onto her bed and the bed begins to violently shake under them. Again, there is not any presence of a being doing this and when Amelia calls out the monster asking what it wants from them, it physically appears across the room; no where near her or Sam.
This scare tactic is probably the oldest trick in horror and thriller films and yet even today it still can completely frighten people, especially with the high tech special effects we have now. Moments like these, where the adrenaline begins to increase and the goosebumps form on the skin, are what make these films memorable. We know so well that objects cannot move on their own that when they do we absolutely need an explanation as to what is happening, especially if the story takes place in “our world”. When we cannot receive that logical explanation is when we tend to jump to irrational conclusions. How much these films can mess with people psychologically, in a harmless sense, is what makes them so fascinating for me.
