Outline for Second Term Paper

1. Introduction   a.Thesis: Horror and thriller films more often than not defy laws of physics, even though the setting of the story is suppose to be set in our world and reality. The biggest factor that is flawed are when objects are moved without any real apparent force that suggests that something is moving it, even though there is no other proof. Physics tells us that no object moves until the forces upon this object are unbalanced which is why when seeing that inanimate objects move, it leads the audience to believe that something is there, it’s just invisible.
2. Introduce the three scenes to be discussed: Poltergeist (1982), Paranormal Activity (2009), The Babadook (2014)

2. Chair Scene from Poltergeist:

1. Diane is eager to show Steve how in the kitchen things are able to slide across the room and uses a chair and Carol Anne to demonstrate.
2. There is no presence of a being in the room, in the story it is caused by "The TV People" and neither Diane or Steve put any force on the objects to make them move forward and no character finds that magnets or anything in any way caused this to happen.

3. Ouji Board scene from Paranormal Activity

1. Once Micah and Katie leave the house, after a moment what seems to be a breeze blows into the room, cause the plants to shake. Shortly after the finder on the board begins to quickly move around the board and end with lighting the board on fire.
2. Even with the unexplained breeze moving the finder goes against the direction of the board and moves in a quick jerky motion.

4. The Babadook climax scene

1. Samuel is swept up the staircase away from his mom; basically flying up the stairs.
2. Samuel thrown against the wall several times without showing any force and once him and his mom get on the bed, it begins to violently shake, even though the monster is directly across the room

5. Conclusion:

We initially know, without even having to study the laws of physics, that objects even including people cannot be move unless there is some kind of unbalanced force causing it. When a film then defies this, it adds to the spookiness and thrill of the scene that, had this not been done, would have not left the same impact on the audience.