Is Jaws a Horror Movie? Essay example -- Film Review

Is Jaws a Horror Movie? First, I will intend to take you on a brief journey through the horror genre and the conventions that have been associated. Second I will show you how these conventions are used in the film Jaws. Let’s take a closer look at the history of the horror genre. To get started we are going to start with the first era or as it’s called the silent era. This era was based on monsters such as Frankenstein (1910), Dracula (1912) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). The horror was all about the make up and the clever use of lighting, to add thrills. The first conventions were that we see are the ‘revealing of the monsters’ and the use of ‘isolated houses’ where the monsters are based. This left audiences feeling panicky. These films had to rely on the music, yet they still lack the big horror genre fear factor. Through the talkies little changed, they still had the monsters, the same monsters, the same storylines, but the Atomic Phase of the 1950s soon had a impact. Sci-fi and hammer movies took centre stage, Godzilla (1954) and The Blob (1958) box office hits. From here we moved on to the witchcraft and the undead such Peeping Tom (1960) and The Night of Dead () . New films brought with them new conventions. Zombie films trapped the audience, claustrophobic attack scenes when the zombies came closer towards the camera. Horror finally became horror with the slasher movie era. They became realistic but also they became more stylised. Based on a real life tragic such as, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978) and Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) screens where awash with blood. This is where we see male psycho, the unwilling hero and teenage trouble. There are also soul survivors that carry the seque... ...horror so it is a bit of both but compared to the horrors that we have now with all the blood and gore special effects that make it better and the 3d its nothing like the horror’s today. Compared to the final destination 3D jaws is not even scary because of the 3D it makes it better with the way that if someone has an axe or something chucked at them it comes out of the screen at you and it comes towards you therefore you think it’s going to hit you which makes you get scared and it makes the film more jumpy so there for I don’t think jaws is a horror even if it was in its time compared to now day films I say it is a thriller. My opinion is that Spielberg is still in his twenties when he made this film, this shows his talent for creating suspense, delivering shocks and defusing situations through humour and this shows he is building up to a great climax.