The Devil Rides Out - Essay

'The Devil Rides Out' is a film made in 1968 and was directed by Terence Fisher. The film was set in the countryside of England giving it a quiet quirky effect which was great for the films story line. 
The film starts off with Nicholas (Christopher Lee) welcoming home his old friend Rex (Leon Greene). Rex has flown over to meet Nicholas and Simon (Patrick mower). Simon is the son of their old friend who had previously passed away, and as friends they swore that they would look after Simon. Unfortunately when Rex returned Nicholas informed him that he hadn't seen Simon in about 3 months. So unexpectedly they turn up at his house, only to find him having a small party with 12 guests. Something isn't right and when Simon asks them to leave. Nicholas, who is proficient in black magic, becomes aware that the guests Simon has in his house are member of a satanic cult and Simon and his friend Tanith will be baptized to serve the devil. 

As they are asked to leave, in a desperate double check to make sure he isn't going mad, Nicholas runs upstairs to Simon's telescope room, followed by Rex and Simon himself. Simon seems nervous and aggravated. they are dazzled by diagrams on the floor and wall, and not to his surprise he discovers chickens in a basket. "Diagrams on the wall, chickens in a basket, what's going on?!". 
Nicholas and Rex beg Simon to go home with them and to escape the trap, but he refuses, which leads them to no other choice, but to knock him out. Once he is finally back safe at Nicholas's home, they hypnotize him, and gave him to sleep with a cross around his neck. However when all is calm and quiet, Mocata the evil leader enters Simon's body and gets him to strangle himself with the necklace cross around his neck. The butler of nicholas takes off the cross so he doesn't kill himself, but this then frees Simon and he escapes and his elsewhere is unknown.  

In an attempt to get Simon back and stop him sacrificing himself to the devil Rex and Nicholas return to Simons home to find that he isn't there. however in the room where the black magic happens, they are stunned as the devil appears the mist and smoke and trys his best to reel them into his trap. Nicholas is strong and doesn't look into his eyes, but Rex is weak and becomes under the devils spell. Nicholas throws a cross at the devil and he banishes into the night and rex becomes conscious again. They decide they need a new plan so ex decides to take Tanith (the other member who is about to be sacrificed along side of Simon) for dinner, however the evil leader Mocoata regains control of her body and when her and Rex reach their destination, she steals his car and races off. In an attempt to get her back Rex chases her in his brothers car but crashes, so he has to run on foot. finally he finds her again and follows her and simon and the rest of the evil black magic party to a secret destination. In realization Rex rings Nicholas to warn him of what he's found. Once both Nicholas and Rex are at the scene, it comes to their attention that Simon and Tanith are about to be sacrificed and they need to stop it and fast. As a goats throat is cut and blood is spilt, the two men turn on car lights and dazzle the re-returned devil with the headlights and throw another cross at him. They kidnap Simon and Tanith and take them to a safe place where no harm can come of them. 


When they both rest and sleep, Mocata enters the home where they are at and manages to hypnotize the lady of the house, luckily just before she does what he says her daughter walks in the room and wakes her from it. meanwhile as she was hypnotized Mocata had woken up Tanith and Simon and proceeded to to make them kill whoever was in the room with them. but oncer the daughter peggy had woken up the mother Tanith and Simon snapped out of Mocata's spell and realized what they was doing. In absolute fear Tanith asks Rex to leave with her, so he does so. he ties her up in a barn, so she can do nothing, and when Mocata try's to take over her body she cannot do a thing. Meanwhile Simon, Nicholas and the Rex's brother and sister in law all stand in a circle to keep away the evil. If the circle is broken evil shall arrive. Unexpectedly 'The Angel of Death' arrives and while lots of commotion is going on, the daughter of the house is then kidnapped and taken to an unknown whereabouts. They notice Simon is still alive, but find it strange as the Angel of Death never leaves empty handed without a life. When Rex returns with Tanith she is dead. More desperate than ever, Nicholas wants to sort this out once and for all. Using the mothers body they hypnotize her and try and contact Taniths soul, they are successful with this and manage to find the whereabouts of where Peggy is.

Simon goes alone to the house where the party is and where Peggy is to discover that she is about to be sacrificed the same way the goat was. Once again Mocata regains control over Simon and has him back in the black magic trick. Nicholas, Rex and the couple turn up at the house to try and stop what goes on, Mocata manages to trance over everyone and carries on with the ceremony of sacrifice. Out of no where Tanith regains control over the mothers body and walks to the front of the ceremony, wakes peggy up and asks her to leave, she then throws a cross at Mocata and the whole room blows in to shreds. 
The next shot is back at the house, and the four characters are stood in the circle, they realize they went back in time after nicholas chanting some religious quote to the angel of death. Same as before, Rex returns with Tanith but this time she is alive, and Nicholas states that the Angel of Death never leaves empty handed, and this time, he's taken the evil leader Mocata, and everything was finally back to normal. 


Being a religious film meaning a huge candidate for why the film is so successful. Images such as camera shots and angles are huge in the way the audience see whats going on. Throughout the film its rare that you see any general camera movement, all that are there is transitions between each shot to neaten up the editing a bit better. One transition that was brilliantly used and only used for one of the first times around this era is the 'fade-in' and 'fade-out' transition. This could be because the government had given a bit of funding towards the cinema area and this helped them produce better editing techniques.


Throughout the whole of the film the music is dark and tense. This is a great way on casting a dark shadow over the film and giving it a deep religious feeling. James Benard did the original music and managed to create the spine chilling effect he wanted. When there were moments of happiness the music created was great at conveying feelings and emotion. Mise on scene is one of the main aspects that created such tense vibes throughout the film. Costume and make up played a huge role at doing so. Characters were made to wear everyday clothes which fitted that period of time, which helps the audience feel in touch with the characters as its the norm. But when the ceremony of sacrifice took place, characters wore long white robs, which were seen rather spooky with a creepy edge to them. And the main man who they all looked up to, wore the same robe but in deep purple. These outfits are completely different to what we would wear 
everyday and gave a quirkiness to the film when watched. 

Frankinstein The Movie - Essay

Frankenstein was made and released in 1931 by Universal Studios. What was thought to be a small hit has now become one of the most well known and famous horror pictures which has shaped world cinema today.

At the very beginning of the film there is a warning introduction. This is a tall male around the age of 50 wearing a suit, standing on a stage with draping curtains behind him. This gives the impression that you are about to view a play of some sort. Once the man has warned you of what you are about to see, the film then cuts to a scene of a graveyard. People around are crying and grieving for a lost one. We see a grave being dug then buried again when the coffin is placed in the grave. Once this procedure has been done the graveyard becomes empty as people leave and go back to the village. Throughout all of this two mysterious men have been looking through the graveyard fence watching everybody's single move. They wait until the graveyard is empty and proceed to dig up the fresh coffin placed there.

The men then take the body up a steep hill on top of a mountain to a dead body they had previously collected. The previous body they had collected was hanging on top of a large piece of wood, and when they cut it down the body landed on a neck. Seeing as the neck had broken the brain in the body was no longer of any good to the men so they had to look further for a fresh brain. The camera cuts to a lecture in a university and the student are learning the difference between a normal brain and a criminal brain. Once the lecture is over, Fritz, Henry Frankensteins sidekick sneaks into the room and steal the 'normal' brain. However being the butterfingers he is, he drops the normal brain and grabs the abnormal criminal brain in a rush to escape from the room without being caught.

Henry Frankinstien (the creator of the monster) at this point has spent so much time away from his home that his father and fiancee become very worried about him. In an attempt to bring him home they chose to go visit him at the lavatory he is working in. The night is story with lots of thunder and lightening which really sets the scene for what is about to happen. He needs to wait till the peak of the storm when he can use the body he has sewn together using dead bodies, to rise it to the lightening, for the electricity to awake the body. Unfortunately his plan is almost ruined when his father, fiancee and friend arrive at his lab. Fritz is sent by henry to send them away but they wouldn't take no for an answer. Eventually Henry allows them to come inside for shelter and takes them upstairs to see what he is about to create.

When the peak of the storm hits, Henry rises the body to the top of the lab and once the lightening has hi he brings the body back down.

"ITS ALIVE!" he shouts "IT'S ALIVVVVE!" The monsters hands slowly start to move and he finally awakes. The camera cuts to Frankinstein being told to sit down, however Fritz doesn't like him and kept whipping him to hurt him. Not only this, he kept shoving fire torches in his face as he was so afraid of fire. Fritz is then left alone in the room with the monster, and after all the hurt and pain he has caused the monster, he kills Fritz. Finally when Henry returns home everything in his life returns back to normal and he decides to have his wedding as early as possible.

The big day finally arrives and the whole village is singing, dancing and cheering through out the streets, it's a happy day as the mayors son is getting married. One man, and his daughter are at home and are planning to attend the wedding however the dad has a quick job he needs to complete before he goes down town, so he tells Maria to go play. She sits by the lake and plays with some flowers. Frankinstein then approaches her and she shows him that flowers float. In a friendly way he picks the girl up and throwsa her in the river which causes her to drown. Her dad then finds the body and take it to the mayor. The men in the town then go on a hunt for Frankinstein and when they find him he kidnaps his creator and tries to hurt him. Henry magaes to escape from the mill he was trapped in with Frankinstein and the rest of the men set alight the wind mill, and sadly Frankinstein dies. Throughout Frankenstein meaning is strongly created. Many things are what contribute to its strong codes and conventions and to what the connotations carry and what certain aspects the features signify.

As the film was shot in 1931, many of the images shot were very controversial. Images are an extremely important part of what makes Frankenstein as famous as it is today. Camera movement throughout this film is rare. The only movement you really is is an occasional zoom, or the transitions between each scene of shot. This could be mainly because the director wanted to focus on the plot of the film, or simply because the time in which it was shot, the government didn’t give much funding to the studios, therefore they couldn’t experiment with good shots.The shots used were mostly wide to show of the elaborate sets and all the characters involved in the scene. The angles in which the camera was used were very cleverly executed to create a strong formation of subliminal messages as low angles were used to make the Monster seem more intimidating and close-ups on the doctor to listen to intently due to his knowledge.

Throughout Frankenstein meaning is strongly created. Many things are what contribute to its strong codes and conventions and to what the connotations carry and what certain aspects the features signify.

 As the film was shot in 1931, many of the images shot were very controversial. Images are an extremely important part of what makes Frankenstein as famous as it is today. Camera movement throughout this film is rare. The only movement you really is is an occasional zoom, or the transitions between each scene of shot. This could be mainly because the director wanted to focus on the plot of the film, or simply because the time in which it was shot, the government didn’t give much funding to the studios, therefore they couldn’t experiment with good shots.The shots used were mostly wide to show of the elaborate sets and all the characters involved in the scene. The angles in which the camera was used were very cleverly executed to create a strong formation of subliminal messages as low angles were used to make the Monster seem more intimidating and close-ups on the doctor to listen to intently due to his knowledge.

As this was a low budgeted film, sound became a vital part of the films horror success. The use of screaming, dogs barking, bells and high pitch laughter was a key indicator of what mood the director wanted to be setting and repretsed the genre really well.

Transitions as mentioned earlier were useful from moving from one scene or set to another and the creation of space between the Monster and Henry and his wife. Through the use of mise en scene this is represented well, it’s especially noticeable in the shots when Henry has gone ‘insane’ and shots of the monster being dark and scary. Then moved to when Henry is healthy in his Manor with his new wife being very light, delicate and bright. This was a major point in the film as it was a key indicator to the audience who to like and who to dislike. It represented good and evil perfectly, all through the use of shots and lexical choice. This has had a huge impact on film today especially the horror genre as it has become an iconic conventions portray the victim as innocent and the monster of the film as the person you should hate. Only today in 2012 have filmmakers started to break the moulds and have the murderer as the character you know, love and least expect it to be.



Throughout Frankinstein, representation is extrewmely apparnt. This is through not only social groups bit individuals aswel, along side the issues that surround them. Class, sex, race and disability is presneted and each aspect can be drawn from the film in the indiviual monster. we all know that the film is fiction, but something inside us knows what class we would be placed in and why. This is a great way in pulling the aidnece in in and getting them to feel more invovled within the society portrayed throughout Frankinstein. 
A big part of the process of filmmaking is ownership. Ownership in relation to Frankenstein was extremely controlled even though it was released to the general public and private audiences it was extremely independent of its genre. With such regulatory bodies such as OFCOM and the BBFC today we are required to monitor the rates of viewings, what we are viewing and whether it is censored correctily if necessary and appropriate for the public to view it. Frankenstein faced the influence of the HAYS office the way in which the film was released especially the way in which the legal and ethical contraints the film carried withtin the the Pre-Code Hollywood. Due to these restriction when the films was released the contreversial scenes were removed. Then as with many Pre-Code films that were reissued after strict enforcement of the Production Code in 1934, Universal made cuts from the master negative. Some scenes where infact removed from the film for up to 50 years and have only today been put back in. 
Frankenstein's line, "Now I know what it feels like to be God!", was obliterated by a clap of thunder on the soundtrack.Some footage of Frankenstein's assistant Fritz taking sadistic glee in scaring the monster by waving a lit torch near him while the monster is shackled in chains.Close up of needle injection was removed. In the scene of the monster and the little girl tossing flowers into the lake, the second part of the scene was cut, beginning at the moment he extends his hands to pick her up.
The distribution of Frankinstein was exremelty limited, and at the time of the release of the film it was only show in private screening. But then later it was re-released in cinemas and moviehouses, then today such things like DVD, video etc. It was now easier than ever to veiw the film and thus making it one of the most famous and well known horror films known to cinema. Selling rights, copyright and performing rights were then sold to television and was published to the internet to buy and view and then in fruther internet progression to be able to be delivered to the home to view it royalties were also sold to radio stations and networks to be able to boradcast parts of effects, speech and soundtrack. 
Frankenstein received universal acclaim from critics and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1931, as well as one of the greatest movies of all time. In 1991, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In 2004, The New York Times placed the film on its Best 1000 Movies Ever list. And yet today we still know it as one of the most iconic films ever made, and I believe we will do for a long time to come. 

Illustrated Horror Essay

Over the past 100 years there have been many changes to the film industry which has all contributed to world cinema today and the amount of success it has. throughout this essay i shall highlights key points and events from the biggest blockbusters and brightest minds of film history and show how they have changed world cinema today. 
Through the horror genre the world cinema has changed dramatically, as an influx of shocking, convention breaking and boundary pushing elements have dominated the screens. This is all thanks to things such as advances in technology, the audiences wants and needs, cultural changes and changes in style and context. Not only that but with the economic struggle throughout part of it all, it all comes together and has helped shaped what we know and love what we call horror today.

1925 - Phantom of the opera took the lead in creating a certain air to the world of horror cinema and provided an extraordinary characterisation, made in the silent era gave the audioence the opportunity to build what was happening in their own, accompanied by music. This movie not given much funding was practical in every way as even the male lead did all his own make up including his own glass eye and nose wiring and Chaney even had a mould of his own face created to practise his designs upon. 1927 - Came the development of sound within film and at the forefront of this movement was Universal Studios, the Phantom is said to still haunt here! This came about the same time where the economic depression changed the way films were produced as actors demanded huge payments therefore small casts were employed and they therefore were then restricted to only work for their contracted studio. 

1929 - This was the year of the release of Dracula. It came about the peak time of the great depression and the wallstreet crash which meant a down scale of production. However this was the first film to contain sound, diagetic  sound and non diagetic despite the budget cuts. Bela Lugosi, the male lead, an actor shunned previous to the film for such a strong accent makes a convincing Dracula leading the first of 'The Talkies'.

The key influences of the production of horror was the inconography of the genre as it was not just horror costume and props that made the films succeed in artistic direction and skill but also a main feature was lighting and shadowing which brought along with it the term 'low key lighting' in turn giving directors and producers and extra depth to the film whether that may be highlighting the goodness of our hero or adding mistery or fear to the villain or monster. The shadows made you (the audience) feel small and vulnerable while the monster stood over you and looked powerful and harmful.

Film makers of the genre were under a lot of pressure to excite audiences and thrill them with new and more gory plots. However, bodies such as the HAYS office, which was the censorship body of that time, threatened to shut such daring studios down due to such controversial scenes. For example the scene in Frankenstein whereby he picks up the little girl and throws her in the river supposedly killing her, for this era such things should not be thought let alone placed on screen. This caused outrage and the film was made to be re-released with that specific scene cut. It was for a whole 50 years that the scene was cut and even now some people still find it disturbing to watch. 

James Whale an important face in creating the new movement of daring horror and also the director of the Frankenstein franchise. With his ever growing large fanbase Whale created an equally successful sequel. 1931 - Technological advances almost aiding the economic difficulty of the time were extremely important in the artistic development of film makers as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde released the transformation scene was achieved so well due to a rotating filter on the camera allowing the transformation to be completed in one shot and the filter revealed a selection of different layers of make up. Fredrich March as a result won an Academy Award for best actor for his performance. 

1935 saw the creative voice of individuals, directors such as Whale, was pushing for his style and this new genre especially within the remakes of Frankenstein. This being a time whereby global audiences were all gagging to see more shocking and daring material within horror as they were becoming bored of what was being produced. Whale creating The Bride of Frankenstein was safe to say a film that pushed all wanted boundaries. By the late 1930's sequels became a trend, with the follow of he The Son of Frankenstein, however this was the last of the franchise as Whale knew when to call it, as he didn't want it to become a gimmicky film that pardoys would be made of. He wanted the film to be respected and known for years. 

In terms of pushing boundaries 'Freaks' was released! Which unfortunately bombed after a month in cinema due to its extremist storyline. However this movement just about pushed out heavy censorship, and it plays a huge part in how censorship was lifted. 

In 1948 Dracular was made once again. Then in 1960 Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho was released. This was a huge movement in cinema, not only that it gave permission for other films to break to mould of the genre. Involved in the golden age of the cinema. Moving on into 1968, 'Night of The Living Dead' came about the concern of atomic power Martin Luther King being shot which could be linked to main male who happened ot be black being shot at the end of the film and therefore the film could signify the american population against eachother due to civil rights protests, riots and war. The film made independently tested the limits of screen horror and was made on the film makers evenings and weekends. Therefore genre was then moved on by real life character (people in the news) real life killers leasing to an original idea (Ed Gein). Inspired by Psycho Texas Chainsaw Massacre directed by Tobe Huber, with leather face -  former slaughter house worker. Film involving the theme that its where its not what you see bu what you hear.

1973 came the turn of William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist' which featured a mothers struggle to cure her demonically possessed daughter with the help of two priests. Due to it's story and the fact priests were made to be the hero's of the story. The film has now come on to be one of the most powerful and famous horror films of it's time. Even now in the 21st century it still manages to thrill audiences. Religion then became a huge part in films and the main storyline. 

Throughout the years boundaries were pushed further and further each director and script writer trying to come up with a bigger and better plots.  David Kronenberg defiantly managed to do so by creating  the most contraversial material of the time as he mixed theme's such as sex and body horror, for example the 1975 picture starring Barbara Steele 'Shivers'.  Inspired by Psycho the 'Slasher' genre was born. 

As you can tell even by small budgeted films being released to the huge budgets, they all in some way have had an impact in world cinema today and have made it to what we know.