A2 Media Blog

Immediately from the beginning of the film, a dominant theme that can be explored is the idea of Teen Punishment; which is ultimately emphasized at the end, since the whole idea of the film was that they were each sacrificed to god for their sins committed in the real world, such as pre-martial sex by the 'whore' character Jules and the 'jock' character Curt, as well as the indulgence of drugs and alcohol. Since the first character to die in the movie is Jules and the last to die is Dana, who is the 'virgin', it can be implied that the act of promiscuity is a sin and those who are impure must be punished; which also has a great religious reference that is commonly explored in most horror films. Furthermore, the excessive amount of sharp weapons used within the film such as knives, werewolf teeth/claws and unicorn horns all can be seen as a part of phallic imagery, therefore used to penetrate victims and especially immaculate male antagonists. For example, the un...

Within this film, a huge range of sub-genres are explored which is not typical of a generic horror as the sub-genre tends to either be solely focused on one or even a merge of two. However, in Cabin in the Woods, we can identify the sub-genres of Werewolves, Zombies, Monsters, Slasher and Splatter. Examples that these sub-genres are used, are by the antagonists used within the film, for example, there is a main group of zombies that are the dominant antagonists throughout, the slasher and splatter elements can be highlighted by the gore, blood and violence within the film, even though it may not be as extreme as the likes of Saw and/or Scream and finally, the monster and werewolf sub-genres can be denoted through the other antagonists that the scientists below the cabin create to kill of the teenagers as a sacrifice to the Gods. Additionally, since each of the five main protagonists are teens and they each can be identified as a stereotypical character, such as, the 'whore', th...

Key Icons in Horror In the horror genre, there are many stereotypical conventions and icons that help to make a succesful horror film. Not all of the following elements will be seen in every horror film amd there are also a few more mentioned to explore, however they will all at least contain a few as they are essential and create great meaning behind a storyline.  Religious symbols are used in a wide variety of movies, such as "The Devil Inside" and "The Conjuring" where there is a strong link to god or other spirits that have come back to punish victims. In each of these films, there are also many props such as crucifixes and bibles which are used to perform exorcisms on possessed beings. Each of these reinforce the strong sense of morality that is focused on within the film and the battle of good vs evil. The light and colours within a film and even simply a trailer are extremely distinct to the horror genre as stereotypical ideas have caused us to f...