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1

Using two examples from the genre of horror examine what a „classic

horror‟ film is.

The horror genre is one of the most popular genres and we may sayit can be said

that it has started to develop practically immediately with the development of show

business and a free access of wide audience to cinemas and television. We can

findThere are a lot of causesreasons of the popularity of this genre but it is still not

so easy to explain its phenomenon, namelysuch as why it is so attractive for

people despite all its unreality. However, itIt would be a great mistake to saydefine

that horror moviesfilms areas plain or even primitive. NaturallyIn fact, there are

some moviesfilms which are really so stereotyped, unbearably plain, and

absolutely thoughtless. But in my opinionHowever, it is simplythey are just

exclusions or films that wereare created by specialists who are far from real

moviemakingfilmmaking, and theywho can create nothing but films of low quality

regardless of its genre. Also I‟d sayIn addition, it can be said that as any other

branch of art cinemafilm has its genius and its mediocre majority because good

films may be created only by a good crew and the genre is not so important.

Among such genius of cinema I would name theThe crews that worked on two

horror films of horror genre, theywhich are “Invasion of Body Snatchers” and “The

Thing” are the examples of such genius films. I saidIt was mentioned previously

that crews were important, but it was not saying that not because I do not want to

agree with those who believe that Donald Siegel and John Carpenter were not

outstanding directors., oOn the contrary I am gladit was saying that the fact that

people who worked on these two films were led by such well-qualified

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professionals was an advantage for the two films. SoTherefore, we may say that

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Thing” are classics of the horror

genrefilms and the best ones. But what I would like toThis essay will analyzse is

the reason why they are treated as suchclassic and in which way they are similar

or different.by considering the similarities and differences between them. And then,

it will find out what factors make a classic horror film.

First of allBefore starting analysing the two films, it is necessary to say that these

two films were created at different times. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was

created in the mid-dle 11950s, more precisely in 1956, whereas The Thing was

created in 1982. It seems that such time difference should makes the films

completely different but, strangely enough, they have a lot of common aspects.

That is why at the beginning I would like to dwell uponthis essay will firstly

consider the similarities of both filmsbetween them. First of all, we may say that,

to a certain extent, the themes isare close. Both films focus on the problem of the

invasion of human or just alive bodies by some aliens that tends to control such

as the personalitiesy, the hosts‟ actions, and the judgments, etc. In the case of

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, LeGacey shows how wepeople deal with an

alien kind that:with creatures that:

“has to wait for the perfect moment when the target is asleep), and spend

the next few hours consuming and taking on that form. If the host wakehost

wakes up when the process is not complete, the whole procedure is a

failure.” (LeGacey, 1978, :p.288).

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3

On the other hand, „the thing‟The Thing needs just a few minutes to do it because

“it can assimilate the host while its still conscious, against the host‟s will” (Landon,

1993, p:39). Probably suchThose changes are caused by the changes of time or

epoch. It is obvious that theThe rhythm of life in 1980s was much faster than in

1950s,. certainly it found itsIt can be seen in the expression in the perception of

the idea of possible alien assault or attempts to invade human minds.

By the way, I think that bothBoth films express the trend that took place in the

society when the idea of total control of a human mind became more and more

widely spread. It means that symbolically by aliens creators of the films tried to

imply those powers either political or economical that by different means aimed at

the total control of public conscious through the invasion of the mind of a separate

individual. It wasis quite actual if we take into account if we take into consideration

the time when both films were released, is taken into consideration. 1952 it was

the year of the beginning of the cold war when the tension between the well-

developed democratic world and the communistic Soviet Union grew. and theThe

governments of many countries, including the most democratic, had started to

struggle forwith the control of public opinion and even each particular individual.

At the same time, 1982 it was a period when the cold war achieved its apologue

and the world was on the eve of the ReagansReagan‟s declaration of the war on

the „empire of evil‟ when the situation was very resembling to that of early 1950s.

Furthermore, the degree of surveillance grew and specialists began to

spokespeak about the total control of certain organizsations over people. In such








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4

a situation, the people transformed in pods in the horror films I‟ve just named look

like a prophecy and warning against such dangerous practice.

As for some more similarities of both “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

and “The Thing”, we may find not only theme and probably idea of the

film but also the atmosphere of films.

As I have already said these films deals with the alien intrusion into human life,

into human body, mind and consciousness. These films also may serve as a

warning about the danger of such a situation, of a total control of human

consciousness when people become pods but not thinking beings.

It is reinforced by the reigning atmosphere of tension, even paranoia

that makes us forget about the unreality of the events and deep into the

action. It is obvious that creators of these films had similar aims.

Finally, I would like to add a few words about the way of alien invasion.

It may be a bit different by its form but the principle of such invasion remains

similar.

What I mean is the fact that certainly aliens in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

and “The Thing” act differently, I have already mentioned that the latter act rapidly








Comment [T5]: Better to be „not only theme or idea of the film but also the atmosphere of films can be considered as the similarities.‟


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without human will and they can act in any time while the former are quite long

reacted beings, they cannot attack men only if they are not asleep.

But we see that there is one common principle aliens in these this films attack

from inside, I mean they want invade human bodies and minds but not their land,

property, they do not threat directly to their physical wealth. It seems that human

inner world is much more important for them than anything else because they try

to control human‟s memory, and consequently our feelings, emotions, our state of

mind, perception of the world, our present and our past, as. Moreover, “the Thing

is smarter than graden-variety humans” (Biskind, 1983, p.134). they “have access

to the being‟s memories, allowing them to blend in almost perfectly without being

detected by future target hosts who may know the person who has now been

replaced by these horrible alien creatures”i. Thus, we seeit can be said that unlike

many other films about alien invasion “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The

Thing” pay much more attention to the inner world of people,. They implying the

spiritual emptiness that threatens to the people of the 20th century because in my

opinion the aliens symbolizse all those complicated processes that took place in

ourthe society in the 20th century. andThey still continuescontinue to exist and

that lead to moral degradation of people to their transformation into pods.

These are the key points that make the two films similar. However, there are also

differences between them. One more thing One of the key elements that makes

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“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Thing” quite different is the degree of

combination of reality and unreality as I would call it. In my opinion, at this point

“The Thing” is much more radical thing in the sense thatbecause the filmit is full of

fantastic elements and the state of paranoia overwhelms audience and keeps

peoplethem in such a state during the whole film. On the other hand, in “Invasion

of the Body Snatchers” it is quite difficult to distinguish whether what wethe

audience sees is real or unreal. Personally, when I watched both films I had a

permanent doubt in the mental health of its main characters it was quite difficult to

say whether it was something really unusual, extraordinary things that happen to

people in the city or it was a simple hallucination, illusion, or just a nightmare and

only at the end it becomes clear that the whole city was really transformed in pods

people. WhereasHowever in “The Thiang” it is evident practically from the very

beginning. Everyone realizses that the characters act in an unreal situation, such

as they really confront some aliens that intend to control their bodies and their

minds.

Probably, theThe cause of such athis difference lies in the history of the origin of

the films. For we know that “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was significantly

influenced by proceeding films noir that tended to externalisedexternalized the

moral conflict of the detective story. According to Biskind,Ssuch films inhabitare

set in:














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“shadow worlds and hover without resolve between the supernatural and

mundane rationalism. In the same sense “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

and the other alien takeover films… psychologically

externalisedexternalized the central conflict of the alien invader film – they

were less films about aliens than they were about alienation”ii (Biskindg

1983, PP.p139).

However the director, Donald Siegel, triesd to keep usthe audience in suspense

for a while and inrushesd the film with rationalism and realism but when the

nightmare becomesbecame the realityreal he widely usesd film noir techniques

such as shots down tight corridors, silhouettes running against streetlights, close

ups on sweaty faces, and tilted angles. ThoughEven though he introduced some

film noir techniques he doesdid not forget about including classical horror films

scenes, which is suggested by Biskind when he writes: such as “

shots up from under the plank under which McCarthy and Winter hide, with

the pod people crossing calmly assuring them there is nothing to fear, the

wide-angled shots out of the office window down onto the public square,

which becomes inexplicably frightening the moment all visitors are cleared

and the bustle of everyday chaos suddenly turns into something ordered

and people start organizing the pods to be distributed about the country”

(BaskinBiskind, 1983, :p.141).


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WhereasHowever, in “The Thing” its creators used the experience of past works

in the field of horror films. and I would sayIn addition, it can be said that this film is

purer horror in the sense that the psychological tension here is weakened by a

certain simplification. That is, due to which we the audience should not guess

whether it is a kind of psychological problems of the characters or a paranormal

phenomenon for the latter because it is quite obvious easy to find out.

AlsoIn addition, I want to add that “The Thing” iscontains much richermore in

special effects, particularly when we see victims of aliens who “transform into

twisted versions of themselves, complete with claws, spider-like limbs, teeth and

lots of flailing tentacles” (Landon 1993, p.:36). And again I think that isThis is also

the result of time changes because in 1980s due to the development of computer

technologies and more sophisticated technical equipment impressiveand special

effects became an essential part of any good horror films pretending to be

interesting and popular. Whereas, in 1950s, not only technical opportunities were

not so good but the tradition of film shooting was a bit different. More more

attention was usually given to psychological side and could only be enforced by

special effects which were not very „special‟ though in comparison with 1980s. It

was not only because there were not many technical opportunities, but also

because the tradition of film shooting was slightly different.

As for some more similarities of both “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

and “The Thing”, we may find not only theme and probably idea of the

film but also the atmosphere of films.





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As I have already said these films deals with the alien intrusion into human life,

into human body, mind and consciousness. These films also may serve as a

warning about the danger of such a situation, of a total control of human

consciousness when people become pods but not thinking beings.

It is reinforced by the reigning atmosphere of tension, even paranoia

that makes us forget about the unreality of the events and deep into the

action. It is obvious that creators of these films had similar aims.

Finally, I would like to add a few words about the way of alien invasion.

It may be a bit different by its form but the principle of such invasion remains

similar.

What I mean is the fact that certainly aliens in “Invasion of the

Body Snatchers” and “The Thing” act differently, I have already

mentioned that the latter act rapidly without human will and they

can act in any time while the former are quite long reacted beings,

they cannot attack men only if they are not asleep.

But we see that there is one common principle aliens in these this films attack

from inside, I mean they want invade human bodies and minds but not their land,

property, they do not threat directly to their physical wealth. It seems that human

inner world is much more important for them than anything else because they try

to control human‟s memory, and consequently our feelings, emotions, our state of

mind, perception of the world, our present and our past. Moreover, they “have

access to the being‟s memories, allowing them to blend in almost perfectly without

Comment [T29]: This is about a similarity between the two films, so it should be written right after the other similarities. Therefore, it was moved forward. And also, these three paragraphs should be in one paragraph.



10

being detected by future target hosts who may know the person who has now

been

replaced by these horrible alien creatures”iii. Thus, we see that unlike many other

films about alien invasion “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Thing” pay

much more attention to the inner world of people, implying the spiritual emptiness

that threatens to the people of the 20th century because in my opinion the aliens

symbolize all those complicated processes that took place in our society in the

20th century and still continues to exist and that lead to moral degradation of

people to their transformation into pods.

In conclusion, Taking all mentioned above into account all above mentioned, I can

come to the conclusion that “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Thing” are

real masterpieces of the horror genre. and we haveThis can be perceived them

not only in the proper sense but also by realising we should also realize what the

creators of these films implied. In my paper I have namedThis essay considered a

lot of things that are eitherboth similarities orand differentces inbetween these two

films, but what is the most important is the fact that they both were and remain

extremely popular and the film that would be better than them can be hardly

imagined. One of the evidences of my idea is the fact thatThis is because there

are numerous remakes of these films that, in its turn, tells usthe audience about

the actuality of the plot, themes and ideas conveyed with the help ofin “Invasion of

the Body Snatchers” and “The Thing”. Thus, I can sayit can be said that both films

should be regarded as classic of horror genrefilms and their traditions should be

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11

continued but not blindly copied because that would lead to the development and

prosperous future of this genre.



12

Bibliography: Reference:

Books:

Biskind, P.,eter. (1983) “The Mind Managers: Invasion of the Body Snatchers and

the Paranoid Style in American Movies.” In Seeing Is Believing: How Hollyiwood

Taught UsS to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties.Movies. New York: Pantheon

Books, 1983.

Landon, B., (1993) The Aesthetic of Ambivalence: Rethinking the Science Fiction

Film in the Age of Electronic (Re) production. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press

Biskin, Peter. “The Russians Are Coming, Aren‟t They? Them! The Thing, and the

Extremists from Beyond the Center.” In Seeing Is Believing: How Holliwood

Taught US to Stop Worrying and Love Movies. Pantheon; NY:, 1983.

Journals:

Gregory, C.T.harles. (1972) The pod society vs. the rugged individualists. The

journal of popular film and television, 1, 3-14 “The Pod Society Versus the

Rugged Individualists.” The Journal of Popular Film 1. Winter 1972.

Landon, B. „The Thing in All Its Guises: Reconsidering a Science Fiction Classic.‟

Chapter 2 of The Aesthetic of Ambivalence: Rethinking the Science Fiction Film in

the Age of Electronic (Re)production. Greenwood Press Westport, CT:, 1993.

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Comment [A32]: The bibliography needed more structure with sections for books, journals and a Filmography. Each section in alphabetical order.



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Comment [A34]: Isn‟t necessary to list the same book twice.






Comment [A35]: Moved into the book section of the bibliography.


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LeGacy, Arthur. (1978) Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A metaphor for the fifties.

Literature/Film Quarterly, 6.3, 285-292

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Metaphor for the Fifties.” Literature/Film

Quarterly 6.2, 1978.

Filmography:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Film. Directed by Don Siegel USA: Allied

Artists Pictures/Walter Wanger Productions.

The Thing (1982) Film. Directed by John Carpenter UK: Universal Pictures/Turman

Foster Company.

i Gregory, Charles. “The Pod Society Versus the Rugged Individualists.” The Journal of Popular Film

1. Winter 1972. ii Bisking 1983 PP.139

iii Gregory, Charles. “The Pod Society Versus the Rugged Individualists.” The Journal of Popular

Film 1. Winter 1972.



Comment [A36]: This was not referenced correctly according to the Harvard system.


Comment [A37]: Films also need to be referenced at the end in a Filmography, not just as they are mentioned in the text.


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manipulating media project 4 - patt

Education

genius films

genre of horror

pthorror films of horror

invasion of body snatchers

doublethe horror genre

films of low quality

contrary i

invasion of human