SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: JOYCE WEE YI QIN

STUDENT ID NO: 0319602

WORD COUNT: 868 WORDS

FILM GENRE: HORROR

FILMS SELECTED: DARK WATERS (2005) vs. THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES

(2002)

LECTURER: MS CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 5TH DECEMBER 2014

ELG 30605 ENGLISH 2

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE AND CONTRAST ESSAY

Horror is a genre of films in which very frightening or unusual happenings occur. Horror films

often play around the trigger in the audiences’ mind, and then further develop it to create horror.

From slash movies, to the post-modern psychological thrillers, horror films have evolved into a

form of art. This particular movie genre relies greatly on the basic horror conventions. These

conventions have been adapted and have developed the whole series of genre conventions into a

variety of scary settings, iconography and stereotyped characterization. Horror fans have now

clear understanding of the conditions and the story-tellers use this to their advantage. They

constantly put the audiences through the jolts horror conventions radiate. An effective way to

keep the horror fresh is to break the cycle of certain conventions.

Dark Waters is about the supernatural experiences of Dahlia Williams and her daughter Cecelia.

They moved into a rundown apartment on New York’s Roosevelt Island and were in the midst of

a divorce. From the time she arrived, there were mysterious occurrences and constant drippings

from the ceiling. Strange noises were also heard coming from the apartment directly above hers

though it appeared to be vacant. Eventually, she found out about Natasha. In “The Mothman

Prophecies”, John Klein was involved in a car accident with his wife, but while he is unharmed,

his wife mentioned a moth shaped creature appearing during the accident. After her death, John

began to investigate the secrets behind this mentioned Mothman. It took him to a small town of

Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where he discovered a connection with the same problem. Here he

met Connie Mills, while he continued unraveling the mystery of what the Mothman really is.

Both films used an isolated setting as a device to create the threatening atmosphere. In "Dark

Water", the director uses an old run down block of flats as the main setting to create the horror.

This kind of location is commonly used in horror films; it isolates the characters and constantly

renders them vulnerable to the inevitable horror that threatens them. The setting in "The

Mothman Prophecies" is different, but with relatively similar conventions. The film is set in a

small West Virginia town, and although the town is not quite as remote or claustrophobic as the

setting for "Dark Water", it is distant from society, and this makes it prone to the horror. In this

context, "Dark Water" made use of its setting well, and in contrast to "The Mothman

Prophecies", displayed the conventional way of creating the horrifying setting.

Narratives can be used by a director to distort a film of the horror genre and to confuse or help

the audience get hold of the plot. A narrative is a commonly used convention, and it is portrayed

in various ways. In "Dark Water", a crucial part of understanding the plot is visualizing the

narratives within the film. At certain parts in the film, the director uses anti-linear narratives

(flashbacks). We recognize these flashbacks because of the yellow rinse on the scene. This rinse

on the screen gives the scenes a sense of abnormality, and is instantly recognized as a scene that

is in a different time frame as the other clean scenes. In "The Mothman Prophecies", we do not

witness any flashbacks. A large part of the film is arranged in chronological order, although there

was a short change in order of time in the plot itself.

Iconography is used in film studies to describe the visual language of cinema, particularly within

the field of genre criticism. We expect to see certain objects on screen when we see a particular

genre; and in the case of a horror film, we expect young girls, ‘normal’ daily objects and a wide

use of light and dark. Both films used conventional iconography well to develop the thrills and

create horror. They both use relatively normal things to build the audiences’ already established

horror and to create a heart pounding atmosphere. In “Dark Waters”, there are scenes shot with

Cecilia playing alone with a doll in the vandalized elevator to create the eerie atmosphere. Also,

focus was occasionally given to Cecilia’s school bag although it was in total standstill all the

time. It actually kept the heart pounding. While in “The Mothman Prophecies”, a simple moth is

used to build the horror. At the height of the couple’s happiness, we notice a moth fly above their

heads. This would not mean anything if the word “moth” did not appear in the title. The fact that

it is part of the title, the appearance of the moth is presumably significant. This result in tension

within the audience, it also subsequently leads to the first sighting of the "Mothman", and to

Mary Klein's death.

In a nutshell, both films used the horror conventions well to illustrate the thrilling scenes.

Although there were mistakes in the films, “The Mothman Prophecies” was able to break the

norm of conventions to develop the scares such as the setting, which was in West Virginia town.

As in “Dark Waters”, the director of this film used the conventions to create an eerie feeling that

sends chills to the audience instead of the normal frights.

REFERENCES:

1. Dark Waters, 2005. Directed by Walter Salles. USA: Touchstone Pictures.

2. The Mothman Prophecies, 2002. Directed by Mark Pellington. USA: Lakeshore

Entertainment

3. Springwood High School Media,2010. Iconography in film and television [online]

Available at: < http://www.slideshare.net/spingwoodmedia/iconography-in-film-and-

television> [Accessed 30 November 2014]

4. Horror Films [online] Available at:< www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html > [Accessed 30

November 2014]