1. Similar Films - Research Task
The film Jaws, which was based on the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916,
was released in 1975 and was rated PG. It is similar to our film brief
because it too is supposed to be scary and also appeal to the younger and
family audience. Although the plot behind jaws is very different to ours it is
good for research purposes because it allows us to see the types of films
that have been produced with a similar target audience and also the same
‘horror’ theme attached to its name.
Salem’s Lot is another film that was rated a PG as well as being a horror
movie. The film is an adaption of Stephen King’s novel and was released in
1979. It contains little gore but many jumpy and scary moments throughout. It
is about a man who returns to his home town to finish the book he is writing
and finds that the residents are being turned into vampires. Another good film
to study for our research as it has a similar audience and similar film brief.
When the film Poltergeist was released in 1982 with the PG rating many
people were shocked because some of the scenes were quite terrifying.
The film is a supernatural horror, the plot focuses on a family whose
home is invaded by malevolent ghosts that abduct the family's youngest
daughter. This film again has the same audience as our target audience
and is probably has the most similar plot to our main task too. The idea of
being haunted by something is key in our plot. In our sequence we plan
for a girl to be haunted by someone following her but from her
imagination because she is going insane. Poltergeist is a good film to look
at when researching similar films because of the many similarities it
carries to our brief.