Arthouse Horror and the Manifestation of Fear Through Sound: From The Shining to Get Out

Abstract

The primary intention of this essay is to analyze films that juxtapose topics of trauma and horror and the ways in which their engagement with sound amplifies, foreshadows, and adds depth under the title of "art-horror". In chapter one, a brief analysis of the history of horror cinema and sound will be laid out to understand their shaping of the genre as it is portrayed today. From live musical accompaniment in silent cinema to full-on soundtracks and sound effects, some "firsts" in the genre will be picked out for their development into common horror tropes in modern cinema. The following chapters will be analyses of films that fall under the category of the art-horror subgenre. The first analysis is of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), a film that shaped horror beyond monsters and ghouls; uncovering the unspoken demons of isolation and family matters, while also enforcing sound as an active ingredient for evil under the surface. The Shining is said to have become an inspiration for several horror films following its release and has additionally produced many scholarly articles by film critics analyzing its cinematography and sonic elements. The use of silence in The Shining will be used to tie in the next chapter, which will again bring to the forefront the topic of family trauma through a look into Ari Aster's Hereditary (2018). The analysis of Hereditary will primarily focus on sound motifs, silence and the woman's scream, while additionally discussing space and the ultimate entrapment of the family with the metaphor of a dollhouse; the inability to escape the matriarch. This spacial awareness will then tie in the next chapter, which centers on the 2015 film It Follows (David Robert Mitchell), an all-around ambiguous horror that juxtaposes sexuality with fatality. The film is relevant for its synth-based soundtrack and stalking "monster" figure, which are both reflexive of the slasher horrors of the 1980s. While It Follows references this other subgenre of horror, it also makes a subtle commentary on the inescapability of death itself through its intertextuality. The last chapter will lean into Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017) with the soundtrack as a primary foreshadowing of terror, and benevolent racism as the "monster". Finally, the conclusion will reiterate all of the previous points made in each chapter, including the identifying factors of art-horror itself, how sound in the subgenre is an update to widespread horror sound, and the different ways in which this use of sound creates depth and purpose within the film.