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    Val Lewton brought several innovations to horror films in the 1940s including exploring shadows and obscuring terror in ordinary settings to generate tension and psychological horror. One of his most famous films was Cat People, which used a low budget to craft fear through the use of shadows, light, patterns and implied rather than graphic violence. Invasion of the Body Snatchers can be seen as an allegory for the Red Scare era, depicting the fear of communism through a story of pods replacing humans without emotions.

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    Val Lewton brought several innovations to horror films in the 1940s including exploring shadows and obscuring terror in ordinary settings to generate tension and psychological horror. One of his most famous films was Cat People, which used a low budget to craft fear through the use of shadows, light, patterns and implied rather than graphic violence. Invasion of the Body Snatchers can be seen as an allegory for the Red Scare era, depicting the fear of communism through a story of pods replacing humans without emotions.

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    41 views4 pages

    Module 3: Discussion 3: Name Instructor FMS 360 Date

    Uploaded by

    Mac Kole
    Val Lewton brought several innovations to horror films in the 1940s including exploring shadows and obscuring terror in ordinary settings to generate tension and psychological horror. One of his most famous films was Cat People, which used a low budget to craft fear through the use of shadows, light, patterns and implied rather than graphic violence. Invasion of the Body Snatchers can be seen as an allegory for the Red Scare era, depicting the fear of communism through a story of pods replacing humans without emotions.

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    Module 3: Discussion 3

    Name

    Instructor

    FMS 360

    Date
    Module 3: Discussion 3

    Innovations that Val Lewton brought to Horror Films

    There are many influences Val Lewton brought to the horror arena. Among the

    innovations that came with him are the exploration of shadows that generates tension with the

    utility of obscuring of terror in the dreary corners of ordinary settings through mood and

    escalating sexual nuisance. Lewton fashioned dark masterpieces that caused psychological terror

    (Telotte, 2010). Among his innovations was the sound revolution, guidance of onscreen

    projections and guidance of directors in generating suspense. Lewton made horror with high

    concept, yet with a low budget.

    Cat People

    The film is largely a story of intimacy and its terrors. Its construction is out of fear, with

    all the focus of the budget in constructing the fear. ‘Cat People’ has no major stars, a few special

    effects and a litter violence is dreaded or implied (Newman, 2019). This was a scary yet cheap

    film. Its eerie was mysteriously frightening. Indeed, there were unseen threats in the screen with

    the undertone of sexual peril. The film further exploits the fear most individuals have of cats,

    being associated with creepiness, sneakiness, deviousness and Satan. Though the story is much

    of everyday life, it is a frame of dark undertones.

    The ‘Cat People’ utilizes the erotic and the bizarre thought its lines such as in the

    dialogue. It has well-chosen vocabulary that can even paint clear and vivid pictures in the minds

    of the audience. The utility of light and shadow in the film make it great. The film goes on to

    utilize disturbing and inexplicable events, some symbolizing evil nature of individuals or intents.

    The sequence of events makes the film of quite good quality, dreamlike. Besides light and show,
    patters are used to arouse unsettling creepy feelings. An instance is the reflection patters from

    surface of the pool formed along the walls (Newman, 2019). Indeed, the ‘Cat People’ is a horror

    film with much fun.

    Elements of of Invasion of the Body Snatchers as a Critique of The Red Scare Era

    and McCarthyism

    Indeed, there are several elements of scenes and film of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’

    It is a lurid allegory of a mass society, one consisting of emotionless and mindless conformists

    (Grant, 2017). The Red Scare era largely painted an era where communists seemed to be winning

    with their atrocious entail. This is depicted in ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’ Indeed, the fear

    of communism and anarchism among other leftist ideologies is presented in a much frightening

    manner in the film (Michaels, 2017). An example is the picture of Siegel about vegetable pods

    from the outer space morphing into emotionless human replicas while possessing the real human

    bodies at sleep. This is an analogy of strange nightmare, and a deranged ideology.

    Invasion of the Body Snatchers

    The ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ was quite a nonviolent, quiet invasion echoing

    paranoia in the cold war (Finney, 2015). Its purpose is to present the survival without attention to

    the conquered civilization or squandered resources. Its primary argument is that take-over and

    dehumanization of an entire community by large seed pods replicating and replacing human

    beings. It is about the inevitable change of loved ones, in a sad and scary manner.
    References

    Finney, J. (2015). Invasion of the body snatchers: A novel. Simon and Schuster.

    Grant, B. K. (2017). Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Bloomsbury Publishing.

    Michaels, J. (2017). McCarthyism: The Realities, Delusions and Politics behind the 1950s Red

    Scare. Routledge.

    Newman, K. (2019). Cat People. Bloomsbury Publishing.

    Telotte, J. P. (2010). Lewtonian space: Val Lewton's films and the new space of horror. Horror

    Studies, 1(2), 165-175.

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