ZooScope

Tag: Suspense/Thriller

  • The Birds. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures. 1963.

    The Birds (1963) is undoubtedly a horror film because it contains a deep sense of the uncanny, a term Freud coins as something that is terrifying because it is familiar.[i] The Birds contains many pockets of fear and gruesome imagery throughout the film. Hitchcock’s use of human bodies being pecked at by birds are an example of the…

  • Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. 20th Century Fox. 1999.

    One of the most important scenes in David Fincher’s Fight Club[1] is when The Narrator meets his ‘power animal’ in the cave whilst in meditation. Although it’s only a very short sequence, the penguin represents changes we see in The Narrator’s character throughout the film, which are relevant to the dramatic plot twist near the end. The…

  • The Plague Dogs. Dir. Martin Rosen. United Artists Corporation. 1982.

    The Plague Dogs – Revival of a Masterpiece* By Loredana Loy Based on the book with the same title by Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs (1982) is a one of a kind movie. Snitter and Rowf are two dogs who escape from an animal experimentation facility only to find that the outside world is just as cruel.  They try to survive…

  • Jaws. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Universal Studios. 1975.

    Jaws, Spielberg’s second major film[1] , released in 1975 is widely recognised as an important piece of cinema, with one of the most memorable and suspense building soundtracks of all time. Despite the creepy and more blood thirsty elements of the film there are also moments of humour, as comedy plays quite a large role in…

  • The Birds. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures. 1963.

    The most horrifying horror of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds occurs in a single, fleeting instant. Thrown from the comfort and security of his own bed, we are allowed only a glimpse of the aftermath of a brutal attack by these inscrutable creatures, where what has happened just moments before is almost too awful to imagine. As the…

  • Hot Fuzz. Dir. Edgar Wright . Universal Pictures/Rouge Pictures. 2007.

    Hot Fuzz is an action comedy which follows PC Nicholas Angel’s transfer from the London Metropolitan Police to rural Sandford, where he discovers a string of murders have been committed. Despite being overly violent at times, the film maintains a light-hearted tone through the use of comic conventions, such as the urbane character being a…

  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Dir. Rupert Wyatt. 20th Century Fox. 2011.

    Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Photo credit: Wikipedia) An exploration of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ is a thrilling science fiction film created as a prequel to Franklin Schaffner’s 1968 original film ‘Planet of the Apes’. Rupert Wyatt uses the story of one man…

  • The Prestige. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros.. 2006.

    Synopsis The Prestige (2006) is a film directed by Christopher Nolan and based upon an adaption of Christopher Priest’s 1995 novel. The film is set in twentieth century London and follows the lives of two rival magicians, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and their competing struggle to claim ownership of the most…

  • The Ghost and the Darkness. Dir. Stephen Hopkins. Constellation Entertainment. 1996.

    Film Poster for The Ghost and the Darkness URL: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Ghostandthedarkness.jpg This film is a retelling of The Man-Eaters of Tsavo – the published journal of John Henry Patterson. He was an Irish engineer and soldier (played by Val Kilmer), who is sent to Africa to help build the British railway from Mombasa to Uganda (572…