In the horror films Final Destination and The Grudge death is a prominent theme, and many fall to this fate. Therefore both storylines make the viewer feel avoiding this outcome will be impossible, for example; in Final Destination the danger is death itself and the threat is all around them in everyday life. The threat in the grudge is not physical but instead the supernatural who are difficult to trace, alongside this once being haunted a protagonist's cursed fate is sealed and their death imminent.
Child’s Play and Final Destination have aspects of a thriller and would be classed as hybrids. Being tracked down by a possessed doll or trying to keep ahead of death would be classed as thriller genre conventions. Although the death is important to the plots, the chase and thrill of the hunt also greatly contributes to the horror of the situation. A ICONthat can be seen in both of these films is gore both use extreme violence and exaggerated death to create a lot of blood and gore. This is very apparent in Child’s play as Chucky is often seen wielding a knife, this is consistent with symbolism of a slasher film. Although there are a lot of murders in The Grudge they do not need gore to create the effect of horror, as a psychologhical thriller the chase is more important in order to scare viewers.
Although the plots of Final Destination, The Grudge and Childs Play are arguably equally deadly the characters that fall victim to the horror are very different in each film. Final Destination is based on a group of protagonists, a whole class. This enables the spectator to see a personal relationship between every character and what their death means to their close friends, the other characters. Overall this could be more devastating and scary, seeing everyone in the same situation as yourself killed by unknown circumstances. Despite the characters being able to team up and work together finally leaving three survivors, the deaths of so many close characters also amplifies a new sense of loneliness and isolation within the group. Loneliness and isolation clearly apparent for the main protagonist of Child’s Play, not only is a doll coming to life difficult to believe initially but the fact the character Andy is a child means the general people who would be safeguards think he is making it up mainly due to his immaturity. This issue can make the situation much scarier than it seems as he is facing the antagonist serial killer doll Chucky alone. This is not always the case as there is less unity in The Grudge, less of a link to each other and more to the house itself as all the initial characters are killed off quickly playing as an trap to lure more people into the house. Because of the killings and lack of unity for example despite the Williams being a family the wife and grandmother do not like the husband’s choice of house, the grandmother is then further isolated from the pair by having dementia. This lack of togetherness differentiates The Grudge from the other aforementioned films, when considering their characters and the role they play in the horror.
Mise-en-scene varies in each film all are set in the protagonist home environments although this is arguable. I say this because the nature of the situation places the characters in unfamiliar territory. In The Grudge despite the scene being their home, they have just moved there and already feel out of place. Much of Final Destination is based on a variety of sets, although living at home the group visit places such as the railway line, a morgue, even an airport. These are not a common dwellings in everyday life. Finally Chucky, similar to The Grudge, is in the protagonist’s home but this time where he has lived for years. By having the antagonist share the same living space as the characters the audience feel the threat to be more personal and therefore scarier. The lighting in horror films are usually dark and gloomy, while all three films use this convention they also have long periods of daytime and light, I believe this connotes the reality that the horror is happening to average people, this make the viewer more paranoid and scared. Due to the dissimilar natures of each films antagonist or threat, the looks or aesthetic representation of the threat are difficult to compare. Whilst Final Destination has avoided all form of an antagonist, by using the concept of bad fate as the danger, both Child’s Play and The Grudge have taken an opposite stance creating a horrific looking physical being or entity. They are even given backstory’s and personality. Both films then use shadow play to amplify the dark mysteriousness of the character. The Grudge uses contrasting colours of black and white. The ghosts have jet black hair and pale white faces; this gives them a shocking look. Child’s Play tends to use dark shadows on parts of Chucky’s face making his eyes darker, sunken and suspicious. Shadows under his brow also make him appear angrier. I feel this is far more complex than The Grudges use of shadow for the representation of the antagonist, but accept that this may be necessary as Chucky being a doll needs further means to show expression on his face whereas the ghosts in The Grudge are more horrific when blank-faced and lifeless.
All three films now have sequels and even if not followed horror films usually leave the film open ended and unresolved, this is scarier leaving the viewer feeling uncertain and paranoid father than safe with closure. However Child’s Play does not follow this convention as Chucky is certainly killed at the end of the film (despite being reassembled in the sequel) this leaves the current viewers calm and safe in the knowledge Chucky is gone. But still Chucky has been a successful haunt suggesting the antagonist does not need to live on to be eternally scary. The Grudge however takes a different stance after a failed attempt to burn the cursed house, the surviving woman realised outside of the house she is still haunted by the mother ghost giving an unpredictable outcome. Final Destination also leaves a very open ending having the three survivors left in the same situation continuously trying to put off death, the director James Wong clarifies this as a philosophical note on people in general, this also creates a scary effect at how relevant the horror is to the viewer.
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