Assignment 17: Sabrina Lozada

Going for option two, I chose to watch Sinister and The Ring. Cargill, writer of Sinister, was inspired after apparently watching The Ring, which I found interesting so I watched them both.  

In Sinister the protagonist becomes obsessed with a series of deaths and is determined to find the killer. With the help of a local deputy he pieces the clues the clues to solve the horrendous truths of the deaths, but it wouldn't have been done without the Super 8 films that appeared, one for each family murder.  

The Ring is about a cursed video where the viewer will die within seven days. Rachel, the aunt of a cursed victim, is asked to further investigate the death. Over time Rachel, with the help of Noah discovers the story and ,in a way, the solution. 

Both, are related to videos that are tied to the mystery of deaths, so one thing that the director's would focus on was the emphasis on the videos and the images they revealed. In doing so, both utilized same techniques. As they shot the footage they didn't add cheesy horror music, instead they used more "natural sounds". The viewing of the super 8 footage only has the slight hum of the machine operating, making it more realistic as if it were the viewer watching it. The video in The Ring had a static sound as the background that alone makes a chill run down the reader's spine.  

Another thing they had in common was in that the director's wouldn't rely on adding gruesome cuts to make it a "horror" film. In Sinister, the opportunity arose for a gory shot multiple times especially with the "family time" super 8 films. In the "BBQ of 79" the director focused on the family especially with the kids to reveal similarities in the families targeted and when it came to the part where they were burned alive it only showed the outside of the car in flames. One of the bigger opportunities was in the super 8 film where the family is run over by a lawn mower but instead of showing the blood the director focused on the protagonist's reaction which was enough to reveal the horror that was documented in the "home movie," The Ring also opted out and relied on other ways such as sound to create fear in the viewer.