Synopsis and Character

Lambeth in South London, Bonfire Night / Fifth of November. Present Day. A young nurse called Sam (played by Jodie Whittaker) is mugged by a gang of masked hoodies: Moses, the quiet but serious leader (played by John Boyega), Pest by name and nature(played by Alex Esmail), Dennis (played by Franz Drameh), Jerome (Leeon Jones) and Biggz (Simon Howard). In the middle of this, a meteorite plummets from the sky into a nearby...

Synopsis

The Winchester, a typical London pub. Shaun (Simon Pegg), his girlfriend Liz (kate Ashfield), her two friends David (Dylan Moran) and Diane (Lucy David) are in the pub. Shaun’s best friend, the foul mouthed (and minded) overweight layabout, Ed (Nick Frost) plays the slot machines. Shaun is getting a hard time from this girlfriend; she wants to spend more time with him, be more exciting and do more than sit in The Winchester with Ed....

Contemporary Examples

• The Rite Mikael Håfström, 2011
• Paranormal Activity 2 Tod Williams, 2010
• Saw (6 films in franchise) James Wan, 2002-2009
• Blair Witch Project Daniel Myrick + Eduardo Sánchez, 1999
• Dog Soldiers Neil Marshall, 2002
• Urban Legend Jamie Blanks, 1998
• I Know What You Did Last Summer Jim Gillespie, 1997
• Hostel Eli Roth, 2005

Codes and Conventions

• Split into sub genres (see below), often hybridised
• Primary target audience –...

Vampires don’t exist, unless they’re bats. However they are potent monsters that have been recently finding favour with audiences: the new independent-Hollywood Twilight franchise (2008-), based on Stephanie Meyer’s novels; the Swedish horror film Let the Right One In (2008), from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel; series one of the BBC3 genre hybrid series Being Human (2009). Genres need to evolve in order to remain fresh so it’s...