Horror movies' use of the uncanny

The term uncanny often refers to something that slips outside normal perception. The uncanny is frightening precisely because it is not familiar and arises from intellectual uncertainty. Because of its effects of fear arousal, many horror movies have included events and situations that are known to induce a feeling of uncanny.

A particular situation that induces the uncanny is when the line between human and automation is blurred. In our everyday lives, we are completely aware of the distinct line between human and automation. This knowledge is reassuring in that we know that a doll would not come to life at any moment, or vise versa. Therefore, when this line is blurred, the order in our lives seems to vanish and uncertain then arises. Uncertainty or unfamiliarity then leads to fear.

In Hoffman’s story “The Sandman,” Hoffman uses this tactic to induce the uncanny. One of the characters in the story is Olympia. Nathaniel, the main protagonist in the story, falls in love with Olympia. He is unaware that she is an automation created by the mechanician, or her father, Professor Spalanzani. Because Hoffman shatters the distinction between automation and human, he instills uncertainty in the Nathaniel and the story. This ambiguousness then leads to fear.

The horror movie Child’s Play uses exactly this tactic. In the movie, a notorious serial killer, Chucky, transplants his soul into doll. The doll was then given to a boy, Andy, for his birthday. When Andy was alone with his babysitter, Maggie, Chucky became animated and killed Maggie by striking her with a hammer. Afterwards, Chucky then came to his old friend’s house, burned the house down, and killed his friend. Holland, the director, blurs the line between human and doll to induce fright. The distinction between a serial killer and a harmless doll not longer exists. Because the line is not longer distinct, order in our everyday lives is disrupted and uncertainty arises. This uncertainty leads to fear.

Another situation that induces the uncanny is when situations or events recur many times over. A particular example in Literary Theories: An Anthology is when a lost person, in attempts to find his way back to a familiar locations, winds up in the same strange location over and over. When someone gets lost, he usually does not wind up in the same unfamiliar location over and over again. Therefore, this situation is unfamiliar. Because recurrences like those are unfamiliar or strange, it induces a feeling of helplessness. It induces a sense of helplessness because the lost person seems to be stuck in an endless, nightmarish cycle where he could never get “un-lost.” This helplessness and ignorance at what to do then induce fear.

Two movies that use recurrence to induce fear are the Japanese horror films One Missed Call and The Ring. In the beginning of One Missed Call, Murasaki Yoko’s cell phone rings with a strange ring tone and the call was dated two days in the future. Two days later, on the exact time of the call, Yoko was brutally killed. In the movie, this sequence recurs various times over: a person receives a call dated from the future, he hears his own voice in the call, and he dies at the precise dated moment. In the The Ring, near the beginning to the movie, Tomoko and three of his friends watch an eerie movie clip and after seven days, all four of them die. Afterward, Takayama watches the movie clip, in an attempt to figure out the mystery. He too then dies. Both of these movies place the characters in a recurring cycle that eventually leads to death. The characters seem to be plucked out of their everyday lives and put in this implausible, unfamiliar, situation where they cannot get out. Because of the recurring situations that the characters are placed in are unfamiliar, uncertainty arises. Again, from uncertainty comes fear.

Overall, many horror movies have grossed on using including the aforementioned uncanny situations or events to induce fear to its audience.