NAME: KAN SOOK SAN

STUDENT ID: 0319326

SUBJECT: ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

LECTURER: MS CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

TITLE: COMPARE/ CONTRAST ESSAY-

HORROR FILM

DATE: 5TH DECEMBER 2014

The genre of the film that I have chosen is horror. The horror film is a genre that aims to

create a sense of fear, panic, alarm and dread for the audience. It usually focuses on the

arrival of an evil force, person or event. I am going to compare the contrast differences

between the films "The Conjuring" directed by James Wan and "House of Wax" directed by

Jaume Collet-Serra. Even though both films have the same genre, its do not have similarity.

"The Conjuring" consists of the force of supernatural and the possession of demon and evil

spirit whereas "House of the wax" is more to slash film as it involved psychopathic killer.

The film "The Conjuring" is about a family man Roger Perron and his wife Carolyn move

to an old farmhouse in Rhode Island with their five daughters in 1971. The family finds a

hidden basement which the entrance is locked with planks. Soon they are haunted by noises

and ghosts therefore Carolyn contacts the famous paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed

Warren. They visit the house and Lorraine and Ed feel that the house is possessed by an evil.

Their further investigation shows that a witch has sacrificed her seven-day baby to Satan and

has possessed other mothers that lived in the real estate to kill their children. Lorraine and Ed

bring his friends Drew and Brad to help them to collect evidences to convince the Church that

it is necessary an exorcism to save The Perron family from the evil. The film "House of Wax"

is about a gang of college friends, Carly, Wade, Blake, Nick, Paige and Dalton are en route to

a school football game when they wind up with a flat tire in a ghost town. They are forced to

seek help in the only place that is open: the local wax museum. Once inside the spooky and

seemingly abandoned building, they find the works on display are not quite what they seem

and the group soon discovers it's being hunted by the insane twin brothers who run the

museum.

The contrast difference of both films is the sub-genres. The sub-genres of "The Conjuring"

is the mix of supernatural and possession whereas "House of Wax" is thriller and slasher.

"The Conjuring" involves supernatural which centers around supernatural elements such as

ghosts, god, goddesses and miracles. It deals with unknown questions of the life. Therefore,

the film tend to incorporate religious elements into the plot. Since it emphasize the unknown,

supernatural films are considered suspenseful. Then, possession can be found in "The

Conjuring". The possession is a sub-genre which people's body is infiltrated by an evil spirit

or a demon that will take control over that person. It usually requires a priest or paranormal

investigator to perform exorcism on the victim. For example, an accused witch, Bathsheba

transforms into an evil spirit after she commits suicide. She possesses the mothers of every

family that moves into the house and uses them to kill the children. Carolyn is one of the

victims which she tries to stab her daughter with a pair of scissors. Ed does the exorcism on

Carolyn to eliminate Bathsheba from her body. On the contrary, "House of Wax" comprises

thriller which revolves around anticipation and suspense. The protagonist in these films is set

against a problem: an escape, a mission or a mystery. The tension with the main problem is

built on throughout the film and leads to stressful climax. The slasher sub-genre usually

features a lot of pursuits and murders. Teenagers are often their favourite prey. For instance,

the twin brothers, Vincent and Bo are the murderers in the film. Bo manipulates Vincent to

start murdering people to make more realistic wax figures out of their victims. Carly and

friends try to escape from the capture of the twin brothers, Vincent and Bo.

The characters of both films experience thrilling incidents in their building respectively but

the setting of both films are different. In the film "The Conjuring", the setting is at a

dilapidated and old farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island countryside. The farmhouse is

surrounded by tall pine trees and there is a lake in front of the house. A large withered tree is

found near the lake has a terrible truth. During the process of researching the house's history,

Ed and Lorraine find out that the house belonged to Bathsheba. When Bathsheba's husband

caught her sacrificing their 7-days-old baby, she cursed all those who would take her land and

proclaimed her love for Satan before she hung herself from the large tree. Various

paranormal activities occur in the house; doors open and close by themselves and Carolyn

hears clapping when nobody is there. Their young daughter, Cindy bangs her head repeatedly

against an old wardrobe. After that, the paranormal investigations take over by Ed, Lorraine

and another paranormal investigator. The setting up of thermal cameras and alarm systems

throughout the house is to prove the spirit of the evil Bathsheba is inhabiting the house. Then,

the exorcism performed by Ed towards Carolyn who is possessed by Bathsheba at the

basement of the house. In contrast, the setting of "House of Wax" is at a run-down wax

museum, which is entirely made of wax. In the wax museum, there are many eerie wax figure

everywhere. All the wax figures seem realistic as they are human covered with wax. Deaths

happen in the wax museum. Wade is ambushed in the wax museum and paralysed before

being embalmed in wax. His face has been sliced off which causes him to die from shock.

Next, Dalton is killed when Vincent, the antagonist beheaded him. Blake is killed when he is

stabbed in the neck and Paige is then hunted down and impaled in the head with a sharp

wooden pole. The antagonist, Bo is beaten to death with a baseball bat by Carly. At last,

Vincent is stabbed in the back by Carly before falling to his death in the molten wax.

In addition, there is also contrast difference of the personality between the characters of both

films. Ed and Lorraine Warren of "The Conjuring", who are famous paranormal

investigators, taking on the case of Perron family. Both of them are determined and willing to

sacrifice themselves. They never give up on investigating the case of Perron family until it is

completely solved. Once they sense that a strong evil spirit latched on the family, they did not

shrank back in fear. Ed explains that every exorcism they do, a little piece of Lorraine will be

taken, but he promises that they will do what they can to help them. Ed is forced to perform

the exorcism without authorization from the Catholic Church as the priest is too far away. On

the other hand, the siblings in "House of Wax", Carly and Nick are alert of the surroundings.

Carly and friends set up a camp in a field at night. The campsite is visited by a stranger in a

truck. Nick throws a beer bottle at the truck. Later that night, Carly detects someone entering

their camp when everyone is asleep. The fan belt of Wade's truck has been torn. Therefore,

they go to the nearest town, Ambrose to get a new fan belt. During the process of getting the

fan belt, they meet Bo who has the suitable fan belt they want. Carly waits outside Bo's house

while Wade follows Bo into his house. She realizes Bo's truck must be the same truck that

bothered them the night before, she presses the car horn to warn Wade. Moreover, Carly and

Nick are also brave and fearless in eliminating the enemies. Nick knocks over Bo to rescue

Carly who is captured by Bo. The siblings are chased by Bo and Vincent, they eventually end

up in the wax museum. Nick starts a fire in the wax museum and the whole house begins to

melt. Bo and Vincent die in the fire, with Bo's head being beaten by Carly; Vincent is then

stabbed by Carly and pushed down the wax floor to his death by Nick.

In conclusion, "The Conjuring" and "House of Wax" provides different experiences to the

audience. "The Conjuring" might suit the audience that believe in supernatural or ghosts and

demon. Audience who likes gory and thrilling will prefer "House of Wax". Both films are

great, but the appropriate choice depends on the audience's taste and favour.

References

1. Safran, P. (Producer), & Wan, J. (Director). (2013). The Conjuring [Motion picture]. (2013). Warner Bros. Entertainment.

2. Silver, J. (Producer), & Collet- Serra, J. (Director). (2005). House of wax [Motion picture]. (2005). Warner Home Video

3.   IMDb, 2013. The Conjuring. [Online] Available at: < http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1457767/>[Accessed 5 December 2014]

4. IMDb, 2008. House of Wax. [Online] Available at:< http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397065/>[Accessed 5 December 2014]

5. The Script Lab, 2009. Supernatural. [Online] Available at:<http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/supernatural>[ Accessed 5 December 2014]

6. The Script Lab, 2009. Thriller. [Online] Available at:<http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/thriller>[ Accessed 5 December 2014]