Cinefantastique Online

National Public Radio reports that DONNIE DARKO, Richard Kelly’s 2001 cult film starring Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, has inspired a stage version, now playing in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

NPR also has an piece on “How Scary Movies Stoke Fear,” which recounts an effort by mathemeticians at the University of London, who tried to calculate which elements are essential to an effective horror film. They came up with:

• Escalating Music
• A Chase Scene
• A Scene of a Character Trapped

THE SHINING (1980) is offered as an example of a film containing all three.

There are also audio soundbites from experts suggesting that horror and terror are distinct: the former is a physical reaction; the later is more spiritual. Ideally, both can be achieved through cinematic suspense techniques, which include alternating scary scenes with quiet and/or humorous scenes to provide relief.

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