Horror films come in a wide variety of styles and subject matter. The films examined in this study are three of the most intimate explorations of terror in the genre. Intimate in terms of settings (small towns and an isolated motel) and in the emotional links between the characters and the terrors they face. In Psycho, Norman Bates is a darker reflection of Marion Crane and Sam Loomis. They share frustrations, fears and compulsions, albeit at different levels of intensity. In The Birds, Melanie Daniels and her new acquaintances in Bodega Bay share emotional problems which sometimes impel them to act in destructive ways. Ways echoed and then overwhelmed by violence from the natural world. Halloween features a monster, Michael Myers, who has more in common with one of his victims, heroine Laurie Strode, than is evident at first glance. But beyond the link between normality and the violently aberrant, all three films give their audiences glimpses of emotional intimacy that is threatened and sometimes tragically destroyed by horror that, even though rare, can rob us of what makes life worth living.

There are six of them: heroines, heroes, wise elders, mad scientists, servants and monsters. One of the most fascinating and also endearing aspects of horror films is how they use these six clearly defined character types to portray good and evil. This was particularly true of the classics of the genre, where actors often appeared in the same type of role in many different films. The development of the archetypal characters reflected the way the genre reacted to social changes of the time. As the Great Depression yielded to the uncertainty of World War II, flawed but noble mad scientists such as Henry Frankenstein gave way to Dr. Nieman (The Ghost of Frankenstein) with his dreams of revenge and world conquest. This work details the development of the six archetypes in horror films and how they were portrayed in the many classics of the 1930s and 1940s.

Orson Welles is a self-conscious storyteller who often invites his audience to question the methods and veracity of what they see and hear. He is that rare magician who both pulls the wool over our eyes, for our delight, and unravels the wool before our eyes, encouraging us to ponder the nature of the magic itself. Many of the characters in Welles' movies can also be seen as magicians of a sort, creating impressions intended to manipulate other characters, or even themselves, in one direction or another. But unlike Welles, few of them voluntarily expose their tricks to the scrutiny of their victims. Six major Welles films - ""Citizen Kane"", ""The Magnificent Ambersons"", ""The Lady from Shanghai"", ""Touch of Evil"", ""The Trial"", and ""Chimes at Midnight"" - receive a scene by scene analysis in this critical study. From a viewer's perspective, it illuminates the dramatic rhythms of each film as they unfold on screen and from the soundtrack. Frequent analogies to other movies and pertinent quotations from the impressions of other commentators broaden the text, always within the scene by scene progression dictated by the principal film under discussion.