"Home-made amentia". Mothers and houses in American horror movies (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 2,0, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: Countless people have seen movies like Psycho or The Birds by the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock. And they would see it time and again since films like these do not grow old. But what is it about these films that make them worth watching over and over? Is it the great acting performance? Most definitely! But I dare say that it is the suspense and the way these movies play with your mind. Certainly one would have a hard time finding a person who is not given the chills when Vera Miles goes down into the basement of that Victorian house up on the hill looking for Mrs. Bates only to find her mummified. There must be something to this atmosphere, to this very setting of the house and the house itself that make us feel uncomfortable and at unease.

What goes for Psycho would have to go for The Birds, too. This cozy and inviting house in Bodega Bay, right across the bay, grows more and more hostile and aggravating in the course of action. This cannot just be coincidence, can it?

Moreover, the Overlook Hotel from The Shining plays an important role in the row of scary and menacing houses in American movie history. Even though it is a place where people spend their holidays it becomes a place where nightmares come to life.

This paper will revolve around the influence of the houses on people living there, and what it is what makes them a threat to their inhabitants. Furthermore, the role and the influence of the mother with focus on the Hitchcock movies will be dealt with. Is the concept of the mother the same in all the Hitchcock movies? Is there a resemblance or do they differ in various aspects? Are the mothers as threatening as the houses or maybe even more? As a framework, the idea of Sigmund Freud's Heimlich/Unheimlich as well as the idea of the Id, Ego and Super-Ego will be taken into consideration.