The Return Of The Repressed.

Sigmund Freud is the theorist who coined the term "the return of the repressed" He theorized that "an unconscious thought/feeling, would constantly press for access to the executive fictions of the mind in order to be discharged"
http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2006/03/the_return_of_t.html

Definition- The unconscious exclusion of painful impulses, desires, or fears from the conscious mind.

For audiences, this means that if they have experienced something which is happening in a horror film, for instance their relative could have been murdered, or they may have a terrifying childhood memory, the film brings back the terrible memories for them, making the horror film more scary and almost making them the victim. Most horror films are based on this idea, which is why they usually scare audiences because its bringing back something which terrifies them.


Shutter (2004- Thai Horror) is a good example of dealing with "The Return Of The Repressed" because the man character is haunted with something which happened in the past and the woman is haunted with guilt.

The plot is about a couple who have a car accident and run over a girl. The Woman insists that they go back to help, however the man refuses to turn back.
The man is a photographer and in his pictures, a ghost like figure keeps appearing and they discover that it is the girl who they ran over. The couple become systematically haunted by the ghost of the girl.



Shutter Trailer (2004)