Return of The Repressed

It is noted that the basis of nearly every horror film is derived from one of three main iconic pieces. These being: Frankenstein, Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written in an era of new psychological findings, thanks to Dr Sigmund Freud and his works with the psychoanalysing and his psychodynamic approach.
The psychodynamic approach to Psychology was based around ego states and various defence mechanisms. The ego states being the id: the primitive instincts of a being, the superego: is the overarching built-up personality that incorporates ideas of duty and conscience, finally, the ego: the balance of these two. Usually an underactive ego can lead to overactive ego states which can cause some psychological problems. It is from here which creates a basis for three different types of character personalities. It could be that the antagonist is based on the "id" and the protagonist is based on the "superego".

The theory also notes the ideas of "ego defence mechanisms". One of these mechanisms is "repression" and is the idea that traumatic events from the past become buried in ones sub-concious and there is no recollection of the event or memory. This is a particularly strong idea in terms of horror based genre. This is the notion that deepset "repressed" memories come to life via the catalyst of one of the main characters. For instance, Mr. Hyde is the repressed inner-being of Dr. Jekyll. Using this, a strong basis can be used for developing characters' illness', mutations, evil side, anger etc. Although, the idea of "repression" will be used in an exaggeratedmanner in terms of the horror genre.