Halloween

In 1978, John Carpenter created iconic slasher movie- Halloween. The film is about a man who has escaped a mental institution who wants to return to the scene of his original crime in order to continue to his previous work. The film is a slasher horror which shows the murders of teenagers in a suburban area of America. The following questions demonstrate my understanding of the film.




How does the start exemplify a common technical code convention of the horror genre?

The beginning of the film has low key lighting with point of view camera shots which creates an eerie feeling as not all can be seen from the audience. This is parallel to the sound which is also very creepy and creates tension. The first scene also shows a little boy murdering his older sister which is abnormal and shows there is something wrong with him at such a young age- creating the start of a murderous horror film.


How does the setting fit with the horror genre?

It Halloween which is clearly a spooky time of the year which implies horror as well as coming with pumpkins and people dressed up. Secondly, it is set in a small, quiet town which is iconic at this time as it was the start of crimes happening in ‘your own back garden’. This sense of quiet and abandonment makes the film scarier as there is no one to help anyone.





What iconography of ‘innocence’ do we hear or see early on?

The little showed innocence at the beginning because he was at an innocent age which, usually, there is no evil or problems in such a little boy’s life. Secondly, he wore a clown mask which represents innocence as he saw it as a game of something to be laughed at. Further on the film, we see laurie’s innocence as she is only a young, virginal lady who was dedicated to her education. The theme of innocence was also demonstrated in the two young children, with one of them referring to Mike as ‘the bogey man’ rather than an actually person who could exist.


What was the main industry impact of Halloween?

Halloween was a very cheap film to make, had massive success and therefore made a very high profit. Other films followed in their footsteps in hope to also have good profit margins.


Name some ‘slasher’ films which followed on from Halloween:

Friday the 13th, Graduation Day, Happy Birthday to Me, Hell Night, The Prowler and The Slayer.





What are the four plot rules of ‘slasher’ films to
which Halloween began?

1. There is a traumatic event that creates a psychopathic killer

2. The killer returns to the scene of the event on a particular date with meaning

3. The killer stalks a group of teenagers to both sexes with some kind of weapon

4. There is a final girl who is often masculine/virginal who gets away of kills the killer.



Ways in which Laurie is androgynous:

1. Her dress sense is very covered up with little make up and a very ‘Tomboyish’ appearance.

2. Her voice is a lot deeper than the other girls which makes her more threatening

3. She is very intelligent and study based which wasn’t typical for girls in the 1970s

4. She isn’t reliant on a male character and holds herself very well

5. Her attitude within the film is very brave and protective towards others.


What does the extract mean by ‘A reactionary sexual agenda’?

They believe that ones who had sex in the film ended up dying because they had sex. They believe that horror films were there to stop the sexual revolution and to scare teens in to not having sex.


How does the director counter this suggestion and that Halloween has a reactionary sexual agenda?

Laurie didn’t have sex in the film and was still a virgin however, Mikes target was always her so her sexually experience had nothing to do with her survival. Carpenter states that she stayed alive because she wasn’t distracted like the others.


Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?

Many people believe this was because she was having sex and he was ‘copying’ the movement with an object that just happened to be a knife. However, when watching the film and listening to the doctor’s observations, it is clear to see it is just because he a bad person and there is evil in him.