Analysis of Halloween (1978)

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

The film Halloween opens with the scene where Mike Myers kills his first victim, his sister. This conforms to convention as it opens with the traumatic event from the past that begins the story. The scene used several conventional horror elements such as parallel music, which later becomes iconic to the film. The music matches the atmosphere of the scene and works alongside it to create tension. Then there is the restricted narrative. As soon as Mike puts on the clown mask he finds the audience are restricted and only see things from Mike’s perspective. His in itself puts the audience in the killer’s shoes, trying to place them in his head.

How does the setting fit with the horror genre?

The setting of the film mainly centres around one street in a quiet suburban town. However the beginning of the film does play on what the audience would typically expect from horror by having a scene located at a mental hospital at night, where patients have escaped. This setting is dark and eerie, and is probably the darkest setting in the film. The fact that the audience don’t see the hospital makes it darker. That with the weather and time of day makes it creepy. The majority of the rest of the film however is set in the casual suburban street setting which plays with the idea of a monster in your own home. It almost feels like more of a sinister crime because your home is supposed to be a place where you feel safe. The entire film takes place on Halloween night, and Halloween night only. This has become conventional for horror films and it just makes the film more intense as the audience realise this all happened in one night.

What iconography of “innocence” do we hear or see early on?

From the opening scene there is the example of innocence as the audience are presented with Michael as a child and children are seen as innocent in the cultural dominant ideologies. He’s seen straight away in his clown costume for Halloween and his clown mask. Usually clowns are seen as funny and light-hearted but in horror clowns are conventionally evil so the audience do get the feeling that something isn’t right with this boy. Then you also have the example of Laurie being innocent in a different way. She’s teased by her friends about being virginal, this is a trait that connotes to innocent so now we have the Laurie as innocent making her into the innocent victim.

What was the main industry impact of Halloween?

Halloween was a film that was very cheap to make compared to the big budget horror films. It was also a highly successful film and the ratio of success to profit was high. After this many slasher films of a similar nature were developed trying to compete with the success of Halloween using things like nameless casts and similar elements used in this film.

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

Films like Friday The 13^th, Prom Night and Bloody Valentine all followed the success of Halloween.

Give three ways in which Laurie is androgynous?

Laurie is androgynous in several ways, one of those being her name. Laurie is a name which can be male or female so from the introduction of her character those traits are already being set in place. Also you have the way Laurie dresses in comparison with her friends. Her friends wear more revealing clothes, whereasLaurie’s dress sense is definitely more conservative and almost masculine. If she’s not wearing trousers she’s wearing opaque tights and clumpy shoes with old fashion skirts and a turtle neck. There is not a moment in the film where she isn’t completely covered up. Then you also have her voice, this actress was cast specifically and Laurie’s voice is deeper and definitely more mature than her friends, which can also relate to her attitude. She isn’t the typical girly teenager and her character contrasts her friend’s characters.

What does the extract mean by ‘a reactionary sexual agenda’?
When the extract talks about this it’s referring to the idea of almost warning teenagers that bad things happen if you act promiscuously. This in a way is trying to advise them against this behaviour in the form of film. At the same time it refers to the highlighting of the innocence that is connoted from virginity, promoting tem as sacred and safe.

How does the director John Carpenter, counter the suggestion that Halloween had a reactionary sexual agenda?

John Carpenter disregards this statement completely with the point that Laurie was always the intended victim from the moment she put the key under Mike Myers door mat. He saw her and targeted her. Her friends may have been acting promiscuously and this may have been the cause of their death, but it wasn’t directly. They were killed because they were distracted, allowing Michael to get into the house.

Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?

Mike’s sister Judith is the first victim of her younger brother and there are really two different answers to this. The more in depth look at the film could say that Michael was confused, seeing his sister acting in a sexual way and believing that this was hurting her. So he recreates the incident with a knife, an example of a phallic symbol. The more blatant and clearer answer however is that Mike Myers is pure evil. This was even stated in the film by his doctor. He was born evil. The real motive behind everything Mike does is really left to interpretation throughout the film.