Halloween
Halloween is a Slasher horror movie, filmed in the spring of 1978 and directed by
John Carpenter. The movie took only 21 days to film, and due to cutbacks such as the iconic soundtrack being repeated many times, the use of unheard of actors and the fact that the film didn’t include special effects or CGI it only cost 325,000 US dollars to create. Despite
this, the film was incredibly successful, and went on to make a profit of 47 million
dollars.
It is often thought that Halloween was the start of the popular horror sub-genre that became known as 'Slasher', and that many famous and now iconic films such as Friday the 13th, Nightmare
on Elm Street and Prom Night are all loosely based on Halloween’s narrative
structure. However, its clear that the most recent Slasher genre films often base their filming and
narrative techniques on the Friday the 13th franchise. This is because they have such murderous
and graphic murder scenes. Eventually, the whole idea of the Slasher genre died
down slightly, until the Scream series began. This created a change from
Slasher, to the more modern Torture Porn sub-genre. Nevertheless, Halloween continues to
maintain its status as the starting point of slasher, and the slasher sub-genre
as well, meaning that its basic structure will continue to inspire slasher films in the 21st century.
Friday The 13th Halloween Nightmare Prom Night
on Elm
Street
The first few minutes of the film are set on October 31st
(Halloween) in 1963, where we see a 6-year old Michael Myers (played by Will
Sandin) savagely murder his teenage sister, Judith Myers (Played by Sandy
Johnson) with a large knife, after she partakes in sexual activity with her boyfriend. This type
of promiscuously ultimately results in her brutal and untimely death. This fundamentally
reflects the social attitudes and beliefs towards middle class girls at the time. It gives the indication that those who work hard are rewarded, compared to those who are involved with
things that are 'frowned upon', such as sex, alcohol and drug use, which shows a
strong link to death. After the murder, Michael is seen wearing his Halloween
costume, which is a clown. This almost forces the audience to think about the conventional innocence of a
child of that age, and plants the idea in the audiences mind, that what he did could have been an
accident.
The film
then creates a modern discourse for the audience, as it skips fifteen years in
to the future. It is now set on October the 30th 1978. We can see Michael
execute a well thought out plan, in order to escape from the mental hospital he
has spent the past 15 years in. The notability of the date (one day before
Halloween) is important, as its immediately known as one day before the
anniversary of his sister’s murder This,
disrupts the equanimity, as the escape releases Michael into the real world,
which causes intense havoc and manipulation. it is then that we first meet
Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), a college student whom is being stalked by
the newly released Michael. After many strange sightings of this nightmarish
masked man, Laurie can be seen spotting Michael in her backyard and even
peering into her bedroom window. It then becomes apparent that it is Halloween
night, It seems as though Micheal wants to finish what he started, however the
motivations and intentions behind his reasons for this are kept a secret from
the audience, to maintain a sense of mystery, create tension, and to keep
things 'behind a mask' which is symbolized by the menacing mask that Micheal
wears.
Laurie is
babysitting when her friend drops off the child she is also supposed to be
babysitting, whilst on the way to pick up her boyfriend. Micheal is in the
neighborhood, and it is clear that he sees Annie as his first victim. Micheal
brutishly murders Annie in her car, and this is followed by the murder of
Laurie's other two friends Lynda and Bob who, like with Micheal's sister, were
involved in sexual activity. It is
apparent that these murders were not part of Micheal's initial plan, but rather
they were to make a clear path for him to reach is primary target, which is
Laurie. Micheal is seem entering her house, and attempting several times before
Micheal's doctor from the mental hospital he escaped from Dr. Loomis gets
involved, and shoots Micheal in the head and chest with a pistol. Micheal is
then seen falling off of the balcony, seemingly dead. Dr.
Loomis then takes a second look at Michael’s body. Michael is gone, and the
non-diegetic sound of his breathing is heard in the background. There is a shared
suspicion between both the characters and the audience that Michael could be
anywhere.
The
structure of Halloween can be seen as the Classic Hollywood Narrative theory by
Tzvetan Todorov. This theory is made up of five stages, making up the progress
of any narrative. First, is the state of calmness, known as equilibrium, this
calm creates the sense of safety, and stability. Then comes the disequilibrium,
which is the disruption in a narrative which is essentially the start of a
chain of events, that bring the narrative back to the steady calmness of the
equilibrium.
Although
with Halloween the equilibrium at the end can be seen as a different type of equilibrium
than the beginning, as part of the audience, we feel as if there is a more
positive out take than the previous disequilibrium. However, this theory is difficult to discuss in relation to Halloween, as its difficult to pinpoint when the disequilibrium occurred in the first place.
The
disruption could be argued when Michael escaping the mental hospital, sequentially creates the rest of
the film, without Michael escaping, the majority of the film wouldn’t of
happened. However, if we are going by the order of which things are seen within
the movie, it would be argued that Mike Myers murdering his sister back in
1963, was the disequilibrium as this could be seen as the event that makes
Michael Myers the murderous and psychotic character he is in the rest of the
film. if it wasn’t for the initial event of Michael murdering his sister, he
may not have gone to the asylum in the first place, meaning he may not have
targeted Laurie several years later. If it was seen as the mental hospital
escape being the disequilibrium, then Halloween abides by the Classic Hollywood
Narrative.
Another
theory that is successfully seen in Halloween is The Male Gaze, a theory by
Laura Mulvey. This is the idea that women are shown in a sexual or provocative way
in horror movies, and this is tailored specifically for the male audience’s
pleasure. In the case of Halloween, Laurie’s friends are often seen wearing
short skirts, crop tops and participating in sexual acts. This type of content
would satisfy a male-dominated audience, and they substantially support Mulvey’s
theory that woman displayed in a slightly sexualised manner will appeal to men.
Another theory is The Final Girl theory. This theory suggests that only the most masculine, respectful and cleverest girl will survive. In Halloween, Laurie is a strong example of a 'final
girl' as she is the only one of Micheal Myers victims that survives. The reason behind
Laurie’s survival is that she is a virginal, androgynous character. She is not
seen partaking in any sexual activities, and is portrayed in a masculine style. Often wearing more masculine clothing than her feminine friends. This is shown when Laurie cancels her date to the ball, as she is not interested. This reflects the ideology that Laurie isn’t promiscuous, and instead values her education more.
Laurie survives the movie purely because she doesn’t have sex, young teens in the 1970’’s were
experimenting with sex, and this was frowned upon by the older generation, who strongly believed that education should be thought of highly before sex. As a result,
Halloween reflects a “reactionary sexual agenda”, meaning that those who have
sex are killed, keeping the connection between sex and death strong. Laurie’s
friends Annie, bob and Lynda are a killed for their promiscuous actions, even though they were just a distraction, and Laurie was the main target.
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