Halloween

    

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

Myers' as a child dressed in a clown suit shortly after killing his sister

The start sets up the story and introduces the killer, explaining Myers’ psychosis. The p.o.v shot from behind Myers mask creates a scarier and restricted narration along with low-key lighting and sound motif.

Myers' watches Laurie walk away on a suburban street

2. How does the setting fit with the horror genre?

The film is set in a suburban town largely at night (which is typical of horror films as night is considered scarier) and is set on Halloween night which is naturally associated with horror/scariness.

Laurie(left) with her friends

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

Michael puts on a clown mask which makes him seem innocent in the way that children dress up for Trick or Treating. Also, Laurie is mocked by her friends for being virginal and (too) smart.

Halloween poster

4.What was the main industry impact of Halloween?

It was cheap to make and made a lot of profit which meant a ‘slew of slasher movies followed’.

5. Name some ‘slasher’ films which followed on from Halloween.

(1979)-Friday The 13^th/ (1980)-Bloody Valentine/(1981)Friday The 13^th 2/ (1981)-The Prowler.

 6. What are the four plot rules of the ‘slasher’ film sub-genre which Halloween began

. 

   1.A traumatic event creates a killer.

   2. The killer returns to the site of event-usually on a specific date.

   3.Killer stalk and graphically kills obnoxious teens-usually with a blade.
    4.‘Final girl’ survives (usually boyish or virginal) and thwarts killer-although they are never truly vanquished.

 7. Give three ways in which Laurie is androgynous.

1. Her clothes aren’t as sexual as the other girls in the film     
-she wears a long sleeved blouse that is done right up with         either a long skirt and thick tights or long trousers and shoes 
with a small heel on them.

2.  Her actions-she isn’t like the other girls in the film- she does scream but she can get away and fights back whereas the other girls were easy to kill.

3.  Her name could be for both a boy or a girl.

8. What does the extract mean by ‘a reactionary sexual agenda’?

Viewers argued that Carpenter’s meaning behind the film was that sexual teens will somehow be punished and made a connection between sex and death.

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

Carpenter draws attention to the fact that Laurie was Meyer's intended victim all along even though she was the ‘purest’ of all the girls in the film. He also stated that the other teens merely died because they weren’t paying attention. 

10. Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?

The main understanding is that Myers killed his sister because he misunderstood the act of her having sex and tried to re-create it by using the knife to stab her in the same ‘plunging’ motion. However, some people believe it was purely because he is evil, which is repeatedly stated by 'Loomis' in the film.