The music at the beginning of the film, exemplifies the common conventions of the horror genre as the music and sound effects create a sense of eeriness and gives the audience an idea of the killer as it is played whenever he is around. A POV shot is used in an extended take as the movie begins, not only setting the scene but beginning the narrative. The use of a POV shot is clever because it gives the consumer a restricted view of the surroundings and they may hear background noises but not be able to see what is happening, creating a more on-edge feeling for them. The lighting is also very dark, reinforcing the on-edge feeling the director has created for the audience. Finally, the POV shot allows the audience to create some sort of connection with the killer and make them feel more involved in the film, before it has even properly begun.
2. How does the setting fit with the horror genre?
The movie is set in a small suburban town in Illinois, the town contains everything you would expect from a horror movie, suburban town - large houses and a graveyard. The small town connotes that in the town everybody knows everybody, meaning that anybody could be a potential victim. The suburban setting also connotes that this thing could happen to anybody, as it is a relatble setting for people who live in the US. The houses are meant to connote safety, when in reality they provide no safety at all from the killer.Most of the film is set during the night, beginning properly with the first scene at the house. The second scene is set on the way to a psychiatric hospital, where Michael is being kept. This creates a new sense of fear and eeriness for the audience as you usually expected people who are insane and quite scary to be at a psych hospital. The entire film is set on Halloween weekend, which is significant because this is usually a time when people get quite scared and are on edge. This also reinforce that it could happen to anybody anywhere.3. What iconography of 'innocence' do we hear or see early on?
At the beginning of the film we hear children singing 'trick or treat' whilst they are actually trick or treating, this connotes innocence because they are young and naive so do not know what is going on around them. Also, the fact that the protagonist is a virgin reinforces the innocence as she is not interested in anything sexual and is only interested in doing well at school and babysitting. She is what we would call a 'golden girl' she is very set in her ways about what she prioritises, may timers throughout the film she is called a 'girl scout' which has connotations of being young, naive and innocent.
4. What was the main industry impact of Halloween?
Halloween was extremely cheap to make but was extremely profitable after release, this lead to the creation of many sequels and copycats to the film, because people thought it would be a cheap, and easy way to make large amounts of money. The reason the film was so easy to make is because the film contained no big stars who wanted excessive pay. The very minimal gore also meant that no special effects were needed, which cut the costs back by a large amount.5. Name some 'slasher' films which followed on from Halloween?
Some slasher films that followed Halloween are; Friday the 13th (1979), Prom Night and Terror Train (1980), Bloody Valentine, Night School and The Burning (1981) and many more, including sequels.
6. What are the four plot rules of the 'slasher' film sub-genre which Halloween began?
Rule Number 1) A traumatic event from the past creates the antagonist/killer
Rule Number 2) The killer returns to the place of the event, usually on a specific date
Rule Number 3) The killer stalks and eventually kills a group of teenagers
Rule Number 4) The 'final girl' (usually quite boyish) survives and the killer turns out to not actually be dead.
7. Give three ways in which Laurie is androgynous?
Laurie shows multiple traits of the opposite gender throughout the film. The first trait being her noticeable lack of makeup, to go with this are the clothes she wears, she tends to go for more dull colours and the actual clothes are quite prudish and boyish. Laurie also has quite a deep voice in comparison to the other girls in the film, and her facial features are also quite manly, such as her jawline and nose. Finally, she isn't at all interested in boys or sex, the opposite to her friends Lynda and Annie.
8. What does the extract mean by 'a reactionary sexual agenda'?
A reactionary sexual agenda is when the virginal character (Laurie) survives whilst those who are sexually active are killed. This links to what was happening during this era, people believed that there should be no sex before marriage and the occurrence of AIDS (which cannot be cured) which is indicated that those who have sex are punished.
9. How does the director, John Carpenter, counter the suggestion that Halloween had a reactionary sexual agenda?
John Carpenter said that it was his intention for all the sexually active characters to die, and that they didn't die because of their sexual activity they died because they simply weren't paying attention. The reason that Laurie survived is because she was aware of her surroundings, even at the start of the film when she is distracted by seeing Michael Myers outside her school, she still knew the answer straight away. She wasn't distracted like all of the other characters she was always aware, she was also Michael's target all along but her awareness is the reason she survived and the other characters didn't.
10. Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?
We never find out why Michael Myers actually kills his sister at the beginning of the movie, but many people believe it is because he was replicating the movements that would happen during sex. However, this still doesn't tell us why he kills her. The only indication we get is when Dr. Loomis says that Mike is 'pure evil' which links us to the satanic films that debuted later on in the 80s. Michael has no humanity and feels no remorse for his actions, which is why he continues to kill people 15 years after murdering his sister.
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