Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
My first inspirational horror film I have chosen to take inspiration from, as said above, is Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978).
Synopsis
On Halloween night in 1963, a six-year-old Michael Myers murders his older sister, Judith in an incredibly disturbing yet effective POV shot. Fifteen years after the murder, in 1978, Dr Samuel Loomis (accompanied by Nurse Marion Chambers), Myers’ psychiatrist, visits the sanitarium in Smith’s Grove, Illinois, where Myers is being held. However, after arriving in the driveway to the hospital, they discover that the patients had escaped, including the same Michael Myers. Myers manages to seize the car Loomis was in and drives into Haddonfield, where he grew up, and begins a killing spree, targeting Laurie Strode and her friends.
Genre conventions and features within the film
The film begins with a long opening credits sequence in which we see a carved lit pumpkin on the left hand side of the screen. This already sets the scene for a film based around Halloween as carved pumpkins are a huge symbol of said spooky season. The creepy face carved into the pumpkin also connotes that scary/spooky things will happen as it is shown to us whilst the main foreboding theme is playing out. As said before, the opening credits are accompanied by an infamous theme, composed by John Carpenter, which continues to be one of the most unsettling themes for a film. One of the main reasons for this is that it uses a 5/4 time signature which is an ‘asymmetrical meter’. This, as well as the main use of minor keys, creates an eerie atmosphere to the film, before it even starts. As the credits sequence plays out, the camera pulls into the pumpkin’s carved eye and the screen fades to black.
We are then introduced to our main setting for the film, Haddonfield, Illinois, where we see trick or treaters going around the town on Halloween night. This shot is all taken from Michael’s POV, and since at this point we haven’t seen his face, we feel uneasy and unsettled. We are then shown a shot of the Myers house, dimly lit so as to provoke a sense of secrecy and heighten discomfort. As we move towards the house, we are still unknown to who the point of view is taken from a we are only seeing the scene play out through the eyes of someone. We then move into the house where we see who we eventually know to be Judith Myers, Michael Myers’ older sister and first victim, with her boyfriend saying “Michael should be around somewhere”. Again, we are still quite literally in the dark at this point as this is the first time we have actually heard dialogue and a character’s name and we are still oblivious to who we are looking through the eyes of. We are also introduced to the clown mask that Michael eventually wears to murder his older sister, as Judith’s boyfriend wears it in an attempt to spook her. The fact that we, as the audience, are being shown the scene through a point of view of an unknown person, especially at this point where the POV is watching people through a window without them knowing, it links back to the genre. This is because a common genre convention used within horror films is people being watched without their knowing, and especially people being watched by serial killers or unknown entities. When Myers goes through the back door and to the kitchen, we see his POV as he opens a drawer and takes a huge knife. This heightens discomfort as once again, we don’t know who this person is, we only know that they now have a knife. We can also see that they could be quite young as the POV shots are filmed low down, this is later established to be young Michael Myers. All of the opening shot is played out through Michael’s POV and through low lighting to hide/conceal certain things, which heightens discomfort and reinforces the genre as it creates an eerie atmosphere. As the scene continues, we see Michael pick up the clown mask Judith’s boyfriend wore earlier, and put it on. Since we are still watching the scene through his eyes, having the mask with only two holes for eyes as our only source of what’s going on, it heightens discomfort significantly as what was already unknown has become even more unknown. We then begin to hear Michael breathing through the mask, which again heightens discomfort as it makes the scene feel even more real as it now establishes the fact that we are watching the scene from a real person. What I mean by this is that POV shots can sometimes feel artificial and, in this case, the fact that this POV is watching people without their knowing, having the breathing to reinforce the idea that it is a person, not a camera watching them makes the scene feel all that more disturbing. We then see Judith sitting in her room brushing her hair and, as mentioned before, we see the following through two holes cut in a mask which makes the situation feel restricted and all that more uneasy. There is then a pause where Michael is just standing and watching his sister, not killing he straight away, waiting until she turns around to face him as he kills her, which is disturbing in itself but also links into the horror genre because we see the murder from the killer’s perspective as well as seeing shot of the knife, covered in her blood. After killing his sister, we are still left in his POV as he runs down the stairs and out of the front door and onto the garden where we see a car arrive. The car, is later revealed to be the car belonging to Peter and Edith Myers, Judith and Michael’s parents.
It is now that the scene ceases to play out from Micheal’s POV as we cut to a shot of Michael being unmasked by his parents. We see Michael dressed in a clown costume which reinforces the genre no only because clowns are scary anyway, but because they are often used in horror films as clowns use makeup to disguise who they are making us oblivious as to who they truly are. Scary.
After this opening sequence, we then cut to fifteen years later when we see Dr Samuel Loomis, Myers’ psychiatrist, alongside Nurse Marion Chambers as they drive up to Smith’s Grove, Illinois sanitarium, during a dark and stormy night, where Myers is being held before his court hearing. This already links in with genre features as it is associated with the horror genre as mental hospitals and asylums are frequently used as they are usually seen as places of pain, imprisonment and mental and physical torture. After Loomis and Marion arrive at the driveway of the asylum, Loomis expresses his desperation to keep Myers from ever being released and frequently referring to him as ‘it’ as he sees him as nothing but pure evil, another genre feature associated with the horror genre. We also only see them through low lighting which is often used in horror films as they create a dark and uneasy setting as well as creating a lot of shadows which conceals many things and makes the audience feel oblivious to certain aspects of the film.
As they arrive, the camera cuts to a shot shown through the windscreen of the car Marion and Loomis are in, showing several patients standing and swaying in the stormy weather in their white uniforms. This is arguably one of the scariest shots in the film, in my opinion, as because of the minimal lighting, created only by the car lights projecting out into the darkness, we see these people emerge from the darkness, standing, not doing anything. Since they aren’t doing anything, just standing in the stormy rain with only the car lights to show they are there, it heightens discomfort and makes the audience feel very uneasy and tense. It also doesn’t help that this is in a high security mental asylum and so having the patients escape is pretty terrifying. It also links in with the genre features associated with horror. Again, all of this is through very little lighting and so what we do see is truly disturbing and terrifying.
After Loomis gets out of the car, and leaves Nurse Marion Chambers, we see a figure jump onto the car and eventually attack Marion. After smashing the window and essentially throwing her out of the car, Michael seizes the vehicle and drives away, leaving Loomis and Marion out in the dark stormy night, in the driveway of a mental asylum with its patients wandering around. How lovely.
We then cut to Haddonfield, Illinois where the main film is set, and where the start of the film was set. The setting of the film is deliberately very familiar as it links in with the genre features for the horror as making the locations seem more real and normal heightens discomfort for the audience. We are also introduced to the main character of the film, Laurie Strode, who has nothing particularly outlandish about her making her seem more relatable and relatable to the audience, also linking in with the genre features for this genre.
After being asked to drop off some keys at a house by her father, Laurie leaves and bumps into Tommy Doyle, who she is babysitting that evening. It is whilst talking to Tommy that she reveals that the house which the keys belong to is the Myers house. We then see the house look dishevelled and spooky as no one has lived there since the murder of Judith Myers back in 1963. The house looking dishevelled is a genre feature for the horror genre as it is associated with being haunted and abandoned, a common location for the genre.
The camera then cuts to the interior of the house, looking out through the window and at Laurie as she puts the keys on the mat only for the audience to hear the same breathing we heard earlier in the film, and the silhouette of Michael Myers. We then hear the ominous them we heard earlier which forebodes that something will happen later in the film to her. This is also where we begin to discover that Michael is stalking Laurie as we frequently see him driving the stolen car around the town as well as parking outside her school and watching her in a truly disturbing shot. What I mean by this is that there is a scene where Laurie looks outside of the window to see Michael standing with a mask over his head watching her in the classroom. As he watches, he slowly bends his head to the side as if to take in everything she’s doing. This is all credit to the very subtle things in the film that are some of the scariest shots within it as he doesn’t say anything, he just moves his head and fear immediately takes over. This links in with the genre features associated with the horror genre as the idea of being stalked is commonly used in many of the films within said genre. After Laurie look back to where he was standing before, we see that he has gone. This immediately heightens tensions and discomfort as we now don’t know where this serial killer, stalker is and links in with the genre feature of fear.
After leaving school, we see Michael begin to stalk Laurie and her friends, Annie and Lynda, and after following Laurie after one of her friends, Annie, insults him as he’s driving, he appears standing next to a hedge, watching Laurie. But after Annie goes to confront him, he disappears once again, which again, is pretty scary.
Whilst Laurie is being stalked, Dr Loomis travels to Haddonfield to warn the sheriff of Myers’ escape and the danger he brings with him. It is at this point that we also find out he stole his sister’s grave stone, which whilst being pretty weird also links in with the genre features of the horror genre as graveyards and gravestones are frequently used to create a gothic and haunting atmosphere.
After Laurie and Annie encounter Michael (sort of, Laurie just sees him), they get in Annie’s car and drive home. But as they are driving through town, they discover from Annie’s dad, the sheriff, that there has been a break in at a hardware store and five knives, a rope and a mask have been stolen. This is assumed to be Michael as he is shown to be wearing a mask, and after killing his sister and a truck driver (who he stole his overalls from), it can be deduced that he might have stolen some knives to kill more people with. Laurie, arriving home, looks out of her window to discover that Michael followed her home and is watching her. This is another link to the genre as the idea of stalking is commonly used within horror films.
Later on in the film, and later on that night, we see Laurie babysitting Tommy Doyle, who we met earlier in the film, and Annie babysitting from the street opposite. But as we cut to the exterior of the house, we see Michael watching from the shadows at Laurie, again showing the genre features of the genre as the fact that Myers is concealed in the shadows, watching is commonly used in many horror films. One of the main reasons other films use this as a way to evoke fear and discomfort is because it uses this film as its inspiration.
After being told earlier in the film by a group of boys that the boogie man was coming after him, Tommy Doyle tells Laurie that he saw him outside. Laurie tries to tell him that there’s no such thing, but he insists that he saw him. It is assumed that the ‘boogie man’ Tommy saw was in fact Michael Myers, and he is still following and watching Laurie and anyone who she’s with. The boogie man also links in with the genre features of the horror genre as the story of him was used to scare little children as he is a monster that comes after little kids and eats them.
We then cut to Annie’s house where the lights have gone out, linking in with the common genre feature of darkness concealing dangerous things, and where she becomes trapped in her garage. The idea of being trapped and enclosed in a locked room is also associated with the horror genre as it conveys the idea that you are locked and imprisoned in something so if anything were in there, you couldn’t get out.
After sending the child she was babysitting to Laurie, Annie goes to her car so she can drive to meet her boyfriend. But, as she returns to the car after fetching the keys, she gets in and realises condensation of the inside of the car. As she sits back, Michael appears and strangles her before slitting her throat, killing her. When we cut back to where Laurie is, we see Tommy look out of the window to see Michael carrying the dead Annie into her house. Tommy then screams that he saw the boogie man but Laurie tells him there’s not such things and that he’s just making it up.
We then cut to where Lynda’s house where she has brought her boyfriend, and into the bedroom where they are. As they are kissing, we see the shadow of Michael Myers walk across the wall whilst accompanied by the dramatic theme. This forebodes that something bad is about to happen. After going down to fetch some beer from downstairs, Lynda’s boyfriend, concealed in the darkness, is strangled before being stabbed by Michael Myers and pinned to the wall by said knife. Lynda, lying in bed waiting for her boyfriend to return, sees the door opening revealing a figure standing in the doorway with a blanket over its head and her boyfriend’s glasses over them. Thinking it to be her boyfriend, starts flirting, but the figure, assumed to be Michael in disguise, remains still, just breathing and watching. But, as she goes to ring Laurie, Myers walks towards her before strangling her to death.
Concerned about what she just heard, Laurie goes over to Lynda’s house only to find it locked. However, she finds a way to get in through the back door and enters the house. But as she goes upstairs and into Lynda’s bedroom, she discovers Annie lying on the bed with Judith Myers’ grave above her. Scared, she backs into a cupboard only to have it open to reveal Lynda’s dead body lying there.
But as she moves towards the corner, we can see Michael Myers’ face slowly emerge from the darkness and his hand cut Laurie’s arm with a knife. The fact that we can see him emerge from the darkness links in with the genre features of the horror genre as not knowing what is hiding in the dark heightens discomfort and increases tension. Having this whole sequence filmed in low light makes everything all that more terrifying as well as hiding several things. It also makes everything more mysterious making the audience constantly on edge for what might happen next. We then hear Laurie’s screams for help as she exits the house. Screams are often used in horror films as they are signs of fear and so having Laurie screaming for help links in with this genre feature.
After following Laurie back to her house, he breaks into said building trying to stab Laurie, leading to him being stabbed in the eye by a kitting needle, weaponising everyday objects, as Laurie defends herself. Thinking she had killed him, Laurie runs upstairs to the two children she was babysitting and telling them that everything is ok now, but in the corner of the screen, concealed in darkness, we see Michael Myers emerge. Laurie then runs into the closet in her room to escape Myers only to have him attack her a second time. But, Dr Loomis, after investigating the Myers house and discovering the car her stole earlier in the film, comes across Laurie’s house and hears the screams. Myers, about to kill Laurie, is then shot six times by Loomis, causing him to fall back and off the balcony, seemingly falling to his death. Thinking he had been killed, Loomis looks over the balcony only to discover Michael had gone. This whole sequence is played out through low lighting not only to suggest the time in which it is set in, but to also makes everything seem hidden and mysterious. Having Michael vanish after being killed also links to the genre features of the horror genre as it shows that you can’t kill him, he is unstoppable. It also links in with what Tommy says earlier in this sequence when he says “you can’t kill the boogie man” as it shows that he isn’t human and is so kind of evil creature.
Key elements
The film is mainly made up of long shots which make the situations a scenes seem more real as everyday life doesn’t involve constant cuts to each character or scene etc. By having the film made up of said shots, it makes the situations seem all that more uncomfortable as it seems more real to the audience.
Every time Michael Myers is shown, whether through POV shots, over the shoulder shots or just shown in the background of the shot, we hear the dramatic, ominous theme play out foreboding that something bad will happen either in that scene, or later on in the film, to that character.
We also see many of the characters reactions to what is happening (mainly towards the end when the main killings happen) through close-up reaction shots which show the fear in their eyes. This is a common genre feature used in horror films as it is one of the best ways to show emotion and fear within a scene.
By having the characters dressed in normal, everyday clothing, it makes them more relatable to the audience as well as making everything more familiar.
When the murders are committed, there is little to no lighting to create a sense of mystery to the scene. As well as this, by having low lighting, it creates the uneasy, uncomfortable feeling that makes the audience feel scared in horror films. This is why the final scenes of the films are shot through low lighting, to make the situations feel more scary.
How I will use it as my inspiration
One of the main aspects of the film I will be adapting for my film will be the use of POV shots for the unknown entity, taking inspiration from the opening sequence. I will also include the sound of breathing in my film for the unknown entity as when we see and hear Michael Myers, we hear his breathing through his mask. I will be using it as it makes the situation feel ever so slightly more uneasy. I will also be using the low lighting as my main source of inspiration for my film as it not only is a common feature to have within a film, but is one of the main aspects of the film that makes it all that more scary.