Horror Film Magazine Analysis

Comparative Analysis Of Scream And Halloween

I've picked the two films scream and Halloween for a number of different reasons, firstly because it fits the specification of the genre of movie that I'm studying which is horror movies, they are also very iconic films and highly recognized when films are associated with the horror genre, these two films are first to be mentioned as they are popular and have certainly made a name for themselves in the specific genre, genres are categorized through a number of key features, which are protagonists, plot and stock situations, setting and decor, icons, stock characters and themes, each horror genre will have different styles and features within these key features which are used to categorized movies into which genre they belong, and example of this would be comedy if the stock characters and themes were people doing slapstick with typically dim people falling into generic traps and awkward situations then this would show what type of genre the film was.

Halloween was directed by John carpenter in 1978 and in its prime days it was a well-known horror movie, and to this day a lot of people know of its existence in the horror genre, the typical codes and conventions of scream were low lighting to create more suspense, masked murderer to add mystery to the whole plot and situation, also a lot of close ups of the killer and action shot where the killer is chasing the victim, also the killer in this film was portrayed to be of a superior nature with extreme strength and extremely tall and broad.

The protagonist in Halloween is played by a young girl called Jamie lee Curtis who plays Laurie in the horror movie, she manages to survive the terrible attack from Michael Myers the psychotic super strength killer featured as the main character in the movie, throughout the film Laurie is represented as sensible and intelligent enough to survive an attack from this monster, she's made to look independent and not typically naive and clueless as many other horror movies have done before, she's one of the only people who survived unlike many of the other victims who will quickly killed off throughout the film,  in the late 70s many people became fond of the horror film and other writers and directors followed in their footsteps as the film made a significant amount of money for its time, the drawback affect of this was that so many horror movies were becoming  predicable as they all lacked unique setting and theme, they all had the same common codes and conventions which became tiring for horror movie lovers, Halloween was successful because it was the first of its kind to include many great features which made horror movies what they are today.

In 1997 Wes craven (also director of nightmare on elm street) has directed the horror movie “scream” which was a whole different aspect of horror movies as it brought new features and ideas to the table, instead of using the same codes and conventions, Wes craven intelligently thought of the concept of over emphasizing the codes and conventions and adding comical features to create a twist to the way horror movies were seen, in the movie scream the two main villains are two young no good teenagers that lack all classic codes and conventions such as scary super strength or powers that would make them mortal from the rest of the characters throughout the movie, instead they are seen as the same type of people as any of the other characters, another reason that scream was able to try such new things and features was because it was a large budgeted film meaning that a lot of money and effort had been applied to the movie in order for the result of a successful horror movie, the film features some very well known stars such as; Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore and Harry Winkler, as well as this the sound track, music and overall equipment used was a lot more expensive in comparison to the equipment and features used in Halloween.

In the horror movie scream the victims that have been used are not represented as sex crazed teenager girls but instead they are seen as normal teenage girls living their average teenage life, in the film the victims are given the chance to fight back against the killers which challenges generic codes and conventions of other horror movies such as Halloween because where they have the chance to fight back against the killers, in Halloween they has no chance against the super strength huge Michael Myers, so Wes craven is mocking the over used conventions to give it a new twist when using it within a horror movie, this emphasizes how predictable it would be for the killer to just come into the scene and kill off a number of various victims, but in this film this has been taking into consideration and changed up to make a joke out of the over used convention, Wes craven definitely used over used conventions to his advantage throughout the movie, another example of this is that drew Barrymore is interrogated by the two killers and asked questions about Halloween, this challenges generic conventions as the killer is normally silent which adds a sense of mysteriousness to them, this is then mocked by allowing the killers to talk and have a normal conversation with the victims. The film scream is a lot more gory and bloodier than the scenes in Halloween, this could be down to the budget that Halloween had to work with in comparison to scream which was a lot more money for resources for the movie, another feature was nudity and sex appeal throughout the horror movies. Although scream has a lot more attractive stars in the movie the film Halloween showed a lot more nudity which is another way that the films differ from one and other.

Although Wes Craven challenges a lot of the generic conventions of horror movies he did however used some of the classic features so that he was able to stay in touch with the horror movie lovers and offer to them the conventions that they know and love without being too generic, for example the killers in scream are still wearing iconic masks to hide the identity of the killer, which is commonly used in horror movies, another convention was the use of ‘steadicam’ which was where the camera was hand held, this would create more suspense for the audience and gives you more of a realistic effect when the victim is either running away from the killer or hiding from them, scream uses point of view on the victims and on the killer, by using POV on the victims it allowed you to see the movie from the victims point of perspective, which in some way could in effect make you more sympathetic of the victim, scream also uses low key lighting which creates suspense when looking at the atmosphere that the victim is in, this reinforced the over used generic conventions that have been applied to horror movies, the movie was a huge success and it changed the approach that horror directors when choose when creating their perfect horror movie, other movies which create the same concept of taking old over used generic horror conventions and creating a comical effect to them are night mare on elm street and the majority of the Child's play movies.

In conclusion Halloween started off a number of good conventions used throughout horror film making, but they became overused, so I agree that scream was a great concept because it brought something new to the table and showed people that there were other approaches to horror movies rather than just making them generic and the same generic conventions applied to them.

Creep Analysis

Setting: The setting of the film is in an underground in Charing Cross, which she finds herself in a position where she has been trapped in overnight, an underground is a place that you would normally come and go, a location you would approach in the process of reaching your specific destination, so for her to be trapped overnight challenges the original situation where people would come and go from a train station, the killers hideout in the movie seems to be a place where he keeps all of his victims in some sort of make belief hospital operating room, the normal expectations from an operating room are challenges as everything is unclean and very unhygienic in comparison to a real operating room in an hospital.

Characters: Kate is the female main character in the film, a false killer which leads you to believe that the villain is the male character when he firstly tries to sexually assault Kate towards the beginning of the film, the actual killer of the film is not seen in until 45 minutes into the film which adds suspense to all the weird events that are occurring, wants to make the audience think that the killer is some sort of creature or animal the way their never seen and moves around so shifty throughout the majority of the film, when you finally see the killer he has a number of weird features which make him out of the ordinary to the audience such as he has a disfigured nose and no eyebrows which typically would attract the audience making him look extremely weird, he also has a number of scars on his body which would make him look dangerous and as if he’s been in some bad situations, there’s blood on his body which makes him also look dangerous and gives him the gory effect that you would automatically connect with the doctors operating room, there’s a certain part in the film which leads you to believe that the killer is psychotic as you see him pretending to be washing his hands under a tap which is not working.

Iconography: The start of the movie uses blood as an iconic feature by putting in on the floor leading you to believe that someone has been killed and been dragged from the current spot they was at. An iconic unique sign that the killer used was by feeding body parts to rats which made him look crazy. The film also uses extreme violence and some horrific gory scenes which shake up the audience.

Camera Work: theirs a wide shot at the end of the movie where a man approaching the woman who looks like a beggar at the current time, by using a wide shot it allows you to see the man approaching the woman, throughout the film there is a number of close up shots of the killer which emphasises his horrific body features, POV shot use when Kate is looking for an exit, creating the effect that someone or something is watching her. As she is running through the tube, the camera is in 3 different positions, from behind from in front, and POV, this is because from behind it looks like she’s running from something, in front it looks like she’s trying to reach a certain destination and POV shows that something is watching her, she then stops and we see a close up of her face which expresses the desperation she’s experiencing. The use of CCTV Camera shows that she is being monitored and recorded but whoever is in the CCTV operating room isn’t there or their just not being responsive.

Lighting: in the start of the film the only light that has been used is the use of torchlight which limits the audience on what they can see which in affect creates more suspense, also I would make the audience look in other places to see if things were lurking in the shadows, shadows is a key feature when making a horror film. During the time that Kate was on the tube the lights flicker creating the affect that she is going to be in the dark which would put her in a bad situation as her vision would be limited, which scares people.

Sound: the use of Kate screaming creates the effect of someone who is scared and shows you that theirs a situation when someone’s in trouble and in desperation of help, the opening sound track of the sound of a rattling train station with the effect that you’re on the actual train, it’s a good effect to create and it links to the setting, the man who tried to sexually assault Kate is dragged from the train station on the floor and with the use of diegetic sound of the male character screaming out in pain, which creates the situation where you can see that the victim/villain (due to the fact he tried to rape her) is in an horrific position.

The Messengers Poster Analysis

Salvage Horror Movie Poster Analysis

Secondary Research: Halloween

In late 1978, a small horror film opened in Bowling Green, Kentucky (before moving on to Chicago and New York City) that would change the face of the genre. Initially dismissed by many serious critics as unworthy of attention or praise, the motion picture looked headed for an oblivion where it would never make back its small, $300,000 budget. Then, months later, Tom Allen's insightful and complimentary essay appeared in The Village Voice. Suddenly, critics began to notice that there was more to this film than initially met the eye.
Because of its title, Halloween has frequently been grouped together with all the other splatter films that populated theaters throughout the late-1970s and early-1980s. However, while Halloween is rightfully considered the father of the modern slasher genre, it is not a member (the Halloween sequels, on the other hand, are). This is not a gruesome motion picture -- there is surprisingly little graphic violence and almost no blood. Halloween is built on suspense, not gore, and initiated more than a few of today's common horror/thriller cliches. The ultimate success of the movie, however, encouraged other film makers to try their hand at this sort of enterprise, and it didn't take long for someone to decide that audiences wanted as many explicitly grisly scenes as the running length would allow. By the time Halloween's sequel was released in 1981, the objective of this sort of movie was no longer to scare its viewers, but to gross them out.
From a shock-and-suspense point-of-view, Halloween is the rival of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. With only a few arguable exceptions (such as The Exorcist), there isn't another post-1970 release that comes close to it in terms of scaring the living hell out of a viewer. Halloween starts out in a creepy fashion with a brutal murder, and never lets up from there. Every frame drips with atmosphere. Who cares that it was filmed during the spring in California instead of during the autumn in fictional Haddonfield, Illinois?

Halloween was the film that earned Jamie Lee Curtis the infamous title of "Scream Queen." She plays Laurie Strode, the virginal protagonist. Curtis' capable interpretation of the gawky, awkward Laurie is frequently overlooked in analyses of the movie and its genre, but she effectively conveys the feelings and aspirations of a shy, insecure teenager. It's hard to believe that the actress would develop (in more ways than one) into a woman whose sexual appeal would drive pictures like A Fish Called Wanda.
The film opens with a long, single-shot prologue that takes place on Halloween night, 1963. A young Michael Myers watches as his older sister, Judith, sneaks upstairs for a quickie with a guy from school. After the boyfriend has departed, Michael takes a knife out of the kitchen drawer, ascends the staircase, and stabs Judith to death. The entire sequence employs the subjective point-of-view, an approach that writer/director John Carpenter returns to repeatedly throughout the movie. Only after the deed is done do we learn that Michael is only a grade-schooler.
The bulk of the movie takes place fifteen years later. Michael, confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for more than ten years, escapes on the night before Halloween. His doctor, Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance), believing Michael to be the embodiment of evil, tracks the killer back to his hometown of Haddonfield. From there, it's a race against time as Loomis seeks to locate and stop Michael before he starts again where he left off in 1963.

Michael's primary victims are Laurie and her two best friends, Annie (Nancy Loomis) and Lynda (P.J. Soles). Throughout the film, Michael is shown gradually closing in on the girls, until, in the final act, Laurie is involved in a face-to-face fight for her life. Much has been made of the fact that the key to survival in Halloween is being a virgin. The three girls who have sex with their boyfriends (Judith Myers, Annie, and Lynda) don't survive their encounters with Michael. Laurie, who has nothing to do with boys, does. Co-writers Carpenter and Debra Hill have stated numerous times that this was not a conscious theme, but, ever since Halloween, the standard for slasher films has been that sexual promiscuity leads to a violent end.

Nick Castle plays Michael (who is referred to in the end credits as "the Shape") as an implacable, inhuman adversary. Because he wears a painted white Captain Kirk mask, we only once (briefly) see his features, and this makes him all the more frightening. He kills without making a sound or changing his expression, and his movements are often slow and zombie-like. Carpenter is exceedingly careful in choosing the camera angles he uses to shoot Michael. Before the climax, there's never a clear close-up -- he's always concealed by shadows, shown in the distance, or presented as otherwise obscured. This approach makes for an especially ominous villain. Subsequent Halloweens delved more deeply into Michael's origins and his connection to Laurie, but, in this one, he remains an enigma, and the lack of a clear motive makes his actions all the more terrifying. Another important element of Halloween's success is our ability to identify with the trio of female protagonists, and Carpenter establishes a rapport between the audience and the characters by employing intelligent, realistic dialogue and placing the girls in believable situations. For Annie and Lynda, the most important thing about Halloween night is finding a place to have sex with their boyfriends. For Laurie, it's making sure the kid she's babysitting is having a good time. Annie and Lynda are blissfully unaware of their danger until it's too late, but Laurie recognizes her peril. Meanwhile, if Michael represents pure evil, Sam Loomis is the avenging angel. He's the voice of reason that no one listens to, and, in the end, he's the cavalry coming over the mountain, gun blazing.

Halloween is one of those films where the attention to detail is evident in every frame. While there are many memorable moments, three scenes stand out above the rest. The first is the long, unbroken opening sequence where the young Michael dons a clown mask and murders his sister. Often copied, but never equaled, this scene was unique for its time and reminiscent of Psycho's shower murder for its effect. The second also occurs early in the movie, as Michael escapes from the asylum during a rain storm. To this day, I find these to be the most chilling three minutes of the movie. Finally, there's the scene near the end where Laurie is banging on a locked door while Michael approaches slowly and inexorably from behind. It's a credit to Carpenter that, no matter how many times you've seen the movie, the tension at this point still mounts to a palpable level.

Despite being relatively simple and unsophisticated, Halloween's music is one of its strongest assets. Carpenter's dissonant, jarring themes provide the perfect backdrop for Michael's activity, proving that a film doesn't need a symphonic score by an A-line composer to be effective. Carpenter's Halloween main title, one of the horror genre's best-recognizable tunes, can bring chills even away from the theatre. Try putting it in the tape deck when you're alone in the car sometime after midnight on a lonely country road, and see if you feel secure.

The final body count in Halloween is surprisingly low (the immediate sequel, Halloween 2, rectified this matter, but that's another story), but the terror quotient is high. This is the kind of impeccably crafted motion picture that burrows deep into our psyche and connects with the dark, hidden terrors that lurk there. Halloween is not a perfect movie, but no recent horror film has attained this pinnacle (as evidenced by the plaudits heaped upon it in Wes Craven's recent Scream). Likewise, John Carpenter has never come close to recapturing Halloween's artistic or commercial success, though he has tried many times. Halloween remains untouched -- a modern classic of the most horrific kind.