Film Analysis - Halloween (1978)
Directed by John Carpenter
Written by John Carpenter & Debra Hill
For my AV Design film analysis task I have chosen the truly classic, low-budget horror film Halloween. This film alone spawned a entire sub-genre of horror, the stalk n' slash genre, and set the standard formula for many films to follow for years to come.
However although this film is responsible for producing this genre, I would not necessarily label it under the same category.
The stalk n' slash sub-genre usually consists of certain trademark elements including an unstoppable deformed/masked killer, premiscuous drug-taking teenagers, high body count, inventive murder methods and a dorky heroine. Where this the main selling point for most of these movies (i.e. boobs and blood) with each element getting increasingly rediculous as the sequels progress; the original Halloween is extremely mild on all these elements e.g. four murders, no blood, inhuman strength of killer not shown until finale; however this happens to be one of the scariest films of its kind due to suspense; all created by the basic tools available to a film maker....brilliant camera, lighting, sound and art production.
Therefore I would maybe classify it as more of a suspenseful thriller with a twist, being the first film of its kind and not directly linked to the typical horror genre at that time.

The film is based around an escaped psychopath, Michael Myers, who murdered his older sister when he was just 6 years old. Having escaped from a mental hospital after being there and having not said a word for 15 years, he returns to his hometown on Halloween night to stalk a group of unsuspecting girls, with psychiatrist Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) in hot pursuit.


Chase scene
In this pre-finale scene the heroine of the film Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) goes over to her friend's house across the street to find them all dead in the upstairs bedroom. As she huddles in the darkness crying, Michael Myers attacks her from out of nowhere and knocks her down the stairs. She looks up to see her masked assailant and runs away with Michael Myers in pursuit brandishing a large butcher knife.
Aside from an almost identical scene from the sequel Halloween II; this is one of the most suspenseful scenes I have seen.

Shot 1 - The first shot of this scene is my favourite. It shows Jamie Lee Curtis crouching down and crying with her back to the corner of the hallway wall facing the camera. The wall is dimly illuminated, but where the wall ends on the right-side of the shot leads to pure darkness, this creates an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. The music tone starts from low giving a sense of dread, and then changes to a high pitch to increase the tension. The shot is also medium close-up which gives a kind of claustophobic feel giving the impression that she has nowhere to run. As she stands up and moves forward to go down the stairs, the plain white masked face of Michael Myers subtlety appears in the pitch black corner of the screen. You only see this for a second or two but you can briefly glimpse at the dark eyes and white features of the white mask appear and strike Laurie silently from the darkness. I think the general concept of this shot is fantastic and is all brought about through clever lighting and camera work.

Shots 2 & 3 - A close-up of Laurie screaming before falling backwards over the banister leaving pure darkness. Shots are once again made up of dark shadows and the audio is simply a high-pitched scream from Laurie.

Shot 4 - A first-person perspective view of Laurie falling off the second floor banister and spiralling towards the stairs. I find this to be quite an interesting shot. It is once again very dark except for the light from the criss-cross of shadows created by the banisters, combined with a fast spiralling camera shot this gives a sense of confusion and alarm that Laurie is feeling as she is knocked off the banister without warning. The audio is once again Laurie screaming, I feel exclusion of music/soundeffects for this shot makes it seem a little more realistic and gives a slight break in the tension.

Shot 5 - A medium shot of Laurie crashing onto the middle of the stairs and hitting the wall. Again the shot is mostly pitch black aside from a fraction of lighting through the banisters. The audio provides the sound of her thumping against the wooden stairs and grunting and moaning from her injuries.

Shot 6 - A medium shot looking straight up the stairs to show the shadowy figure of Michael Myers step onto the landing at the top the stairs and look down at Laurie. The shot is very dark, only able to see the outline of Michael's legs and arms, not even his white mask, the usual small patches of light from the banister are here. The audio is at first a mixture of Michael's heavy breathing and Laurie cries of fear. The heavy breathing from beneath Michael's mask is pretty much the only sound he makes during the entire film, this gives him an essense of mystery which leads to an essense of fear since we are generally scared of the unknown. After Michael pauses the chase scene music starts, this one of many gems on the Halloween soundtrack and creates and builds up tension and fear as the final showdown begins, it is fairly similar to the Jaws theme in that it provides an audio sense of danger as the predator closes in on the prey.

Shots 7 & 8 - Medium close-ups of Laurie getting up and running towards front door. Lighting is slightly brighter as reaches front door depicting that she is escaping the danger and claustophobia of the darkness and heading towards freedom and safety. Chase music continues to play as Laurie cries.

Shot 9 - Medium shot of Michael's dark figure pacing down the stairs in pursuit to the chase music.

Shot 10 - Long shot of Laurie leaving the house screaming for help. Although she is free from the house, the shot shows that she is still in danger. The house appears gloomy and dark from the outside as does the surrounding area with not a single person around, the long shot is used here to show that Laurie is still alone but in a open space. The only audio here is of Laurie screaming for help, but with no reply; aswell as the chase music still playing and intensifying to increase the feeling of danger.