1. Halloween
(John Carpenter, 1978)
1. How does the start exemplify a common technical code convention of the horror genre?
Firstly, the movie uses a flash back to the past explaining the psychopathic killers reason or
motif for wanting to kill in the first place. The movie also starts off with an action POV shot
which is very uncommon for movies to open with especially ones of the horror genre.
2. What iconography of “innocence” do we hear or see early on?
A few things at the start of the movie signifies innocence, the first one is how little Tommy
Doyle is bullied about the boogie man. Telling the audiences that he is just a little child. The
second one is what we are told about Laurie’s character, she unlike her friends is a virgin she
also acts less girly that the others and is referred too multiple times as a ‘girl scout’.
3. How does the setting fit with the horror genre?
In the 80s around the time this was released slasher movies were becoming very popular.
Slasher movies where some of the first horror movies to not use the normal locations of a
horror film like a forest or cabin but to use somewhere close to home, this made the fear
more real because it suggested that the danger could be anywhere even where you live. The
setting doesn’t fit the normal horror location but for the time of the movie this was very
common.
4. What was the main industry impact of Halloween?
It set the path for all other slasher movies, being the first slasher movie that told the story of
stupid teens being distracted by their normal lives while a killer is on the loose was done to
death after Halloween because of the movies success.
2. 5. Name some “slasher” films which followed on from Halloween?
Some notable horror slashers that came after the success of Halloween are; Friday the 13th
franchise, My bloody valentine and Prom night terror to name a few.
6. What are the four plot rules of a “slasher” film sub-genre which Halloween began?
1. Traumatic event creates a psychopathic killer 2. Killer returns to even location, usually
on a pacific date. 3. Killer stalks and kills teens 4. ‘Final girl’ survives and somehow fights
of the monster, however the monster is never truly vanquished.
7. Give three ways in which Laurie is androgynous?
Firstly, she is very smart and aware of her surroundings, we learn this when she is not paying
attention in class but when asked a question she immediately knows the answer without
hesitation. She is Tom boy-ish acting less fascinated on boys like the rest of her friends.
Lastly and one of the most important parts setting up the ‘final girl’ character type is that
she is a virgin- most lead girls are virgins.
8. What does the extract mean by 2a reactionary sexual agenda”?
What this means is that the killer is killing teens because of some form of sexual frustration
that caused them to become a killer or because of some current sexual agenda. An example
if this is the thrusting of a knife in a slasher film being used a phallic imagery.
3. 9. How does the director, John Carpenter, counter the suggestion that Halloween had a
reactionary sexual agenda?
Because the killer in Halloween kills all of his victims before or after a sexual act, he kills his
sister at the start after she has sex with a boy, he killed one of Laurie’s friends whilst she was
going to see her boyfriend most likely to have sex. And the last two he kills is Laurie’s other
friend and her boyfriend just after that had sex.
10. Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?
This is linked to the last question and the idea of a sexual agenda casing him to kill, I believe
he kills his sister because of what he saw when his sister was engaging in sexual acts with
her boyfriend, making Mike misunderstand sex.
