This post will be a complete breakdown of the movie, Halloween. I’ll discuss anything from the horror, motivations, purpose, timeline, and similarities in other classics. We’ll start with the horror, and what made the movie so scary!

The fear from the movie Halloween derives from the unknown. We never knew what Myers motivation was, why he went after Laurie, or why he killed his sister. Michael was so experienced in stalking and analyzing, he knew how to read people. Once he had targeted his prey, they were dead. If they ran, he chased, if they fought, he fought back harder. It was like a nightmare you couldn’t control, no matter what you did, your fate would be sealed. It drills the idea into your heads that it could be you, he could decide to target you, and once he does there’s nothing you can do. In conclusion, the fear is created through the unknown, and lack of control that Michael displays in his killings.

Although Mike’s motivations are unknown, there seems to be a pattern in who he chooses as his victims. That pattern consists of irresponsible teens, who commit ‘sins’ e.g. sex and drinking. This all starts with his sister who decided against babysitting little Mike and instead decided to hook up with her boyfriend. That night, little Mike preys on his first victim, his sister.

The second killing in the movie is eerily similar to the first. Annie Brackett is babysitting a young girl, but is more focused on her boyfriend Paul coming over. As Michael methodically stalks her, he finds the perfect moment to strangle and slit her throat. The rest of the victims that follow have all either ignored their responsibility’s, drank or had sex. Although the movie does not specifically give us a motivation for killing, we can clearly see they are trying to make a comment on humanity using the patterns of the victims. The movie seems to be trying to comment on the consequences of teens not taking responsibility in society.

Not only does the movie have a thrilling story, but the way it’s told makes everything much more memorable. The sound effects and choice of POV shots are what truly made this film lead the way for many others. A great example is the classic breathing sound through Mike’s mask that brings chills up your spine. Every time he stalks, kills, or is about to kill his breath rapidly increases as if he’s aroused. This has got to be the creepiest addition to the movies soundtrack, and what makes Mike even more inhumane.

Another powerful technique the film uses is the POV shots. Many times throughout the movie, the screen cuts to inside Mikes Mask. We essentially see what Mike sees, we are put in his shoes. This change in perspective is what makes the movie so interesting. On top of that, the mask is manipulated in such a frightening way. The original mask is actually of William Shatner, but flipped inside out. Doing so they covered his facial expressions, stripping him of that last humanity he had left. This technique makes Michael Myers seem even more threatening.

This movie was released just a few years after the Vietnam War was wrapped up. Saying this, Halloween was likely influenced by its time period. Michael Myers could easily be a representation of the war, an inhumane, purposeless evil. Michael killed countless people with no motivation, so did the war. Many soldiers were killed after the president knew they wouldn’t win the war, the fighting was purposeless. Laurie represents the American people fighting against the evil of the war in that she is relentless, dignified and stuck to her values. She is the only character in the movie who actually fights back against Michael. The American people relentlessly protested on the lawn of the Whitehouse and across the nation. They knew what was happening in Vietnam wasn’t right, and because of this they took responsibility and fought back just like Laurie.

As Halloween is such a classic it set the path for many other movies, but what was before that? Who set the way for Halloween? Of course Psycho is on that list, but so are some older ones like Frankenstein. Believe it or not there were quite a few similarity between the two. Some continuity’s we see are the universal themes, these themes always battle with humanity. In Frankenstein we toy with the idea of acceptance of the monster, will people still love him even if he’s ugly? Halloween does too push the limits of humanity, and it’s acceptance of monsters. The films show us that there is no boundary’s of humanity, that really anybody can break the laws of society. Essentially there is nothing in the way from stopping anybody from killing.

As for differences, the way horror is viewed has changed. Nowadays, more blood equals more horror. As a society we have become numb to the gruesome murders caught on film, the demons and the zombies. Halloween set the path for this, at the time the movie was pretty risky to release to the media. The deaths were just so gruesome, people weren’t exposed to this type of horror. If we were to watch Halloween today, it would be comical to how un-gruesome the deaths were. The same thing could be said about Frankenstein. Back then the novel was terrifying, but nowadays it could be a bedtime story. As time changes we become numb to the past, this is why horror has changed so much over the years.

In conclusion, the movie Halloween has set the path for so many movies. Everything from the POV shots, to the sounds track and the mask. They were able to tap into society’s fears and break them down with one single character, Michael Myers. The genius behind the movie will never be forgotten.

Works Cited:

https://screenrant.com/halloween-movie-true-story-killer-michael-myers/

https://www.inverse.com/article/49969-michael-myers-halloween-2018-original-costume-mask

https://halloweenmovie.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Myers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Strode