Halloween

Halloween is a horror film about Michael Meyers, a boy who killed his sister and later escaped a metal hospital to go on a killing spree. It is a horror film as defined by Cynthia Freeland, who disagrees with Carroll that what makes a movie horrifying is the unnatural, impure and disgusting monster. Freeland defines art dread as an emotion of dread evoked by or in response to an artwork. This dread is a result of an encounter with something terrible or unsettling that is difficult to comprehend. The character of Michael Meyers is a perfect example of this. The whole movie is filled with suspense of where he will turn up next, if his main target Laurie will out run him and out smart him and if he will be caught by the police and his doctor. Watching the movie is dreadful because Laurie knows someone is following her and doesn’t listen to Tommy, the boy she babysits, that there is someone at the house across the street. She says its not the boogeyman to try and calm his fears, but she should have been more cautious to his concerns. What makes all this even more dreadful is that we have no idea why Michael is doing this. The movie opens up with his sister messing around with her boyfriend and then Michael going upstairs to kill her. He is put away and does not speak. He finally breaks out of the institution he was placed in and goes on to murder a group of teenagers. There is nothing to allude to why he is doing this. Not knowing his motive creates a sense of curiosity and uneasiness which adds to the suspense of the film.

The plot of the movie follows Carroll’s definition of a complex discovery plot. Onset occurs when Laurie notices that someone is following her. She becomes very hesitant when walking to and from home, even with her friends. Laurie tells her friend that Michael was behind a bush and her friend goes to check it out, only to find that he wasn’t there. Both the audience and Laurie know that he was there for a moment in time though. Discovery happens when Tommy sees Michael outside of his neighbors house. He thinks that Michael is the boogeyman and tries to make Laurie see him. Laurie tries to assure him there is no such thing and that she will let no such monster get him while she is there. Tommy does lighten up but still sees Michael’s silhouette across the street. Finally, after not being able to get in contact with Annie, her friend who was babysitting at the neighbors house, Laurie goes to see what is going on. At the house Laurie sees the dead bodies of her friends and runs back to Tommy’s house after being harassed by Michael. This is confirmation for Laurie. She believes and tries to contact others. She is unable to do this and hides in the house. Confrontation occurs when she tries to defend herself against Michael with a sewing needle. She stabs him in the neck, but he still continues to finish what he set out to do. Laurie goes to hide in the closet and Michael breaks in. She stabs him with a hanger and then with the knife he was carrying. He lays only for a minute, then is back to pursuing her. The doctor finally finds them and has a confrontation of his own. He shoots Michael multiple times till he falls off the balcony. Although we think that finishes him the camera takes another shot of where he fell and Michael was not there. This scene ended the movie.

Ending the movie with the disappearance of Michael adds to the suspense and horror of the film. The audience is already terrified of him and questioning why he is committing all these murders and to leave the movie with a cliff hanger makes it more frightening. Although Carroll may not think its a horror movie, Halloween definitely fits Freeland’s description of art dread.