Horror films, according to Carroll, must contain a monster. This monster must defy social norms and be impure and disgusting to be more specific. So following the Carrollian model, some may discount the film Halloween (1978), as the “monster” in this film is not a monster like Frankenstein or Dracula, who are respectively creations and unexplained natural beasts, but our monster, Michael Myers, is human—or is he?
Halloween begins with a scene depicting a young woman, Myers’ sister, and man, rapaciously groping one another, with young Myers, unbeknownst to the audience at this point, watching the whole scene from outside his home. The two lovers descend the stairs and fulfill their passions quickly and the man leaves in quite a hurry. Myers enters the home, and retrieves a knife from the kitchen, then slowly creeps up the stairs in the shadowy abode to find his sister brushing her hair in front of a bureau. Before she can turn, the cold steel has already pierced her and she falls lifeless to the floor with only a few shrieks of pain and helplessness. Myers makes his way out the front door to find his parents arriving home. Myers is sent to a mental asylum to be under the care of Dr. Loomis.
Myers, fifteen years later, is able to escape and steals an official state vehicle and returns to his home in Illinois. The film is pure suspense from this point on, as teenagers Laurie, Annie, Lynda, and Bob are all home without parental supervision on Halloween night. Annie is the first victim, as she clumsily spills butter on herself she is forced to use the washer and dryer in the garage—which happens to be across the lawn in a separated garage. The door locks behind her and she fumbles around attempting to get out, eventually succeeding, but with many suspenseful sequences in the dark room. Her luck runs out though when she must pick up her boyfriend, Paul, to bring him back to the house. Upon getting in her vehicle, we are startled by a hand from the back seat. Annie struggles but to no avail as she is strangled by Myers. The next victim is Bob, Lynda’s boyfriend, who escapes to the kitchen for a beverage after “spending time” with Lynda. Bob quickly finds himself permanently affixed to the pantry door via Myers’ knife. Myers ascends the stairs to Lynda, who is lying in wait for Bob to return with her beer—we see in the doorway a sheet cloaked Michael Myers wearing Bob’s era appropriate large glasses over the sheet. After a short exchange of words, all spoken by Lynda, she carelessly turns her back to the killer to call Laurie, who lives across the street. This does not end well, for after her connection with Laurie, Myers strangles her with the telephone cord to the ears of her neighbor across the street. Upon this exchange Laurie makes her way across the street to check on her friends. She is horrified by the display of the bodies in the house and turns to leave. She is nearly a victim as Myers appears from the darkness with a swipe of his butcher knife. She falls down the stairs and quickly leaves the house to retreat to hers across the street. After much noise she finally gathers the attention of the boy she is babysitting who lets her into the house just in time—another suspenseful sequence in which the morally unlikely outcome is the one which occurs (contrary to Carroll’s theory). Myers breaks into the home and is stabbed by Laurie with a knitting needle to the neck. She fails to recognize that he is dead, and he lunges over the couch, in front of which she is resting, and nearly misses her again—the morally unlikely again is the outcome. She runs up the stairs and locks herself in the closet, with Myers close behind. He breaks in, but Laurie has bent a coat hanger into a useful weapon and stabs him in the eye. Again she fails to ensure the death of the killer and he takes her into a chokehold. She struggles with him and is able to break free, by this time Dr. Loomis has come into the house after seeing the children Laurie was babysitting fleeing to safety. He shoots Myers and he falls from the second floor balcony. After all of his wounds, Myers somehow escapes as Dr. Loomis looks to the ground, and he is gone.
Myers definitely defies the abilities of a human and is more apt to likening to a traditional horror monster. His ability to live after many potentially fatal wounds; his emotionless killings; and his ghastly appearance are all factors in his category violating nature. Dr. Loomis himself, in the film, says to the police officer who is assisting him, “this is no man.” Michael Myers certainly has the capacity to art-horrify anyone, and the added suspense via startle tricks (‘buses’) and the ominous music that plays on screen when he is nearing victims only exacerbates the edge-of-your-seat, pardon the colloquialism, fear. And the ending of the film is a dead, pardon the pun, giveaway for the necessity of a sequel—and I believe there were several.
Halloween begins with a scene depicting a young woman, Myers’ sister, and man, rapaciously groping one another, with young Myers, unbeknownst to the audience at this point, watching the whole scene from outside his home. The two lovers descend the stairs and fulfill their passions quickly and the man leaves in quite a hurry. Myers enters the home, and retrieves a knife from the kitchen, then slowly creeps up the stairs in the shadowy abode to find his sister brushing her hair in front of a bureau. Before she can turn, the cold steel has already pierced her and she falls lifeless to the floor with only a few shrieks of pain and helplessness. Myers makes his way out the front door to find his parents arriving home. Myers is sent to a mental asylum to be under the care of Dr. Loomis.
Myers, fifteen years later, is able to escape and steals an official state vehicle and returns to his home in Illinois. The film is pure suspense from this point on, as teenagers Laurie, Annie, Lynda, and Bob are all home without parental supervision on Halloween night. Annie is the first victim, as she clumsily spills butter on herself she is forced to use the washer and dryer in the garage—which happens to be across the lawn in a separated garage. The door locks behind her and she fumbles around attempting to get out, eventually succeeding, but with many suspenseful sequences in the dark room. Her luck runs out though when she must pick up her boyfriend, Paul, to bring him back to the house. Upon getting in her vehicle, we are startled by a hand from the back seat. Annie struggles but to no avail as she is strangled by Myers. The next victim is Bob, Lynda’s boyfriend, who escapes to the kitchen for a beverage after “spending time” with Lynda. Bob quickly finds himself permanently affixed to the pantry door via Myers’ knife. Myers ascends the stairs to Lynda, who is lying in wait for Bob to return with her beer—we see in the doorway a sheet cloaked Michael Myers wearing Bob’s era appropriate large glasses over the sheet. After a short exchange of words, all spoken by Lynda, she carelessly turns her back to the killer to call Laurie, who lives across the street. This does not end well, for after her connection with Laurie, Myers strangles her with the telephone cord to the ears of her neighbor across the street. Upon this exchange Laurie makes her way across the street to check on her friends. She is horrified by the display of the bodies in the house and turns to leave. She is nearly a victim as Myers appears from the darkness with a swipe of his butcher knife. She falls down the stairs and quickly leaves the house to retreat to hers across the street. After much noise she finally gathers the attention of the boy she is babysitting who lets her into the house just in time—another suspenseful sequence in which the morally unlikely outcome is the one which occurs (contrary to Carroll’s theory). Myers breaks into the home and is stabbed by Laurie with a knitting needle to the neck. She fails to recognize that he is dead, and he lunges over the couch, in front of which she is resting, and nearly misses her again—the morally unlikely again is the outcome. She runs up the stairs and locks herself in the closet, with Myers close behind. He breaks in, but Laurie has bent a coat hanger into a useful weapon and stabs him in the eye. Again she fails to ensure the death of the killer and he takes her into a chokehold. She struggles with him and is able to break free, by this time Dr. Loomis has come into the house after seeing the children Laurie was babysitting fleeing to safety. He shoots Myers and he falls from the second floor balcony. After all of his wounds, Myers somehow escapes as Dr. Loomis looks to the ground, and he is gone.
Myers definitely defies the abilities of a human and is more apt to likening to a traditional horror monster. His ability to live after many potentially fatal wounds; his emotionless killings; and his ghastly appearance are all factors in his category violating nature. Dr. Loomis himself, in the film, says to the police officer who is assisting him, “this is no man.” Michael Myers certainly has the capacity to art-horrify anyone, and the added suspense via startle tricks (‘buses’) and the ominous music that plays on screen when he is nearing victims only exacerbates the edge-of-your-seat, pardon the colloquialism, fear. And the ending of the film is a dead, pardon the pun, giveaway for the necessity of a sequel—and I believe there were several.
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