Comparative Essay

Comparing the changes in the horror genre of Halloween and Scream

After the film Halloween the horror was genre was fading from our screen there were many reasons for this. One reason was because many directors has copied the conventions of Halloween so it became too repetitive. Also it was becoming unrealistic because it didn’t relate to real life and therefore wouldn’t do what horrors are meant to which is scare people. Another reason was the violence in the film influenced the children to think that being violent was good and also in the film there were no parents around it meant that the violence went unpunished, so it also encouraged children to do it when their parents went out. The violence was largely aimed at men and became sexist towards women who kept being killed; this meant it excluded a large part of society. The last reason why horror was fading is because the violence didn’t add anything to the film it was just there so it had no purpose. This put many people off watching them because they already knew how it would it end before the film had even begun.

This all changed when Wes Craven directed the film Scream. He was keen to change the old conventions used in previous horror films. The first way he did this was by avoiding the clichés like not using a steadicam for most of the film which Halloween did, it has fast moving camerawork and editing, this meant that the audience would see something new. Through out the movie the characters kept constantly mocking the conventions used in Halloween and previous horror films for example when one of the characters says ‘don’t say I’ll be right back’ and ‘for once I am thankful for being a virgin’. This shows they are mocking because in previous horror films when you say I’ll be right back they didn’t come back and that the reason the boy survived was because he was a virgin, but in previous horror films when the victims have sex they die afterwards. Also he keeps referring to previous horror films such as Halloween and Nightmare on

Elm Street

by using quiz’s, questions and jokes. This use of parody highlights the old clichés of horror and mocks them so the audience are made aware that they are outworn conventions

In Halloween the music was monotonous and too obvious where as in Scream the music was atmospheric and had an unrecognisable tune which varied for different scenes. The music in Scream was also carefully timed and constructed in synchronisation with the action, so this built up the tension in the audience putting them on the edge of their seats waiting for something to happen where as in Halloween it was obvious when something sinister was about to happen.

Scream has a big budget with a sophisticated, high tech soundtrack and used a number of big name stars, they included Neve Campbell (Sydney), Courtney Cox (reporter) and Drew Barrymore (1^st Victim). This was unusual for Horror films to use such big stars, where as in Halloween it had a very low budget, unknown actors, everyday suburban locations, boring, and obvious soundtrack with no special effects. This meant that Scream attracted more attention because the audience recognised the actors in the film. While promoting Scream the posters used Drew Barrymore this made the audience think she would survive but this was untrue she was the first victim in the film and was murdered right at the start of the film. This was unusual for a big star to die so early on so for the audience they did not know what to expect from the rest of film which would excite and frighten them. This created and enigma as the audience were made unaware of what may happen in the film.

In Scream there is less voyeurism (observing from a secret vantage point of naked bodies or sexual acts of others), which means the audience sees things from both the killers and victims point of view.  Which means the audience would have more sympathy for the victims because they are not as stupid as they in Halloween. In Scream the victims fight back and inflict injuries on the killers, so it’s more of an equal fight. This challenges the conventions because in Halloween the victims are weak and useless. Also in Scream there are two killers and because they use a phone call to stalk the victims it mans they could be omnipresent (anywhere) which makes it more frightening because you never know when or where the killer will jump out. Another challenge of the stereotype is that the killers aren’t superhuman or robotic like in previous films; they are ordinary boys form the community which adds realism to the film.

The similarities that Scream has to Halloween are that they both use knives to kill their victims which is an icon in any horror film, this allows scream to still represent the horror genre. Also they both use masks to cover the killers face, but in scream it’s a whole costume, but Wes Craven reinvented the mask of Halloween. This also connects Scream to the horror genre because it uses some of the traditional conventions.

In conclusion Scream moves away from the typical conventions and goes in a new direction creating new conventions for the horror genre. But it still uses some traditional conventions so the audience can relate to previous horror films like Halloween which uses all the traditional conventions for example using the iconic knife for the killings. I think Wes Craven has allowed other directors to be more creative and expand the conventions, giving audiences all different types of horror, this has made horror reappear and make a comeback with new less predictable themes.