Horror Film Trailer Analysis'

The Representation of Women in Horror Films

The Crazies - A Film Analysis

The Crazies (2010) – Film Analysis

 The Crazies, is a 2010 horror film, directed by Breck Eisner. The film itself is a remake of the original 1973 version, both films loosely share the same storyline, only with modern CGI and cinematography being present in the 2010 version. The film is based in “the friendliest place on Earth”, Ogden Marsh, Iowa, in where the town’s sheriff, David (Timothy Olyphant) and his community doctor wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell) battle through the barbaric spread of the infectious Trixie virus. Accompanied by his loyal, yet perhaps dysfunctional Deputy, Russell Clank (Joe Anderson), the trio attempt to escape the town of Ogden Marsh, with conspiracies of a hidden governmental accident beginning to surface. This accident, being a plane crash, although not seeing within the film, the crash has been the primary cause to this outbreak of the virus. A secondary effect of the crash was contaminating the water supply, with the chemical released from the crash dissolving into the water network. As the residents on Ogden Marsh consume the water, the Trixie virus is also being consumed. The government, with help of the military, an incubation perimeter is constructed for the citizens of Ogden Marsh. The Trixie virus causes mental and physical decay, resulting in the killer and predatorial instincts of citizens to kill their neighbours. After many iconic action and death scenes, the final two remaining, David and Judy travel to the next town, only for the cycle, to continue.

The film received positive reviews at the box office, making an estimated $50 million by May 2010. It was praised for its uncommon intelligence and intensity, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes’ 6.4/10 rating. The film’s target audience would simply be, those who enjoy horror, however, as it focuses on a zombie/outbreak subgenre, it could focus on a younger, perhaps, teenage audience, despite it not primarily focusing on a teenage subgenre. This potential teenage audience, in the UK at least, could be challenged, due to the BBFC giving it an 18 rating, due to it’s graphic and sexual scenes.

Each horror film has it’s own style and codes and conventions, however their narrative structure can easily be compared. Bulgarian structuralist Tzvetan Todorov came up with the idea of a narrative shared amongst most American films. In where we start with an equilibrium, a state of normality, until an event disrupts this equilibrium. The knock-on effect of this event causes a chain of events to resolve the disequilibrium, known as the path to resolution. The solution (in most cases) is eventually found and there will become a new equilibrium, albeit different from the initial equilibrium, it’s still hold trademarks of a happy ending. This structural narrative, was labelled The Classic Hollywood Narrative/Structure (CHN).

Often, most films abide by the CHN, either consciously or subconsciously, however, in this case, The Crazies narrative structure is even harder to define. It contains elements of a Hollywood Narrative, however the beginning scene indicates that this is not in fact a typical Todorov narrative structure. The first scene we see of the film is houses burning, in the midst of a destroyed Ogden Marsh, however this scene, as we later find out, is set about 2/3 of the way into the film. We aren’t aware of the cause of this fire, with the text displayed 2 day earlier, we are transported back in time, to where the narrative begins. Although, this “2 day earlier” scene may seem the start of the narrative, we again later find out, in the whole frame of the narrative, it’s about a quarter of the way into the narrative. With the plane crash, being the initial start to the story, although it’s not seen on screen. Essentially, the film begins with the baseball game, and ending with David and Judy moving to Cedar Rapids, however, the actual narrative of the film, starts with the plane crash, ending with the escape. The time span of the film is approximately 100 minutes, the story or narrative is about 3 weeks long, although we only see 3 days of this story. So initially, The Crazies doesn’t follow the CHN, however if you alter some scenes of the film, it can apply to the CHN. If it didn’t start with the fire burning, and instead starting with the day of the baseball game. The initial equilibrium would be the baseball game, the disruption being the first infected Rory Hamill displaying abnormal behaviour whilst holding a shotgun, the path to resolution is to escape, with more and more neighbours being infected, the new equilibrium would be David and Judy going on Cedar Rapids to resume to normal, only for the effect of dramatic irony to be deployed, and for this outbreak to continue in Cedar Rapids. This manipulating of the CHN is what earned The Crazies it’s positive rating, although, not abiding by the CHN, can be risky, with a disjointed narrative. Overall, The Crazies don’t exactly abide by the CHN, however there are some elements linking to a Hollywood Narrative.

An important aspect to any film is the characters, and how their ideologies and actions can impact upon the audience. Some characters might be used to display a particular message, whereas as some may be used for the audience’s pleasure, linking to the Male Gaze theory. One theorist devised 8 character types, in relation to old Russian folk tales, Vladimir Propp.

In relation to Propp’s character roles, the Hero in The Crazies, is obvious the Sheriff, David. Even the role of the town’s Sheriff, shows that he has great responsibility in protecting the town. Of course, he survives, whilst protecting his wife along the way. His wife, Judy, therefore, is the princess. She needs help and loving assistance by David, especially as she is pregnant, this loving family bond, is perhaps the dominant set ideology, and thus why they survive. The villain in this circumstance isn’t clear, there is no clear evil. In comparison to Halloween (1978), they have a set evil, villain in Michael Myers, yet in The Crazies, there is no individual evil. Instead, the government could be blamed, due to their failed incubation period and mistreatment of townspeople. They are to blame for the cover up of the plane crash, and perhaps is the reason why the Trixie virus spread so quickly. The military can also be perceived as a villain, with them shooting an innocent boy and his mother, and then incinerating them. A third potential reason is the “zombies” themselves and their mentality to kill. Despite this being unintentional and the virus possessing them to do so, they are still evil in the sense of un-humane features and the killing of their neighbours. The donor character role is occupied the Deputy Sheriff, Russell Clark, who save the Sheriff’s life “3 times”, before his minor turn against the sheriff, only for him to sacrifice himself, for the greater good of dignity.

Claude Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary opposition. The oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts. In the context of the Crazies, there a several, clearly defined binary opposition. One of the being the opposition of Sanity v Insanity. The sanity here, is the survivors, the un-infected, of whom have a slight awareness and consciousness about the virus outbreak.  Insanity, is those infected by the virus, their minds are possessed and programmed to kill. A clear example of insanity is when the local farmer is in his jail cell, and have several out-of-body spasms, indicating that this Trixie virus is taking over the citizens of Ogden Marsh. Another binary opposite is Alive v Dead, with the hero’s surviving, and the other side characters and citizens of Ogden Marsh, being dead. Although, some of them aren’t physically dead, they are dead in the sense of their personality and identity being wiped, and becoming infected with a worrying disease.

Each film has set durations, in terms of screen time, plot time and the story time. These ideas of duration where brought to fruition by theorist Bordwell and Thompson upon their work on cause and effect. In The Crazies, the screen duration is 100 minutes that of which is the time the film runs for, the plot duration is about 3 days, the film covers 3 days’ worth of action. Whereas,, the story duration is much longer, and extends for about 3 weeks. The 33 days shown for the plot duration is located near the end of the story timeline, with previous events not shown on film, having an impact on the situation which we see. The plane crash spilling chemical residue is an example of an event that took place before the film. This plane crash was an accident by the government, which was transporting a dangerous chemical. The crash was unfortunate, having a knock-on effect to the citizens of Ogden Marsh. The crash spilled this chemical throughout the town and landed in a nearby marsh/swamp. The chemical seeped into the water, contaminating it. Another event that took place before the film, which ultimately effected the plot duration, was the citizens drinking the contaminated water. The first of those being the person closest to the water supply, being the first to be contaminated. This is then where the plot begins, with Rory invading the baseball pitch, with his unresponsive behaviour with a shotgun, prompting the sheriff to shoot him. The consumption of the water spreads to more and more citizens, resulting in the government intervention of a 48 hour incubation period.

The Crazies representation of women is fairly limited due to the lack of female characters in the film. The Sheriff’s wife is quite masculine and is in fact the final girl of the film. She isn’t portrayed in a sexualised manner due to the fact she is pregnant. This love and strong connection between the Sheriff and his wife reflects the dominant ideology of an ideal lifestyle or The American Dream. A committed marriage with children is this idea of the dream, and is sought after by many. This is opposed to promiscuous women, who aren’t in a relationship and who are of teenage teats, who are often frowned upon, and can have a link to death. Becca is killed, and was displayed in a fairly provocative manner, linking to Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory.

In conclusion, The Crazies is a film that goes against the CHN, however, maintains many of the typical code and conventions of a modern day horror film. The film explores several different durations and how they all impact upon the audience.

Halloween - A Film Analysis

Halloween - A Film Analysis

Halloween is a 1978 Slasher horror film, directed by John Carpenter. The film was relatively cheap to make, with the combination of a repeated, yet iconic soundtrack, unknown actors and no special effects or CGI, it made the film immensely profitable. This film is credited to signal the start of the Slasher genre, with famous films such as Friday the 13^th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Prom Night all loosely based on Halloween’s narrative structure. However, most slasher films based their styles off the Friday the 13^th franchise for it’s barbaric and graphic murder scenes. Eventually, the whole idea of the Slasher died down significantly until the emergence

of the Scream series, diverging from Slasher, to a Torture Porn subgenre. Nevertheless, Halloween maintains to be a fundamental starting point of this Slasher subgenre as well as providing a basic narrative structure for other horror films to follow.

The film is set in the remote suburban town of Haddonfield, Illinois, the remoteness of the town rereinforces the idea of isolation, loneliness and the concept of ‘no escape’. It’s set at the time of Halloween night in 1963, where a young, 6-year old Michael Myers (Will Sandin) brutally murders his older teenage sister, Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson), after she partakes in sexual activity with her boyfriend. It’s this type of promiscuous activity that results in her death, which reflects the dominant ideology at the time, that middle class girls who work hard are rewarded, compared those who are involved with sex, alcohol and drug use – a strong link with death. After the murder, Michael is seen walking in a child Halloween costume of a clown. This reflects a potential innocence of the child, that what he did was perhaps an accident. The fact that he is only 6 years old also signifies an innocence to the character. The film then advances fifteen years, into 1978, creating a modern discourse for the audience. Michael escapes from the mental hospital he has spent the previous 15 years. The prominence of the date of Halloween Michael, as the anniversary of his sister’s murder looms close. This, is essentially the disruption of the equilibrium, as the escape leads Michael into the real world, causing havoc and manipulating minds at every corner. At this point we meet Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), a college student, is being stalked by Michael. After strange sightings of this masked man, Laurie spots Michael in her backyard, peering into her bedroom window. By this point, it’s Halloween night, the night Michael seemingly, has some unfinished business, his motivations and intentions to do so, are kept a secret from the audience, to maintain a sense of mystery, and to keep things “behind a mask”. As Laurie babysits, her college friend Annie also babysits. Annie receives a caul off her boyfriend to pick him up, and in doing so, drops the child she’s babysitting to Laurie’s house. Lurking in the neighbourhood is Michael, with Annie being Michael first victim of the night by murdering her in her car. The death of Annie is accompanied by the death of Laurie’s other friends Lynda and Bob, who together, are involved in sexual relations and activity. These deaths, weren’t intentional, just make-way, with Laurie being Michael’s primary target. Michael enters the household with the attempt to murder Laurie, through several failed attempts of killing Michael, Dr. Loomis intervenes with a pistol, firing gun shots to the head and chest of Michael, falling of the balcony in the process. As Dr. Loomis takes a second look at Michael’s ‘dead’ body, Michael is gone, with the non-diegetic sound of his breathing in the background and a shared suspicion that Michael could be anywhere.

Halloween has a unique and brilliant narrative structure and it’s possible it can be related to the Bulgarian theorist Tzvetan Todorov and his idea of the Classic Hollywood Narrative (CHN). The Classic Hollywood Narrative compromises of 5 different stages of a how a narrative progresses. Firstly, is the equilibrium, a state of normality, where everything is as it should be. Secondly, an event, someone or something disrupts this equilibrium, this sense of stability. The disruption, also known as disequilibrium, cause a series or chain of events, prompting a path to resolution. The path being to restore the equilibrium, changing things back to how they once were. This disequilibrium is eventually sold towards the end of the tale creating a new equilibrium. Although the beginning and new equilibrium may not be the same, they are both significantly better than the disequilibrium, making the narrative end on a more positive note.

Whether Halloween applies to the CHN is fairly difficult to discuss as there is no clear definition of what the disruption to the equilibrium is. If it goes by the order of the film, it would be Mike Myers murdering his sister back in 1963, which is the event that makes Michael Myers the barbaric character he is. Or, the disruption could be Michael escaping the hospital/asylum, which in turn, creates the rest of the film, without Michael escaping, these events or majority of the film wouldn’t of happened. However, if it wasn’t for the initial event of Michael murdering his sister, he may not have gone to the asylum in the first place, meaning he may not have targeted Laurie several years later. Going by the latter option, of the escape being the disruption, Halloween abides by the Classic Hollywood Narrative. The equilibrium being the night before Halloween, Laurie is studying hard and there’s an ongoing discussion and hype around the college’s ball. There seems to be a significant peace within the town, with people looking forward to Halloween night. The disruption to the equilibrium is Michael Myers escaping the hospital in Smith’s Grove, by stealing the car, when he was meant to be taken to a court hearing. Upon his escape, Dr Loofis warns several people about the escapee and the possible dangers he can bring to Haddonfield, especially on the personally historic occasion of Halloween for Myers. After multiple stalking occurrences, Laurie realizes that this figure is a potential threat to her and her fellow friends. The series events that followed are the murders of her friends, prompting the path to resolution, to kill or escape Mike Myers. Eventually, Mike Myers is killed… well, supposedly. This new equilibrium as such can be seen a sequel bait, with the mystery of where Michael can be, it leaves the audience on a cliff-hanger, maintaining this horror aspect of unknowing and mystery.

Another theorist that looked into narrative structure is Vladimir Propp. Propp believed that every character had a purpose, and as such, devise 8 different character roles that are seen in most narratives. He conducted his studies upon old Russian folk tales, and the same principle can be applied to film narratives, in particular, Halloween.

The villain in this film is clearly defined, Michael Myers. He’s the one who needs to be stopped, creates a sense of fear not only to other character, but to the audience too. Several murders, secretive nature and urge to kill all anchor the term villain to Michael Myers name. The hero in this case is Laurie. She successfully protects the children she’s babysitting as well as miraculously surviving the wrath of Michael Myers. Laurie is an androgynous character, fairly masculine, she’s a hard working student and not seen partaking in any adult activities (with spoking a joint being an exception, yet reflective of teenagers in the 1970’s), Laurie clearly reflects the dominant ideology of the time and is a strong symbol of the ‘ideal Americans’, to work hard and you will succeed. The donor and helper in this case can be considered as Dr. Loofis, essentially, if it wasn’t for his intervention, Laurie could have easily been murdered. He knows the story of Mike Myers, and perhaps is aware of some of his intentions. The helping aspect is the shooting of Myers, aiding the hero her life.

Claude Levi Strauss looked at narrative structure in a different way, in terms of binary oppositions. The opposite values reveals the structure of media texts. In the case of, Halloween, there is a clear opposition of Good v Evil. The evil nature is obvious with Michael Myers, with him being credited as ‘pure evil’ and a tendency to kill. The good, indicates Laurie, in one sense, she is good as she survives and protects the vulnerable children, and in the other sense, she is good in terms of her actions and attitudes. With her being and androgynous, virginal, work-orientated character, she correctly reflects the dominant ideology at the time of the film. It also relates to the Structural Consensus Theory, in that a person of middle class value education more than those of a lower class, of whom alcohol, drugs and sex seems to be the priority. 

Halloween uses flashbacks as part of a narrative technical technique to manipulate our awareness of time and place. This idea of narrative was brought to fruition by Bordwell and Thompson, although they didn’t fully come up with a narrative idea or structure, they came up with several important ideas. The effect of the flashback to 1963 in the Judith Myers murder scene is used to establish the character of Michael Myers, signifying that he has tendencies to kill and despite his young age, is pure evil. The text of “15 year later” anchors the fast forward in time, that we have moved 15 years from 1963 to 1978. B&T also explored the notion of cause and effect, that the audience links a problem or a cause and make a connection to the effect. Even if there is no obvious connection, we still try to establish one.

There are 3 distinctions of time within a film. The screen duration, plot duration and the story duration. For Halloween, the screen duration is 91 minutes, the plot duration is about 2 days (Oct. 30/31) and the story duration is over 15 years. Although the murder scene from 1963, the remaining 15 years are not shown, indicating that Michael has been in the psychiatric hospital for this duration. The actual main plot duration of the film is from October 30 1978 – October 31 1978, and the 1963 is a flashback notifying the audience of the story of Michael Myers.

Halloween successfully abides by the two theories of the Male Gaze and The Final Girl.

 The Male Gaze, a theory by Laura Mulvey, is the notion of woman being portrayed in a sexual or provocative manner, which is tailored for the male audience’s pleasure. In this case, Laurie’s friends are seen wearing short skirt, crop tops and are seen experimenting in sexual acts. This criteria satisfies a male-dominated audience, and although these ideas may be made intentionally or unintentionally, they still support Mulvey’s theory that woman displayed ion a slightly sexualised manner appeal to men.

The Final girl theory reveals that the most manly, sensible and essentially, the cleverest girl survives a particular event. In this case, Laurie is the final girl as she is the one who survives Michael Myer’s spree. The reason behind Laurie’s survival is that she is a virginal, androgynous character. She is not seen discussing sex and is portrayed in a masculine style. One prime example of this is when Annie suggests Laurie going to the college ball with Ben Tramer, Annie decides to take matters into her own hands and contacts Ben about the date, after hearing the news, Laurie immediately calls the date off, stating she’s not interested. This reflects the ideology that Laurie isn’t focused on promiscuous acts, and instead values her education. This is also evident, when she forgets her Chemistry text book, and is in desperate need of it back. Laurie survives as she doesn’t have sex, young teens in the 1970’’s were experimenting with sex, and this was frowned upon by elders, going against their ideology, that education should be valued before sex. As a result, Halloween reflects a “reactionary sexual agenda”, meaning that those who have sex are killed, maintaining a strong connection between sex and death. Laurie’s friends Annie, bob and Lynda are a killed for their actions. However, they died for being a distraction, Laurie was always Michael’s No.1 target. 

Analysis of 3 Horror Film Magazines

Analysis of 3 Horror Film Posters