Halloween was not the first Slasher film ever made, but it opened the floodgates for many others to come. The opening scene is very famous, due to its highly effective point of view sequence.
The credits begin with a haunting, repetitive tune on the piano. The key is flat and often jumps to other keys, making the music very unsettling.
The background is black, and the writing is orange, which is linked with Halloween. The text fades to red before disappearing, which symbolises blood.
At 0.17 a Jack-o-Lantern fades into view with its flickering light, this represents Halloween again. It is an emblem of a festival of horror, and the way it fades in drags out the sequence and build suspense, and the flickering light of the flame creates a feeling of uncertainty.
Also to build suspense the music builds up more as the credits continue.
The pumpkin slowly grows larger, as if the camera is zooming in, or the pumpkin is moving closer, this is threatening.
When the credits end the screen goes black and childrens chanting is heard, the text sets the scene, “
The chanting cuts out and there is a long shot of a large suburban house at night time. The house is only just illuminated.
The house begins to get closer, and it becomes clear this is a point of view shot. The camera is focused on the door, and then swings to focus on the window instead, as the camera swings it lingers on the pumpkin for an instant, once again suggesting Halloween.
The light in the upstairs window is seen to snap off, and with this there is a sharp stab of high pitched piano music. This coincides with the fact that the change in light when a switch is flicked is very sudden.
As the camera moves around the house the viewers vision is constantly obscured by bushes. This builds tension and frustrates the viewer a little as they want to see what is going on.
The music begins to build up again, it is single high pitches strokes on a piano, it is unsettling and tense and also creates and idea of a single, repetitive thought.
A hand is seen to one side and a large butchers knife is taken out of a kitchen drawer, the viewer then realises that this is the point of view of someone who is going to kill.
The killer moves about his house very slowly, building up viewer suspense and impatience.
A very quick view of an old wooden chair is seen in one corner. This is a symbol commonly associated with older films about haunted houses.
A person is seen to come down stairs, and the killer shrinks back a little, we see this movement with the point of view shot, this shows that the killer does not need to kill the person on the stairs, or that they are waiting for the perfect timing, showing this is a preplanned kill.
The Music becomes one single long note, again adding to the suspense. Something is seen on the floor and picked up, the vision then changes so the viewer can only see through two “eye holes” showing the killer is wearing a mask. This is important because it hides the killers face and expression from all those who see them, building up mystery and suspense, and humans have a natural fear of something that is expressionless. The mask also frustrates the viewer as they would have a natural need to see everything that is happening, but can’t.
The killer approaches a room where a teenage girl is brushing her hair, she gets closer as the killer moves forwards. When the woman sees the killer, she shows “Michael” making it clear that she knows him, the blade the killer picked up before is then seen flying through the air and stabbing the woman, she screams as the stabs are repeated and he eventually falls silent. The music has build up to its climatic point here.
After the kill the killer moves through the house a lot quicker, it is a release of the tension built up before, and shows that the scariest part of the sequence is over. It could also be showing the panic and adrenaline of the killer.
The killer goes outside, and two adults are seen talking in the garden, one of them says “Michael?” and removes the killers mask. The camera shot then changes to view the killer, and the audience can see that it is in fact a young boy. This shocks the audience, all though the killers arms were seen momentarily before, it is unlikely they paid enough attention to realise the killer was in fact a child. The Camera slowly zooms out from the boy, again with the repetitive one key music, all the time the child stands there, not moving, showing his blank insanity.
Finally, just before the scene ends, the music builds to one long loud note, then goes quieter again.
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