Halloween Trailer Analysis

1. OshinGurung
How does the Halloween trailer adhere to the codes and conventions of the slasher horror sub-
genre?
As ineveryslasherhorrorfilm,Halloweentrailercontainsfamiliar codes and conventions of slasher
horror sub-genre which can be found in slasher film such as a psychopathic masked killer stalking
and killing a group of young victims where there is always a single female survivor ‘The Final Girl’.
The iconography which you see first when the trailer starts is a deserted house and the camera
movement during the first scene looks like it is being handheld as the movement of the camera is
not verysmooth.Also,thisgivesyouthe feelingof the killerisapproaching whichhelpsto build up a
sense of tension.Aswell as,asthe camerapans the house itgives you a view of the setting which is
surroundedbydarkness andinthe backgroundyou can hearnon-diegeticeerie sound which creates
a purpose of fearand terror. Ina typical slasherhorrorfilm, the locationis mostly either a suburban
neighbourhoodorina woods and having a deserted house in a middle of nowhere always gives an
expectation to the audience as to something will occur here. Also, the setting is always set during
the nighttime and it is always surrounded by darkness so it can help to make the atmosphere look
scarier.
In the second scene of the trailer, a point of view shot is used where it shows the killer stabbing
someone and we can see that they are wearing a mask which implies that they are hiding their
identity and this suggests that they know what they are doing. Furthermore, in that scene we can
see themusinga knife whichadherestothe codesandconventionsof a slasher horror sub-genre as
the mask and the knife highlights the idea of a psychopathic killer who has planned out the
murdering.In additional,propslike knife is apredicted object which is highly used in slasher horror
theme filmwhere the killerusestokill someone withnoregret. In the trailer there is an example of
paradigmshiftbeingusedi.e.duringthe scene where the maskistaken off it shows a face of a little
boy,thisis a paradigm shift because as an audience we would be predicting an older man’s face to
be shown after the mask is being pulled off as normally in a slasher horror film as an audience we
always see the killer in a mask.
Throughout the trailer there is a non-diegetic sound playing in the background and as things are
about to get intense, the pace of the music speeds up also there are a lot short shots of the scene
shownwheneverthe killerisnexttohisvictim.By adding fast paced music, it helps the audience to
focus on other senses and it makes them feel as if we are all in the same situation as the victim in
the trailer. Also, throughout the trailer the scene is mostly dark and the lighting is used to add
tension to the scene and, the minimal lighting used to add shadows In order to create mysterious
feeling. Besides one of the convention of slasher films are the connotations of shadows which
creates mysteries is one of the important aspects of slasher film films.
From the traileryoucan sort of get an ideaas an audience ashow the filmisstructure. For example,
inthe lastscene of the traileritshowsthe chase scene where the killerischasingthe victim who is a
female andthisisverystereotypicalinaslasherhorrorfilmbecause nearthe endof the film, there is
always a female survivor who defeats the psychopathic killer and thus the name ‘The final girl’ is
said. In slasher horror film, the main character who is a young female they are always shown as a
vulnerable and weak character.
In conclusion,fromthisparadigmIcan see how the director has used codes and conventions of the
slasherhorrorsub-genre inthe Halloweentrailerwhichemphasisethe keyaspects of the movie such
as masked killer, young female, knife.