In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting the narrative and conventions of my two chosen thriller films this being Psycho and Halloween. 

 

Whilst researching the genre of thriller, I have noticed that many of the films within this genre have their own twist within it, whereas horror films all follow the same linear story, this means that it follows a clear line and path. Thrillers can include many stories within this genre, for example. Psycho being the first “Slasher” film. Thriller film are all about suspense and fear of the unknown. Tension in the films are created by delaying the inevitable and is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible. The genre of thriller started in the early 1920s  and 1930s and one of the earliest being Harold Lloyd’s comedy “Safety Last” , which was shown in 1923, The reason this was considered a “Thriller” was because it was shown having a character performing a daredevil stunt on the side of a skyscraper which caused the audience of the film to feel excitement yet fearful for the up and coming. The Genre thriller can usually be hybridized with other genres. These hybrids normally consist of “Thriller/Action”, “Thriller/Adventure” and “Thriller/Sci Fi”. Thrillers share a close relationship with horror films due to the similarity of the plots and the crime that was committed within them. Both films normally eliciting tension and in crime thriller films they focus less on the criminal or the detective and more on generating suspense. Common themes include, terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit and romantic triangles leading to murder.

 

In this essay I intend to compare and contrast my desired films in this assignment. I have picked Psycho and Halloween due to their similarities as being slasher films, both films share the same tropes and the main one being the final girl trope that is discussed in film studies as being a young woman left alone to face the killer's advances in the film's end. The heroine in Halloween, is an example of a typical final girl, Final girls are often, like Laurie Strode, virgins among sexually active teens. Psycho is rather different from the other “Final Girl” tropes due to the Final girl actually dying, Normally the Final Girl is the only person who survives the slashers killing spree and is normally the one to tell the story. Like normal thriller films Psycho used visuals that had been deemed unacceptable by film studios, including scenes of violence, sexuality.The film featured an iconic score by Bernard Hermann, that has been frequently imitated in slasher and horror films.

 

The scenes that I will be talking about in this essay consists of the Psycho Shower scene and the Halloween (2018) bathroom scene, Both of these scenes show clear signs of similarities between each other, for example the daunting music that plays as both slashers get ever so closer towards their unexpecting Victim. And the shots included within these scenes, Point of view shot of the slasher getting closer and the Ots shot as the slasher opens the curtains and the door. As Psycho is a very old slasher film, Halloween adapts and has its own additions on top of the already made sub-genre, this being the fear of the unknown. In the bathroom scene we never actually see the killers face or the upper half of his body for that, All we get a glimpse of his shoes and the bloodstained trousers that he is wearing. Psycho as being an old film has the usual shot of seeing the killers horrifying mask as he gradually walks towards the unexpecting woman.

 

 

The target audience for thriller films is often usually certificated 15 due to the content of the film being violent and frightening. This changes due to the hybrid that a thriller film can be in, for example in psychological. The suspect does not use physical strength, but uses psychology to get to their victim. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters battling against each other's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state. This type of thriller usually requires more intellectual thinking therefore 20-40 year olds are more likely to watch these types of thrillers. Also, with Romantic thrillers the story is usually relationship based with an aspect of a thriller in it. Not too many of these types of thrillers are made as it is hard to come up with the plot and may confuse the audience. However, these types of thrillers are 15-18 year old and Female dominated.

 

Both Psycho and Halloween are very similar due to the fact that both Norman Bates and Michael Myers initially murdered female family members. For Bates, it was his mother, Norma: for Myers, his older sister, Judith. They both killed the people they loved in a jealous rage. Bates caught his mother in bed with her boyfriend and felt this was a betrayal. He poisoned them both with “strychnine”. Myers stabbed his sister to death on Halloween night when he was just six years old. She was supposed to be looking after him while their parents were away but was more interested in having intimate moments with boyfriend Danny. As well as the plots of the stories, the overall shot types included within these films are the same, This including the Point of view shots from the victims view.