2. Horror Film Study, Task Two: Explain.

The convention of a knife being used as a murder weapon in the films Pyscho and Halloween was effective because these two horror films are known as slashers; a film where typically a young female or teenager is attacked with knifes and razors. The knife was used as a phallic symbol and a deadly weapon in these two films to create a horrorific and alarming mood for the movies. For example, let us imagine that in Pyscho - Marion Crane was shot to the same capacity that she was stabbed. Yes, being shot would still have been shocking; however having a knife being thrusted into you so passionately, with such force, is so much more disturbing and creepy - hence creating a rather black atmosphere to the film. Marion Crane was a sexy woman, in touch with her sensual side. In comparison to her sister Lila Carne, Marion wore tight clothing and used attractive eye make-up to bring attention to her eyes - which her sister, a representation of what women in that time should have been presented as, did not do. So, the long, sharp knife was not only the ideal weapon to cause scares for the audience and to create the "slasher" genre which is now so well renowned, but the knife also has a deeper meaning - a message to the spectators. Norman Bates, the killer who has split personalities: one of which is the persona of his mother, killed Marion Crane because his mother (his alternate personality) was telling him that she was too sexy, and that he should stay away from her (because Norman was sexually attracted to her). The knife is a representation of pentration, in a way being punished, physically killed, with a sexual-like action; because having sex like Marion Crane did was unacceptable. In Halloween, the concept of the knife being a sexual symbol and a vicious murder weapon remains the same. Three young women, each sharing sexual relationships with their boyfriends, are killed - with a knife, by the unknown masked killer. These two films share a common hidden meaning - that typically young women who engage in sexual intercourse are susceptible to being murdered - because it is thought to be wrong - and this message is portrayed by the director Alfred Hitchcock. Pyscho was a huge box office hit, thought to be the mother of slasher films. Halloween was received postively aswell - being classed as the modern-day father of all slasher fims. Both movies were excellently made - even on their low budgets. Audiences, no doubt expected the cliche of a monster, not a human, being the killer. However, in the films Pyscho and Halloween, the killers are both pyschologically disturbed; Michael Myers (Halloween) being described as "pure evil", not having any human features that we would expect - such as emotions and physical pain, which Michael does not endure, and Norman Mates (Pyscho) murdering his mother in envy of the lack of attention, and then taking on a second persona of her - in result sends him to a mental institute (after being charged for three murders).