CHARACTER TYPES (HORROR)

THE KILLER

Michael Myers (Nick Castle): Halloween (John Carpenter - 1978)

Michael Myers is the main antagonist in the series of ‘Halloween’ films. He is a human mass murderer, and focuses his killings on teenagers. He is famous for wearing the ‘Halloween’ mask and carrying out his killings with a large kitchen knife. In the original ‘Halloween’ we first see Michael as a six year old, where he begins his life of murder by killing his 17-year-old sister. From here he is put into a mental institution for 15 years before escaping. At this point (1978) he begins to kill specifically teenagers and with no real reason or motive. Michael is described by his creator as ‘pure evil’ and as ‘a supernatural force’. Although he is human, we do not see him as human. His face is covered up by a mask – the mask being white, simplistic and blank (originally designed to portray a blank human face, to ‘creep’ people out). He does not seem human, shown by the fact he walks around in a simple and robotic manner. Actors who have played this part are believed to have been told by the director, not to act but simply to walk around. Furthermore, Michael never speaks, but merely just stalks and kills with no mercy or motive. He is almost like a machine with no emotions, feelings or characteristics – thus underlying pure evil (as if he was born to be evil). Michael is never fully killed, despite being repeatedly knocked down, stabbed, shot and caught in fires. He is almost “unkillable”, and is an unstoppable force, making him scarier to the audience. Normal humans stand no chance against him because of his apparent strength, speed, awareness and intelligence. He is a heartless being whom the audience never really get to open into, but are simply afraid of, which is what makes him one of the ‘classic killers’. There is no explanation as to why Michael started killing despite rumours he is the devil, he is mentally ill or he is sexually fascinated by teenage girls. The most likely explanation is that Michael was born evil and became obsessed with the will to kill. After killing his sister he felt the drive to kill over and over again and thus stalked “sister-like” figures to bring back the memory of this action of killing his sister. Michael is similar to the character ‘Norman bates’ in the 1960 film Psycho, which is believed to be the creator’s influence for making the character ‘Michael Myers’. The director’s vision for Michael was to make him even less human with an unpredictable but superhuman nature, who we really know nothing about, thus portraying fear of the unknown in an otherwise predictable series of ‘slasher’ films.

THE SURVIVOR

Sidney Prescott (neve Campbell): Scream (Wes Craven - 1996)

Sidney Prescott is the main protagonist in the series of ‘Scream’ films. She is a typical heroine and survivor due to her coming through ordeal after ordeal throughout the trilogy. ‘Scream’ begins with Sidney going through a rough time – and problems never seem to leave her side, as if she is a victim (ironically she never becomes the real ‘victim’). In the beginning she has to deal with the anniversary of her mother brutal rape and murder, and is then attacked herself the night after by a killer dubbed ‘Ghostface’ (wearing the ‘Scream’ mask), leaving her in a state of trauma and paranoia. As she continues to get pursued by her killer she is vulnerable and helpless, shown by the fact she has to stay in a house with her best friend and a police officer. Things are not helped by the fact Sidney is forced to deal with accusations deeming her attack a scandal by a tabloid newswoman, who writes a book explaining in detail the affair between her dead mother and her convicted killer. At the same time, she is being pressurised into sex by her boyfriend ‘Billy’, portraying her as a good person who is being treated badly by everyone around her. This bad influence by other people is shown at a party, where she loses her virginity to Billy. However, as the killer begins a murderous rampage at the party, Sidney develops a strong side and starts a spirited fight back. She keeps escaping the clutches of the killer and despite everyone else at the party falling down to the prey of the killer, Sidney remains standing. She tries to fight back numerous times. Eventually, after the killer is revealed as Billy (her boyfriend) Sidney shoots him in the head, killing him. Sidney is the victorious heroine and one of only three survivors. The film follows her journey throughout the films, and she is a typical survivor as she gains strong characteristics along the way and eventually comes out on top. She gains audience sympathy and eventually credit, for being different to the other characters in ‘Scream’, simply because we feel she is a good person who deserves to survive.

THE VICTIM

Juno (Natalie Mendoza): The Descent (Neil Marshall - 2005)

Juno crosses between an antagonist and the main protagonist in the film ‘The Descent’. She is seen as an antagonist as she is part of the group, whom we want to escape, but she has many traits, which suggest she is part-protagonist too – the film does not have a clear protagonist as the killers are multiple creatures with no real human characteristics, so Juno seems to fit this role of main protagonist, which is fitting and justified by her death near the end of the film, making her an eventual victim. Before the group even get trapped in the cave we learn of a dark side to Juno. She attempts to apologise to the main character and ex-best friend, Sarah, for not being there for her after her husband’s death (Sarah’s husband was killed in a car accident a year back). We immediately dislike Juno, as we perceive this as heartless and unloyal. Our dislike for Juno grows, as she begins to take lead of the group of climbers/cavers – she appears to lack patience and common sense, as well as being unable to back down from anything – she wants to be the best. This leads to the group being trapped in the cave, the whole event essentially being Juno’s fault. She tries to ell Sarah she set this up on purpose in an attempt to rediscover her friendship with Sarah but this is a hollow lie to cover up her mistake. This sets up Juno to be the villain despite trying to escape with the other girls. She is physically strong but emotionally weak, and this comes out at a vital point in the film. Many of the other characters begin to come out on top against the creatures that hunt them down (despite one or two being killed early on), but Juno cannot deal with the pressure and panics when she believes she is being attacked. She ends up stabbing Sarah’s best friend, Beth, with her pickaxe, mistaking her for a creature. Here she lacks compassion and turns her back on the suffering Beth (showing her cowardice side by running away from the situation). Later, Sarah discovers Beth and Sarah is informed of this act of cowardice by Juno. Incidentally, Beth gives her a pendant, which was dropped by Juno (Sarah recognises the pendant as her late husband’s, as it has his motto on it). Beth tells Sarah it was a present to Juno from her husband, subtly informing her of an affair Juno was having with Sarah’s husband. These underlying stories make the audience turn against Juno – almost willing her to be killed and the other characters saved (a lesson in morality). Eventually, all the characters are killed leaving just Sarah and Juno – who beat off some creatures together. Then, Sarah turns on Juno and stabs her in the shin with her pickaxe in revenge for sleeping with her husband and leaving her best friend to die. This is a bittersweet scenario for the audience, who empathise with Sarah and want her to escape. However, Juno makes no attempt to move out of Sarah’s swing and sees it as almost inevitable. Inside, she knows she has done wrong and deserves her fate, but this lesson has come too late. Sarah leaves Juno trapped, to be eaten by the creatures (a taste of her own medicine) and we hear Juno’s faint screams as she is eaten, whilst Sarah runs away. Juno represents a misunderstood and flawed character, who appears to make everything worse for the good characters and therefore, appears as bad. However, we do not really know what to feel for her, as it seems her mistakes are fairly human, and she is very resentful by the end of the film, for her mistakes. In a way, Sarah’s decision to leave Juno for dead makes Sarah just as much of the antagonist, and she never makes it out of the cave (not the typical heroine). The decision to leave Juno appears to come back to haunt her, showing the characters who do wrong are always killed in horror films. Juno is just a prime example of this sort of character, who after years of making people feel like victims, becomes the victim herself.