Halloween isn't just any other night of the year

           The Halloween franchise is one of the biggest in the world.  It incorporates something for everyone: mystery, escape, costumes, etc.  People get to escape from the real world for a few moments and get to be whoever they want to be.  There are not many opportunities to do this in the real world, so many people take advantage of this opportunity.  In this industry, movies have also been a big influence for many people.  Of them, the Halloween saga is one of the most popular.  This saga is one of my personal scary favorites, for one thing because of the use of the mask the antagonist wears throughout it, but also because of the score of the movie.  It is a classic example of how music can define how a movie will be portrayed and how it will change people’s views depending on what they are listening to.  Many a time this is because the “[director] has you and people like you in mind and is seeking to rouse an emotion” (Lunsford 40).  This is even considered when picking the theme song to the movie: deliberate to raise emotions that scare you.  

This movie is also a great example of ethos, pathos, and logos.  Ethos is showed throughout this movie (nowadays) because it has Jamie Lee Curtis staring in it.  However, back in the day when it first came out, it may not have necessarily had as much credit as it does now because this was one of Jamie Lee’s first movies.  In addition, pathos is showed throughout the entire movie with the emotions that each character exuberates when they are being chased or scared.  This is enhanced by the music that is going on in the background when the characters are expressing emotion, i.e. being chased by the murderer with loud music playing in the background or as Lunsford says, “[that] ‘chill down the spine’ [feeling]” (40) that many people get watching horror movies with a good score.  Lastly, logos is very iffy for this movie.  While it definitely could occur, it is a little bit difficult to assume that this murder situation could happen to the average person.  Yes it has happened in the past, but not enough to justify it being a logical situation to happen.

            Within this blog I would like to focus on the original Halloween movie, and within that I would like to focus on two scenes in particular.  The first is what I like to call the “ominous walking scene".  Or I guess that is how YouTube likes to describe this scene in particular.  In this scene actress Jamie Lee Curtis is walking with her friend home from school (on Halloween, of course).  While they are walking, a certain ominous score starts that makes the viewer think mask on waiting for them.  This makes a difference in the feeling of the scene because it makes the viewer worry about the two as they are walking along.  If there was not this type of music, the scene would not make sense because it would not hint that something important is going to happen.

            The next scene that I want to focus on is a little different.  There is a big finale at the end of the movie when the masked killer goes on one last rampage.   This turns into his little killing spree.  Instead of analyzing the actual music that is taking place, I found a YouTube video that re-scores this final scene, and to be honest is almost better than the original scoring.  The reason that it is better is because it plays off the emotions of the characters.  When a character is quiet and scared, the music gets slower and quieter.  However, as the murderer makes a move to kill Jamie Lee Curtis, the music gets faster and louder (and to be honest a bit scarier).  This just changes the way that the scene is heard and interpreted.  It changes the way that the emotions hit for the viewers.  This emotional change is huge because these horror movies succeed when they hit viewers’ emotions.  This scene change shows exactly what the score actually does for a movie and how important it is. 

I rated this movie 4 pickles on its score because it does exactly what it needs to with pathos and raising emotions in a horror movie, but I think they could have found a few more sound effects / songs that could enhance the movie's score instead of just sticking with the same few (that is where the pickle is taken away from).