DW: horror film codes & conventions

Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxRGw0l-b18

• The titles for the film are white on black, they are simple and small in a very plain text yet still stand out. The fact that the event is stated in the past makes it seem as if it is true.
• The majority of the scene is filmed using handicam and has been done as if the camera/audience represents the the antagonist/murderer - approaching the house, it follows the couple as if a person looking in on what they're doing, spying on them without them knowing.
• Sounds of crickets and and owl can be heard when the person is outside to add a somewhat rural yet "spooky" effect, common with horror films.
• There is lots of darkness used, to make the lit up house (of which the person intrudes into) stand out and draws our attention from the inset. Within the building dim moonlight peers through open windows making colours drained and helps shroud the murderer.
• The scene is all in one take which provides us with full order of events and insight into the killer.
• The music is sinister and tense, consisting of what sounds like violins and an organ, it is un rhythmic and has been used to cause suspense and tension within the scene. 
• The fact that the camera represents the murderer is reinforced when he comes upstairs - there are eyes outlined on the screen (suggesting the camera is his vision) and we can hear his heavy breathing as he murders the woman.
• The woman is also a typical technical device of a horror film, careless teenage couple with attractive girl who is left alone, murderer intrudes with ease and mercilessly stabs her to death with a huge knife. For example other films with same idea include Friday the 13th, Vacancy, Nightmare on Elm Street and the sequals to the Halloween film.
• In the final scene the idea that "no one is safe" again common with horror films is connoted when we find that the person who murdered the woman was just a little boy, the knife glints in the light to outline it and show it's danger. This has been done to create shock and scare viewers into thinking it may happen to them i.e. average house, average couple, average neighbourhood yet there is still serious danger, which of course is what many horror films aim to do - scare their audience.
• Children are often seen as harmless and innocent, this title scene contradicts this in that a little boy dressed up in a Halloween costume brutally murders somebody. It could be done to make the viewer question whether or not they are really safe.

INBRED (Chandon, 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6N4ynLI8Y&feature=relmfu

• Camera steadily pans out of foliage displaying idyllic surroundings and countryside.
• The caption is written in a clear and somewhat factual looking font, perhaps making the viewer believe what the film is telling them and maybe even fear living in the area.
• The gathering of idol children surrounding what looks like a scarecrow, stabbing at it with blood creates enigma and concern; i.e. why are these children alone and why are they playing some sort of sick game?
• The clip is in slow motion to clearly display the activity within the scene.
• At the end of the scene we see the children are dirty and spotty, they have no emotion and look relatively menacing. This concept is similar to Halloween (1974 Carpenter).
• The music is rhythmic with drums appearing to represent a heartbeat, it seems in sync with the slowmotion panning in the clip. When the medium shot is used to show what the children look like, child like chanting/laughing can be heard which is often assosciated with evil creepiness in horror movies.
• The clip makes viewers question the safety of the area and perhaps think to themselves if places like that within the clip exist.