Character Analysis - The Killers

In many horror films, the killer is introduced right at the start of the film with a murder happening which is done for many reasons such as the director wants to keep the audience entertained but also to allow them to get to know the killer and his skills. If there is a murder at the start of the film, more often than not they will not show the killer's face or his face will be covered with a mask. One movie that did this was Scream where the first killing happens within the first 10minutes of the film. This helped in shaping out the rest of the film but it was also where the rest of the movie started from the actual character's lives with them finding about the murder and how they get involved in it. Though its not explained why the two characters die at the start, we know that it is done to capture the audience's attention and to set the plot of the story.

The killer in the movie is most of the time who the audience least's expects and throughout the whole film they try to mentally figure out they think it will be. Film director's will often to try to throw their audience off by creating assumptions with other character's and have create scenes where other characters will get accused. This is so that killer isn't revealed till the end which is usually the main plot of the story. My Bloody Valentine also uses this technique where the killer ends up to be the one the audience thought was the actual victim. They threw their audience off by creating a suspicion that the man they thought who died at the start is actually alive and taking revenge. The other character they tried to accuse was the police man who is also one of the main actors in the film by creating some dark and dim scenes of him.

The killer always has a past and a reason of why he has become the way he is. However this is usually unraveled at the end of the film when the killer is revealed. Some films however keep their killer hidden but reveal his story throughout the film to explain the plot of the film which keeps the audience more entertained but also keeps them guessing of who they think the killer his by analyzing the possible suspects mentally.

In the majority of the horror films, the killer is always defeated by the main actor/actress in the end which concludes the film and gives it a clear ending. However there are many films who leave the ending as a cliffhanger where they show that murderer hasn't been killed but gets off. This is revealed in a shocking scene where you will least expect it. Halloween is a great example of this where the audience thinks that he has been killed however it then reveals at the end that he survived as they killed the wrong person. It finishes with him standing there suggesting that it's still to be concluded and there will be another film.