Opening Scene - Candyman - Horror

For my second film analysis I studied the opening 15 minutes of 1992 horror film Candyman. During the opening scene I identified different camera angles, editing, sound, mise en scene, characters and overall plot of the story to see whether I could find common conventions that occur in most Horror films.

In the opening scene we are firstly introduced to two female characters who are talking about a murder, one of the characters begin to tell the story about how this murder happened. As she tells the story it cuts to a separate short clip which is portraying what happened. A young couple are talking in a bathroom and the young female tells the male to say Candyman into the mirror 5 times and explains to him what will happen, the male goes onto say it four times a cowers on the fifth. She tells him to go downstairs and wait, as he leaves the room she says Candyman a final time, as she turns the light off it cuts to black and then seconds after we suddenly see a brief glimpse of a mysterious figure who quickly kills the young female, it then cuts to downstairs where blood is pouring through the sealing. The rest of the clip is mainly the females talking about these killings and who it might be committing the murders. We finish watching the clip when the two females are seen in their bathroom, they both say Candyman into the mirror 4 times and then the main character goes onto say it a fifth, this is when the camera reverse tracks, slowly focusing on the mirror.

We are introduced into the scene with a master shot of the city, this is important to the film as it establishes the setting early on. City scenes are common throughout this film and also other horrors, they add a sense of realism to the audience, everyone can relate to a city of some kind and setting the film in a city rather than a far off location makes the audience have an immediate connection with the film and also make them more scared because of the realistic location. City scenes also add suspense to the film as they are large, well-populated areas. This means the murderer has many places and opportunities to hide and go undercover and because of the masses of people when just one dies at a time it goes unnoticed, making the audience feel nervous and on edge, not knowing when or where he is going to strike next.

The use of lighting in the opening scene, particularly when the murderer is being shown, is very dark and shadowy. This is extremely common in horror films as the directors want to cover up and hide the killer’s identity so the audience are clueless to who he is or what he looks like. Making his identity unknown gives the murderer more power and overall makes him scarier and other characters more vulnerable. Giving the murderer a hidden identity early on in the film is better as it keeps audiences hooked and builds anticipation and suspense for scenes later on, revealing their identity early on means audiences know what he looks like and therefore takes away the suspense a hidden killer brings.

When the credits finish we see editing in the form of a dissolve from one shot to another, it goes from the city shot to a close up of a female characters face, this establishes to the audiences who the main character is going to be straight away, during this dissolve there is also a non-diegetic voiceover which says ‘I came for you’ in a croaky, deep, Sinister tone. These kinds of voices are very common in horrors because they are unearthly and eerie making the audience nervous and uncomfortable which is what horror film directors want to achieve. This gives the audiences clues on who they may want to kill because of the link between the dissolve, close up and voiceover.

One of the main conventions frequently found in horrors is appropriate soundtracks and music. In Candyman the opening soundtrack is a high pitched, squeaky tune that eventually goes into an organ playing, the organ is a common instrument in most horrors as they are very unnerving instruments which links to the genre and feel of the film. It links to Candyman in more depth as Organs are found in churches, churches are religious places, and where Candyman is set, in Western America religion is very important and they believe in heaven and hell, and hell links to the Candyman and his killings. Non diegetic music is also heard at the end of the opening when they are saying Candyman into the mirror. The base and volume of the music increases each time they say it, this builds suspense for the audience as they are awaiting something to happen but don’t know when it will strike.

In conclusion some of the most common conventions seen in horrors are non-diegetic eerie music usually the organ, increase in volume and base in parts of anticipation, shadowy lighting and city settings. All of these conventions are used to unnerve the audience and make their anticipation grow throughout the film, keep them on edge and scare them.