Comparison and contrast to the way that horror is created in ‘The Shining’ and ‘Halloween’

Both ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Shining’ contain two young boys which conventionally are seen to signifying innocence and naivety, however Mike Myers from ‘Halloween’ becomes the perpetrator of horror and Danny Torrance from ‘The Shining’ becomes the victim of horror. This can also be relatively linked to the two females; Wendy Torrence who becomes the perpetrator of violence in defense and Laurie Strode who like Danny Torrence, becomes the victim of horror as well as going on to attempt perpetrating horror at the end of the film in self defense. This potentially suggests that victims of horror can end up perpetrating the horror whether or not you end up inflicting it in order to defend ones self. This particularly can reference to Wendy who uses a baseball bat and locks her husband in a food cupboard. In comparison to the two boys, it suggests that Mike Myers is beyond evil and Danny Torrence is psychic.

Both films can be seen alike through the collapse of human morals and the reactions to the demonstrations of seeds of evil, that the audience can identify with the idea that of ‘psycho’ in Halloween. Although we see the beginning of Mike Myers inhuman values and the deterioration of his mental state, the audience is unable to identify why he has come to his current state of mind. ‘The Shining’ differs in some ways to this as the audience can get a small insight as to why with the solidarity and isolation that surrounds the characters in ‘The Shining’ becomes factors that suggest his mental state.