Perp & Victim 2: Opening Kills in Horror (2000s+)
How do modern horror films use oners to create tone?
Part 1 of this two-parter looked at the ‘horror oner’ in pre-2000s movies and how it evolved from the “Killer POV” codified in Halloween (1978) into something more complex in how it positions the audience.
Part 2 looks at the more contemporary examples: Broadly speaking, speaking I think modern horror uses the ‘horror oner’ to either
position us in the unsettling liminal space between victim, perpetrator and voyeur;
or:
position us alongside the victims, so we feel their terror.
I have not seen any modern films that use horror oners to place us alongside the perpetrator in their openings. Yet modern horror is still interested in the psychology of perpetrators — perhaps more interested in their psychology than us experiencing their thrill killing.
INSIDUOUS (2010)
A classic example oner being used to make us feel unsettled and off-kilter. It doesn’t represent any diegetic character’s point-of-view but it is our point-of-view within the world of the story. The film is something that happens to us and not just the characters.
IT FOLLOWS (2014)
The first part of this opening kill is shot as a oner on a long zoom lens.
The zoom+dolly in at around 12secs makes it feel like we are creeping forward to the victim, Annie Marshall (Bailey Spry). Yet whose POV is it? She isn’t running from the camera… her eyeline is past the camera… which means the perpetrator is behind us… but we don’t feel scared, we keep our eyes on her.
It feels inhuman. And it makes us feel inhuman. Yet an active participant in the horror.
As DP Mike Gioulakis explains1:
David and I discussed at the beginning having objective, locked-down camera positions where the frame or a pan were independent of what the actors were doing and then contrasting that at certain points when we’re handheld with Jay or seeing things from her perspective. For the objective moments, we would use pans and zooms. In those moments we wanted to take the human presence away from the camerawork as much as possible and have it be sterile and robotic.
This kind of inhuman, impersonal opening shot is also seen in:
HEREDITARY (2018)
There’s no victim nor perpetrator in this opening shot, yet it just oozes dread. Exploiting our knowledge that this is a horror film and shooting it in such a inhuman way. It really sets a vibe, huh? There’s a sterile quality to Hereditary and it’s established in this opening shot.
But this kind of opening dates back at least to the 1930s. Take the opening shot from:
THE TESTAMENT OF DR MABUSE (1933)
Between the diegetic industrial noises and the alien camera move, we are on edge within moments. Fritz Lang is (to me) the grandparent of all psychological horror.
[REC] (2007)
Perhaps because of the influence of found footage, there is a trend towards ‘oners’ being used to make us feel for and with the victims.
Take the opening from REC, an absolute classic of the genre.
It is a slow burn. The opening kill doesn’t happen for 15 minutes. The long prologue establishing the premise — a reporter (Manuela Velasco) covering the night shift of a fire fighting station — and making us feel for the characters.
While it does feature cuts, the documentary reportage style does give the whole thing a feeling of being real-time. And, of course, it exploits our audience knowledge that this is a horror so we feel nothing but dread.
But the final few minutes of this prologue — when the fire fighters respond to a call about an old lady in an apartment — playing out in real time as a oner and it is terrifying. We are absolutely feeling with the victims here.
GET OUT (2017)
While not as hectic as Manuela Velasco, Jordan Peele’s contemporary classic Get Out open with a creepy steadicam oner that places us firmly within the experience of Andre Hayworth (Andre Hayworth):
While the camera placement locates us with the victim, Andre Hayworth (LaKeith Stanfield) the camera isn’t limited to his literal POV. It’s more omniscient. The filmmakers want us to notice the white car in the background through this wonderfully choreographed pivot. It gives us the sense of Andre’s paranoia of being a black man lost in a white neighbourhood.
At the climax of the scene the camera is looking away from the perpetrator but starts to move to find him JUST as he emerges from the shadows in the far right of frame. It’s a jump scare because the subtle movement primes us to expect something:
TALK TO ME (2022)
The excellent Talk to Me uses its oner opening kill for a similar purpose. To make us feel with the victim, feel their panic, and then be utterly shocked by their death.
As an aside, there are some great pivot points that allow the camera to ‘invisibly’ move from a follow position to a lead position. Great steadicam choreography!
THE BABADOOK (2014)
The opening of The Babadook is played more surreally: the slow motion footage, the locked camera perspective, the impressionistic lighting.
While the opening put us with Amelia Vanek’s (Essie Davis) experience, and gives us insight into her trauma, it also distances us from her. It is like we are watching her through glass. Reflective of how we feel about her throughout the film.
CONCLUSION
Being real: I started this little deep dive because I’m interested in using the “horror oner” in one of my projects. Like many filmmakers who work in ‘horror’ I’m interested in the effect on the audience of the story. In my case, it’s a project about complicity — of the characters and the audience — so I’m inspired by the ways that subtle shifts in movement can shift us from being observers into being participants.
Leave a comment if this makes you think of any post-2000s horror that uses a oner in their opening to place us alongside the perpetrator!
IMDB
“We Didn’t Have to Add Too Much Creepiness”: It Follows DP Mike Gioulakis: https://filmmakermagazine.com/93629-we-didnt-have-to-add-too-much-creepiness-it-follows-dp-mike-gioulakis/