Film Language: Mise-en-scene
The film I am analyzing is the sequel to the classic horror
movie Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. This movie Predator 2 was produced by 20th century fox and directed by Stephan Hopkins.
This movie stars Danny Glover as Michael Harrigan the hero of the story, Kevin Peter Hall plays the Predator the antagonise, Gary Busey as Peter Keyes the One who tries to outshine the hero, Maria Conchita Alonso plays Leonna Cantrell who sides with the hero and helps stop the main antagonist along with Bill Paxton who also plays the role of Jerry Lambert who also helps the hero.
Predator 2 is set in the city of Los Angeles rather than a jungle which straight away suggests there will be more killing scenes due to the population. This is one of the scariest death scenes of the movie due to the build up to the death, the malice and sadistic mindset of the killer and finally the actual death itself.
Predator 2 is set in the city of Los Angeles rather than a jungle which straight away suggests there will be more killing scenes due to the population. This is one of the scariest death scenes of the movie due to the build up to the death, the malice and sadistic mindset of the killer and finally the actual death itself.
The location of this scene is in a dark abandoned alley way
between 2 colossal buildings in the night. The victim known as "King
Willie" is already aware of the killer's presents in the city as his
people have been massacred by the predator repeatedly.
Settings
This scene is set in a dark dirty alleyway isolated away
from the crowd making it a classic murder location for a murder scene. The alleyway
is narrowed down between two colossal buildings with scrap metal, junk and
rubbish. Steam from pipes that connect into one of the buildings floods a side
of the alleyway. A vivid blue light emanates from within the moon and shines on
the floor lighting up the dark alleyway.
Props/ Hair and make up
The character King Willie tries to perform a voodoo ritual
and the props that he uses are small pale bones and an empty oil drum. King Willie
has scars across his face that adds depth to his character and gives him more
of a background. He has long thick black dreads that fall over his shoulders
that tells us he does not do much with his hair.
Facial expressions/ Body language/
Movement
All of a sudden something drops
from the sky and makes a splash into a puddle. King Willie swiftly turns around
and met with horror as he sees the murder “Predator”. He doesn’t move fro a couple
of moments because he is stricken with fear. Which give the killer time to make
a dramatic entrance and size down his victim. This techniques is used in literally
every horror movie.
The killer makes his way over to
King Willie at a slow steady pace which creates tension. If a killer ran after
a stunned helpless victim it wouldn't be as scary and as effective. The
predator has a clocking device but he gives away his position as he stomps into
the puddle repeatedly as it takes each step for an even more dramatic entrance.
Out of fear King Willie grabs his
sword to defend himself. However his facial expression and body language still
shows fear. His eyes are still wide open which makes him look petrified. His
body language is stiff even when he went for his sword he barely moved at all.
This shows us that King Willie has no chance against the killer and is only
taking a stand due to his emotions getting the better of him. He has accepted
the fact that he cannot out run this killer. He cannot even scream for help due
to the location. This is a classic and very used technique in a horror movie.
