The knife is constantly reused in the horror film genre. Mostly used in the slasher sub-genre, it is a weapon used not only to kill victims in a brutal manner, but also often used as a phallic symbol showing the possible sexual tension between the victim and the culprit. In the famous Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, character Norman Bates uses a knife to murder his victims. After an obvious show of admiration for female character, Marion Crane, Bates' multiple personality of his mother stabs her to death while she is in the shower as a result of jealousy. Alternatively, this could be as a result of sexual frustration Norman has towards Marion.
The knife as shown in the famous shower scene. Psycho, 1960
In the film Halloween the knife weapon continues to be used as a phallic symbol. Main character, Laurie is the most innocent and least sexually active of her friends. John Carpenter once explained "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy." In the final sequence of the film in which Mike Myers is attempting to kill Laurie, she uses the knife (along with many phallic symbols such as a knitting needle) in attempt to murder him.
Laurie holding the knife in preparation for Mike Myers. Halloween, 1978
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