Heavenly Creatures [Case Study]

A little about Heavenly Creatures:

Directed by: Peter Jackson

Release Date: 1994

Genre: Biopic

Analysing how Jackson uses, develops or challenges thriller conventions in the murder scene.

Characters:

The mother turning to face Juliet as she stands alone and distant.
(over the shoulder shot)

Juliet Hulme: As the older of the two sisters, Juliet surprisingly shows less power than her sibling does in their relationship. Juliet comes across as weak and helpless, obeying all of Pauline's wishes. She is skinny and frail- with a pale face, mostly dressed in grey throughout the film. This gives a sense of unbalance throughout the feature, meaning audiences are going to be aware that something terrible happens and that the two sisters are unhealthy in the mind. Despite Juliet finally pulls off the murder, it is Pauline who suggests it, and begins the attack. This shows that Juliet finished everything her sister starts, and enhancing what the audiences may already have noticed, which is that Juliet carries out all her sisters commands. To have the older sister dominated by the younger is unusual, which immediately gives the film a sense of unease. Jackson cleverly challenged the iconic thriller convention that females do not commit murder, as 90% of the time it would be a man to kill somebody. Peter Jackson carried out the scene perfectly- as it represents shock, terror and suffering (despite the audience may already know the tragedy of the story). Viewers may already know what is going to happen to the mother, but the way it has been put together still generates an intense amount of suspense and shock. Each shot pans and zooms for a intensified period of time, making the murder last a long time- generating more and more terror each second.

This shot focusses on the mothers head, telling audiences
that the strike will hit here, where the hat acts as a target.
The camera zooms onto the figure adding suspense, making
audiences realise that the killing will take place any second.

The Mother: The unsuspecting mother is completely unaware of her fate that lies around the corner in the scene of the murder. And this shows greatly to viewers. The actor Diane Kent, performs perfectly as the kind,loving parent she is. Her costume in the murder scene is bland like the two other characters- however the one thing that makes her stand apart from her daughters is the hat placed on her head. Jackson may have used this hate to silently imply that her death will come from a head injury. The hat is black and placed softly on her hair- I think the director deliberately chose to give the mother a head garment because it makes her stand out from the other two characters in the scene- the hat can also act as a target for the daughters.

A low angle shot showing audiences that Pauline is menacing, powerful and evil.
The use of trees in the background matching the angle makes Pauline seem
a lot bigger than she really is, this makes it more terrifying as in comparison to
the mother who is knelt down it seems like there is no hope for their victim.

Pauline Parker: Pauline is the ugly sister, short, stubby and fat. Coincidently she is the one resembles the most evil out of the two sisters. Pauline comes up with the plan to murder their mother and is the one to first strike in the scene of the killing. In the scene of the death, Pauline is wearing a green coat, a similar make to her mothers and her sisters. However she is different to the other two, she is the only one wearing green- this could resemble how different she is compared to her family also implying even more that it was Pauline alone who decided the fate of her parent (as Juliet is wearing baby blue, whilst her mother is wearing Navy blue). The use of the bag on Paulines shoulder makes the audience constantly wonder what she may be carrying, keeping viewers constantly wondering is a good way to keep suspense and generate a thrill when the weapon is finally revealed. Jackson challenged classic thriller conventions greatly with this character, as it is very unusual to have a young girl so eager to kill her mother- however this makes the film even more powerful, as the murder is so very disturbing and shocking.

Locations

The woods: the entirety of the final scene is based in the woods. The use of woods is very ideal for a murder as they are isolated making the three characters look very alone. Also the use of ambient lighting gives a feeling that the killing is a lot more realistic, there is no special effects and nothing added to the scene- just the characters and the scenery, this gives viewers a far better experience as it makes them feel as if they are right there at the terrible scene. One other point, is that woods are often seen as very spiritual places, as tree's provide oxygen for us to live it is ironic that the death of the mother took place here. The tree's resemble a fairytale just like the relationship between the two sisters.

Props

A Jewel: in order to make their victim vulnerable the sisters make their mum look down to the ground and see a peace of jewellery. She kneels down to pick up kind of purple gem, mysteriously placed on the dirt. The jewel represents the mothers life, as it is bright and shinning compared to the dirty undergrowth that it is laying on. I think it is representing her life because as she goes to pick up the item her hand is over so slowly trying to reach it- this could be a metaphor for how slow her death is but also how short she has left to live.

The mothers hand reaches very slowly whilst the camera zooms in to the ground. This indicates that the jewel is important and that it could represent something more in the film, as well as be a metaphor for the mothers own life.