Classic Hollywood Narrative or CHS is the theory by Tzvetan Todorov. It states that every film follows a pattern as such. The film begins with a state of calm; known as the equilibrium. There is then a disruption of said equilibrium, and then by the end of the film, a new equilibrium is formed and the state of calm has returned. CHN is fairly useful for understanding media texts, but in a lot of modern films - not just horror films -  directors use techniques of flashing forward and flashing back so starting a film with a calm state is no longer how every movie begins. Although it is useful in understanding films, the theory itself could be said as being slightly outdated due to new techniques that have become popularized in the last decade. 

Halloween did not follow the CHN because it began with a drastic event that would then move on to be explained further into the plot. Halloween began with Micheal Myers killing his older sister.

Vladimir Propp's theory is known as Propp's Character Theory. It states that in all media texts, there are seven character types. These are:

• The Hero
• The Villain
• The Princess
• The Helper
• The Doner
• The Father
• The False Hero

Propp decided on these characters by analysing over 100 old fairy and folklore tales. They are useful in understanding media texts because although a lot of characters can fit to more than one of his types, it gives you a certain type of way to group a set of people within a film and decide why they did what they did etc. In Halloween, almost every character type is present, even if they go against stereotypes and conventions. In Halloween, Laurie is the hero, Michael Myers is the villain, Laurie's girl friends are the princesses', although instead of being a 'prize' for the hero, they are killed by the villain, so seemingly more a prize for him. The detective/doctor character who looked after Michael when he was younger could be seen as the helper. 

Binary Opposition Theory is a theory formed by Levi Strauss. He states that to construct a narrative you must involve the use of Binary Oppositions such as good vs evil, known vs unknown, human vs alien. The BOT theory is not that helpful for understanding media texts, although it does make more sense of story. You can see why events happen in relation to others and why a character acts the way they do. It also allows us to form opinions regarding characters as well as making you think about whether they fit into one opposition or not. For example, could a character fit into both a good and evil stereotype? In Halloween, there are a fair few examples of BOT. 

• Good vs Evil
• Pure vs Inpure
• Sane vs Insane
• Innocent vs Guilty
• Past vs Present

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as "A chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occuring in time and space." This relates to the use of techniques such as flashbacks and replays of action in slow-motion etc, to manipulate our sense of time. Narrative shapes material in terms of 'space and time' and it defines where things take place. We as the audience, when watching a film, try to connect the events to make sense of what is happening even if there is not an obvious link, to create a line of cause and effect. This is connecting the images that we see in both space and time and creating a causal effect between them. 

Two examples of events in Halloween that cause other events to happen include Mike Myers murdering his sister, and Laurie putting the key under the doormat. Mike Myers kills his sister at the start of the film, thus setting up the plot line for the rest of the film, and when Laurie puts the key under the doormat of the Myers house, this means that she is seen by the newly returned Mike Myers, who then decides she is his target. (Probably because she is of a similar age to his sister when he killed her.)

Two events that we know in the film that happened yet we didn't see are the doctor counselling Mike Myers for the time he was kept in a mental institution, and the stealing of Judith Myers' gravestone. It is of course implied at the time that her younger brother (Mike Myers) stole it (which we later find out to be true) but we never actually see him take the gravestone.