Thomas Schatz is a theorist who believes that films go through a evolutional cycle, being...

1. The experimental stage (where conventions of a genre are established)
2. The classical stage (Where genre conventions are reinforced)
3. The age of refinement (where the saturation of conventions gives way for a subversion of the classic conventions)
4. Opacity ( which is a stage of self-conscious formalism, which often also gives way to parody)

The experimental stage would be considered something like 'Halloween'.