Genre Investigation - Slasher

'A slasher film is a sub-genre of horror film, and at times thriller, typically involving a mysterious psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims usually in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe. Although the term 'slasher' may be used as a generic term for any horror film involving graphic acts of murder, the slasher as a genre has its own set of characteristics which set it apart from related genres like the splatter film'

Within slasher films, there are many conventions including:

Mysterious psychopathic killer

• Masked 
• Disfigured
• Weapon of choice e.g. knife, chainsaw
• Childhood trauma/revenge
• Often silent and unstoppable
• Will never die
• e.g. Freddie Krueger, Michael Myers
• Stalking and killing

The final girl 

• Virgin
• Unlikely to be blonde, never promiscuous
• Sexually promiscuous characters ALWAYS die

Location 

• Usually a suburb or quiet town
• Safe
• Or a place that the killer identifies with – e.g. When Myers comes back to his house in Haddonfield (in Halloween)

Examples of slashers

• Halloween
• Friday the 13th
• My Bloody Valentine
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Scream

Holly's work

I looked at 'Halloween' the 2007 remake which was written, produced and directed by Rob Zombie, who is a famous horror director and is behind many other films such as House of 1000 Corpses. The film is a remake of the original which was made in 1978. The films main protaganist is Michael Myers.  

Michael Myers and how he fits into the Slasher genre

Here, Michael is wearing a mask, covering his face. He refers to himself as 'ugly' as a child and says that is why he wears it. He also enjoys making them.

Below, as a child, Michael wore a mask whilst killing his family, showing signs of emotional distress/trauma in his childhood. In this remake, his family is shown to be dysfunctional - his mum a stripper, he gets verbally abused by his step-father and they are a relatively poor family.

 Michael always gets up, even after being shot, shows he is unbeatable and powerful. 

Here, the 'virgin' girl, Laurie, Michael's sister. She can be seen to be the 'girl next door' type. Nothing promiscuous about the way she dresses or acts, she even jokes about her lack of sexual experience in the film.

Location - family home in suburban area. Also set in Michael's old home (where he murdered his family)

Sexually promiscuous characters about to be killed by Michael - typical genre convention. 

Michael's weapon of choice - a butchers knife.

Mia's Work

I focused on the remake 2010 version of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' when looking into the genre of slasher horror, it is directed by Samuel Bayer and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer it revolves around a group of teenagers who are being stalked in their dreams by an enigmatic man named Freddy Krueger. Chased and chastised by this finger-bladed demon, it is the awakening of old memories and the denials of a past of retribution that spurns this hellish vision of a dreamlike state and turns death into a nightmare reality.

This film contains many classic slasher horror conventions that typically come up in many films, for example, the killer Freddy Krueger comes from a traumatic background, has a specific weapon he kills all his victims with (razor fingers), is deformed as he was burnt, and is unstoppable. The film includes the convention of sexual promiscuity in teenagers resulting in their eventual death. It also has a 'final girl' which is very common, it is Nancy in this film she is seen as lonely, quiet, socially awkward, but strong which are the usual characteristics.

This picture from the film shows Freddy Krueger's deformed face after he has been burnt by the angry parents of his victims.

This picture shows clearly the specific weapon Freddy uses to kill his victims. This also portrays the idea of sexual promiscuity in teenagers leading to their death as the girl is naked in the bath.

These pictures show a common setting that slasher horror films use, which is a suburban school. It adds a sense of realism to the film and creates fear within the audience.

 This shows the final girl looking innocent and scared for her life as the killer is approaching her, but she is always kept alive until the very end.

 This presents the killer in lots of shadows and darkness, as he is further away it provides a build up for him to reach the victim which slasher horror films do often to create fear.