The document analyzes and compares the opening scenes of several classic slasher films. In Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger is shown sharpening his claws to establish him as the villain. The Scream opening introduces the killer through an unsettling phone call to a young blonde woman. Halloween uses point-of-view shots to imply the killer is watching a young couple, increasing tension. All three films feature innocent blonde victims isolated with an impending threat, conforming to slasher film conventions and manipulating audience expectations.

1. OPENING SCENES
OF SLASHER FILMS

2. Opening Scene Of
Nightmare
On Elm Street

3.  In the nightmare of Elm Street they
establish the danger early as the villain is
preparing the weapon, sharpening it and
producing lethal claws. This makes the
audience discover how this villain kills his
victims, which causes terror in the
audiences. They decide to show the killer
(Freddy Krueger) making the weapon to
build up the tension to make us the
audience assume that he’s preparing to
kill someone.

4.  After the weapon is produced, the
Nightmare on Elm Street title is
shown. This is very unique as the
majority of the title is in red which
could connotate blood. This is
significant as the weapon would
produce a huge amount of pain and
blood to occur in the victim and
therefore by applying a title with red,
it shows the outcome of the weapon.
This also makes the

5.  After the title we see a young blonde woman who
is looking bewildered by her surroundings. .
Without even acknowledging her personality, we
assume that she is the victim in this film due to the
codes and conventions. A code and convention in
horror films is that the victim is often blonde,
attractive and innocent which they have
manipulated in this film. This connotates fragility
as these young blondes are perceived as helpless
when in danger and are often discriminated as not
being the brightest of people, having the phrase
“Dumb blonde” said. This is later exploited when
she decides to run into an abandoned, darkened
area, which puts her life into danger. She is also
running away from brightness where she will be
able to receive help if in danger.

6.  opening scene we automatically get the sense of
danger as we first see the weapons being made by
the villain and then an innocent young lady run
into a closed area where she is in a closed area.
This is a unique shot as she’s walking towards
darkness, which could connotate danger, and
walking away from the brightness, which could
symbolise safety. This could be reinforced as being
scared of the dark is a common fear, and therefore
with the character walking towards it, the audience
can imagine that something bad is going to
happen. With this character running, we assume
she’s running away from the villain. However, due
to the codes and conventions of most deaths
happening in enclosed, dark areas, we realise that
she’s running towards him. This causes huge
frustration in the audience as well as tension as
they are horrified by the possibility of a young
innocent girl getting murdered.

7. Opening Scene For
Scream

8.  The title appears before the opening scene unlike The
Nightmare On Elm Street, where it appears slightly later on.
When the title is appearing with the transition, we hear
dramatic and tense music, often what you would hear when
the villain is about to kill the innocent victim in a slasher film.
This unsettling noise however is stopped by a phone ringing
which appears when the title is frozen on the screen; flashing
red and light which symbolises danger and warning.As the
phone noise fades away we are able to hear screaming as
well as a heart beating rapidly. This intense title sequence is
then faded to the opening scene where the phone is ringing
however we have no screaming. These screams in the
beginning give the audience an expectation on what is going
to occur later on. This expectation is obviously reinforced by
the title itself, “Scream”. They include the phone ringing in the
title, a long with the screams, however the screams then fade
away and we end up hearing the phone ring by itself. This
makes the audience assume that the phone is going to
contribute in the terror.

9.  This opening scene is of a young, blonde, innocent looking
teenage girl picking up the phone to a stranger. It’s a man who
seems calm however suspicious due to his unusual calm tone
throughout. At first the teenage girl is perfectly fine with speaking
to this peculiar man on the phone who had got the wrong
number. never the less he keeps on calling her, regardless of
originally having the wrong number, which makes the audience
assume that he’s the villain. The audience would come to this
conclusion because of titling earlier on which makes them
associate the phone ringing with the screams, as well as
understanding the codes and conventions of victims in horror
films. Often, the victims are young, attractive and blonde as they
are perceived as being fragile and clueless to the danger. This is a
similarity between the Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream as
they both manipulated the stereotype of “Dumb blondes.” In the
previous film the girl is running into an abandoned, enclosed area,
and in this film the girl is speaking to a stranger who is being very
sociable and has a desire to speak to her; even though he called
her by accident. These are both scenarios that you are often told
to avoid by your parents which are avoided by these victims in
horror films.

10.  By revealing an outside shot of the
females house, the audience witness the
swings moving with no one around them.
This gives the viewer the impression that
the villain causing the “Scream” and
who’s behind the phone call is
intentionally calling her and is near her.

11.  Shortly after this shot from the garden, the man
on the phone says “I want to know who I’m
looking at.” This is unique as it’s proving the
audiences expectations correct which is a
major slasher film element.
 This then changes the teenagers mood and she
starts to become anxious and worried about
who’s she speaking to on the phone. (Which
should have been her initial response) Her
mood change is reflected by the piano noise
when she pauses and says “What did you say?”
We also acknowledge her change as she had a
happy, content facial expression which changed
to a panicked, cautious expression.

12.  The villain reveals his true personality as he
raises his voice and shows great anger
towards her calling the teenager a “Little
b*tch.” This was a shock to the audience as
he was perceiving himself as calm, however
we assumed he was the villain by his voice.
This therefore succeeds more of the viewers
expectations.

13.  The pop corn in this opening scene is very significant as it
symbolises tension. At first the pop corn is placed onto the
stove, this is when the villain repeatedly calls her; even
though he knows that it’s the “wrong number.” This creates
suspicion and tension as it’s against the social norm to speak
to dial in the wrong number and attempt to socialise with the
unintended person.
 When she realises that he is peculiar and could potentially be
dangerous, the pop corn rises.
 However when the villain revealed his inpatients and got
angry; the pop corn was causing smoke. This is because the
tension lifted hugely due to the villain becoming aggressive,
which makes the audience realise that she could be in danger
as villains in slasher films aren’t afraid to murder innocent
victims.

14.  “They’ll never make it in time,
we’re out in the middle of
nowhere.” This quote from the
killer is vital as it makes the
audience aware that she is by
herself, unable to get help. This is
a key code and convention in
horror films as the element of
danger is manipulated significantly
with the fact that she can’t get
help, and if she does get attacked,
no one will be there to hear it and
rescue her.

15. The Opening Scene
for Halloween (1978)

16.  The film starts off with a fast panning shot of the
outside of the house and then alters to a tracking
shot. This shot is done as if it’s a Point of view as
the movement then alters from panning, to the
camera going towards the window; where two
young adults are kissing. We get the sense it’s a
POV as they are perceived as two innocent, loved
up people who are seen as victims to the guy
looking through the window. We assume the villain
is the person looking through the window as it’s a
peculiar thing to look through the window of
someone's house from the outside. Already
acknowledging it’s a horror film by the title
“Halloween”, we are already expecting murders,
which starting the intro off with this shot enables
the audience to make the correct judgment without
having to include any codes and convention.

17. When the tracking shot occurs again they
establish that it’s a POV because the noise
of footsteps. The camera then tilts to the
window where the couple are and this is
where we are certain that he’s watching
them because he saw them go upstairs, and
he moved to have the view. You’re
expectations of the person outside being
the villain is also proved correct by the
instantly horrific, screeching sound that
occurred when they switched the light off.
This then causes the tracking shot to be a
lot faster which increases the tension in the
audience as we assume that he is going to
kill them when they’re at their most fragile.

18.  This unclear imagine of the villain taking
out the knife makes the audience realise
that he’s not a monster with any special
features and that he’s a human, using a
knife to kill. This shot of the hand
picking up the knife causes the
audience to question who the killer is,
his purpose to killing and what he looks
like. The POV makes the audience feel
like they’re the killer, which gives them
an unwanted discomfort feeling as they
are unable to stop the death and they
feel like they’re the killer.

19.  As the killer is walking towards the couple,
the music rises to make the audience
realise that the death is going to occur
soon. The louder the noise, the closer to
the murder you get in the film. A code
and convention in slasher films is that the
victim is often unaware of the killers
presence, and like with the two previous
films I’ve spoken about, the victim is a
young, innocent female. This causes
frustration in the audience as they are
unable too help her in anyway, however by
making the victim totally unaware of the
danger, when she acknowledges the
murderer she will be a lot more horrified;
reflecting that onto the audience. This
impacts the audience by making them feel
helpess from the inevitable.

20.  “Michael!” this quote from the young woman
connotes that she knows murderer which
makes the audience question how she does
know him and what caused him to kill her.
The numerous stabbings suggests that it was
something quite prolific.

21.  When we discover that Michael is a
little boy, the audience are stunned
as it wasn’t what they were
expecting. This unexpected twist was
formulated by the POV shots as our
only feature of the murderer was the
hand to suggest that it’s an ordinary
human being. However the
audience’s expectations which are
created by the codes and
conventions in slasher films, made
them not even take a little boy being
the murderer into consideration.
Little boys are an extremely small
percentage of killers in real life,
which was manipulated to shock the
audience.