2. WHAT IS A SLASHER?
What is a Slasher film?
A slasher film is a sub-genre of the horror film genre. In most slasher films
there are many familiar codes and conventions that can found within the
slasher, such as:
• a psychotic masked killer stalking and systematically butchering a
group of young adults.
• Away from parent supervision and usually up to no good.
• Until eventually the virgin/final girl prevails and seems to destroy
the killer therefore stopping the turmoil from continuing.
3. STEREOTYPES
The stereotype of a killer within a slasher film is often that the killer is
a supernatural boogie man that is invincible and wilds a sharp object
usually a kitchen knife or axe. The killer in fact is an ordinary person who
has suffered some kind of trauma, abuse or injustice in their younger
years of life and there killing streak is a way to get revenge and forwards
their angers that are trailing from these significant past events.
The victims are never random either, they are also somehow linked
with the killers past.
4. WEAPONS
The weapons were always knives or
sharp objects never guns. The idea of
this makes the killing more
upfront, brutal and definitely more
personal, the gun is considered to quick
and clean. However in the film
Halloween (John Carpenter 1978) the
doctor does use a gun, but it doesn‟t
“finish off ” the antagonist.
5. SETTING THE SCENE
Some genres have a distinct location, like western is associated with Texas, US
and set in the late 1800‟s to early 1940‟s. The slasher film is the same, usually set in
suburbia within a well known state of America, for example Wisconsin. A real life
example of a menace such a Michael Myers (Halloween, 1978) is Ed Gein, he lived
in Wissconsin and was the typical cranky but friendly guy in the little village, but
turned out to be a murderer and grave robber, decapitating and gutting the
bodies, and then on occasion using their skin to make lampshades and odd things
such as this. He was convicted in 1957 spent the rest of his life in a Criminal Mental
Asylum and died in 1984.
6. STYLE
Style and Iconography can frequently be mixed up, Iconography
refers to objects and sounds, style refers to how they are represented.
Camera angles and composition, editing and the use of colour and
special effects, all contribute to the style of a film. The overall excess
use of zingers, monotone drones and low key lighting in the work of
a director such as John Carpenter(Halloween) suggests slasher.
7. ICONOGRAPHY
The term Iconography derives from the Art history and refers to a
classification of paintings based on common images and icons. Films
contain both visual images and „ sound images‟.
An iconic image for a Hollywood gangster movie was the machine
gun. The iconic images for a slasher can be the sharp object which is
used to brutally murder the victim, and the monotone drones and
zingers used to add emphasis to the killings.
8. NARRATIVE
„Narrative‟ refers to both the story structures that films employ and the specific
narrative devices or elements that are used in the construction (such as chases, gun
fights, dance sequences etc.)
They are concerned with conflicts over ideas and values. Most slasher films
offer a narrative of „reassurance‟ – for example murders in the films are usually
captured or killed themselves.
The term slasher is associated with blood, guts, gore and mindless bimbos
running round screaming „help me‟ with the final girl at the end being the one to
subdue the murderer and bringing all to piece and justice.
9. CHARACTERS
The narrative is usually developed through the characters. Characters
are usually paired in the films i.e. old/young, black/white, male/female.
Within the slasher the characters there are usually
pairs, boyfriend/girlfriend, male/female, psychotic killer/sharp object.
The „final girl‟ also is usually included in every film, described by Carol
Clover. The final girl is usually the „wall‟ to the psychopaths
killings, preventing from killing any more people and sometimes killing
the Antagonist off.
10. AUDIENCE RESPONSE
There us a much more immediate way in which audiences group
films/ We often go to the cinema in search of sensation, an immediate
emotional response. The adrenaline-rush of an action film, the „on the
edge of your seat‟ tension of a suspense thriller or the release of laughter
for a comedy are important elements several genres. Slasher can be
referred to as „met movies‟ and ‟skin flicks‟.
Its usually the younger audience go to view the films, with girls going
in groups for a thrill then they take their boyfriends.
