CODES & CONVENTIONS OF SLASHER HORROR

Slasher movies are one of the most predominant sub-genres within the Horror category, and are highly popular amongst horror fans. Despite many slasher films having vastly different storylines, they all abide to a similar formula and abide to the same conventions.

The Killer

Of course, A killer is one of the main components of a slasher film. Although they are usually male, their identity is commonly hidden through the use of a mask, and is revealed (if at all) at the end of the film. Even if the killer's identity is known by the audience, they still keep their face hidden by the mask. This, combined with the fact that he usually has no or little dialogue, portrays the killer as having a sinister, omnipresent and threatening nature. His back-story is likely to include some sort of childhood trauma that lead him into becoming the homicidal maniac he is today, creating some sort of sympathy in the viewer, despite being aware of the horrific crimes committed by him throughout the film.

The Heroine

Although the slasher genre sometimes causes controversy for being arguably sexist, the 'heroic' role is commonly acquired by a female. It is evident to the audience that the Heroine (or The Final Girl) is conservative; she doesn't drink alcohol or take any drugs, and is most often a virgin. It is notable that a particular skill/ set of skills is possessed by the character, as this is known to help them defeat the killer in the final battle.

The Victims

The victims are one of the most substantial elements of the Slasher sub-genre, and are often teenagers, most commonly in high school, and have morals entirely unparalleled to that of the Heroine. Rarely does the killer pick off these characters specifically because of their immoral behaviour, however the unspoken code of slasher films is that they must be punished for their wrong doings. As sadistic as it may sound, fans of the genre tend to look forward to the deaths of these types of characters because they believe they deserve it.

However it isn’t always bad characters that get killed off, ultimately many characters die who, in any way, have an association with the main character. Sometimes a protagonist is killed off for shock value, for example Randy in Scream 2.

Violence

It is obvious that Slashers differ from other horror sub-genres when looking at the violence depicted throughout the films, and instead of focusing on such themes as character development, concentrate on the macabre gore. The storylines within Slashers hence allow the killer the opportunity to cause mayhem amongst the characters. The deaths are extremely graphic and bloody, and are caused by a particular weapon of the killer’s choice, for example Jason Vorhees’ iconic machete. 

History

John Carpenter's 'Halloween', made in 1978 is considered as being the first "true" slasher in terms of using all of these components within the same project, therefore setting the standard by which all other films within this sub-genre are viewed upon. 'Halloween''s success led to 'Friday the 13th' in 1980, which then opened the door for hundreds of similar during the 1980s, such as 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' containing the original and infamous villain, Freddy Krueger.

By the start of the '90s, the slasher concept had worn thin, with fewer and fewer films at the box office relating to the genre. However in 1996, Wes Craven's 'Scream', became the biggest hit the genre had ever seen, featuring all of the main codes and Conventions of the slasher sub-genre with a mildly ironic twist. 

FILM OPENING DECONSTRUCTION- SCREAM

One of the most famous horror films to come out in the last 20 years is Wes Craven's scream. Set in the town of Woodsburo, a murderer by the name of Ghostface is picking of members of the community one by one.

The film opens with title of the movie accompanied with the non digetic sound of a ringing phone followed by a loud scream. This informs the audience of the genre of the film they are about to watch, the scream connotes horror and violence.

The ringing of the phone is a sound bridge as it carried over to the next shot as we see a close up of a phone, thus the ringing becomes a digetic sound. The audience then see Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) answer the phone. She is wearing white which usually connotes purity and innocence however, in the scene she gets into a semi flirtatious mood with the caller despite her having a boyfriend, something that can be seen as the convention of a . She is also wearing make up which may represents this sexualised manner. Wes Craven is credited with defying the regular conventions associated with horror with this film.

After hanging up after the caller dials her again the location of the opening is revealed to be a large house though the use of a long shot. Having the framed on its own and I the center of the shot creates a feeling of isolatedion . This contributes to the tension of the scene as Casey is all alone and a sense of helplessness begins to build.

The caller calls yet again, and they start talking about scary movies, which at the time, having characters within a horror film be self aware and start referencing horror films was unheard of. Which gives credit to Scream and Wes Craven revolutionising the horror genre. A zoom in shot with Casey's face framed in the center shows the concern and fright that is on her face. The non digetic sound of a dog barking perhaps alludes to the killer's presence outside and Casey begins to lock the door in response to this.

The killer begins to get more violent on the phone and the on screen diegetic sound of popcorn on the stove is getting louder and the bag is getting bigger perhaps to heighten the growing tension of the scene. The close up of Casey's face when the killer threatens to kill her shows the true terror she is feeling and the horror of the overall scene, Casey's mode of address begins to get frantic and scared conveying the sense of fright and desperation.

After the threat a non digetic drum beat begins to play and after a screech Casey runs and the drums beat faster to accompany the growing tension of the scene, and perhaps to show that the killer is getting closer. As Casey locks all the doors the music stops leading the audience into a false sense of security. The silence isn't there for long as an offscreen digetic sound of a doorbell is heard making Casey scream and jump in terror.

Then the phone rings again making her scream, the use of a long shot leaves her open and exposed so the audience are looking around her environment in case the killer is stalking around the house. Casey answers the call and a long shot of the door leads the audience to believe that the killer is on the other side. Then the killer reveals he knows the name of Casey's boyfriend and the background music of the string instruments stop playing, a close up of Casey's face shows how scared she is.

The killer demands she turn on the patio lights, the lighting is low key yet bright enough for the audience to see her boyfriends bound and gagged body, however at the same time not bright enough for the, to feel safe and secure. A close up of Steve's (the boyfriend) face shows that he has been injured and the audience now know that this killer is not messing around and is a very real threat.

The lights are turned off at the killer's command and after Casey gets one of his questions wrong he says that Steve is going to die. The darkness of the shot doesn't show the audience the killer. Then the lights return and the audience see his mutilated body. After more back and forth between Casey and the killer, then a jump scare with the sound of glass cracking is a sound bridge between a shot of Casey cowering and a shot of a chair coming through the patio door.

We finally see the killer from a P.O.V of Casey and a screech of non diegetic string instruments accompanies this. A chase ensues and a long shot shows the audience how the killer is right behind Casey, framed right in the center to show his close proximity to Casey. He manages to catch her and stab her in the chest with the phone still in her hand.

In a close up shot the killer then stabs her in the throat and destroys her vocal chords and her mode of address becomes gargled, as she tries and calls for help conveying the hopelessness of the situation . The audience can see the pain of Casey's face and endure this pain with her. She then tries and calls for her parents who have just arrived at the house however the dramatic irony that the audience know that Casey is in trouble but her parents don't creates a sense of hopelessness. Her parents come into the house and see the fire on the stove as a result of the overcooked pop corn and start to panic. Her mother begins to call the phone and in a close up shot we see Casey being dragged by the killer with the phone still in hand, the close up allows the audience to see the panic on the mother's face.

The mother exits the house and screams. This clues the audience into the fact that something has happened but they are not shown until the camera zooms in onto Casey's gutted body hanging from a tree. The zoom is fast paced and shows her body in gory detail making the audience very uncomfortable.

The opening is brilliant as it establishes the genre of the film and shows the killer in full force and shows what he is capable of. Drew Barrymore did a lot of the promotional material for the movie so to see her get killed off in the first few minutes of the film was a real shock to the audience. However, in my opinion- this opening peaks the film much too soon, as the killer doesn't really appear for much of the film until the ending and when he does it doesn't impact the audience like he does in this opening.

PROS AND CONS OF THE SLASHER SUB-GENRE

PROS AND CONS OF USING THE SLASHER SUB-GENRE

For our final coursework piece, we have decided to choose the Slasher sub genre as our main basis (with included elements of thriller horror). We picked this sub-genre to focus on as we felt that we are able to express lots of our knowledge of cinematography in general, and experiment with new techniques both in and post-production parts of making the film opening.

Of course, there are both advantages and disadvantages to this choice of sub-genre, and it is important to understand what they are before filming in order to be aware of what we need to put more focus on when filming and editing the opening.


Location

• The codes and conventions of slasher horror feature an extensive range of location; from an everyday well known location such as a school, to a darker and more eerie one such as a forest. For our final film opening, we have decided to use a basic home setting, a dimly lit street, and an urban-style overpass, which are very easy for us to use as it is close to home and it will not cost anything extra to either travel to or use, as they are public settings all within walking distance.
• The only problem we may face with location is mostly to do with the weather. We would ideally like to film in the evening, when everything is dark. It would be ideal for there to be quite miserable, post-rain weather, as this could count as pathetic fallacy- a common convention of the slasher genre. Of course, the weather is out of our control so we cannot decide what it will be like at the time of filming, therefore we can't guarantee a particular type of weather.

Mise en scene

• Mise en scene is a prevalent feature within the slasher sub-genre, as it can make the audience aware of both events which could happen in the future, as well as things like character traits and what type of situation they could end up in according to the codes and conventions of the genre. Luckily, our chosen characters will be very simple to present through mise en scene; alcohol bottles, pill packets and use of simple makeup and costume are simple things which can be included using objects from around the house.
• A problem we may face with props in mise en scene is use of weaponry when filming. The killers will have visible weaponry (handheld such as knives) which if not planned responsibly could result in members of the public wrongly assuming how we are using such items. Another problem which we could possible face is the realism of the makeup used in the film opening. If it doesn't look extremely realistic, the final piece will not look as professional as it should. To overcome this, we are going to ensure that a good amount of time is spent on planning and applying any makeup and special effects so that it looks as realistic as possible.

ICONIC SLASHER HEROINES

A common character in many slasher movies is the heroine or "the final girl". They sometimes have some sort of relation to the killer and are often equipped with a special skill or certain ability to combat them. More often than not they survive the film and defeat the villain in the 'final battle'.


Laurie Strode

Laurie Strode is the main antagonist of the Halloween franchise, despite not appearing in all of the instalments she is easily the most iconic person ever to go head to head with Michael Myers. Laurie Strode is widely recognised as the first true female heroine in a slasher film, one of the earliest and most influential examples of the "final girl", and it is made clear to slasher audiences that several of later movies heroines have some of her traits and adhere to several conventions that she was part of introducing.

Nancy Thompson 

Nancy Thompson is the main antagonist of A nightmare on Elm street and one of the main deuteragonists of A nightmare on Elm street 3: Dream warriors. She was the daughter of an alcoholic mother and a policeman father. In the first film she was haunted by Freddy Krueger the dream demon during his original killing spree on the children of Elm street, whilst in the third film she was a researcher at Western hills hospital who helped the remaining children of Elm street defend themselves against Freddy. She falls victim to Freddy towards the end of the film when he stabs her with his iconic bladed glove. She is the last person to die in the film. The death of Nancy brought a big change to slasher films as it broke the convention of the heroine serving until the end and defeating the villain.

Sidney Prescott

Sidney Prescott is the main protagonist of the Scream franchise, appearing in all four films. Linked to all of the killing sprees committed by all those who took on the alias of 'Ghostface', Sidney showed that she was more than a match for all of the killers. Originally surviving the first killers Billy Loomis and Stu Macher and eventually going on to encounter her own cousin, Jill, in the fourth film. Daughter to the infamous Maureen Prescott ( the woman responsible for the divorce of Billy's parents and victim of the rape and murder committed by Billy and Stu in response) Sidney showed she was nothing like her mother by remaining a virgin( until the ending) and considered as being conservative in terms of character. She goes through a great deal of change; being somewhat tough already in the first film to Being nothing short of a true hero by the fourth- she's even brave enough to take on Ghostface in a physical combat. The attempts on her life have made her braver and tougher, allowing her to save the lives of others even in the face of danger, not like your typical damsel in distress.

            

Alice Hardy

Alice Hardy is the main protagonist of Friday the 13th(1980). She is one of the counsellors at camp crystal lake and was the only survivor of Pamela Vorhees killing spree. Alice fits many of the traits that make a final girl, she's a virgin and quite conservative, especially in comparison to her fellow counsellors. Horror movie conventions dictate that she will be the final girl and she does so in great fashion. Towards the end of the film , Pamela Vorhees confronts Alice about how the counselors let Jason drown in the lake. Obviously Alice is not one go these counselors as Jason died many years previous to her arrival at the camp. After a long chase, Alice finally gets the upper hand and decapitates Pamela- ending her killing spree. In a dream, she falls asleep on a boat and Jason pulls her under killing her, for her to wake up and find it was only in her head. However in the second film she isn't so fortunate when Jason shows up for real. He finds out that she murdered his beloved mother and seeks revenge. He puts his mothers head in her fridge, once she discovers it Jason stabs her through the head with a screwdriver, becoming his first victim. Showing not every heroine lasts the entire franchise.

ICONIC SLASHER KILLERS

An integral part of a slasher film is the killer. Whether a supernatural villain or a regular everyday person, they all have one thing in common- they kill people! Here is a list of some of the most iconic slasher killers.

Michael Myers (Halloween)
Michael Myers is the central antagonist of the Halloween franchise. At six years old he was admitted into a psychiatric hospital because he murdered his sister, Judith Myers. After 15 years of being held he broke out from his psychiatric prison and hunted down the rest of his family in order to kill them. He fits into the category of the "masked killer" as he is seen wearing a mask that is meant to be the face of Captain Kirk from the Star Trek franchise. Physically he is a massive specimen of a man. He seems to posses superhuman strength, given that he is able to survive injuries that would otherwise result in death; such as being shot, stabbed, electrocuted and burned. He is never depicted as speaking through the films(at least in the original films), although this is intentional. He is notable for being the killer in what is seen as the first true slasher film, thus making him, effectively, the first slasher killer.

Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm street)
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is the main antagonist for the Nightmare on Elm street franchise. When alive he was known as the "Springwood slasher', he was eventually hunted down and killed by parents of the children of Springwood( his victims), after he was released from police custody due to a technicality. They chased him to a shack where he once worked and burned him alive, responsible for his burnt appearance. Rather than dying he was offered to become a Dream Demon, where he gained the ability to enter his victims dreams and kill them. The victims would be killed in the "Dream world" but the effects of their death would be visible to those in the real world. Fredy's signature weapon is a glove with knives for fingers, which he is seen many times killing with. However he doesn't use the glove exclusively, being in the Dream world he is able to use creative methods to murder his victims.

Jason Vorhees(Friday the 13th) 
Jason Vorhees is the main antagonist of the Friday the 13th franchise. As a child Jason was bullied as a child for being physically deformed and eventually drowned in Crystal lake whilst trying to escape the other children. This abides by the convention of a tragic backstory for the villain. Jason isn't actually the killer in the first Friday the 13th film, that position is held by his mother Pamela Vorhees, who is set on killing the councillors of camp Crystal lake for letting Jason drown. However it turns out that Jason didn't drown and now he haunts camp Crystal lake killing the campers to avenge his mother, after she was killed by Alice in the first film. Jason is an unstoppable killing machine, surviving many things that should have killed him. Things such as, bullets, impalement, limbs being cut off, being frozen and electrocuted. He even manages to take down Freddy Krueger in the crossover film, Freddy vs Jason. His signature weapon is the machete, however if he doesn't have it, he'll always find a way of disposing of his victims. Another iconic part of his character is his iconic hockey mask, placing him in the category of the masked killer.

 
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional persona adopted by several killers in the scream franchise. In the first him Ghostface is two actually two people (a twist in the usual formula for a slasher film), they are Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. Billy was the mastermind behind the Woodsburrow murders whereas Stu was the more physical of the two, not to say Billy didn't kill as well. The plotted to kill Sydney Prescott because her mother(who they also killed) had an affair with Billy's mother which resulted in the divorce of Billy's parents. Inspired by horror films, these two were clearly crazy. They were eventually killed when Sydney pushed a tv on Stu's face- electrocuting him and Gale Weathers shoots Billy, only to come back for one final scare, resulting in Sydney putting a bullet in his forehead. 

In the second film, the persona is adopted by Billy's mother and Mickey. The third film see's Sydney's half brother Roman become the masked killer. Scream 4 features Sydney's cousin Jill and her friend Charlie. All of whom perish by the end of their respective films, which usually isn't the case for a slasher film. The name "Ghostface" was coined by the fact that his costume does indeed have a ghosts face, other than the iconic mask the killer also dons a large balck cloak. 

Leatherface (Texas chainsaw massacre)
Leatherface is the main antagonist of the Texas chainsaw massacre. This handicapped/disturbed killer wears a mask made out of human skin, hence his name. The character is loosely based off of real life American serial killer Ed Gein who also skinned his victims and made their skin into clothes. The weapon most associated with is his iron chainsaw, but is also sometimes seen with a sledgehammer. The films do not portray him as ,necessarily evil but more simple and not out to kill out of viciousness. He just does what his family tells him to do. Some even believe he kills out of fear and is only scared of all of the new people who enter his house. The victims of leather face are barbecued and processed into chili which his father sells at the local gas station. Leatherface never speaks but makes grunt noises, making him different to several other slasher killes like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees. 

Chucky(Child's play)
Chucky is a killer doll that is the main antagonist in the Child's play franchise. Despite being only a small doll Chucky has the strength of a full grown man. Criminal Charles Lee Ray was pursued into a toy store and using his voodoo amulet he is able to transfer his soul into a good guy doll. The idea of a doll in a horror film isn't exactly the most unique thing, however Chucky is different as he is a more physical killer compared to the supernatural dolls, such as Annabelle, who are more supernatural. The only way to kill Chucky is to shoot him through the heart, showing he can be killed.