Genre//Slasher

Genre//Slasher

Scream, the first one because the rest really suck, is one of my favorite movies of all time. It has so many quotable lines and such an interesting take on the genre of horror films. This was my first introduction into the genre of slasher films. According to horror.wikia.com, “slasher film (sometimes referred to as bodycount films and dead teenager movies) is a sub-genre of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer (sometimes wearing a mask) who stalks and graphically murders a series of adolescent victims in a typically random, unprovoked fashion, killing many within a single day.” For some odd reason these films are so entertaining and controversial that they draw my attention.

As stated before these films usually have one psychotic killer that murders people for no reason. The victim is usually a adolescents that have traveled far from home conducting promiscuous activities and illegal drug use. The killer usually has a some form of mask and a unorthodox weapon such as a machete or kitchen knife. Guns are a definite no-no for the killer and the antagonist is almost always a male. In my film I would like to break away from this notion that the man must be the killer and want to use a female killer instead. Furthermore, these characters are considered pure evil with no remorse whatsoever.

The craze for slashers came during the 1980’s with the success of are John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980) and Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Most of these movies follow the Final Girl Archetype. This trope refers to the last woman alive and has to confront the killer. She usually remains alive and is the one that goes around and tells the story.

This is some of the basic frameworks for slasher films. I will continue to study successful directors and producers to really understand how to present a successful slasher film.