By Julia Boguszewska

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF SLASHER FILMS

THE MONSTER...

Halloween

Child’s Play

Nightmare on Elm Street

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

ScreamI Know What You Did Last Summer

The monster is the villain within the story. He is normally killed by the final girl (although this often takes a few attempts) and often wears a mask. This is due to the fact that if they do not know who is behind the mask, each person will imagine their worst nightmare. Meaning its personal to everyone within the audience. They also often carry a weapon e.g. knife.

GROUP OF TEENS...

I Know What You Did Last Summer

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Scream The Nightmare On Elm Street

Halloween

Within slasher films there is often a group of teens, including a sexually active girl etc. They usually consist of both, males and females and are associated or linked with the final girl. The convention is that they get killed one by one, until only the final girl is left.

Scream

SEXUALLY ACTIVE GIRL...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Scream

Nightmare on Elm Street Halloween

The sexually active girl is usually the first to be killed by the monster within slasher films, usually shortly after having a sexual encounter. The weapon, which is often a knife, is a phallic symbol. It is widely believed that the knife is supposed to represent the girl being penetrated.

FINAL GIRL GIRL...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Halloween

Scream

I Know What You Did Last Summer

The final girl is the usually the only person to survive and the one who defeats the monster. The final girl is often considered as pure, she is normally the most sensible within the group. Most final girls seem to be brunette, and wear quite modest clothes in neutral colours. Slasher films are often considered as moral stories seeing as the virginal girl does not die, yet the sexually active are “punished”.

INEFFECTIVE AUTHORITY FIGURE...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Halloween

Scream

I Know What You Did Last Summer

The authority figure/s within slasher films is ineffective and is often one step behind the monster. This makes the audience feel uneasy, as they are meant to be a symbol of protection and safety, which is rarely the case in the slasher genre.

LOCATION...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Halloween

Child’s Play The Nightmare On Elm Street

Scream

The location is often a house within the suburbs in order for the audience to feel as if it can happen to anyone, including them. This makes the audience feel as if they cannot be safe anywhere, even within the comfort of their own homes. Another common location is an abandoned house or woods. This is because it means that the place is isolated, meaning no escape or help for the victims, making the audience feel uneasy.

GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM ...

Child’s Play The Nightmare On Elm Street

ScreamThis is a style of film developed in the 1920’s, in Germany. The films are not filmed on locations, but instead they are put together in studios, in order for the producers to have full control of the process. This involves things such as creating mise en scene throughout the film, through the use of backgrounds etc. German expressionism involves dark shadows and rugged abstract-like shapes, to convey meaning to audiences. These extreme backgrounds are called psychological landscapes. Hints of German expressionism are evident within the slasher genre, as most slasher films use woods, and the rigid edges and shadows that the trees create to illustrate that the characters are trapped. The lifeless trees also represent and convey death.

FILM NOIR...

Child’s Play The Nightmare On Elm Street

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish crime dramas. Hollywood's classical film noir period is generally regarded as starting from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Film noir often include a femme fatal, and they represent the men’s fear of independent women at that moment in time. Film noir is also evident in the slasher genre, as low- key lighting is widely used, especially when portraying the monster within this genre.