CONVENTIONSOF THE SLASHER SUB-GENRE

There always has to be a final girl in a slasher title otherwise it wouldn’t be classed as a slasher film. She is mostly always a virgin, intelligent and innocent. She usually wears costume that isn’t revelling because she has to be seen as innocent so she is not like the rest of the characters as they are seen to be slutty, of a revealing costume and a high sex drive who likes to break the rules. The final girl is seen to be sceptical and mostly is the one to warn the others of the danger that they might be in but will never be listened to, until its too late. She is called the final girl because of the simple fact that she is the last character alive who goes through hell to have a drawn out battle with the antagonist. Now she usually wins and kills the antagonist at the end of the film, however some films, like Friday the 13th have put a unique spin on their ending by having the audience feel as if the protagonist won the fight but later revealing that the antagonist is not dead leaving the audience astounded and left as a cliff hanger. This allows the film to have sequels and to become a franchise. Furthermore, she is mostly associated with a group of rebellious teens who are the main characters, however as I stated before, she will be the most likely one to survive until the end, despite all of the encounters and beatings she has with the antagonist throughout the movie. Finally she usually has dark brown hair and a more unisex name so that she appears to be more masculine over her blond friends who appear to very feminine. THE MAIN CHARACTERS

THE PROTAGONIST/FINAL GIRLCONVENTIONS OF SLASHER

Another main convention of the slasher sub-genre is the group of characters who are mainly a group of reckless teenagers who don’t give care in others around them and continuously break the law. This allows some reason for all of the gruesome killings that take place in these type of horrors. They drink alcohol, take illegal drugs and break rules which makes them more easier to catch and kill. As all of the things that they do are seen as bad in our society, it creates an idea that the characters are being punished for what they do. The first character to die from this group is usually the most horrific gruesome death and is seen to be the sacrificial lamb and is usually a blonde, attractive and revealing girl who isn’t very intelligent and probably annoying and therefore the audience take some pleasure in seeing her perish. The male characters are often jocks who are unintelligent and arrogant and also don’t believe anything bad will ever happen to them. Also it is very rare to see a male victim survive in a slasher.

The antagonist is the reason why audiences watch slasher films and is mostly always a male as stereotypically men as usually taller and strong, therefore making them more terrifying when they almost seem immortal. Furthermore the antagonist is mostly always wearing a mask or has a deformed face that will seem creepy and scary. This will also conceal the killers identity making the slasher more frightening as the audience are left wondering who is behind the mask. This allows the film maker to add a possible twist that the killer is one of the victims friends, like they did in Scream. This is one of the most effective conventions for a slasher as it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the movie due to the constant threat of an unknown antagonist. Furthermore the choice of weapon is a big convention within the sub-genre, the killer always needs a weapon that can put his victim through the most gruesome and slowest death possible because that’s what audiences want to see. Weapons such as; chainsaws, knifes, machetes, axes etc. However the slasher antagonist will never use a gun as this will be a quick and boring death and will not be as gruesome as the sub-genre needs to be.

THE ANTAGONISTCONVENTIONS OF SLASHER

The weapons listed will draw the most amount of blood and therefore keep to the convention of gruesome deaths. Having blood, gore and prolonged deaths will make a great slasher film as these are the main conventions. Unlike other sub-genres, the weapon will help the film have its own brand identity with each big slasher having its own personal weapon to go with the unique mask, meaning that audiences will be able to know what antagonist they are watching due to his weapon and mask. For example Scream’s antagonist uses a knife, Texas Chainsaw Massacre uses a chainsaw and Friday the 13th’s antagonist uses a machete.

OVERALL/ SLASHER AS A WHOLE

CONVENTIONS OF SLASHER

Slasher as a whole is a great sub-genre that steams from the genre of horror. It has been very successful in creating movies such as Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. It also has very clear conventions that are used in every slasher and these will engage with the correct target audience because using the same conventions will allow

audiences to return to their favourite sub-genre of horror and this is why it has been so successful. Furthermore slasher is the type of sub-genre where the audience can relate to the characters, like in Scream the characters are seen to be mimicking the killer and saying things like ‘this is a prank, it only happens in the movies’ which is what most of the audience would say if they were in that same situation. This will scare the audience because they can relate it to real life and then be fearful of it actually happening to them. Thus this is a very good technique that will

keep audience coming back to watch more slashers.