CODES & CONVENTIONS

OF SLASHER FIL

MS

Y E A R 12 M

E D I A

SLASHER FILM? A slasher film is a sub-genre of the genre horror.  There are various concepts  and conventions that come together to create a slasher film:

- A killer with a hidden identity (mask)

- A group of teenagers (young adults) up to no good. Usually the main characters also usually the victim of the murders.

- No adults/parents around

- Hero or in slasher/horror films named as ‘The final girl’ who defeats the killer.

THE KILLER & WEAPONSShots of flashbacks may be used to introduce the audience to specific characters. Flashbacks are used to show the killer previously killing his/hers victim(s), this gives the audience an insight to what is possibly about to occur later on in the film. The audience are able to identify who the villain/killer is within the opening of a film, due to their identity being covered with stereotypically, a mask. A psychotic masked killer stalking and systematically butchering a group of young adults, away from parent supervision and usually up to no good. The killer is an ordinary person who has suffered some kind of great trauma abuse or injustice in there life and there killing streak is a way to get revenge and forward angers trailing from past events. The biggest convention with the killer is that they appear to have unrealistic immortality/indestructibility and super strength of this character. This is done so the killer can always come back in numerous sequels and rain terror once more.

Weapons are normally in high-key lighting connoting that they are significant to the genre of the film, and the acts that are going to occur within the film.

THE FINAL GIRL/ VIRGINThe final girl/virgin is usually the sensible type who generally refuses to take part in any illegal or sexual activities. She is the sole survivor of the psychos killing spree and the character who finally confronts and defeats the killer. The final girl/virgin is a combination of the hero, the damsel in destress/princess and the dispacher as noted in propps characters theory. The Final Girl is usually but not always brunette, often in contrast to a promiscuous blond who traditionally gets killed off. 

SETTINGS There are two types of environment that are used in slasher films, either an environment that the characters are familiar with or that the characters are unfamiliar with. Common settings that are used are; isolated areas, suburban town, the woods.

In most slasher films, locations of the killing spree are based in an isolated area that has minimum population and somewhere far from civilisation also the area seems to have some sort of connection to the killer in a surrounding that the characters are familiar with to show how unexpected the killings are.

CHARACTERS The Characters In slasher films they have similar certain characters, such as: the killer, the final girl, the promiscuous girl, the jock, the benefactor, and the nice guy.

• The hero is mainly brave and goes after the murderer, often never returning.. This character shows little emotion to show that they are brave and to support the rest of group.

• In horror movies female victims are often portrayed as being vulnerable and in need of protection. Usually young, blonde women are used which are often portrayed as being stupid and annoying and are usually killed off but aren’t the first to be killed.

• The Jock is typically a young, attractive male, who is often romantically affiliated with the promiscuous Blonde character. Again, the Jock tends to be a ‘disposable’ character as he often takes part in ‘sinful’ activity, such as drinking or having sex. He represented the epitome of masculinity yet is overthrown by the villain, enforcing and emphasising the power of the villain

CHARACTERS CONTINUED• The benefactor is an older, wiser character than the final girl, who will usually

give them some kind of weapon, advice or tool in order to try and defeat whatever villainous entity or character they are fighting against. This character may be male or female, and usually has little to offer but advice and knowledge to the protagonists.

• Non-Believer is portrayed as being cocky and at ease, convincing the other characters that they are over reacting and that nothing is going on.Typically overconfident, which usually lead to them being the first to be killed, and their death will trigger a mass killing of the other characters.To begin with, the audience will listen to this voice of reason and be reassured and calmed slightly by them. However, when they are shortly after killed, the audience will panic and all sense of security has gone; nobody is safe. 

LIGHTING

The use of lighting in horror films is vital to guarantee that the accurate mood is set in a certain context. For the majority of the film, lighting in generally low, meaning that some of the characters: particularly  the villain  cannot be seen. Light colour is also essential, different colours can be used to have different effects.

Lighting is used in horror films to give the effect of something bad is about to happen for example shadows and light flickering causes the audience to feel scared and nervous.

Darkness also makes people feel more vulnerable and threatened as they are unable to see as much and people fear the unseen and unknown.

NARRATIVE Usually in Horror films there’s always a ‘hero’ or protagonist, a man or a ‘final girl’ of the film, keeping with the normal conventions of the genre. Usually the hero must embark on a mission or quest to kill or solve problems in order to save themselves or others around them. Often the killer either insane or have experienced some troubles during their childhood and take out this pain and emotion on innocent and vulnerable people e.g. teenagers.

Slasher films also present clear binary opposites, which another placement of a narrative theory from Claude Levi-Strauss. The final girl VS The killer, is the obvious one within slasher films, though slasher films in general seem to be the only genre that has a female protagonist that ends up becoming violent as the killer.

Valdimir Propp has considered as being a formulaic way of looking at different film narratives in slasher genre films. Propps functions and character types relate to the slasher genre since the identified character types by Propps consist of a villain which is linked to a slasher films narrative since the villain is the killer, the hero(the female protagonist known as the ‘final girl’), the donor- who provides the magical gift (the benefactor, the oldest person that tries to provide help for the final girl and the magical gift being the weapon to kill the killer), the false killer(better known as the jock of the friendship group, who later gets killed).