Codes and Conventions of a Slasher Horror

Our film genre we have chosen is a Slasher Horror film. This is a sub genre of a horror film. Usually they are more gory and involve pretty teenagers. They are said to be the "sexual gore films" as they usually have a sexual activity and then a psychopathic killer going on a rampage. In this post I will show you which conventions a Slasher Horror has.

The setting and locations that most Slasher films are in are rural areas or abandoned areas where there isn’t much civilisation. Usually in it there is a farm or large building in the middle of nowhere, where there isn’t much phone reception or emergency services nearby, this means if the victim calls for the police, they can’t get there quickly or that because there isn’t any phone reception, they can’t call them. Other settings are, the woods/Forrest's, farms, old abandoned houses or cabins in the woods that teenagers go to in the summer break. In most teen slasher films there is a lake or a river, I think this is because it means the teenagers wear less clothing and it appeals to certain audiences.

The props we would use in this film would be common in Slasher films, for example if it was in a house party the props would be:

• Furniture - They would have house furniture that people would be lounging on.
• Alcohol and drugs - Most teen parties are when people go so that they can drink and do drugs.
• Food - There is usually someone eating or goes to get food and gets killed.
• Telephone - They have a phone to call the police but they either have no phone reception or it doesn't work because the killer have cut the phone lines.
• Knife/Hand held weapon - Hand held weapons means the killer has to get close to the victim and when they kill them its more gory and takes longer to kill than a gun shot.
• Mask - This hides the killers identity and makes them look creepy because they have the same facial expression.

The action in Slasher films are usually very gory violence. They can make this happen because they use knives and axes and this means that the killer must slice the victim so there is usually lots of blood and gore. Usually there is some kind of chase as the main victim gets away and usually fights back at the end of the movie.

The characters are usually very good looking. The victims are usually teenagers and almost always has a pretty girl and her boyfriend is a football jock. the characters are:

• Attractive females - These are usually the first to get killed and there is usually a female virgin who loses her virginity and gets killed after.
• A football jock - These are the strong good looking guys who date the main girl and always run into danger and end up dying or sometimes they are the killer themselves.
• The police - The police are usually either not very smart or unfit, this means that they are slow getting the person in trouble. or if they aren't smart then they cant solve who the killer is or they run straight into a trap and get killed. Usually there are more than 1 police officers and one gets killed and the other saves the day but gets injured in the process.
• The killer - The killer is often a male. Also, usually his identity is unknown until the end of the movie when there is a twist. Also the killer remains mute in the scenes as if he is in a trance. They often have a traumatic experience early in life and that's triggered them to go psychopathic. They are killed at the end but always seem to come back from the dead for one last fright but the main character, usually an attractive female finally kills him.

The storyline is slashers are usually very similar to each other. Its usually a group of teenagers in an isolated area getting drunk and having sex and then the killer comes in and kills them one by one. The common storyline is that the main females parents are away for the weekend so she has a house party and at the house party everyone is getting drunk and taking drugs and then they run out of alcohol so someone has to go into the basement or the garage to get some and this is the first victim. the killer kills that person, usually the victim is a pretty female. After a while people realise that person hasn't come back but don't make anything of it. Then the main female character goes upstairs with her boyfriend and they have sex, while this happens the killer is killing people one by one downstairs, and shortly after the couple finish upstairs the killer stabs the boyfriend and tries to kill the main female character but she runs and calls the police and then they take ages to get there so she has to fight back and the killer is unmasked. There is often a twist and the killer is either one of her best friends or her boyfriend or one of her school teachers. The killer is then killed but the characters walk away and then when they look back the killers body is gone, this leaves it open for a sequel.

My Film. Thanks to this research I can see how I must base the foundations of my film and then bring it together witht he appropriate characteristics from my genre. For example, The setting is usually an isolated place so I can film it in a wood or forresty area that is nearby. As for props, the killers weapon will be a stereotypical knife that is associated with slashers. I have a few kitchen knives that look scary that we can use. The killer usually has a mask and I have some scary masks that i've got so we can use that to link to the theme of a slasher. As for the drugs/alcohol, we wont be able to actually get any so we might have to use apple juice or fizzy drinks and pretend that it is alcohol. The research on characters made me think of who i could have in my film, the female would need to be a very attractive woman. The main males would need to either be football captains or popular or rather handsome guys. Finally, the storyline of my film may be a bit different from slashers because i want to add my own twist to it but there will definitely be the normal slasher storyline about a killer on a rampage.