CODES & CONVENTIONS OF THE SLASHER GENRE Ben Cornhill
CODES & CONVENTIONS OF
THE SLASHER GENRE
Ben Cornhill
WHAT IS A SLASHER?
What is a Slasher film?
A slasher film is a sub-genre of the horror film genre. In most
slasher films there are many familiar codes and conventions that
can found within the slasher, such as:• a psychotic masked killer stalking and systematically
butchering a group of young adults.• Away from parent supervision and usually up to no
good.• Until eventually the virgin/final girl prevails and seems
to destroy the killer therefore stopping the turmoil from continuing.
STEREOTYPES
The stereotype of a killer within a slasher film is often that the
killer is a supernatural boogie man that is invincible and wilds a
sharp object usually a kitchen knife or axe. The killer in fact is an
ordinary person who has suffered some kind of trauma, abuse or
injustice in their younger years of life and there killing streak is a
way to get revenge and forwards their angers that are trailing
from these significant past events.
The victims are never random either, they are also somehow
linked with the killers past.
WEAPONS
The weapons were always knives or sharp objects never guns. The idea of this makes the killing more upfront, brutal and definitely more personal, the gun is considered to quick and clean. However in the film Halloween (John Carpenter 1978) the doctor does use a gun, but it doesn’t “finish off” the antagonist.
SETTING THE SCENE
Some genres have a distinct location, like western is associated with
Texas, US and set in the late 1800’s to early 1940’s. The slasher film is
the same, usually set in suburbia within a well known state of America,
for example Wisconsin. A real life example of a menace such a Michael
Myers (Halloween, 1978) is Ed Gein, he lived in Wissconsin and was the
typical cranky but friendly guy in the little village, but turned out to be a
murderer and grave robber, decapitating and gutting the bodies, and then
on occasion using their skin to make lampshades and odd things such as
this. He was convicted in 1957 spent the rest of his life in a Criminal
Mental Asylum and died in 1984.
STYLE
Style and Iconography can frequently be mixed up,
Iconography refers to objects and sounds, style
refers to how they are represented. Camera angles
and composition, editing and the use of colour and
special effects, all contribute to the style of a film.
The overall excess use of zingers, monotone drones
and low key lighting in the work of a director such as
John Carpenter(Halloween) suggests slasher.
ICONOGRAPHY
The term Iconography derives from the Art history
and refers to a classification of paintings based on
common images and icons. Films contain both visual
images and ‘ sound images’.
An iconic image for a Hollywood gangster movie was
the machine gun. The iconic images for a slasher can
be the sharp object which is used to brutally murder
the victim, and the monotone drones and zingers
used to add emphasis to the killings.
NARRATIVE
‘Narrative’ refers to both the story structures that films employ and the
specific narrative devices or elements that are used in the construction
(such as chases, gun fights, dance sequences etc.)
They are concerned with conflicts over ideas and values. Most slasher
films offer a narrative of ‘reassurance’ – for example murders in the films
are usually captured or killed themselves.
The term slasher is associated with blood, guts, gore and mindless
bimbos running round screaming ‘help me’ with the final girl at the end
being the one to subdue the murderer and bringing all to piece and
justice.
CHARACTERS
The narrative is usually developed through the characters.
Characters are usually paired in the films i.e. old/young,
black/white, male/female. Within the slasher the characters there
are usually pairs, boyfriend/girlfriend, male/female, psychotic
killer/sharp object.
The ‘final girl’ also is usually included in every film, described
by Carol Clover. The final girl is usually the ‘wall’ to the
psychopaths killings, preventing from killing any more people and
sometimes killing the Antagonist off.
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
There us a much more immediate way in which audiences group
films/ We often go to the cinema in search of sensation, an
immediate emotional response. The adrenaline-rush of an action
film, the ‘on the edge of your seat’ tension of a suspense thriller
or the release of laughter for a comedy are important elements
several genres. Slasher can be referred to as ‘met movies’ and
’skin flicks’.
Its usually the younger audience go to view the films, with girls
going in groups for a thrill then they take their boyfriends.