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.