The Conventions Of A Slasher Film

A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a weapon such as a knife.

One of the first and most important films to this sub-genre is Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. The film's plot centers around a man who kills women while using a portable movie camera to record their dying expressions. The film was immensely controversial when first released; critics called it misogynistic. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, released three months after Peeping Tom, and is described as 'the mother of all slasher films'. Psycho is often referred to as the first true slasher film. Even though the villain's body count is only two, the film's plot structure, knife wielding and mentally disturbed killer, twist ending, and 'stalking' camera technique anticipates the gorier films of the 1980s. However, the famous shower sequence has, in itself, become a classic of horror cinema, and the film itself hailed by contemporary critics as a modern masterpiece.

From these films, certain characteristics developed to create the conventions of the Slasher film. These conventions are as follows:

The Killer

Every slasher has a killer. He's usually male, and his identity is often concealed either by a mask or by creative lighting and camerawork. Even if his identity is known, as in the case of Halloween's Michael Myers, he still tends to mask his face. This, combined with the fact that he's usually mute and seemingly unstoppable, heightens his ominous, threatening nature. Their back story often includes a childhood trauma that turned them into the homicidal maniac they are today, thus creating a level of sympathy in the viewer. After all, the real star of a slasher is the killer, not the hero. Throughout a franchise like Friday the 13th, heroes come and go, but the killer is constant: the iconic antihero valued for speaking softly and carrying a lethal weapon.

The Victims

In slashers, the victims tend to be young, attractive and often nude. They're typically high school or college-aged adolescents who engage in activities involving: sex, alcohol, drugs, crime and often sports. Rarely does the killer pick these kids explicitly because of their misdeeds, but there is an unwritten moral code in these films that punishes bad behavior. This somehow puts across the idea that the people who die somehow "deserve" it.

The Heroine

Although slashers are often criticized for being slightly sexist, they're one of the few film genres that primarily feature strong, independent female leads. The heroine is almost always a peer of the victims, but unlike her cohorts, she's virtuous. She doesn't go along with all of the sexual hijinks and drug usage, and if she doesn't outright stop her pals from bullying the geeky outcast who may someday grow into a homicidal killing machine, she at least feels really bad about it. The heroine is also known as the "final girl" because by the end of the movie, all of her friends are dead, and she's left alone to deal with the killer.

The Violence

One thing that separates slashers from thrillers and murder mysteries is the level of violence. Slashers shift the focus of the film from such trivialities as "plot" and "character development" and instead concentrate on the killing. Storylines are basically constructed around giving the killer reason and opportunity to do what he does best; murder and mayhem. The deaths are violent and graphic, and the more originality shown in the methods and tools used, the better.

To summarise in a heartbeat

The typically conventions are:-

1 psychopathic killer.
1 killing sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner.
1 familiar place such as, a highschool or nieghbourhood.
1 group of people, normally teenagers, which are typically stereotypes.
1 mask or other means of disguise.
1 final girl.
1 moral code to follow.
1 revival of the killer

= One bloody good slasher! (Excuse the terrible pun)

Notable Slashers:

Peeping Tom (1960)
Psycho (1960)
Violent Midnight (1963)
Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)
Black Christmas (1974)
Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)
Halloween (1978)
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Prom Night (1980)
Terror Train (1980)
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Hell Night (1981)
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
April Fool's Day (1986)
Stagefright (1987)
Child's Play (1988)
Scream (1996)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Urban Legend (1998)
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Haute Tension (2003)
Cry Wolf (2005)
Halloween (2007)
Hatchet (2007)