Genre Analysis

The horror genre seeks negative emotional reaction by the audience by playing on their most primal fears. Slasher films are amongst the many sub genres within the horror genre. Slasher films tend to consist of extremely gory killings/events.

Formulaic slasher films, have a male figure as a killer, and he is holding a knife, to represent a penis. The narrative usually implements that the girls within the film are sexually active, and these are the girls which die, portraying a message which tells us that sex is essentially dangerous. However to reinforce this message, the mousy, nerdy girl, who is also a virgin, is attacked by the killer, but she conquers past this, and she either kills the killer. In our slasher trailer the knife is not in any way represented as a penis, but it it representing the female figure as monstrous. This links back to the Marxist theory, the monstrous feminine, based on Freudian psychoanalysis - Barbara Creed. Also to reinforce to this, the fact that the killer is defeated by the virgin girl, tells us that, the person we saw with a motherly figure, has now taken over the villainous character.

 Our slasher film does exactly what current films do, multiple killings take place, we have also broken a convention by making the killer a female figure, who became this way after losing her virginity, this is all to keep the audience on edge.

Within our narrative, because the killer is that of a female figure, the knife cannot be represented as a penis, because it would not make sense, but instead it is represented as a symbol of revenge. Because the character loses her virginity, and the boy who took her virginity tells her it meant nothing, this angers her and she is forced to become the killer because she see's no other way.

Iconography within the film is fairly that of the same compared to other films within the genre. Examples of this are that our trailer consists of the typical locations, which would be found in more formulaic films. The use of an urban scenery to base the narrative in, relates to the majority of the audiences, so after watching the film, they would feel a little uneasy in their very own homes. The clothing worn by the different characters within the film are wearing casual clothing, such as hooded tops, jeans and trainers. The colouring of their clothing also helps to shoot across their roles, and representations. For example the killer is wearing black, which has connotations of darkness and evil, and one of the victim is wearing a light blue hooded top, which has connotations of peace, and serenity, helping him come across more as a helpless victim.