Slasher Sub Genre
Films of the Slasher sub-genre typically involve a serial killer murdering several victims, and often focus more on the killings rather than the plot or character development. The term 'Slasher' can also be used as a generic term for any horror film involving murder. The genre's peak occurred with American films released during the 70s and 80s, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween. Hitchcock's ''Psycho'' is often regarded as an early influential Slasher film, and the 1996 film ''Scream'' later revived public interest in the genre. According to Vera Dika, Slasher plots are always influenced by a past event in which a community, often made up of teenagers, commits a wrongful action towards the killer which causes them some sort of trauma. The film often begins with a commemoration of an important past event which reactivates the killer, and many films within the sub-genre all follow a similar formula.
A typical character to include in a Slasher is known as the ''final girl'', who escapes the killer's 
advances by the end of the film e.g. Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978). The film also often begins with the murder of a young woman. Another typical character is a psychopathic killer (often wearing a mask) who stalks and violently murders a series of victims, who are often young and attractive teenagers. There is often a backstory of how the killer got to this mental state, and the killer is usually male, although their identity is often concealed by something like a mask. Films of the Slasher genre use unconventional weapons such as blades, chainsaws, cleavers and blunt objects.The films are usually set in a quiet and peaceful town that is considered to be safe, but is usually isolated and hard to escape from, which creates a sense of dread from the audience as everything initially appears to be normal. They also usually have sequels in which the killer makes some sort of return or another character is inspired by the killer's previous actions.
From my research into the slasher sub-genre, our group decided that we liked the idea of the killer being a character who has been bullied or isolated from the community around them, which contributes to their mental state and motive to kill. We decided that our main character/killer would most likely be a female character, which subverts from the conventions of the sub-genre as the killer is typically male. In addition, we decided that the majority of our characters would be young and attractive teenagers, which follows the conventions of slasher and we would consider making one of our possible locations within a school environment to really emphasise the youth of the characters. Implementing a ''final girl'' character would be something we consider, however as the killer may be female in our trailer, we could switch the gender roles around for this character as well, or we could have the ''final girl'' character be the main bully or the one who initially provokes the killer to develop a motive to kill their peers.
Inspiration for our Film Trailer
I put forward the idea to my group that we focus on an anti-hero for our film trailer. We haven't seen this in any other student productions we've looked at so far, and therefore we agreed it would be an interesting path to take. In the trailer, we acknowledge that it may be difficult to convey the messages we want to send to the audience. On one hand we want the audience to sympathise with our lead character, but on the other hand we want them to question their actions and really wonder which side they're on. It will be an onerous task to portray these messages effectively without spoiling the outcome of the plot. There are two successful pieces of Film and TV that acted as the inspiration behind our plot, both of which I am a huge fan of.
Carrie (2002)
'Carrie' holds the identity of being Stephen King's first published horror novel. The book was very successful when released in 1974, and was later on adapted into a film in 1976, which further led to 2 remakes of it, (2002 and 2013). I watched the 2002 version earlier this year, and was impressed by what I saw. The character of Carrie herself, is trapped between her home and school life. She is a lone child who lives with her over-religious mother, She is isolated by her mother, and suffers further abuse, such as being trapped inside a dark closet as punishment. Her school life isn't much better, as she doesn't have any friends, nor does anybody sympathise with her when she's subject to verbal and physical abuse from her classmates. This led me to propose having a female lead, as it subverts the stereotype of male characters being the anti-hero, and it could be effective as generally, people subconsciously sympathise with females more. We also have a friend who is an outstanding and versatile actress, and we believe she will be perfect for this particular role. One route we will not be going down however is that of the supernatural genre, as we feel the disturbing yet gritty acts that our anti-hero will perform won't come across as 'real'.
Dexter (2006-2013)
'Dexter' is one of the most critically and commercially successful films in recent decades, revolving around a vigilante serial killer, following a code in which he only dispatches other high profile criminals so that he can fulfill his urge to kill whilst doing something somewhat helpful to society. Dexter, played by Michael C.Hall, struggles to balance his family and social life with his secret murderous 'dark' side. One thing that impressed me after finishing all 8 seasons of this show, was the way the directors would tell the audience what Dexter was thinking. Every time Dexter was thinking something he didn't want to say out loud, he would voice over that shot, directly addressing the audience of what actions he plans to take and why. This gave me the idea to have our anti-hero talk over some parts of the trailer, so that the audience can see what sort of person she is, but without revealing too much, so that they would want to watch the full film, in order to gain a full understanding of her confusing character, and the origins of her psychotic breakdown. Michael C.Hall does a fantastic job of portraying an emotionless, yet loveable and ironically humerous anti-hero, which is something we hope to portray successfully in a similar way.
Overall, 'Carrie' gave us the idea for our anti-hero to have been bullied and isolated in her past, however has now snapped. We will expand on this in our own unique way, by going down a hyper-realistic route, focusing more on her psychological state of mind. 'Dexter' has helped us prepare to edit our anti-hero's voice over the trailer, and we now have a rough idea of what our character will say, and in which tone of voice, and whether to express certain emotions or not.
- Charlie Ball
Carrie (2002)
'Carrie' holds the identity of being Stephen King's first published horror novel. The book was very successful when released in 1974, and was later on adapted into a film in 1976, which further led to 2 remakes of it, (2002 and 2013). I watched the 2002 version earlier this year, and was impressed by what I saw. The character of Carrie herself, is trapped between her home and school life. She is a lone child who lives with her over-religious mother, She is isolated by her mother, and suffers further abuse, such as being trapped inside a dark closet as punishment. Her school life isn't much better, as she doesn't have any friends, nor does anybody sympathise with her when she's subject to verbal and physical abuse from her classmates. This led me to propose having a female lead, as it subverts the stereotype of male characters being the anti-hero, and it could be effective as generally, people subconsciously sympathise with females more. We also have a friend who is an outstanding and versatile actress, and we believe she will be perfect for this particular role. One route we will not be going down however is that of the supernatural genre, as we feel the disturbing yet gritty acts that our anti-hero will perform won't come across as 'real'.
Dexter (2006-2013)
'Dexter' is one of the most critically and commercially successful films in recent decades, revolving around a vigilante serial killer, following a code in which he only dispatches other high profile criminals so that he can fulfill his urge to kill whilst doing something somewhat helpful to society. Dexter, played by Michael C.Hall, struggles to balance his family and social life with his secret murderous 'dark' side. One thing that impressed me after finishing all 8 seasons of this show, was the way the directors would tell the audience what Dexter was thinking. Every time Dexter was thinking something he didn't want to say out loud, he would voice over that shot, directly addressing the audience of what actions he plans to take and why. This gave me the idea to have our anti-hero talk over some parts of the trailer, so that the audience can see what sort of person she is, but without revealing too much, so that they would want to watch the full film, in order to gain a full understanding of her confusing character, and the origins of her psychotic breakdown. Michael C.Hall does a fantastic job of portraying an emotionless, yet loveable and ironically humerous anti-hero, which is something we hope to portray successfully in a similar way.
Overall, 'Carrie' gave us the idea for our anti-hero to have been bullied and isolated in her past, however has now snapped. We will expand on this in our own unique way, by going down a hyper-realistic route, focusing more on her psychological state of mind. 'Dexter' has helped us prepare to edit our anti-hero's voice over the trailer, and we now have a rough idea of what our character will say, and in which tone of voice, and whether to express certain emotions or not.
- Charlie Ball
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