Dixon
Dixon's theory was that men and women in horror film trailers were sites of activity rather than characters. This means that the audience don't get to know the character or form any emotions towards them, therefore the level of graphic specificity continues to rise throughout the horror film. This will be an effective theory to use in our trailer because we can create the character to come across more as a site of activity. This will make our project much more intense and frightening for our audience to engage in.
Carol Clover
Clover's model of horror spectatorship generalises to all film spectatorship. She believes that the first and central aim of horror is to play to the masochitsic fears and desires that all audiences have. This means that we get pleasure out of either giving out pain (sadism) or receiving pain (masachism). In the case of a horror film, her theory states that the audience enjoys the thrill of feeling suspense and feeling frightened. By following this theory, we will use this to our advantage in our trailer. Creating as much intensity as possible to scare the audience will be effective and meet their masochism desires.
Another Clover theory is about the Final Girl being the sole survivor of the horror film. Despite the murderous carnage, this character is able to confront the serial killer and either kill them herself or escape. This means the audience can identify with this character, such as in Texas Chain Saw Massacre II. The audience adopts her perspective and experiences the full force of her terrors. The Final Girl is usually intelligent, resourceful and boyish. This can even be to the point of her name. Names of surviving girls in other horror films range from Stevie, Marti, Terry, Joey and Max. These names represent tomboyish characters. The scenario of the Final Girl will be another effective theory to practise in our project because it will force the audience to form emotions and identify with her throughout the film, which is the popular theory of Clover that we want to match.
Another Clover theory is about the Final Girl being the sole survivor of the horror film. Despite the murderous carnage, this character is able to confront the serial killer and either kill them herself or escape. This means the audience can identify with this character, such as in Texas Chain Saw Massacre II. The audience adopts her perspective and experiences the full force of her terrors. The Final Girl is usually intelligent, resourceful and boyish. This can even be to the point of her name. Names of surviving girls in other horror films range from Stevie, Marti, Terry, Joey and Max. These names represent tomboyish characters. The scenario of the Final Girl will be another effective theory to practise in our project because it will force the audience to form emotions and identify with her throughout the film, which is the popular theory of Clover that we want to match.
Again from slasher specialist, Carol Clover, there are other theories from her book, 'Men, Women and Chainsaws'.
Killers - Clover states that killers in horror films tend to either have issues with their childhood or are sexually disturbed. For example, Mike Myers was only a child when he started killing and Norman Bates was caught up in his own childhood. Examples of sexually disturbed murderers include Freddie Krugger who was a child molester and Leatherface from Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Killers - Clover states that killers in horror films tend to either have issues with their childhood or are sexually disturbed. For example, Mike Myers was only a child when he started killing and Norman Bates was caught up in his own childhood. Examples of sexually disturbed murderers include Freddie Krugger who was a child molester and Leatherface from Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Terrible Places - Clover believes that scary places, such as decaying and haunted mansions are a good place to film horror in. This is because they are not just terrible due their physical state, but because of the terrible families and histories inside them. Following this theory of terrible houses, she also states that the walls in a house that originally seem safe to a character will eventually become more like a prisoner holding the victim inside. This will lead to the killer getting to them, often in a room, closet or car. Waiting with a pounding heart for the killer to slash or hack their way in is a classic slasher theory.
Weapons - As we are doing a slasher, it is unacceptable to have guns in these films. Using guns makes it much less personal, whereas if you use a knife or hammer, you have to get up close to the victim, making the killing more brutal and personal. Using more brutal weapons, seems to be more favourable with audiences, as it makes the killer seem more psychotic, rather than anybody.
Victims: Stereotypically it is a beautiful woman that gets killed, usually they are blonde and seem to be quite dim, especially to the other characters, they seem to talk a lot and get on the nerves of other characters. Another victim is usually someone who thinks big of themselves, this could be the CEO of a big company, this is because, the audience feels less emotional connection to someone whom they dislike, this makes the death of that person more enjoyable for the audience. One of the first victims is usually someone who doesn't believe they are in danger, making their death ironic and sometimes pleasing to the audience. The last "stereotype" that usually gets themselves killed are the overweight characters, this is because it adds realism to the film, if you are unfit, you would last long running. This is used , especially when the film is a horror comedy, as the death of an overweight person is usually the most comical.
The victim is usually killed because of sexual reasons, and it is usually females that die, or their death is focused on more than that of a male character.
Final Girl: This is the character that always survives the horror, despite this, they aren't usually sexually active, nor usually popular among her peers. She displays intelligence and is considered a tomboy, usually having names that are considered boys names such as Stevie, Joey and Max. Although as we are making a trailer, in which somebody dies, we aren't going to have a final girl in our film.
Audience: The implied audience of a slasher film; our chosen genre, is male. This is because it has been shown that male's prefer slashers than females. For this reason the film makers tend to make nods to what male's prefer, this could be an attractive girl, whose legs are being shown, or shower scene.
Audience: The implied audience of a slasher film; our chosen genre, is male. This is because it has been shown that male's prefer slashers than females. For this reason the film makers tend to make nods to what male's prefer, this could be an attractive girl, whose legs are being shown, or shower scene.
Dika defines the slasher through a repeated plot structure, theorizing that all the films adhere to the following formula in one condition or another. According to Dika, the plot of a slasher film is always influenced by a past event, in which a film's community of characters, often teenagers, commits a wrongful action, or the killer experiences emotional or physical trauma. The plot occurring in the present day typically involves the opposing objectives of both a killer and a hero or heroine. Slasher films, according to Dika, often begin with a commemoration of the film's important past event. This anniversary reactivates or re-inspires the killer somehow. Often, the hero or heroine of a slasher film survives, but is maimed somehow by his or her experience with the film's killer. Dika also theorizes the genre's appeal to be rooted in audience feelings of catharsis, recreation and displacement, which is, according to Dika, related to sexual pleasure.
For the slasher genre, blood is an obsession, especially to a woman bleeding out, transforming her body into her gaping wound. This suggests that castration anxiety is a central concern of the horror film.