Slasher Overview Vodcast Notes

Early slasher films
50s and 60s most horror was either gothic or monsters 'creature features' (universal)

hammer horror movies - were dominant in the 60s and the main characters were upper class, mature adults
last house on the left and tcm and black christmas - used younger, everyday normal people.
hammer horror, usually looks like its filmed on a theatrical stage
but early slasher movies last house on the left, tcm used portable cameras so it looked more realistic, not stagey.

PSYCHO and PEEPING TOM didnt start the genre - people thought that it was 'sick' and so the slasher genre didnt catch on until the 70s with films such as HALLOWEEN and TCM
hammer horror films were pushed out of the industry by low budget indie films which made hammer movies look stupid.

PSYCHO became an archetype for all other slasher films, the knife in the shower scene is the first thing we see of the 'slasher' genre.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE- More gore and realistic violence, same as in LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
BLACK CHRISTMAS - (1974) Bob Clark -  All the film is set in one place, reduced costs massively. First film to use the killers point of view, even though HALLOWEEN was credited as the first film to use this. Narrative enigma used in BLACK CHRISTMAS

Jamie Lee Curtis - starred in PROM NIGHT and TERROR TRAIN- both post HALLOWEEN films

Female lead role - to attract a male and female audience

SCREAM- Final Girl signified with brunette hair, childish bedroom

PEEPING TOM, 1960 Michael Powell Put the audience into the killers perspective - prototype -slasher
Higher levels of realism
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH & LEPRECHAUN- all have supernatural elements

post modern slasher (taken to the extreme, hybrid between genres, intertextuality) -
intertextuality between SCREAM and SCARY MOVIE

New Nightmare - slasher about a slasher - self referential

Exception to Todorov - there isnt a new equilibrium at the end, the character Michael Myers disappears after being shot, then Halloween 2 is carried on straight after the first film ends.

False scare adds comedy - like a practical joke


MUSIC in slasher films 
High notes - increase the heatbeat, increases tension
long drawn out notes - subconciously hold your breath
horror/scares will disappear without music - commutation test in PSYCHO without the music wouldnt be scary at all.

PSYCHO - Hitchcock - music in the shower scene was just one note but with 40 violins

Ratings
death of stranger - made for tv movie rate 12
15-24 - youth (primary audience)
25-34 - mature youth (secondary audience)