SLASHER FILMS

SORORITY ROW (2009)

TRAILERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdY3_vLc2k

The trailer like most horror films typically follows the notion of short transitions and fast-paced rapid shots. To heighten tension and help establish the scene the first half of the trailer features longer takes which then develop to become shorter in order to heighten the tension of the plot and show the gradual deterioration of the characters as one by one they are killed. The trailer begins with upbeat music which lures the audience into a false sense of security that the film would be a high-school comedy or romance, however as the prank goes wrong it is matched with a song that says ‘we did a bad bad thing’. The trailer and plot appears gathered up until where the boy kills the girl for real, after which the pace picks up and there are various inserts of the sisters becoming haunted and screaming in flashes of black, white and red. The trailer typically conforms to genre conventions of American teens partying and engaging in relationships and playing pranks, however it goes wrong. In the same way as other slasher ‘I Know What You Did last Summer’ they try to hide the body but soon become haunted by their guilt and role within the death.The trailer also challenge’s its genre’s conventions as it seems to give away the majority of the plot and leaves little to look forward in seeing the film as throughout the short takes and transitions we see the majority of the scenes on how the Sorority sisters are tormented. The target audience for the film would be generally fans of the slasher horror subgenre as it follows all the typical conventions and plot threads of teenagers either during or after high school becoming haunted as a result of a collective mistake they made as a young group. Despite this it could be argued that the film is mostly targeted towards teenagers rather than an older audience as teens would be attracted to the scenes of partying whilst there is a killer on the loose as they can imagine how the characters would feel in a similar situation.

FILM POSTER

The film poster for the slasher film Sorority Row. The most instantly effective part of the poster are the images chosen, as the strip of images show the sorority sisters looking extremely distressed. The use of these images with a sepia tint is effective as it immediately attracts slasher fans, as ‘Sorority’ tells the viewer that the horror film takes place within a college, which is a typical setting within the genre. In addition to this the use of font and text with the second word ‘Row’ suggests that like in death row the teens in the Sorority will be killed off one by one, again a similar convention within the plot as films such as Scream. The typography under the title contrasts well with the background of the poster as they both use the same colour scheme of a blood-red. The poster conforms to its genre’s conventions as it features a hauntingtagline of ‘the sisters of theta pi are dying to keep a secret’. As theta pi isone of the oldest college sororities in America, this film would particularly appeal to American slasher fanatics as they would be intrigued to see the film portray the typical plot of teenagers being murdered within shots of partyingetc.

PROM NIGHT(2008)

TRAILERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krNmjJpXUHU

The trailer for the film Prom Night almost instantly conforms to what we would initally expect from a slasher film as it starts with a camera shot framing as an old camera recording device layout whilst revealing shots of the teens at an American high school preparing for prom, which is accompanied by soft rock pop music and transitions of camera flashes at the glamorous prom night setting, again a typical use of mise-en-scene to lure the viewer into a false idea of harmony and safety. The first evidence of the haunting happens as a shot reveals the teacher about to reveal prom king and queen a special and almost prestigious title within popular culture. In similar way to the film Sorority Row’s trailer there is a turning point in which we are introduced to the horror sub-genre fully after establishing the story, as the music changes whilst prom king and queen are announced and the lighting goes off within the scene, which is followed by flashes of black and white. After this there are various shots round the corner of doors from killers perspective as he stalks the young girls in hotel room. The insert of black and white to show the past of how teacher was arrested after becoming dangerously obsessed with the same teen is effective in again establishing the plot of the play whilst frightening the main target audience of the slasher which would be teenagers as the film’s rating is 15. In the same way as the film Sorority Row and various other teen slashers it typically starts with the setting of the high-school environment and particularly with the ‘popular’ group of teenagers at school.

FILM POSTER

The most instantly effective thing about the poster is the use of colour scheme as the dark blue highlights the image whilst contrasting starkly with the red bold text typography of ‘Prom Night’. The use of the tagline is additionally effective as it reads a ‘night to die for’ which instantly tells the viewer the type of film it is and gives away the basic plot idea that teens are being tormented on prom night. The phrase is also effective as it appears to have a dark ironic tone as when events or thing are often sought after they are described as ‘to die for’ whereas we are aware of the ironic use of the word here as the film is of the horror genre so we can expect murders and death. The poster conforms to its genre’s conventions assimilarly to Sorority Row the image appearsto be fairly abstract of a woman's portraitscreaming whilst the prop of a tiara falls offher face. For this reason the poster typically conforms to the genre’s conventions as it stereotypically uses animage of a woman in distress, which is oftena plot outline for many slasher films and haslead to them often being described asmisogynistic. Consequently, this use ofimage is effective in appealing to fans of theslasher films as it conforms to the typicalstoryline of American teens becomingtormented within a high school environmentamongst partying with their friends.

SCREAM TRAILERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdyugHTKPuc

This trailer for the cult American slasher film Scream is striking and intrigues the viewer to want to watch more, which could describe the films momentous success within its box office release. The film starts with a long take along of a young blonde girl home alone within her suburbia American household, which is an immediately typical setting for the film genre particularly as she is on the end of a flirtatious phone call with a mystery man, however we do not perceive her as vulnerable until a zoom shot is used matching with the diegetic sound as ghost face tells the blonde he can see her. This take is then followed with various quick shots from various scenes matched with flashing transitions whilst lightning sound effects are placed over the top, a typical use of pathetic fallacy for any horror film however it still appears and sounds striking. Although the film is a horror, it was the first renown of the genre to combine comedy and mystery to mock the cliché of the horror genre within popular films such as Halloween, which explains why the trailer features two long takes of girls being frightened by ghost face through the use of prop of the phone, a typical representation of slasher films as women as vulnerable and naïve. The trailer then features a long take of a teenage male describing the rules of how to survive within a typical horror film, whilst an insert of the various characters conforming to the stereotypes is embedded into his warning. Not only does this prove ironic and intriguing, an interesting camera angle is used whilst the teen describes the rules for survival, as the tv is paused next to him on a shot of a killer holding a knife towards his head. The typical haunting score used for many horror films is used with a particularly sharp violin sound in many places, which is effective despite the fact it is expected. Following this the following inserts of ‘don’t answer the door’ and ‘don’t answer the phone’ appear within a drop down animation and then transform into a dripping red style of typography, representing the typical themes of slasher films, often of graphic stabbing and violent scenes.

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FILM POSTER

The image is the most instantly effective thing about the poster, as the black and white shocked face proves visually bold and eye-catching, particularly the female characters eyes as they appear as the only coloured thing on the poster. The use of this character is also effective as she appears to be blue eyed and light haired, a typical character used within the slasher genre as the first female to die. The tagline is also effective as the white text contrasts with the black background and the text itself hints at the fatal attraction to horror films within popular culture, which directly attracts to teenagers as they are often the biggest fans of ‘scary movies’ particularly watching them at gatherings. For this reason the tagline alone would instantly market thefilm towards teenagers, which is furtherexhibited within the use of the characteragain as the female appears considerably young. This poster appears different to theprevious two slasher film posters as Screamwas one of a kind of the comedy and horrorgenre within the 90’s and was consideredunique at the time of its release for featuringcharacters who were aware of real worldhorror films and openly discussed the clichéthat Scream attempted to subvert, unlike Sorority Row and Prom Night.