Research into Slasher and Psychological Films

In one of my first posts, I researched into sub-genres of horror films, this included slasher and Psychological horror films. As we intend to create an opening based on these sub-genres, I researched in more depth on these two sub-genres. I have researched what's included in these types of films and what they are.

Slasher

A slasher film is a sub-genre of horror film, and at times thriller, typically involving a mysterious psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims usually in a graphically violent manner, often with a  knife or axe. In a slasher film there is normally nine characteristics that are involved in the film.

1) The Hero - The hero is the protagonist. The hero is usually aware of the killer, while the friends are too busy having fun.

2) The Killer - The killer in the slasher film is usually male. His identity is often, but not always, unknown and/or concealed either by a mask or by creative lighting and camera work. He is often mute and seemingly unstoppable, able to withstand stabbings, falls and shootings by his victims. He is usually very strong and sometimes very big, making it almost impossible to kill him.

3) The Victims - The victims tend to be young, attractive, high school or college-aged adolescents. Much has been made about the choice of victims. 

4) The First Victim - Often a minority. In later films, the minority victim is actually turned into a Sisyphean figure who is aware of his tragic fate, expecting to die early in the movie.

5) The Location - Many slasher films are set in isolated locations such as on islands, deep in forests, small towns, abandoned buildings and farms. This can allow the killer to freely kill his victims without the need to worry about interference from the outside world.

6) Final Girl - Slasher films frequently have only a single survivor. She is frequently a female peer of the victims but is cinematically developed in comparison to his or her cohorts. 

7) The Adults - Many slasher films have adults that are unaware that the youths are being attacked by a killer. Usually after the final girl calls the police or parents, either the phone is dead or they never make it in time. In some slasher films, the adults are sometimes attacked/killed by the killer themselves and the group of friends have no help at all. 

8) The Violence - Slashers generally de-emphasize plot and character development in favour of violence and terror. Plots are constructed around giving the audience the experience of watching the killer murders. The deaths are often violent and graphic, with originality being valued in the later films to hold audience interest.

9) The Police - They are either extremely slow witted, and get killed after laughing off a threat, or are extremely competent and either get killed, or turn up at the end of the movie when most characters are dead to arrest the perpetrator.

Psychological

Psychological horror is a sub-genre of horror that relies on characters' fears and emotional instability to build tension. The elements of psychological horror focuses on the inside of the character's mind. This includes emotions, personality, mental attitude of individuals, where characters are in a perversive situation that includes high-level immorality, inhumane acts, and conspiracies.

• Psychological horror aims to create discomfort by exposing common or universal psychological and emotional vulnerabilities and fears, such as the shadowy parts of the human psyche which most people repress or deny, whereas splatter fiction focuses on bizarre, alien evil to which the average viewer cannot easily relate.