As Scary Movie satirises to good effect, many slasher chase scenes require scream queens in particular to make some decidedly dumb choices; most also require a sense of isolation or confined physical space, from Laurie Strode in suburban houses through endless teens staying at Camp Crystal Lake, or the middle-class couple encountering savage youths in the English countryside of Eden Lake, to the Leeds girls who set sail on a boat and encounter a Donkey Punch.
- quick pace editing
- high intensity music
- close ups
- narrative enigma
- exposition
- usually good camera work like a low angled shot shows the villains power
- location is usually very bleak or dark and scary
Narrative Representations
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Marcus Nispel, 2003)
The start of this opening goes against Todorov's theory of equilibrium as he said that we should start with equilibrium, encounter a disruption of this equilibrium (dis-equilibrium) and then solve this by creating a new equilibrium. The film starts off with images of a crime scene and police officers, which signifies dis-equilibrium. We then go to equilibrium as we view the 5 main characters, which is not the order in which Todorov suggested it should be.
Carole Clovers theory of the final girl is also reflected. The first character the camera fully focuses on has brunette hair and appears to be the sensible one out of the group. This character is the stereotypical final girl, used in many slasher films. However, she appears to have a relationship with one of the boys in the group, which goes against the stereotypical final girl character, who, in Clover's book, supposedly does not have a boyfriend. We then see people in the back kissing. Both the boy and girl are blonde, which signify that these characters are most likely dumb, and sexually active. The girl is the stereotypical scream queen, which is the binary opposite of the final girl character - the theory of binary opposition was created by Levi-Strauss. The boy could also be known as the 'scream king'.
Within the group, there is a character who is framed as 'the other'. He wears glasses and is nerdy and appears to be the only character within the group to not be in some kind of relationship which signifies he is different. He appears to be the annoying one, who the others do not like very much which therefore means the audience do not empathize very much with him.
When A Stranger Calls (Fred Walton, 1979)
In this opening, we see a teen girl who appears to represent Clover's final girl character. She is introduced to the film holding school books as she is babysitting, which is how the final girl is signified; being academic. However, she does not have brunette hair like stereotypical final girls do. Instead, she has ginger hair, which confuses the audience as we do not know if she is a final girl character or a scream queen, despite common scream queens being 'non academic' and hating school. The girl is then having a phone call to someone and is talking about a boy. She first appears on screen holding books, but seems to be more interested in talking to someone about 'Bobby'. This confuses the audience even more, because the stereotypical final girl is either single or is not interested in boys. This character is polysemic, meaning she could be the non stereotypical final girl or scream queen.
We also see reflection Todorov's theory of equilibrium, as the film begins with a regular day to day event of a teenager babysitting. The equilibrium begins to be disrupted as continuous phone calls are passed through, from an unknown character, who is signified to be the antagonist as he is suggesting something is wrong.
Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)
The first character is a blonde woman. Her blonde hair signifies she is the scream queen of the film. As well as having the stereotypical appearance of a scream queen, she is home alone, which is a common signifier of the slasher genre. We learn that the girl has a boyfriend, which is also anchorage to signify she is the scream queen figure. Equilibrium is portrayed at the very start as well, as the girl is simply preparing popcorn and is on the phone, although she does not know that the man she is talking to is the killer. As she begins to realise, the equilibrium becomes disrupted. This is another example of Todorov's theory being applied to a slasher film.
Barthes' theory of narrative engima is also slightly applied to the opening. To begin with we only hear the voice and don't see the physical body. When we do see the killer, he is wearing a mask, so we still do not entirely know who it is and what their motive is. \
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper )
This film starts by giving the audience a sense of realism, even though it might not be fully correct it still leads the audience to believe that this film is based on true accounts, this sense of realism is used in quite a few slasher openings as it adds to the scare factor in making the audience believe that the films based on a true story making them think that it could happen to anyone.
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POV shot + Dutch angle.
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The opening sequence starts with a point of view shot (POV) giving the view from the killer, which also shows the narrative enigma by creating this sense of mystery to who the character is, the character is then later revealed after the killer, and with this point of view shot it give the audience a sense of how the killer is feeling and in a way sympathise for the killer. Also the house where the killing takes place is the stereotypical middle class house which give the hand of fate idea into play making it seem that this tragedy could happen to anyone, and with this they use diegetic natural sounds with an owl which also adds the spooky effect and act as a genre signifier to help signify this slasher genre. Also as it's an old film it's using 1 long take throughout the whole of the opening scene which doesn't have as much of an effective as fast peace editing does and it lacks in variety of shots and continuity.
The scene then goes on to the killer looking through the window to his victim showing the stereotypical scream queen, blonde, busty and sexually active, and the stereotypical jock boyfriend with the scream queen, and these both add to the preferred reading of a slasher film.
This also acts as a state of equilbrium where it seems normal with the young adults in a relationship and proves the start of Todorov's 5part narrative formula and the 4 parts come to follow soon.
We can cannote this pumpkin to give the feel of Halloween and also this spooky effect which helps set the scene for what's about to happen, and also the knife is a big anchorage to the genre and gives the impression a killing is about to take place.
The actual killing acts as a disruption of the equilibrium which is the second part of Todorov's theory, then the recognition that there's been this disruption is when Micheal's parents find him with knife. Also later on in the film we find Micheal was sent to a mental asylum which acts as the attempt to repar the diruption, but then breaks out and kills again acting as the reinstatement of the equilibrium, so this film follows all of Todorov's theory. Also i think Levi-Strauss's binary opposite theory works here aswel for the killer at the start as you don't expect the killer to be a small boy it's normally a tall powerful man.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper )
It then goes on to reveal the date giving away exposition which is also a common convention in most slasher films.
This film is more about what you can hear at the start rather than what you see as it uses these sounds very well and in a way using narrative enigma as we can hear stuff going on but we don't know what it is leavign the audience in a sense of mystery, and this is using Barthe's theory on narrative enigma well.
However this film goes against \todorov's 5 part theory as it starts with a disequilibrium instead of a state of equilibrium where it's normal and hasn't been disrupted but here it's been sirupted from the start, which also acts as a genre signifier giving away the thought that this films a slasher or horror.
Then when this body is shown there's a radio in the background playing giving away the exposition to what has happened which is also used in most slasher films.
\Also the theory of the final girl from Carole Clover is used in this film as the girl is brunetter and seems to be the sensible one in the group, and there's also the 'other' in the group with his disability in the wheelchair making him the outsider.
A Nightmare on Elm Street ( 1984 , Wez Craven )
The opening starts with a panning shot following the character's feet using narrative enigma well hear not revealing the character and leaving the audience in mystery to who the character might be.
It then goes on to do the same but with the hands leaving more suspense to who the character is,
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