Research Update 4-11-10 (Slasher - Sub genre)

Slasher is an subgenre from horror films, usually it involves a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a very graphic and violent manner using cutting tool, hence the name slasher. These such as a chainsaw, Although the term "slasher" may be used as a generic term for any horror movie involving graphic acts of murder, the slasher as a genre has its own set of characteristics which tells it apart from sub genres.

This is the official trailer for Scream, directed by Wes Craven (a known horror director) it was released in 1996 and then after had several sequels going up to 3 with a new upcoming scream 4 out in april 2011. In this trailer we can see it holds conventional attributes for the slasher theme, we have the psychological killer that eventually gets unmasked at the end, followed up by the victims that are stabbed throughout the film and a main character (Cindy) survives the bloodshed to venture into the sequels.



Another known and popular slasher film is Halloween directed by John Carpenter which was releashed in 1978 followed by several sequels.





This trailer also follows the typical conventions of the slasher subgenre. We have the psychological killer (Michael Myers) that isn't unmasked but is discovered by the end of the film.