The Ambassadors, 1533

Hans Holbein the Younger

When I first saw this painting I was amazed at the detail and how realistic it seemed. I could see that there were many different hidden meanings behind it and this interested me. The first thing that appealed to me was the strange looking stretched skull at the bottom of the painting, Because you can only see it clearly looking a certain way, I thought this might of been another way of saying there is only one way of living life and that’s as a Christian. I also noticed that at the top left of the painting there was what looked like a crucifix that was hidden in the back. I figured that this could represent the death of Christ, and that the two men in the painting are Christian. Looking at the objects in the painting it shows that the men are wealthy and intelligent. The artist Hans Holbein the Younger has used oil paint on wood to create the painting. This is clear because the painting is very detailed, and you can not get this affect with other materials such as tempera. An example for this is the fur on the garments, it’s much textured because of such detail, and also the tapestry looks very realistic as well as the silk, it looks just like a photograph. This painting was created for a home and I believe it would of been in on a staircase seen my candlelight and approached form the right so you are able to see the stretched skull clearly.

My culture includes so many different things from how my everyday life is to what food I eat, and the way I think about things. A big part of my culture is my family, and growing up I have always had them around me. It is traditional for my family to get together quite a lot whether it’s for family barbeques or big reunions at Christmas where my aunties would cook a traditional roast dinner with the Christmas dinner, as we are very close as a family. At Christmas it is traditional for my family and in our culture to celebrate Christmas, this involves having a Christmas tree, decorations and lights inside and outside of the house. We get together and drink and enjoy each others company. Another big culture of mine is music, I have grown up around 80’s music the likes of Michael Jackson, and to this day I still really enjoy and listen to his music. My culture also includes education; I have always gone to school to study. I have taken my gcse’s and a levels and now at university. Being brought up I have been taught to always try my best at everything I do.

Before I went to Disney land Paris when I was younger I had this vision of Happiness, characters from cartoons walking around, toys everywhere, parades, music, packed with people. But when I went there it was really quite different in some way. The way in which I think it was different was because it wasn’t as magical as I expected it to be, I don’t know if it was just because I wasn’t little when I went there or what. Don’t take me wrong I did enjoy myself and like it there, but at times it seemed  bit dull. For example there wasn’t always Disney characters walking around. I was a bit disappointed about this because they only came out for like an hour certain times of the days, so this way not everyone got this see them. If they were out all the time I think that it would have made the experience more magical. Disney say that they want people to feel like they are in a different world when they are in the Disneyland resort, but its really not that magical, and its a shame for most people because it can be a bit of a let down. When they say that in the park its a place where adults and children can have fun together, I agree with that because for starters Im sure that children will find the place very magical as it is, and there is also rides for the children to go on, and also some bigger rides for the adults to go on. So the answer is no the experience I had at Disneyland Paris does not meet my vision and idea of how I thought it was going to be. Im sure that they try very hard, but Im sure they could do a lot more.

A. William Peter Blatty (writer and producer) came across an article on August 20th 1949 at Georgetown University about a so-called case of demonic possession, that was taking place in Mount Rainer, Maryland. The suggested that a 14-year-old boy went under some kind of illness in which his personality would turn sinister and lettering and depiction’s would appear in welts on his skin. What actually happened though? The only evidence is that of the word of the priests who supposedly witnessed the boy’s manifestations.

Q. Was The Exorcist really released on Christmas Day 1973?

A. No. It was released on Boxing Day.

Q. Why was The Exorcist banned and when?

A. It was banned in 1986 under the Video Recordings Act because it was said to be too scary for home viewing. Especially the fact that it can be a very trying experience for young girls.

Q. Will The Exorcist ever be re-released on video in the UK?

A. As Mark Kermode has told me, Warner would be foolish not to submit The Exorcist for a certificate after it’s success in theaters. As for the BBFC, who knows how they’ll approach this film 25 years later.

Q. When was The Exorcist released on video in the UK?

A. 1979

Q. What has the St. Joseph’s medal got to do with the story?

A. It’s down to interpretation really. My personal opinion is that the St. Joseph’s medal is Karras’ savior. Until it is ripped from his neck and the demon enters his body. I think of it as a protector.

Q. Was the 25th Anniversary re-release cut in any way?

A. It is only cut if you’re thinking of the deleted scenes such as the spider-walk, Washington sight-seeing, Regan’s first examination etc. These scenes will unfortunately never be restored into a full version of the film. Due to certain scenes missing sound reels, most importantly Regan’s dialogue in the sight-seeing trip and the last reel of sound in the Dyer and Kinderman ending.

Q. Is the death mask in Karras’ dream Jason Miller?

A. No it isn’t. That face was in fact a make-up test with Linda Blair’s double Eileen Dietz. This face was to be Regan’s demon make-up but Friedkin rejected it as it wasn’t organic enough. Though he thought it would be powerful if used once in the movie as Captain Howdy invading Karras’ dream of his dead mother. Scary huh? Mark Kermode found the test reel footage at Warner studios in Burbank, in which Dietz was violently shaking her head and snapping her mouth like a rabid animal. Six stills of this 45 second long footage were shown in Mark Kermode’s second BFI book and a one second glimpse in the opening credits of the Fear Of God documentary.

How then to judge a film? That’s a question I found myself asking after reluctantly deciding the Exorcist was worthy of a “7″.

I know of people that would downgrade works despite their aesthetic and artistic merit if they include, for example, violence. Though I feel in assessing a film or any other piece of art then one must judge it objectively. And so we get to the Exorcist. Well-acted, by Jason Miller and Linda Blair especially, it cannot be faulted in terms of direction. Though light and shade contrast beautifully in the Georgetown sequences, it is the cinematic vision of Iraq in the prologue that deserves special praise. On a technical basis, the film is not quite as good, particularly the scene where Blair has an obviously artificial stomach with “help me” written on it.

This is a film that was banned for fifteen years in England until 1999. While I would stand against censorship and welcome the release of “A Clockwork Orange” next year (if only to discuss how good it is in this country without fear of being arrested) part of me wishes The Exorcist had stayed banned.

Fans of the movie protest its psychological, and maybe it would have been if the director hadn’t removed huge chunks of scenes between Regan and her mother at the beginning. (And what kind of mother would play a game of ouija board with her daughter?) It’s supporters also protest that the film is religious, though again maybe this would be the case if a dialogue scene between the two priests hadn’t been excised from the final cut. What remains is a depiction of the Devil that demonstrates it’s wickedness by defiling a young girl. This is where the film – nicely shot and acted though it may be – falls down.

I do not call a girl’s head spinning 180 degrees, spitting pea soup or badly lip-synching to a demon’s voice psychological. Creaking in the attic IS psychological. A cherubic young girl lousily miming to someone saying the “f” word is not. Take away the choreography and it’s a schlock-horror film just like any other, but with fancy trimmings. Seeing a priest punch a girl three times in the face is not horror but gratuity. In order to show the evil, Regan (Blair) attempts to force her mother (Ellen Burstyn, Oscar-nominated but largely one-note) to perform oral sex on her. Before this happens we have Regan soaked in blood after masturbating with a crucifix. And there lies the crux of my argument.

I don’t like minors (Regan is identified as just 12 in the script) being placed into scenes with sexual content or connotation. Seeing a nude girl being scrubbed in a bath or having her top pulled down to be examined is content that would be used for titillation with a much older woman. Lastly we see Regan (actually a 22-year-old body double, but still presented on film as a 12 year old) inserting the metal object inside herself. Think about that for a moment. If you met someone who claimed to have seen a film where a minor is made to appear to be masturbating with metal object and conducting sexual relations with her own mother – faked or not – you’d have them arrested for indecency.

Yet hype tells us we have to regard what really is just a tacky piece of filmmaking as classic modern cinema. The Exorcist – 0/10.

Q. Why were the missing scenes cut in the first place?

A. Mainly to cut the film down to two hours, but all of the scenes have there own reason for being cut

Before starting my media product I done some research. For my research I looked into music magazine front covers, contents pages, and double page spreads.  I looked at 6 music magazine front covers, one of which was a fashion magazine which I will explain why later on, 5 contents pages, and 4 double page spreads. I looked at these because I thought that it would help me in the making of my media product ,this way I could get a better idea and understanding of what conventions, the style, the colours used, and the layouts of music magazines. Doing this gave me ideas for my media product in what I could include in the front cover, contents page and double page spread, it also helped me in a way because I knew what the main conventions I would have to add to my front cover, contents oage, and double page spread to make it appear more realistic. They all had a bold masthead across the top with often a picture of a famous person slightly covering the masthead. I think that this is because if you have a very popular artist on the front of the magazine covering the masthead then they are relying on that artist to sell the magazine as the title of the magazine is slightly covered. I found that with all music magazines they use a lot of famous people on the front cover and also mention a lot of famous people in the sub headings and small pictures to get interest from the public and to create an audience.

With the front covers I found that a lot of them had similar conventions, bold headings to attract audiences, bright and dark colours mixed together to make the front cover stand out, many subheadings to draw in an audience to make it seem the magazine has a lot in, pictures, a main picture of a famous group, this is obviously a big thing because if you have a famour group on the front people are more likely to buy the magazine. In my research one of the front covers I decided to chose a fashion magazine front cover “Vogue” I done this because I wanted to compare a fashion genre magazine to a rock music magazine front cover. This helped me pick out the main conventions in a music magazine front cover and it made more sense to me as I realized what the difference is between them. I also picked it out because I wanted my media product to be just a girls magazine so I wanted to add some girly conventions with a music magazine typical conventions. The main conventions in a front cover were masthead, sub headings, main picture, barcode, price, issue number, date, and boarders.

With the contents pages alot of them had very few text and a lot of pictures usually all lined up next to eachother with just the page number in the corner of the picture to let the readers know whats going on in each page. I think that this is important in a contents page because a reader does not want to spend a lot of time on a contents page they just want to know whats on each page and where everything is, so I think that keeping it simple attracts more audience. The main conventions in a contents page that I saw were images, numbered text, and a mast head.

 With the double page spreads a lot of them were just a big picture covering both pages with just a little bit of writing, I think that you can only really get away with this is the band or artist is quite popular, if not then I dont think people would take much interest. Also a lot of the double page spreads had a lot of text and were usually interviews with groups. In the interviews on the double page spread it usually had big picture of the artist with collums with text inside the collums. It was quite difficult to find the main conventions in a double page spread because it was different everytime depending what was on the page for example, it could just be a poster, an interview, gig reveiw etc.

To also help me with my research I put together a questionairre and I asked questions such as “would you like to see a girly music magazine out on the shelf for once?”, “whats the most you would pay for a magazine like this”, “would you ever be interested in buying a magazine like this”. This has helped me a lot because it gave me a better idea of things like the price of my magazine, target audience, and if people would be interested in a magazine like mine. A lot of the feedback was people saying that they would like to see a girly music magazine out there as there arent many at all. This made me more confident in the making of my magazine as I knew it was a good idea and would be popular. People also said they would roughly only pay £2-£3 for a magazine this is why I chose the price of my magazine.

After doing my research I drew 4 rough drawings of possible front covers and I evaluated them. I said why I chose to design things in a certain way and what I wanted from the front cover, I also said why I chose to put things in a certains place. This helped me to become more confident in putting together my front cover as I felt like i had some good ideas and could make this succesful. I did not chose one specific design but I took different things from each front cover and put it into one. I am glad I done this because it gave me good ideas for my final peice. I felt like the more I designed the more creative and confident I become. This also helped me in a way to learning about conventions in a music magazine because it was like I was testing it out and seeing what works and what doesnt work, this has helped me into making a good quality front cover as I knew from the start what looked good, and what didnt.

When I started putting together my front cover I had a good idea of what I wanted. I wanted it to look girly but also quite grimey. I decided to use a purple colour for the background with the title of the magazine “NOVA”  in bold black text at the top. I downloaded most of my text from the internet. The text I have used for the masthead looks very distorted and almost eroded. I wanted to make my magazine stand out and have catchy subheadings and a attractive main picture this is because it would attract more people to my magazine as you will find that people are more likely to buy a magazine if the person on the front is attractive. The picture of the girl on the front cover is the artist that is featured in my magazine on my double page spread, she is an upcoming rock artist called “Amy Day”. I found the making of my magazine quite easy and very fun to do, along the way I was adding more conventional things to make my magazine look more realistic for example a white box around the bar code. I feel as if the sub headings on my front cover would attract a lot of people as they seem quite catchy for example “5 free posters inside”.

When I started to produce my contents page I knew what I wanted. I wanted to keep it quite simple, still girly but grimey, yet attractive. I chose a pink background to stick to the girly conventions for the magazine, and yet again black font that looks quite grimey and eroded. I think that they work well together and its exactly what Iwanted from my magazine. I have my main heading saying “CONTENTS” to let the audience know what exactly they are looking at. To let my audience know which is on each page I have the page numbers in bold black text with text underneath saying what is on each page. On the right hand side of my contents page I have a series off 4 images. On each image I have a page number and a little bit of text revealing what they are. I have included a picture of Lady GaGa, Paramore, and two of my own original images. One of which is the features artist “Amy Day” and “Kyrsten McCartney” a pin up model. I have decided to include a picture of 2 famous people as it makes my magazine look more realistic. They are also very popular celebrities so they will attract an audience to my magazine. I added a border around the images to make them stand out more.

When I started my double page spread I knew that I wanted to do an interview with my featured female artist “Amy Day”. The interview would be about what Amy has plans and how she is handling her new life being famous etc. For the colour scheme I still wanted to keep the girly/grimey conventions so i used a black background with white and pink text. I added images around the page which are all my original images of Amy Day. The tite says “AMY DAY CONFESSES ALL” in bold white and pink text which is slanted across the top of the page. In the interview the interviewers text is in pink and Amys answer is in white. I chose to do it like this so it is easier for my readers to understand who is saying which bit. I chose the white and pink text as I thought it goes with the girly conventions and it stands out well and is easy to read against the black background. With the pictures that I have added onto the double page spread bring character to the magazine and adds character to the featured artist, this make my magazine seem more realistic. I have blended the images into the background so it looks like they are fading in, I think that this makes the double page spread more appealing to my audience.

After many changes to my front cover, contents page and double page spread I felt like it had a big impact on the audience, this is because my magazine had more realistic conventions in it which made the magazine feel more realistic and more like a magazine. The magazine looks sucessful and exactly what I wanted a girly/grimey music magazine. My magazine creates meaning in a way that young females can now enjoy a music magazine that is especially for them, they will be able to relate to the magazine a lot more then a stereotypical manly music magazine as it will be girly with a touch of grime, it will feel more personal for them. The language I have used for the magazine is quite laid back, easy to understand, with character. I decided to do it like this so the magazine comes across more gentle and has more girly elements in the magazine.

I think that my media produced challenges existing ones out there quite a lot. If you look at the stereotypical music magazine for example “Kerrang” you will see that it appears very grimey, heavy rock/metal genre of music, and very butch and manly. But with my magazine I wanted to be creative and go against most of the conventions of a music magazine by making it girly and not focusing on just one genre of music to broaden my audience. Where as Kerrang will just focus on heavy metal and heavy rock, my magazine focuses on rock/indie/alternative. My magazine also challenged conventions by saying its just a girls magazine, most music magazines are for both male and female as both genders like all different kinds of music. You will also see that with most magazines they have male and female artists but with my magazine it only features female artists, this is because I wanted it to be exclusively for girls and challenge the conventions of a average music magazine. Comparing my media product with any other magazine is quite difficult but I can relate my magazine to the magazine “Clash”. I looked at that magazine front cover in my research and it inspired me a lot in what I wanted to do and to create. This is because it is a girls music and fashion magazine and had a look of music conventions but with a girly twist. This magazine included a female features artist on the front, has quite a lot of girly colours such as pinks, whites and purples, with stars in the background. You will know as soon as you saw it that it was meant for girls, and I get that kind of feel with my magazine. But comparing my magazine to other music magazines is quite difficult as most of them are very manly and butch where has the opposite kind of conventions.

I am pleased with my final product. I feel like my front cover is bold, eye catching, and appealing, that my front cover is attractive, simple and gets to the point and that my double page spread is exciting, bold, eye catching, interesting and very appealing to readers. If I could change anything about my products I probably would have added more pages into my contents page to fill up some gaps, and some spelling on my double page spread, other then that I am pleased with how everything has turned out. I think that my work could have been better if I managed my time more efficiently and allowed myself more time into putting together my media product.

I have edited this picture and i have chosen it for my double page spread as i think as she model looks quite cheeky and adds to the character and builds a character up for my female artist. With all the rest of the pictures I have carefully chosen the ones I have used, and are going to use. I chose these ones because they had most character, they were a lot stronger then my other original images and also the model looks most attractive in these images. This is important because people are more likely to buy a magazine if the person on the front or inside is attractive, no one really wants to see an ugly person on a magazine.

Brazilian culture is a culture of a very diverse nature. An ethnic and cultural mixing occurred in the colonial period between Native Americans,Portuguese and Africans and formed the bulk of Brazilian culture. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Italian, German, Spanish, Arab andJapanese immigrants settled Brazil and played an important role in its culture, creating a multicultural and multiethnic society. ^[2]

^{Population in Brazil}

At the turn of the century, Brazil’s population was 17,438,434. By 1950 it had grown to 51,944,397, and in 1970 it reached 93,139,037. By 1991 Brazil was the world’s sixth most populous country, with about 2.7 percent of the world’s 5.3 billion people or 147,053,940 inhabitants. In July 1996, the population was counted as being 157,079,573, but estimated in 1997 to be nearly 160 million. Projections indicate a total population of 169 million in 2000 and 211 million in 2020, and population stability at about 250 million in 2050. The population growth rate for the 1992 to 2000 period is estimated at 1.5 percent per year. As a result of the decline in mortality and continued high fertility during the 1950s and 1960s, the average growth rate was nearly 3 percent per year. Subsequent to a decrease in total fertility, the growth rate dropped to 2.5 percent in the 1970s and 1.9 percent in the 1980s.

Average population density in Brazil in 1994 was 18.5 inhabitants per square kilometer. There was a wide variation between the densely populated Southeast and South, on the one hand, and the sparse North and Center-West, on the other, with the Northeast at intermediate levels. In comparison, in 1991 the United States (including Alaska) had an average of twenty-five inhabitants per square kilometer; France, 100; the United Kingdom, 100; China, 110; and Canada, three.

According to the 1996 count, the most populous region in the country is still the Southeast (63 million inhabitants), followed by the Northeast (45 million), the South (23.1 million), the North (11.1 million), and the Center-West (10.2 million). The most inhabited states are São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraná. These states all lie along the Atlantic coast.

In some rural areas and many cities, particularly in major metropolitan areas, females outnumber males. The historical predominance of women over men in the Brazilian population has persisted. The 1996 count showed that there were ninety-seven men for every 100 women and that the total number of women exceeded the number of men by 5 million.

The average age of the Brazilian population has increased as a result of a continued decrease in mortality and fertility. Between 1980 and 1990, the proportional share of children from birth to age fourteen decreased from 38.2 to 34.7 percent, while the share for those of age fifteen to sixty-four increased from 57.8 to 61.1 percent. The proportion of elderly (age sixty-five or greater) increased from 4.0 to 4.2 percent and is projected to reach 9.0 percent by the year 2020. In all regions of the country, the count registered an increased number of people of ages fifteen to sixty-four and of older people over sixty-four years old. In the Southeast, for example, the proportion of people in the former age bracket increased from the 61.7 percent registered in 1980 to 63.6 percent in 1991, while the number of older people increased from 4.2 percent to 5.1 percent.

The demographic transition in Brazil becomes apparent as the bottom of the very wide-based pyramid, typical of developing countries with high birthrates, begins to narrow (see fig. 6). Further declines in the fertility rate, estimated at 2.44 children born per woman in 1994, eventually will lead to a pyramid that is shaped more like a bullet, with cohorts under age sixty of roughly equal size. Senior citizens will live longer, and the proportion of young people will decline. In the year 2000, young people will account for 28.3 percent of the population and senior citizens, 8 percent. Couples will have fewer children, and the fertility rate may be less than 2.2 children per woman, the replacement level.

Religion

The religion of most Brazilians is Catholicism, in fact, Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world. Many other beliefs over time have been incorporated into the Brazilian Catholic belief system such as Spiritism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Ayahuasca, and Judaism as well as religious syncretisms, such as Candomblé,Umbanda, and Macumba, that mix Catholicism with African tribal religions. Certain denominations of Christianity, such asPentecostalism, Methodism, and the Mormon church have also gained a large following.

Carnaval, as it is known in Brazil, is an annual celebration held forty days before Easter and marking the start of Lent. Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is known worldwide for the elaborate parades staged by the city’s major samba schools in the Sambadrome and is one of the world’s major tourist attractions. In other regions such as Bahia and Pernambuco (and throughout Brazil), Carnival takes on a unique regional flavor. Carnival celebrations in Brazil feature locally-originating traditions and music (such as axé and frevo).

Music

azil’s cultural tradition extends to its music styles which include samba, bossa nova, forró, frevo, pagode and many others. Brazil has also a large contribution to the genres of classical music, which can be seen in the works of composers José Maurício Nunes Garcia(1767-1830), Antonio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896), Elias Álvares Lobo (1834-1901), Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920) Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959). Camargo Guarnieri(1907 – 1993), Cláudio Santoro (1919 – 1989), Osvaldo Lacerda (1927) and Eli-Eri Moura (1963), among many others. Some of the most famous Brazilian classical performers are the soprano Bidu Sayão, the pianists Nelson Freire and Guiomar Novaes and the conductors Eleazar de Carvalho and Isaac Karabtchevsky. Brazil is also the land of the São Paulo State Symphony, regarded as one of the outstanding orchestras in Latin America and in the world.

Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto popularized the Bossa Nova sound, which was followed by Música Popular Brasileira (literally “Brazilian Popular Music”, often abbreviated to MPB). In the late 1960s, Tropicalismo was popularized by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.

Within the last 20 years, Brazil saw a dramatic increase in diversity in the music they express. Ever since 1985 when Brazil became democratic, popular music, such as hip hop became a widely “unprecedented fashion”^[8] However, social classes developed between the poor, middle class, and wealthy. Music was influenced by race and equality facts. For example, poor people would talk about how corrupt the government is, the violent and low class life the live in, unequal wealth distribution, and drugs ^[9] Nevertheless, traditional music, such as samba, managed to keep the country’s music scene united as one.

The musical style know in Brazil as “Brazilian rock n’ roll” dates back to a portuguese-version cover of “Rock Around the Clock“, in 1954. In the 1960s, young singers like Roberto Carlos and the Jovem Guarda movement were very popular. The 60s also see the rise of bands such as the “tropicalistas” Os Mutantes and the experimental (mixing progressive rock, jazz and MPB), O Som Imaginário.

The 1970s saw the emergence of many Progressive rock and/or Hard rock bands such as O Terço, A Bolha, A Barca do Sol, Som Nosso de Cada Dia, Vímana and Bacamarte, some of which attained some recognition internationally; Rita Lee, in her solo career after Os Mutantes, championed the glam-rock aesthetics in Brazil; Casa das Máquinas and Patrulha do Espaço were more bona-fide Hard rock bands, and the likes of (Raul Seixas, Secos e Molhados, Novos Baianos and A Cor do Som) mixed the genre with traditional Brazilian music. In the late 1970s, the Brazilian Punk rock scene kicked off mainly in São Paulo and in Brasília, booming in the 80s, with Inocentes, Cólera, Ratos do Porão, Garotos Podres etc…

The real commercial boom of Brazilian rock was in the 1980s, with many bands and artists like Blitz, Gang 90, Barão Vermelho, Legião Urbana, Engenheiros do Hawaii, Titãs, Paralamas do Sucesso, and many others, and festivals like Rock in Rio and Hollywood Rock. The late 1980s and early 1990s also witnessed the beginnings of an electronica-inspired scene, with a lot more limited commercial potential but achieving some critical acclaim: Suba, Loop B, Harry, etc…

Contents [hide]

1 Overview

2 Origins

3 Golden age

4 Revival

5 Critical analysis

6 Notable Slasher Films

7 See also

8 External links

[edit]

Overview

The victims are usually teenagers or young adults who are away from mainstream civilization or far away from help and often involved in sexual activities, illegal drug use, or both. These films typically begin with the murder of a young woman and typically end with a lone female survivor who manages to subdue the killer. Although Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho is often credited with creating the slasher genre, the first authentic slasher film was Black Christmas, released in 1974, followed by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (later in ’74) and Halloween in 1978. The success of Friday the 13th is usually charged with creating the “slasher boom” of the 1980s. Jaws 2, while technically not a slasher film, has a lot in common with these films as most of the shark’s victims are teenagers.

In a slasher film, the killer almost always uses unconventional weapons, such as knives, chainsaws, cleavers, and various blunt objects; rarely, if ever, does the killer use a gun, sword, or anything actually designed for use as a weapon. There is often a backstory that explains how the killer developed his or her violent mental state, and why s/he focuses primarily on a particular type of victim or haunts a particular location. The killer is almost always male, and is often able to withstand most or all of the victims’ attempts to defend themselves. Thus, even after being shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, electrocuted, burned, or drowned, the murderer is not only alive, but able to continue stalking his victims. While the killer is usually portrayed as “pure evil” (i.e., lacking any humanizing or sympathetic characteristics), there are some films which show the killer to be pitiable, or at the very least misunderstood. Notable among these are Silent Night, Deadly Night, Slaughter High, The Funhouse, Castle Freak, Creep, Offerings and Midnight Ride.

[edit]

Origins

Agatha Christie’s famous mystery novel (and subsequent play) And Then There Were None, set in an isolated location with a psychopathic killer murdering a series of hapless victims, can be seen as an early precursor to the genre. Christie’s theatrical adaptation even expands the concept, with the revised stage ending featuring the female protagonist having a showdown with the killer in the classic “final girl” tradition.

Alfred Hitchcock‘s film Psycho (1960) is sometimes described as the mother of all slasher films. Although there are only two murders in the story, the idea of a disguised and insane killer came to prominence with this picture. However, unlike other slasher films, the characters in the film are well developed and revolve around a far more complex storyline. Indeed, the murderer’s insanity is also clearly explained, in comparison to other slasher film villains. In Psycho, the killer is arguably psychotic, rather than clearly psychopathic: he has obvious and bizarre delusions, such as the belief that his dead mother is still alive. Psycho was so influential that many critics see it as a turning point in cinema history. It marked the transition from the Gothic horror of vampires, were-wolves and monsters to modern issues and fears. The famous “shower murder” with its screeching violin soundtrack is perhaps the most famous scene in horror-film history. However, although it directly inspired the subsequent slasher genre, Psycho is more accurately categorized as a psychological horror/thriller.

Early examples of the slasher genre include Francis Ford Coppola‘s Dementia 13, Herschell Gordon Lewis‘ Blood Feast (1963), Mario Bava‘s Blood and Black Lace (1964) and Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) (the latter known by over a dozen titles, including Bay of Blood and Carnage), Jim O’Connolly‘s Tower of Evil (1972), Tobe Hooper‘s 1974 classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Bob Clark‘s Black Christmas (1974).

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Golden age

The films most often charged with igniting the slasher film “craze” of the 1980s are John Carpenter‘s Halloween (1978) and Sean S. Cunningham‘s Friday the 13th (1980), both of which spawned numerous sequels and countless imitators that endlessly recycled their predecessors’ character archetypes and plot. Halloween, though not the first film of its kind, was the first to introduce the concept of the slasher as an indestructible evil force and is often considered the film responsible for the rise of the slasher trend, popularizing many of what would become key elements in the genre. Black Christmas (1974), released four years earlier, had introduced many of the elements that were used in the higher-profile Halloween and many subsequent films. Directed by Bob Clark, the film featured point-of-view shots from the killer’s perspective and threatening phone calls made from inside the victim’s house, which would be reused by later filmmakers for decades to come.

Following a trend set by Black Christmas, Halloween, and Friday the 13th, many films of the era focused on holidays or specific dates, such as My Bloody Valentine, New Year’s Evil, Happy Birthday to Me, April Fool’s Day, Prom Night, Mother’s Day, and Silent Night, Deadly Night (followed by such others as Bloody Birthday, Hell Night, Terror Train, Visiting Hours, Mortuary, and Night Warning). During the height of the genre’s popularity, despite a strict formula developing within the genre, audience interest was maintained by developing new, increasingly “novel” ways for victims to be killed (as the Friday the 13th series is best known for), as well as increasingly graphic and realistic special effects (Some of the most effective were The Burning, The Prowler, and Maniac). Some series, such as Nightmare on Elm Street and later Child’s Play, added supernatural twists to the slasher formula, as well as comedic elements as the respective series progressed. Earlier films, such as Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, were also revived and given a series of increasingly gory sequels in attempts to compete with other franchises. The genre arguably peaked in 1983, a year in which, according to the book Crystal Lake Memories, nearly 60% of all box-office takings were for slasher movies.

Long-running franchises in the genre tended to focus more and more on the returning villain than on surviving victims, effectively transforming characters once viewed as frightening monsters into anti-heroes who would be cheered on by audiences. Nevertheless, by the end of the 1980s audiences were tiring of “unstoppable” masked killers and predictable plots. The profitability of the slasher genre began to dwindle, and controversy over the subject matter would eventually persuade some studios to stop producing and distributing slasher films. Sequels to the most popular slasher series, as well as new series such as Leprechaun, would continue to be released in theaters or direct-to-video throughout the early to mid-1990s. However, few gained the success of the genre’s earlier productions, and even entries in the established Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street sagas became less frequent.

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Revival

The slasher genre resurfaced into the mainstream in the mid 1990s, after being successfully deconstructed in Wes Craven’s Scream (1996). The film was both a critical and commercial success, which attracted a new generation to the genre. Two sequels followed, and the series was even parodied in Keenen Ivory Wayans‘ Scary Movie (2000), which began its own series, parodying the entire horror-film genre.

Scream kicked off a new slasher cycle that still followed the basic conventions of the 1980s films, but managed to draw in a more demographically varied audience with improved production values, reduced levels of on-screen gore, increased self-referential humor, more character development, and better-known actors and actresses (often from popular television shows). This style continued for the duration of the 1990s with competing series such as I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, Final Destination, Valentine, Cherry Falls, New Nightmare and Jason X

In 1998, the Halloween series was revived, playing off the success of the Scream franchise. The new film, Halloween: H20, was conceived as a direct sequel to 1981′s Halloween II, and would lead to one further sequel, Halloween: Resurrection. Shortly after, other “classic” slasher faces would also be revived: A nearly scene-for-scene remake of Psycho was released a few months later, in December of 1998. Chucky of the Child’s Play series also returned to the screen, first in Bride of Chucky and later with Seed of Chucky. In 2003, two of the largest slasher series, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, were combined by New Line Cinema in the film Freddy vs. Jason.

Another revival attempt came in 2003 when a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was released. It was financially successful, and a prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, was released in 2006. The success of TCM would soon lead to a slew of other slasher remakes, including The Hills Have Eyes, Black Christmas, The Hitcher, the “reimagining” of John Carpenter’s Halloween, Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine 3D and the upcoming Friday the 13th remake and A Nightmare on Elm Street prequel, which supposely will narrate the life of Fred Krueger before being burned.

While figures from the “golden age” of the slasher genre continue to be revived, new franchises have also appeared. Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects introduced audiences to the murderous Firefly family, both films taking obvious inspiration from earlier works such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In 2004, the first film in the Saw series was released into theaters, featuring much of the gore and sadism considered a staple of the 1980s slasher genre, but with a twist: the victims are now tricked into killing or harming themselves or others…in order to survive (A notion similarly used in the upcoming, WΔZ); However, FeardotCom, Turistas, Captivity, See No Evil, Wolf Creek, Dead Silence, Untraceable, Scar, Pathology and the new Hostel film series is also considered part of a more modern movement in horror loosely referred to as “horror porn”, “torture porn“, or “gornography”. As a whole, the genre has begun to return to a bloodier, more-shocking formula over Scream’s trendier aspects. The slasher films Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and Hatchet aimed to return to the basic originality of the golden age in style and cinematography. The latter has been marketed as an old-school throwback to the 80′s classics, but is in fact more of a parody.

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Critical analysis

The slasher genre has been widely derided by critics, and has frequently come under fire from censorship advocates, such as Christian campaigner Mary Whitehouse, who once led a crusade against video nasties.

Roger Ebert famously coined the derogatory nickname “Dead Teenager Movies”, and has been accused of bourgeois elitism in his rampant derision of the genre. Meanwhile, Carol J. Clover defined the Final Girl stereotype in her book Men, Women and Chain Saws, an academic study of gender roles in the classic slasher film. Generally, editions in this category of cinema have been widely dismissed by most serious critics, and after a brief revival in the mid-90′s following on the surprise success of Scream (a more warmly received, self-aware parody of slasher films), the genre has since lost favour with wider audiences. However, there have been a few exceptions to this rule, most notably the Saw films.

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