A Critical Study of Horror Film - Week 8

The Slasher film (sometimes referred to as bodycount films and dead teenager movies) is a sub-genre of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer (sometimes wearing a mask) who stalks and graphically murders a series of adolescent victims in a typically random, unprovoked fashion, killing many within a single day.

Although these movies have had their place in the spotlight they often are mirror images of each other. The story lines all read the same...

The victims are usually photogenic 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, only to discover that the problem has not been completely solved. Although Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho provided early inspiration, the first authentic slasher film was Black Christmas, though the success of Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street helped popularize and revolutionize the genre in the 1980s. Another main these of the slasher seems also to be how many seques can be made. The slasher style horror has the ability to leave openings when the villian is a ominous being that is supposed to have died a tragic death at the hands of a lover or rival.

There are a few slasher style horror films that are almost open and shut and not a lot in the middle.

This weeks movie Malevolence is one of these movies. The story line of a group of bank robbers that think they have pulled of the great heist. Then the bad luck starts. The getaway car breaks down and the replacement car that they steal has hostages to deal with.Then they think they have found the perfect hideout to split their money only to find that it is the home of a seriel killer. They are now picked off one at a time along with the hostages. Yes there is the token survivors and the lead in to a possible sequel. The back story of the killer is touched on (a boy, kidnapped and turned into the serial killer) but could have made this movie an easier viewing with more details.

 

This movie does have a little bit of a redeemer, there is another movie released in 2011 that is a "Prequel" to Malevolence called Bereavement. This is another slasher style movie but has a little more of a psychological turn.