Genre Analysis

                  When looking at the sub-categories of slasher and zombie, both have very distinguishable icons, themes, and motifs. The slasher film revolves around a psycho killer that has typically had a rough up-bringing that has led him to a life of killing. In the type of film, the killer stalks and kills various amounts of victims in a violent manner, usually doing so with an ordinary weapon or by any means possible. Taking a look at slasher films such as Halloween, Friday the 13^th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street all include setting where violent killings should not occur. “The slasher subgenre has made superhuman killer invade everyday settings such as summer camps and suburban neighborhoods” (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). In slasher films visual cues of masks and altered faces make up the killer. In both Halloween and Friday the 13^th the killer wears a typical mask that anyone can have such as a hockey mask. But in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger has been severely burned and sacred. The iconographies of these films leave viewers reflecting whether or not this could happen in their small town or can people really kill like that. The plot of many slasher films deals with the killers attack on normal life in the small town or neighborhood. In the article, “Children of the Light” by Bruce F. Kawin  “In a horror story a lot of people get killed, but no one really cares about them; the audience’s attention skips from victim to victim until it finds the survivor, the one with whom it is thrilling but safe to identify.” In the previous mentioned slasher films, all three deal with the theme of a sequence of events that lead to the killings of specific people in order. The audience has a restricted narration as they follow the psycho killer until the very last kill. From these films, directors never intend for people to take use their work in their own lives. An example of symptomatic meaning from slasher films would be for a viewer be so indulged that they use the actions on screen in their own lives.

            “The horror genre is most recognizable by the emotional effect it tries to arouse. The horror film aims to shock, disgust, repel-in short, to horrify” (Bordwell & Thompson, 2010). In zombie films, which deal with creatures that are portrayed typically as mindless people from the dead. In this sub-category, zombies typically arise from the dead or there is a zombie apocalypse. Throughout the film, no character is ever hundred percent sure how the zombies have risen, but this allows for viewers to be guided along finding out the source with character. Typically, in zombie apocalypse films humans across the country or world have gone ill by some unknown source, have died, and have risen from the dead as flesh eating zombies. The first of its kind is from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, in which “it takes a hard look at the world that is in danger of being taken over by flesh-eating zombie, and few of the living measure up; most are selfish, violent, stupid” (Kawin & Mast, 2006). That film has been the basis of zombie films since. The iconography of zombie films typically deal with heavy makeup, battered clothing, and slow mannered people. The significance of this is to leave the audience pondering what does happen in the afterlife? After the film ends, many viewers question the fact of a zombie apocalypse even occurring or one may take away that being the cycle of life. Typically in zombie films, the theme is to stay alive and find a cure to the epidemic. But most of the time these themes mean more than just a film. According to Thomas Riegler, “1970s violent movie genres fed on political and social turmoil that began in the late 1960s: The Vietnam War, a string of high profile political assassinations, racism, and urban riots.” In Night of the Living Dead, that example is clear when the strongest, smartest, most resourceful character is played by an African American. Romero used the first black man in a lead role to resemble the social era of the 1960’s (Kawin & Mast, 2006). The character survives one night but is shot and burned by a southern redneck that resembled news coverage of the social racism going on during the civil rights movement. This type of zombie filmed over way beyond the explicit and implicit meaning of the film.

              Over the span of one hundred years, the horror genre has developed into various sub-categories that can strike fear into the hearts of every viewer. What started off as low budget films, the horror genre have taken new heights using today’s technology to implement fear among its viewers. In the sub-categories of horror include, slasher, zombie, and torture porn. All three bring their own element of fear whether it being a psycho killer in the neighborhood, the life cycle of death coming back alive, or the intensity of cruel torture. But what cannot be pushed aside is the fact that horror films not only entertain us, but they do reflect contemporary horrors of American culture whether it is socially, politically, or economically.

Grant, B. K., & Kawin, B. (2003). Children of the Light . Film Genre Reader III (pp. 324-329). Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.

Mast, G., & Kawin, B. F. (2006). A short history of the movies (9th ed.). New York: Pearson Education Inc. .