We decided to look at multiple movie synopsis on the website http://www.imdb.com/ and find the main themes and characters across the genre. This gave us idea's for the narrative concept for the film as we could look at the different motives for protagnist killers and also note the iconography, themes and common plots. This was very useful in highlighting key things to give a true understanding of what a slasher horror should be like. Here are couple example's, with a key, of this research.
Key – Protagonists (main characters), Stock Characters (minor characters), Plots and Stock Situations (predictable storylines), Icons (Star’s, backgrounds and objects), Backgrounds and Decor, Themes (e.g. Good Vs. Evil)
Pyshco (1960)
Marion Crane is a Phoenix, Arizona working girl fed up with having to sneak away during lunch breaks to meet her lover, Sam Loomis, who cannot get married because most of his money goes towards alimony. One Friday, Marion's employer asks her to take $40,000 in cash to a local bank for deposit. Desperate to make a change in her life, she impulsively leaves town with the money, determined to start a new life with Sam in California. As night falls and a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her, Marion turns off the main highway. Exhausted from the long drive and the stress of her criminal act, she decides to spend the night at the desolate Bates Motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, a peculiar young man dominated by his invalid mother. After Norman fixes her a light dinner, Marion goes back to her room for a shower.... Written by passionate_libra21
The Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Based on true events that happened in Travis County, Texas, in 1973. The movie begins with the state police and FBI searching the Thomas Hewitt farmhouse, where they have discovered a large collection of body parts. The movie flashes back several days to a VW bus with 5 young people returning from Mexico. They almost hit a girl in a state of shock, walking in the middle of the road. They try to help her and put her in the bus. She thinks they are taking her back, and she pulls out a hidden gun and commits suicide. The young people on the bus contact the police, and unfortunately, they end up at Hewitt's farmhouse, where the grisly killings began. They encounter the leatherface killer, who is wearing a mask made from the flesh of his victims, and his waving chainsaw. Don't get in his path!
