Deconstruction of Slasher Typography:

Deconstruction of typography used in Slasher films:

~ I looked at the typography of different slasher films to see what aspects and characteristics we could incorporate into our own title. I decided to use two well-known but slightly older films Halloween and Friday the 13th to see how they compared to two more recent slashers, Trick 'r Treat and Saw IV. 

Halloween poster.

Halloween: (1978)

~ Halloween was one of the first successful slasher films to contain characteristics of what would become the slasher genre and inspired a long succession of slasher films afterwards.

~ As you can see, the background of the poster is completely black, which makes the film title and tag line stand out more. The title 'HALLOWEEN', is capitalised orange with a white outline and the font is quite simplistic, the use of the colour orange reflects the text as orange is commonly associated with Halloween. 

~ The tag line 'The Night HE Came Home', is white and against the black background, this exaggerates the opposites theme, good and evil etc. It is also in a simplistic font and the word 'he' is in a slightly bigger font and in italics to express the fact that this man is well-known and everybody knows who is and now he is coming back home.

Friday the 13th poster.

Friday the 13th: (1980)

~ Along with Halloween, Friday the 13th was another early successful slasher film which helped the slasher genre become more popular and acknowledged. It is considered the first slasher film thriving with graphic violence to help it achieve mainstream popularity.

~ The title 'Friday the 13th' is all in white, apart from the number '13' which is partly red to symbolise dripping blood and to put emphasis on the fact that it's only when it is Friday the 13th and not any other date. It is all in capitals and the font is also quite simple, it looks like the letters have been scratched onto somewhere, this is effective as it reminds the viewer of a knife or a sharp object.

Trick 'r Treat poster.

Trick 'r Treat: (2007)

~ Trick 'r Treat is another slasher film set around Halloween and the typography on the poster reflects this. The font of the title resembles the lines that sparklers make when you wave them in the are, usually seen around Halloween/Bonfire Night, enforcing the theme. The background of the poster looks like a street with a lot of mist and the light is on a small figure sitting next to a pumpkin, dressed in some sort of Halloween costume. This is effective as it makes the idea of Halloween more creepy and scary.

Saw IV poster.

Saw IV: (2007)

~ Saw IV is the fourth film in the 'Saw' franchise, which follows the story of 'Jigsaw' who sets up deadly traps for people, and if they don't manage to find a way out, they die. The title of each 'Saw' film uses the same font with the Roman numerals of the number of the instalment next to it, (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) so it is familiar to the public. The colour of the font is red, again to symbolise blood and this is also matches the red of the cloak covering the person in the trap (although we can see the person is wearing heels, indicating it's a woman). The rest of the poster is black and white, as black, white and red are the three main colours associated with horror, gore and violence. 

Deconstruction of the Costumes of Killers

 Stitches' costume consists of a rugged, dirty and old brown coat with matching trousers. His hair is untamed and dry and he is wearing gloves. This is to keep his fingerprints off things because he is killing the people who killed him (he has returned from the dead). Some people already find innocent clowns scary but this particular clown is killing people and his eye is stitched up, so this is terrifying because clowns are supposed to be fun-loving and kind.

Leatherface's costume in Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a normal workshop man's outfit - a t-shirt, trousers and apron. However, he is often carrying around his chainsaw and hurting/killing people, and this shows because his clothes are ripped and dirty with splatters of blood on them. This tells us that he does not change his clothes - he is more concerned about killing people.

The killer's costume in ATM is very realistic, it is a man wearing a dark coat with a fur hood and dark trousers. Because of the hood, we cannot see his face so he remains anonymous, similar to the examples above. As his clothes are realistic and many people wear that today, it is menancing this makes the movie more effective and scary.

The costume from Scream follows the conventions of it being dark and consisting of something which covers the killer's face. Darkness is associated with evil, death and bad and it blends in with the night which is when most killers attack. Plus, the ragged ends of the 'wings' could be ironic - good = white, wings = angelic but in this case, bad = black and ragged wings = trouble.












Chucky is a killer's spirit which has gone inside a Good Guy doll , which is ironic because Chucky is evil. The doll is a baby who is smiling and in baby clothing. A baby is not capable of killing which is why this costume is frightening yet interesting. Chucky has cuts all over his face and he carries a knife which is similar to Scream's and Leatherface's weapons.













A slasher convention is for the killers to hold their weapons in their hands as a way of indicating that they are going to kill and to have their face disguised to add more suspense as the killer remains anonymous to us. Also, wearing dark clothing to camoflauge in with the night and/or the clothing being worn-out and ragged is also a typical horror and slasher convention. So, our killer should wear dark clothing, which could be realistic, such as a t-shirt and jeans because, like ATM, it makes it more scary because it is believable.

Deconstruction of Sound "Theme Songs" in Slasher Films

I decided to do sound deconstruction of the "theme tunes" within a few slasher movies. These tunes are repeated throughout the movies, and are used to build tension and signify to the audience that something is going to happen. The slasher movies that i deconstructed the sound of, and then compared, are Saw (2010), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Scream(2011). I chose these slashers as they are all quite recent, and all have different subject matters- keeping the options for our controlled assessment film opening open.

28 Weeks Later

This tune is used with a build up of constant sounds that are in relation to the action on screen within the film 28 weeks later. The building sounds adds tension to the scene, and with this tune being added, it increases the intensity of the scene even further. It is also used to indicate to the audience that something bad is going to happen, as before it does, this music usually starts very quietly, slowly increasing in volume and speed.

This is a good general theme tune to look at, due to the repetition of the tune, and would be a good idea to base a created building up of tension "theme tune" for our coursework film opening, with only the need to make a few second rift, and slowly repeating it, increasing its speed and volume to add to the suspense of the scene. The ending of the tension built from this music is often ended with a final climax, then brought into a silence that is eerie and makes the viewer unbelieving of the innocence of it- as if everything is now okay.

Scream 4

This scream 4 tune is made up of a few different sections of rifts, some repeating constantly, some completely changing, however, they are all used in relation to the action on screen, to build up, once again, the suspense and tension within the scene. It is generally used during the scenes where the killer is stalking their "prey" and/or killing them.

The music  is made up of techno, electronic functions at different tones to create rifts. This would be a relatively simple remake on an electronic piano, and due to the repeating elements, it shouldn't take too long either.

Saw 3D

The Saw 3D tune is a mix of repetitive, and changing sounds and rifts that together get louder, faster, quieter and then more intense to suit the scene before the viewer. This music is made up of wind instruments, drums and strings, all combining in complimentary and contrasting effects to give intensity and tension to the scene. The music is used, not only during the "game"/ death scenes, but also during parts of the movie, where the police are getting close to saving, and catching the people who are being put into these "games" by jigsaw.

This theme tune is an interesting one to be inspired by, looking at how to mix repetitive, and changing sounds together, while building tension and intensity of the music and atmosphere. It would be hard to recreate, however, as the instruments used are orchestral, of which we do not have in this project, at our disposal.

Looking more in depth onto sounds and theme songs within horror/slasher movies, I found that there are many occurrences where contrapuntal songs are used to the scene, for example someone is being killed, and a happy, jolly song is playing. This could be a good feature to look at for sound for coursework film opening, making the scene before the viewer look even more disturbing. The effect of this contrasting music also brings across a feeling of mental disability, thinking that the gruesome acts on screen are fine to carry out, and this could be a feature that we play on during the film opening that we are going to create. Below shows some of the examples of these contrapuntal songs:

Tiptoe, Through The Tulips

The song "Tiptoe, Through The Tulips" and was used in Insidious 1 to create the atmosphere that something is not right. It is played, only once within the movie, but is done so during the scene where the main woman sees the "ghost" like figure of a boy dancing in the middle of her deserted house. The effect the music is trying to bring is an unnatural-natural feeling to the scene to make the viewer feel uneasy and add suspense.

The song is made up of a person singing at a high pitch, over the top of stringed instruments, possibly a guitar. The music is not actually on its own, scary, nor is the content of the songs lyrics, but put into the context that it is in the Insidious movie, it creates the atmosphere that it does.

Sweet Dreams

The song "Sweet Dreams" is played over the top of the werewolf killing scene in Trick r' Treat. This song, however not contrasting to the subject matter in the film, still brings the effect of abnormality to the scene. It enhances the feeling that what is being carried out in the scene is "wrong" but the lyrics within the song such as "Sweet dreams are made of this" connotes that the characters don't care about this, and are doing it anyway- bringing to it a sense that maybe the "baddies" have something wrong with them.

The song is made up of a person simply singing the song over the top of an electric guitar playing the tune. The effect of the electric guitar gives a "rock" type approach to the music, and makes the scene seem more hardcore, like the music. This could be quite easily recreated, or even inspired by to create a similar style one that we make up.

Deconstruction of masks in films

These are masks worn by mentally challenged children and the fact that you cannot see their faces creates a sense of mystery which is why masks are often used in slasher films, to disguise/hide someone, especially the killer(s). As these are children wearing masks and whom are chained to their seats, you begin to wonder just how powerful/dangerous they could be. All the masks are creepy but the children with the scariest masks are the paper bag mask with a cut out of a toothy grin on it, the devil with horns and an extremely long torso, (the boy who drives the bus off a cliff who is wearing a) dracula style mask with long fangs, and the crazy clown. They seem scary because there is the element of the unknown - we do not know whether draculas and devils exist, but we do know that clowns are real and that anyone can put a paper bag over their head, but it seems strange that a wide mouth is pasted on the bag and that the clown looks jolly, yet evil. The bunny, baby, skeleton and upside down queen masks do not seems as daunting as the others. This may be because they are 'typical' masks, like the skeleton, or are masks of things which aren't terrifying, such as a bunny and a baby.



The infamous Saw mask which appears in every Saw film is very well known, a distinctive feature being the red swirls on his cheeks. Also, his eyes are red and red symbolizes blood, danger and threats which is exactly what the Saw films are brimming with. Especially as this is a human face with hair, it seems quite realistic which is what makes it more frightening. In slasher films, the more relatable and realistic something is, the scarier it is to the audience.

Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most sickly masks because it is a human being's face which has been cut off. The killer then goes around killing people wearing a human's face as a mask to protect his real identity. This concept is very sickening and works very well with the slasher theme of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Slasher films consist of a lot of gore and nauseating content so this mask fits in well with those themes.











The masks used in The Purge are of a person who is smiling. In The Purge, 12 hours are allowed every year for all crimes to be legal, so people can go around killing each other. The happy expression of the masks contrasts with the negativity of commiting crimes. This is similar to Saw's Jigsaw mask, who is also smiling. It is a horror and slasher convention for the killer to be pleased by killing and torturing and this mask represents that.

Also, because the mask is some length away from the face, the eye holes disable us from seeing their eyes, so the one bit of identification we are normally given with masks is not given here. So the person behind the mask is completely anonymous.

 The masks used in The Strangers are used by the killers who enter the couple's house and torment them, then finally kill them. The two female faces with rosy cheeks and red lips are scary because a girl looking like that is often associated with innocence and youth, and these 'strangers' aren't innocent and do not seem young. The man wearing the scarecrow mask with a smile painted on it is also disturbing because when he torments and kills people, because of his mask it looks like he is enjoying it.