Clover Knows What You Did Last Summer

In the 1997 horror film I Know What You Did Last Summer a group of four teenage friends accidently hit a stranger with their car and attempted to hide his body in a nearby lake despite knowing that he was still alive. A year later they are receive threats and experience attacks based off of the crime they committed the previous summer. The movie continues as the four teenagers try to figure out who is behind the threats until one-by-one people start to die at the killer’s hand, or shall I say hook. This movie provides constant thrills for its viewers by the menacing music and the dark, ominous setting. The four main characters consist of two teenage girls, Julie and Helen and their two love interests, Ray and Barry.

Carol Clover is an American author known for her analysis of how gender is represented in horror/slasher films. She discusses different aspects of these films and how the characters, weapons, and the settings all tell the audience something. I Know What You Did Last Summer is no exception to Clover’s claims.

Most slasher films have a type of “terrible place” that either the killers hold and manipulate, or that victims go to. These terrible places are normally small, dark, abandoned areas. The viewers of this film have no knowledge on the killer until the last five minutes of the movie, but what they find out is that he has a boat where he has pictures, newspaper articles, and other information on the four victims plastered on the wall. This creepy display in a small dark room instills fear in Julie when she discovers it, but also lets her know that she is trapped on a boat with the movie’s killer. Throughout the final chase scene on the boat between Julie and the killer she hides in a number of small, dark compartments on the boat. At one point she traps herself in a long small tunnel with the killer right behind her. As she travels down this tunnel, she finds a door which leads to a large bright freezer filled with ice. When she opens the door, light shines in and she climbs into the freezer and shuts and blocks it behind her. Though she is not fully in the clear yet, this bright light at the end of a dark tunnel could be compared to the female birth canal. Even though she is still being chased, Julie does all she can from this point forward to fight him off and stand up for herself. This can be portrayed as a rebirth of her as a character. She is leaving behind her stereotypical feminized character by making bad choices, and shifts into a more masculine character by attempting to rescue herself and fighting back as hard as she could.

The victims of the killer are all beautiful, popular, teenagers. The female victims are seen as always running away from their attacker, and hiding in small unknown places, or always choosing the wrong way. When being chased in her store, Helen took an elevator upstairs to get away, while the killer walked up the stairs and was waiting for her by the time she got up there. When she presumably gets away, she runs into the killer again where he inevitably kills her in an alleyway. During the attack, Helen fights him off as best as she can. This response, rather than just complying out of fear shows that she is attempting to rescue herself. Even though she was unsuccessful, this attempt shows that she has taken on some of the killer’s abilities to fight.

(The killer hiding from and attacking Helen)

Even though Helen is not the “final girl” at the end of the film, Julie is, and shows the exact same strengths. When trapped on a boat in the middle of the river with the killer, Julie does not just give in and accept her fate either. Even though she is unfamiliar with the boat’s layout, she continues to hide and try to get away. She does fight him off as well, shifting to more masculine characteristics, in a self-rescue, physically strong type of way, but she does not entirely fit the “final girl” identity because she is not the one to beat the killer. Ray hurries out on his own boat to the boat that Julie and the killer are on and things like rope swings to prevent the killer from harming Julie. Not only does he hit him with a large iron hook, but he also manages to lift him into the air by a rope, which rips off his hand and throws him into the water. 

Julie and Ray are both saved and the killer is presumably dead.

Clover talks about the use of the weapon in slasher films and how the type and size of the weapon both portray something. Slasher films are called slasher films because that is exactly what the killers do, slash. There is no gun use, only knives or other sharp objects. In I Know What You Did Last Summer, the killer uses a large hook to kill his victims. Being a fisherman himself, he uses the hook to complete the fisherman’s coat and hat that he is wearing throughout the film. This hook is always held close to his body, and the large size of it is seen as an extension of his body. This weapon, though not the typical shape, can be perceived by the audience as a phallic symbol because of how attached the killer is to it, since he used it for every murder.

Overall this slasher film, like most, has many of the characteristics that Clover discusses. This movie provided all of these while keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. Every dark corner paired with the weapon and character portrayals give the film’s viewers a lot to think about.

Another Nightmare on Elm Street

In 2010, Samuel Bayer revised the classic slasher film Nightmare on Elm Street. This version is quite similar to the original from 1984, using many of the same characters and a similar story line. Fred Krueger is still portrayed as the killer coming to haunt teenagers in their dreams, except in the newer version he is a dead child rapist. The now teenagers in this movie all went to school together at a local preschool, but didn't remember doing so because their parents blocked those memories from their minds. Fred Krueger was the gardener at this preschool and all the children adored him. Parents soon started finding out that he wasn't the nice guy everyone saw, but was a pedophile and a rapist. When the police couldn't intervene, for lack of evidence, the parents took it upon themselves to trap Krueger in an abandoned building and burned it down. Now, over a decade later, Krueger comes back to seek revenge on the children who caused his death. If we look at this film in terms of Carol Clover's article, Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film, we can distinctly see the formula for a slasher film. This movie includes a final girl, a terrible place, a weapon, and most certainly a suppressed psycho sexual killer.

The first thing I noticed, in this version, was the Final Girl. I thought I had her pegged from the beginning. Unlike the typical Final Girl, she was pretty, blonde, and purposely sexy. She started to see strange things unfolding pretty early on and even tried warning and protecting other characters. Her name was Kris, similar to the original Christina. The camera even took on her perspective from the start of the film and you assumed she was the main character, thus leaving her as the final girl. You see her dreams with Freddy Krueger, and then one night she can't escape him and he kills her in a horrific and overly sexual way. Before she dies, she becomes hysterical and starts writhing in bed as if she's having sex. She then floats up to the ceiling in a sort of climax and is then smashed off the walls in her bedroom. She's penetrated and sliced with knives and left in a pool of blood on her bed. Though she ended up not being the last girl, I still found it important to point out the way in which she died. We've discussed, in class, all the feminist qualities that I found present in this scene. First off, her hysteria is assumed to be feminine because it has long been thought of as a female tendency because women tend to be more emotional than men. Crying, screaming, and paranoia are all things Kris exhibited before she died. Then we have the presence of blood after her orgasmic death. If looking at Kris outside of her dream, she appears to be having sex with someone, but no one else is there. She is writhing and screaming in bed and then there's the climax with the explosion of blood. The blood during or after sex typically represents the loss of a woman's virginity. The amount of blood is taken to a whole new level when it completely covers her bed. She is literally left laying in a bed of her own blood.

Just like in the original, the actual Final Girl is Nancy. The only difference is we don't take her perspective until Kris dies, which is about halfway through the movie. Nancy exhibits all of the qualities of the Final Girl. She's not necessarily the "pretty one" or the "sexy one". She seems more reserved and even dark, and is often found drawing or sketching scarier images. Just like the others, she is experiencing Freddy through her dreams. With the help of her friend, Quentin, they end up putting all the pieces together and figuring out what happened and why Freddy is coming to get them in their dreams. In addition, she is the one who often sees her dead friends lingering both in reality and in her dreams, such as Kris in the bodybag. Towards the end of the film, the dream world and reality start overlapping from lack of sleep and also helps to foreshadow the final showdown between Nancy and Krueger. It is her mission to go to the old preschool where they all first met Freddy so she can defeat him. She remains smart, resourceful, and level headed and, by the end, ironically emerges as a badass killing machine. She stares death in the face, stabs Freddy, and eventually slices his throat and kills him. Unlike the original Nancy, who cries out for her father's help, this Nancy is the independent twenty-first century woman capable of saving herself. Even though Quentin provides some help, Nancy embodies the woman of today who can get the job done on her own. She ends up saving the guy instead of the knight in shining armor coming to her rescue.

During the dreams, the characters often end up in the Terrible Place. It appears to be like a boiler room which is hot, wet, and dark. Then out of nowhere, Freddy appears with his glove of razor blades. If we think about the image of a dark, wet tunnel, we think of a womb. But, with sharp, pointed objects coming after you, a vagina dentata would come to mind. With this image it definitely makes this Terrible Place monstrously feminized, which would explain why Jessie becomes so hysterical. If you put a man in a terribly, feminized place, he will feel his manhood being threatened. In the movie, Jessie loses his masculinity when he is pinned up against the wall with Krueger's razor blades staring him in the face, as if about to lose the only thing left that makes him a man. Something else that I noticed during the killings is that Freddy immediately killed the guys but took his time and seduced the girls. The first dreams we see the guys in, Freddy goes right for the kill---slitting throats or completely exploding through the abdomen. We see the girls, though, having multiple dreams and in each one Krueger luring them to him. He takes the guys right to the Terrible Place, whereas he takes the girls to their schools and even their bedrooms before the Terrible Place. The schools and bedrooms have a special significance to this film because Krueger lived in the basement of the preschool. His basement bedroom was where he took his children. The choice of these locations leads me to my next point.

The Suppressed Psycho Sexual Killer and the Weapons are the last things present in this slasher film. I liked the creative twist they put on Freddy, making him a child rapist rather than being just another random serial killer. It also upped the ante as to why the parents were so secretive. Freddy, by far, was a sick man for preying on innocent children at a preschool. Even during Nancy's last dream, there is infantilization, when Krueger puts her in his favorite dress from when she was a child. This coward of a man can't truly face these characters. Initially he preys on helpless children and then he preys on people in their dreams where they are completely powerless. Because of the twist on Freddy's character, Freddy is given two phalli. First his own and then his hand of knives. Both are extensions of the body used to penetrate these kids, but in vastly different ways. The first was used in a disgustingly, sexual way and the second was used as a murderous weapon. The second extension is not only one other phallus, but four more. If he couldn't get these children before, he's making sure he gets them now. Just when he has his last two victims left, Nancy picks up a huge razor blade and slits his throat. The Final Girl turns the tables and beats the Killer at his own game.

After using Carol Clover's article, Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film, as a starting point, I was able to analyze the remake of Nightmare on Elm Street. This movie has many of the same qualities as the original---similar story line, similar characters, same killer, same weapon, same terrible place, and the same final girl. After looking at this version, I've seen many of the characteristics of a typical slasher film.The addition of Fred Krueger being a pedophile and rapist only added to the significance of him coming for teenagers inside their dreams.  In terms of gender, I have seen role reversals. The men of this film back down in a womb-like room only to be horrifically slain by a dangerous killer. But it's the Final Girl that comes out of her conservative shell to finish off this same monster. The final girl, the terrible place, the weapon, the killer, gender roles and reversals are all present in this creative remake of the classic slasher film, Nightmare on Elm Street.

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

   This film begins by following a group of teenagers who decide to throw a party inside of a mine where, little do they know, a murderous ex miner named Harry Warden awaits them beneath the earth. There are stories about the trapping of six miners underground and that Harry, the only survivor, murdered the other five of his coworkers in order to prolong his air supply so that he could survive. These stories are no sooner proven true when Harry escapes the hospital he was in on Valentine's Day, murdering all of the nurses and doctors in his path until he reaches the mine where he then murders nearly all of the teenagers there. Four teenagers named Irene, Tom, Axel, and Sarah, manage to escape death and it appears that Harry is shot and presumably killed by the sheriffs. The film then flashes forward ten years later, and it is presumed that Harry has risen from the dead and is now continuing his killing spree. Irene, Tom, Axel, and Sarah all struggle to figure out if Harry has indeed risen from the dead or if somebody else is taking his place, while everybody close to them is being picked off one by one.

   
    Throughout the first half of the film, the gender representation of the characters is pretty stereotypical in that the females assume the role as the caretaker or "weak link" while the males assume the role of the strong protector. This is evident even with the killer being a male individual who is so strong that he seemingly can't be stopped. There aren't any films that I'm aware of where the dreaded killer is a female. Another example of a male assuming a strong protective role is when Tom is in the mine and manages to keep a fight going with the killer, who is assumed to be Harry, the longest, while the female characters are either already killed or have run away screaming.
      The female characters in this film are typically portrayed similar to other horror films as being characters that are weak at the sign of danger and sexual objects. When it appears that Harry has somehow risen from the dead, there is a scene in a dirty motel where a woman named Irene is having sex with somebody. The entire scene is dirty and primal, and at some point while they are having sex she looks at herself in the mirror above the bed and says, "Oh my god, I look so hot today." When they are finished having sex, instead of covering herself up, Irene sits with her legs splayed open and the male character tells her he is paying her for her services, even though she is not a hooker. He proceeds to throw money at her and then leave the motel room. The statement combined with how the man reacted to Irene all help to reinforce that Irene is nothing more than a sex object.
      Like most horror movies, the sex scene is shortly followed by death when the murderer kills the guy that Irene just had sex with before going after her. She runs, still completely naked, and hides underneath the bed. I found this ironic because this is the typical place where the female characters hide from danger. It is almost child-like because children are also shown to hide under beds when the "bad guy" is coming after them. Harry finds her hiding spot and rips the mattress from over top of her, exposing her underneath the mattress frame cowering and exposed, both naked and exposed to him. This also reinforces the idea that Irene is weak due to her being naked and shown as being afraid.
      During this scene, it is important to think about the murderer as a psychosexual killer. As can be seen in the picture below and to the right, Irene is shown cowering underneath a metal frame with several holes throughout it. Shortly after the murderer has exposed her naked body underneath this metal frame, she attempts to hide behind it and try to fight him through the holes. The sight of her struggling against Harry and exposed could be similar to a rape scene. This idea is then reinforced when Harry chooses to penetrate the holes of the metal frame and stab her in her lower stomach. I found it interesting that they chose to have her die this way after she was being portrayed as a whore a few scenes prior.

     The murderer's choice of weapon is something important to notice due to the close proximity that he has to get to his victims in order to kill them. He chooses a pick axe, which he usually drives into very vulnerable parts of his victims bodies such as their face, eyes, and stomach region. Not only does he have to kill within a close range, but he chooses to stab his victims several times, even after they are already dead. I think that this small detail also helps to explain the idea of the psychosexual killer because usually people who we imagine to assume those roles are repeat offenders, similar to his repeating of the stabbing of whoever he is killing.
      One of the most interesting characters to examine is Sarah. From the very beginning she is shown with her hair tied back in a tight ponytail and a high-necked white top. The image of her wearing white and her hair being tied back further influences the audience that she is an innocent character. I may be stretching a little here, but the white top could also maybe represent her virginity. This could be influenced with her conversation with Tom when she comments that she doesn't want to be there, doesn't seem to be drinking, and doesn't seem to be a "party" girl. These are qualities that we usually associate with somebody who is virginal. The white top also makes an appearance later in a scene that takes place ten years later. Axel had just finished cheating on his now wife, Sarah, with a girl named Megan. It is assumed that they had just finished having sex and Megan is standing in nothing but her underwear and a white tank top. This contradicts the virginity appearance of the white tank top due to the fact that she is half naked.

   Sarah may have been portrayed as an innocent character from the beginning scene, but like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she constantly behaves in ways that go against her role as a stereotypical female. An example of this is in the first mine scene with Harry murdering all of the teenagers. While Sarah runs away from the killer like all of the other female characters, she also pauses a few times to try to save Tom and hit Harry with nearby objects in order to stop him. This gender reversal happens again in one of the final scenes in the film where Sarah has to figure out who the killer is, either Axel or Tom. She is shown as the final girl here, holding a gun and two people's lives in her hands, until she ultimately shoots Tom. Typically it is thought that males are the strong characters who get to kill the murderer or monster, but it is interesting that Sarah is the last female alive in their friend group, as well as the one to shoot the murderer. It is also important to notice that, consistent with the idea of the final girl, Sarah seems to be the only girl who has survived while the rest have died painful deaths.

     While she does have some instances where she behaves similar to the typical male character, Sarah also is then thrown back into the female character role, which is one that shows women as being possessions, weak, or even girly. There are several scenes throughout the film where Axel and Tom fight over Sarah like she is an object to be desired. They do this in the interrogation room, in the final scenes where Tom gets shot,

and once more when Tom is first introduced back into the story after the ten years have passed. The inclusion of these scenes helps to throw Sarah back into her role as something to be desired. 
    The terrible place in horror films typically takes the form of something dark and womb like. The major dark place to be avoided in this film would be the mines where the axe murderer resides who created this film did a good job at making the mine a creepy place by having every area throughout it dimly lit, as well has have several pathways and areas where somebody could easily hide.
   I wasn't sure how this film was going to be due to the fact that the title seems cheesy, but it was actually pretty good. I thought it was interesting how much Sarah represented Buffy in some scenes, and how her gender role switched frequently throughout the whole movie. It is surprising how, after taking this class, evident the ideas of the final girl, weapon choices, and the terrible place are. I would definitely recommend this film, although there is a decent amount of gore in it which surprised me.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

I Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillippe, is a 1997 slasher film portraying the lives of 4 teens one year after they accidentally hit a man with their car and try to dispose of his body. To compare Carol Clover's overview of gender categories within slasher films to I Know What You Did Last Summer, there are many similarities.

There were two weapons in this film that I found to be repeatedly evident. First, the fish hook. The film is set in a fishing town, called Southport, where many of the men are fishermen. The killer wielded the only weapon he knew how to use. Not only was the fish hook symbolic to an extension of his penis, but I believe it was also an extension of his personal self.  He experienced trauma through the death of his daughter, so he utilized his personal skills to seek revenge. Secondly, Barry’s car was used twice as a weapon. In the beginning of the film as the group is driving down the mountain side, they hit the killer. Barry is initially only worried about the damage to the car and his father’s reaction before turning his attention to the unconscious man on the side of the road. The second time Barry’s car was used as a weapon was against himself. In the locker room of the gym, he finds a picture of his car and a note with the message, “I know”. He runs outside to check on his car only to find a dark figure in the driver’s seat, taunting him. The car is put in reverse and driven backwards down the road, prompting Barry to run after it. As he stands there, out of breath, the car begins to drive forward and Barry is forced to run for his life. Eventually being hit and thrown into a fish market stand, we can hope he has begun to realize the pain of being hit by a car. 

I found numerous places within this film that could be considered a terrible place. First, boats and the boat dock. The boat dock is where the group brings the killer’s body as they are trying to get rid of the evidence. It is a damp, dark place, especially under water. Second, houses were used as an area of misplaced safety. We believe we are safe inside our homes. However, the audience is shown the killer lurking inside Helen’s closet. She eventually wakes up to find her chopped off, her Croaker Queen crown atop her head, and the word “Soon” written in red lipstick on her vanity mirror. Julie is the only character to receive a letter reading, “I know what you did last summer”. After this, she sits in her living room, alone, with the lights off, and hears a noise coming from the window. Also, the scene when Helen and Julie visit David Egan’s sister, Missy, at her home. Inside, they find black boots, a black trench coat, and a black fisherman’s hat. Thirdly, Elsa’s store is the last of the terrible places. Elsa is Helen’s older sister who has recently opened her own clothing store. The night Helen is attacked by the killer, she runs to her store as if symbolically running to the safe embrace of a woman close to her, from the dark energy of male hatred. 

The killer in this film is a male. He is also a father, which is the basis of his psychopathic rage. Through Julie's research, we eventually find that the killer's name is Ben Willis. His daughter, Susie, was killed in a car accident. However, the driver of the car, and her boyfriend, David Egan, survived the crash. This begins Ben Willis’ thirst for revenge. He kills David and is able to stage the murder as a suicide. On his way back from murdering David is when the group hit him with Barry’s car. Yet, as he regains consciousness before they are able to throw his body off the dock, he sees the faces of the four teenagers trying to kill him, making them his next targets. One year later, as he hunts them, we see him wearing all black; Black boots, black trench coat, and a black fisherman’s hat. It is not until the last 15 minutes of the movie that the audience is shown is face. He is virtually indestructible in the ways that he has escaped death. He was hit by a car, thrown into the ocean, and left to drown. Towards the end of the film, his hand that holds the fish hook is cut off and he is thrown off the side of the boat. 

Although there were four teenagers in the car when the man was hit while walking along the road, only three were attacked by the killer: Barry, Helen, and Julie. Barry had the shorted attack scene and death, verifying that horror/slasher films are more interested in the sexuality of female struggle. Out of the three victims, only Helen and Barry died. Helen had the longest attack scene. All the while, she was wearing her beauty pageant dress. She ran with her arms flailing by her sides, there was a slight shine of sweat on her chest, and she made moaning sounds as she was running. Helen's final scene was in an alley, being murdered with a fish hook. Yet as she was being attacked, there was a parade and marching band possibly 20 feet away. Not once did someone turn their head or break formation. This symbolized to me the many instances when a woman is being attacked and bystanders turn their head, not wanting to get involved. 

Julie was the final girl. In the beginning of the film, she was also the good girl. She hadn't been drinking, she researched David Egan's death, and she was the only person to suggest calling the police after the accident. When she arrived home from college, the audience was shown framed achievement certificates hanging on the living room walls. Julie was a good person, a good student, and a good daughter. These are aspects every female can relate to. We all see a little bit of ourselves in Julie, one way or another. At the end, she made the poor decision to trust a man she had never met. Yet, she did not let him overpower her. She was cunning and used her intelligence to hide herself, taking matters into her own hands. Julie's actions turned from feminine to masculine in the way that she differentiated from Helen. Although Julie did not self-rescue entirely, she had protected herself until the very end when Ray came to help.

I Know What You Did Last Summer has all the ingredients for the typical slasher film. It has weapons, a killer, terrible places, a victim, and a final girl. Yet, without first learning these categories, I never would have thought to look for them. Now, they seem all too obvious. 

I Scream, You Scream

Scream is a widely recognized and successful film that spurred on many sequels. What is it about horror movies that has us screaming at the character not to open the door or not to go down that corridor? The viewers know from past movies that certain things lead to an unfortunate demise in horror films. It happens time and time again. As said by character Randy Meeks, “there is a formula for horror movies”. Most horror movies are designed in a way that is almost unthinkingly displayed on screen. From what I’ve seen through my fingers, Scream falls into many of the classic horror movie tropes.

The protagonist is a girl named Sidney, who falls into “The Final Girl” trope. Like many of the other Final Girls, Sidney is reluctant to have sexual encounters. Early in the film, her boyfriend Billy sneaks into her room through the window, and they kiss on her bed. She ends up stopping him before things get too heated, expressing her wishes to keep it PG-13 for now. Final Girls are typically tomboyish and not entirely feminine. Sidney’s name, like many other Final Girls, is unisex, therefore giving her that not entire feminine quality. She also dresses very tomboyish, on many occasions wearing t-shirts and sneakers, while her friend Tatum wears skirts and crop tops. At the end of the movie, Sidney, no longer the damsel in distress, bolsters her strength and ends up killing her attackers, boyfriend Billy and his friend Stu. Once she escapes their grasp, she turns into the role of attacker when she calls them to harass them like they did to their victims. She even assaults Billy with a phallic object, the pointed end of a long umbrella. She transforms from screaming, helpless victim to her own savior.

Scream’s death scenes are way more brutal and torturous for the female characters compared with the male characters. The first death on screen is Casey’s boyfriend Steve. He is captured by Ghostface, and ultimately gutted when Casey fails to answer a question about a horror movie correctly. His death happened in the blink of an eye and is merely added torture for a female character. Another death in the movie is Principle Himbry. Ghostface plays a game with him, knocking on his door and then leaving. He ends up jumping out behind the door and stabbing the principle to death in relatively short scene that takes up little screen time. Female deaths, however, are much more drawn out and brutal. The first female death scene was Casey, following right after her boyfriend, whose death was used to torture her. This heart-racing scene was a sick game that Ghostface was playing with Casey which led to her death. Casey struggles for her life for over 10 minutes of screen time and is repeatedly brutalized leading to her being stabbed multiple times. Later in the movie, Sidney’s best friend, Tatum is murdered in a grotesque way. After a struggle with her attacker, she tries to escape through the pet door in the garage, and gets stuck. The killer then turns on the garage door, which ends up crushing her head. As in most horror films, female characters get a lot of screen time when it comes to their deaths.

Director Wes Craven develops his killers in a way that plays into classic examples, but also has some differences. There are actually two killers in this film: Billy, Sidney’s boyfriend, and Stu, his best friend. Both boys appear to be normal on the outside, but when they put on the mask, they are sadistic murderers. This isn’t usually the case in other horror films which typically have one person who plays no role other than the murderer. The mask is an important symbol of a killer. In this case, it is used as the disguise or alternate identity of the killers. The mask is also made to signify that the killer is barely human, equating murder as a sick act. In the last scenes with Billy and Stu, the viewer can see something isn’t right mentally. Billy’s motive for stalking Sidney specifically has do with his mother abandoning him while Stu is just tagging along for the “fun”. Sidney’s mother was having an affair with Billy’s father which caused his mother to leave them. This is a common theme in many horror movies when the killer has an absent mother. The slight modifications outside the other killer examples make them much more interesting to watch.

If all horror movies follow the same formula, what makes them so appealing to watch over and over again? Why are there constantly remakes and sequels from stuff we think we have seen before? Horror movies give viewers a sensory overload experience that you just don’t get most of the time from many other genres. It’s also very satisfying watching the Final Girl take control of the situation and survive long enough to save herself or be rescued. While there is a method to making these horror films, it still gets our hearts pounding when we see a girl heading towards a closed door or when someone leans over to look under the bed. It may be a formula of sorts, but it is one that the viewer definitely succumbs to every time.

Scream

“The first monster you have to scare the audience with is yourself.”  This quote came from Wes Craven the director of the movie Scream. The film starts off with Casey Becker waiting for her boyfriend to arrive at her home, unfortunately Casey is home alone. She receives a mysterious call from a strange man claiming he wants to "play a game." The ironic thing about this film is that, Scream is a parody that brings to life the cliché elements in horror while still having the ability to scare you. The characters even openly talk about what they would do if they were in a scary movie and the things that are known to happen. Casey plays his game, because her boyfriend (Steve) and her own life depend on correct answers. Casey tells him she is going to hang up the phone, but he says "I want to see what your insides look like." This line can either be taken sexually as if the killer has sexual frustration built up or that he wants to brutally murder her.

Thinking back on the Killer element of Carol Clover's Her Body, Himself I thought of how he carries those characteristics of psycho sexual fury. Casey answers a question about Friday the 13th, but the killer claims her answer is incorrect and brings Casey and Steve to their demise. Reflecting back on the Carol Clover article, the Weapons category; the killer has no gun, all he carries is a huge knife which to me is a phallic representation giving more power to the male character.

Next Sidney Prescott is introduced, a normal girl in high school but she is struggling dealing with her mother's death almost a year ago. Throughout the movie Sidney as a character grows tremendously and proves herself. These qualities make Sidney the Final Girl, Sidney also has the unisex name, which I realized right off the bat. Sidney's father is leaving town so she stays with her best friend, Tatum. After school she arrives at Tatum's house and no one is home. She receives the same call as Casey Becker, her and this mysterious killer interact and she puts up a fight and escapes as she contacts 911 the killer takes off. Her boyfriend Billy was crawling up towards the window to comfort her and as he gets there a cell phone falls from his pocket making him appear as if he is the killer. I mean what're the odds? how did he know to come there at the time as if he was almost "saving" Sidney. I realized that when the police arrived Tatum's brother Dewey was talking to the sheriff and gives Sidney credit by saying "Sidney looks tougher than she looks." Scream films treat female characters as more than dumb, pretty, easy targets, running from the psycho killer with their breasts bouncing and hair flowing. Before classes were suspended Sidney was in the rest room at school and heard two girls talking about her claiming "Sidney has issues and killed Casey and her boyfriend Steve. And Maybe she's even a slut like her mother." And continue with the slut shaming of Sidney's mother as they call her a tramp which throughout the film it makes it seem like Sidney's mother's promiscuous behavior is what got her killed. This should never be the case and never should someone's life be taken just because of their sexual rendezvous.

 

 
 
 
The local news reporter, Gale Weather tries to get the story of Sidney and the killer but Sidney punches Gale in the face for writing a very false book about her mothers death. Ironically in the end Gale, saves Sidney's life by shooting the killer so in some aspects to me both of these women are seen as the Final Girl. (But more so Sydney than Gale).


The Terrible Place in this film is the home of one of the killer's, Stu. The terrible place is normally stereotyped to be womb-like (very damp and dark). The crazy twist that they add to this film is this is an average home that belongs to a normal family (besides that fact that their son is a sadistic killer). Creating this image of a normal house being the terrible place makes the audience feel as if they are safe and the killer will not strike there.

The only character throughout this film that they make a semi- easy victim is Tatum, stereotyping the "dumb blonde" look for her. Wearing a little yellow blouse as she goes out to the garage for drinks and of course the camera focuses on her upper body and that her nipples are hard. Honestly to me Tatum was too smart for that. She knew the killers motive and what he was capable of and put up a heck of a fight. Unfortunately she was unable to fit through the cat door in the gar age which brought her to her death. All of these reasons make Tatum the Victim, Tatum seems as if she is more sexually active than Sidney (with her boyfriend Stu) as she hints at it throughout the movie. In horror movies females are killed for the loss of innocence and loss of virginity, almost as if it's a punishment. This is what makes Sidney different, she doesn't give into Billy wanting to have sex and holds off.  Tatum even says to Sidney "Billy and his penis don't deserve you" and hearing something like that from your best friend makes you believe it. 



 

So while people are being murdered inside Stu's home, which hey why not throw a banger while a psycho killer is on the loose? Sidney and Billy wander upstairs to Stu's parents' bedroom, where she finally decides to have sex with Billy. To myself I was thinking no please don't do it, but seeing she is the final girl I knew she would prevail. After they are finished the Ghostface killer barges thru the door and stabs Billy. Sidney runs searching for help from Dewey. This is where everything pieces itself together and Sidney doesn't know who to trust or turn to. Billy and Stu are the master minds behind these horrible murders and even Sidney's mothers' death (SUPRISE!) They also have been hiding Sidney's father in a closet hands tied together and his mouth taped shut. Billy says to Sidney "How about this? Your slut mother was f*****g my father and my mother abandoned me." There you have it, here is the Killer's problematic childhood story of having no motherly bond and all of his rage.

 

 

Aside from this film, I did a little research myself on how these sort of movies made women feel. I found out back in the day feminist groups would actually protest for banning these types of films because these women claimed that these films made it seem alright to hurt women. Some people claim the meaning of these films is for a male to get a sense of enjoyment out of watching a female in distress. My point is women can also enjoy these films, yes there is and always will be a victim whether male or female, but there's a sense of pride watching some young girl defeat a indestructible male character. This is female empowerment at it's best, she is not needing to be saved nor helped but she does it alone because she is capable and she is strong.  


Scream: Not Just Another Horror Film

            With every horror movie I’ve watched there always seemed to be similar pattern that they all followed.  Randy Meeks even identifies the rules within the movie, which are as follows: Rule number one: you can never have sex. Sex equals death in a horror film.  Rule number two: you can never drink or do drugs because it is a sin.  Finally, rule number three: never say, “I’ll be right back”, because you won’t come back.  The movie Scream intentionally identifies these rules and then breaks them.  Thus taking this horror movie to a whole-new level when compared to all its predecessors.  Although, it does have similar uses of weapons, killer personality/back story, a terrible place, and the focus on the female victims it still provides its own twist compared to other horror films. 

This movie starts out with a girl, Casey Becker, home alone when out of the blue the phone rings.  She just assumes that it is a wrong number but it turns out to be the killer.  He tortures her with the sight of her injured boyfriend and then ends up killing her and stringing her up a tree.  Then the same peculiar telephone situation happens to Sidney Prescott, and then she is attacked.  The town is horror-stricken with fear over this new found killer who keeps picking people off one-by-one.  In light of everything that has happened the principle makes a decision to cancel school until further notice.  Then at Stu Macher’s house party the blood bath begins.  After the killer gets what he wants from Sidney, her virginity, he’s able to kill her.  Although, she is not going down without a fight!

            The phrase of up-close and personal becomes a lot more meaningful with the killer’s use of a knife.  This phallic symbol allows the killer to come into close proximity with their intended victim thus making it much more personal. This is an extension of the body that can represent something that the killer is trying to compensate for.  Another possible weapon could have been the telephone, which was used to initiate the killing.  In today’s society a lot of people tend to see technology as one of the many causes of violence or bullying.  A gun was another weapon that was used, although it wasn’t by the killer.  In the final scene the victim uses the weapon to shoot the killer straight in the forehead.  The killer does not use a gun because you don’t have to get close to the person to kill them; they yearn for that close personal contact that they never received as a child.

           

             In this film it does not become apparent to the viewer that Billy, Sidney’s boyfriend, has psychopathic tendencies until you find out that he faked his own death only to gain Sidney’s trust.  A majority of killers have a tragic or impressionable backstory to their childhood, which leads to their monstrous adulthood.  In Billy’s case his father was sleeping with Sidney’s mother, which caused Billy’s mother to leave thus abandoning him.  The psychosexual killer in him is yearning for the love of his mother within other women, which in turn fed his hunger for revenge on the Prescott family.  Billy made Sidney’s mother pay the ultimate price for separating their family; he brutally murdered and raped her.  This is an example of how females are still more harshly persecuted when an affair has occurred.  Billy did not kill and rape his father, who had as much participation in the affair as Sidney’s mother did, and he did not persecute him with the same costly price.  Throughout history it has been more socially acceptable for a man to have multiple partners rather than a woman. 

            The terrible place within a horror film always seems to be decrepitude, abandoned, or womb-like building where a majority of the killings occur.  Scream shows a different side to the terrible place by making it look like a normal house.  It is not decrepitude at all; it’s actually able to hold enough people for a house party.  The makers of this film made a very conscience decision with making the house like any other house on the block.  This idea that a killing can take place within a “normal” house could show how a killer can look like a sane human being but is actually a psychopathic killer on the inside. 

            Compared to other horror films the female characters’ death is focused on more than the male characters’ death.  Society is fascinated with the thought of someone killing a woman that is why the camera always focuses on the females’ death rather than the males’.  With this film the first person to die was Casey’s boyfriend; his death took about one minute to occur.  When Casey’s boyfriend was killed he was tied to a chair and then sliced across his abdomen.  When the killer turned to Casey the span of her death scene took about thirteen minutes.  Casey was taunted, stabbed, strangled, gutted, and then strung up in a tree. The manner in which the women are killed compared to the men involves a lot more time and effort.  This just reinforces the idea that it is still captivating to the average person to watch a woman die rather than a man.

            The film Scream in some aspects does have similarities to other horror films, but then it sets itself apart in other innovative ways as well.  The use of weapons, killer backstory, and female victims are all comparable to the typical horror formula.  While the creators use of a non-typical terrible place creates this image of an entirely different type killer who doesn’t need a dark scary place to create the same fear.  The use of a character that narrates everything that typically happens within a horror movie allows for a different perspective for the viewer as well.  This type of horror film invites a mix of typical and atypical actions/scenes in a way like no other film.