Opening conventions & Slasher Background

Conventional features in film openings:

Idents

Titles:
Director
Producer

Editing/Mise en scene

Transition, between scenes or titles

On screen titles giving time or location

Sound/Music and use of diagetic bridging

Initial impressions:
Era the film was made
Intertextuality
Genre

Peeping Tom (1960), and Psycho (1960) are generally considered the first slasher films, in that they set the template for a lot of what was to follow. The idea had been around for a long time beforehand and had surfaced in gothic horror films and other pulp material.

Main features of slashers, that can be seen in virtually every example are those of an unknown figure stalking and killing several individuals. There are elements of voyeurism, as the camera oftens puts the audience into the killers point of view. The films often feature a mystery element that has to be solved before the climax, as well as some form of twist ending.

Films such as Halloween (1978), introduced the concept of a masked indistructible figure who represented evil, rather than being a tangible human. The defeat of this character represents a kind of moralistic victory.