SlasherEG4: Cherry Falls

Cherry Falls

(2000) Geoffrey Wright

PRODUCED BY: Fresh Produce Company, Industry Entertainment, Rogue Pictures

DISTRIBUTED BY: USA Films (US), Entertainment Film Distributors (UK) (full list)

BUDGET: $14m

BOX OFFICE: 

RATINGS: IMDB 4.8

MY RATING: 

WIKI, OFFICIAL SITE

The soundtrack consists of a mournful tune that immediately suggests both fear and mystery. It continues to play over the next few scene changes, acting as a audio bridge.

A few bell chimes are the first use of diagetic sound in the opening, and the next couple of shots help to establish a location for the film, as well as giving us a glimpse of the title.

The few shots of the woods and lake are almost peaceful, lulling the viewers into a false sense of security somewhat. But the fact that night is drawing in suggests that the main action is about to begin.

With the shot of the moon, the music changes tempo, shifting up. This establishes that the introductory sequence is at an end, and that a new sequence is beginning.

Dialogue cuts in over the establishing shot, and the camera uses a high angle to pan down over the car from above. This could suggest isolation and weakness, common among slashers.

Assessing past coursework

Tiny Terror:

Initial titles based upon those used for 'Scream' (1996) Wes Craven.

Soundtrack includes long, drawn out notes that are commonly used in slasher films. Opening shots have connotations of a POV shot as the camera is positioned looking through hanging branches. A slight wobble further suggests that someone is watching the main character. This then leads into a false scare, as the POV character turns out to be known to the main character.

An ellipses acts as a bridge between the outdoor scene and the bedroom, fading to black in the space between. There is some use of exposition in dialogue. Short shots of a box opening very gently and a bra later being tossed over it to suggest sexual activity.

An example of a good technique used is to place the camera in a cupboard or other space that can help break up shots and provide more coverage. Tension isn't quite used effectively here, due to a couple of misplaced ellipses.

More over the shoulder shots are used to show the killer doll, as well as several cut away shots and use of the doll's giggling, established in an earlier scene.

Underground:

After first shot, titles come in using white font on black background, signifying realism. First character introduced is carrying a bottle of beer in his hand, immediately suggesting his vulnerability. A brief POV shot helps to confirm his drunken state, and afterwards a shot from just off the path suggests another figure watching.

The following scene in which the character collapses is not as effective, as it lacks any diagetic sound which would connote an attack. There is a much more successful example of narrative enigma straight away though, as we only see the figure dragging the first character away from the legs down, and we have nothing to anchor ourselves with.

The scenes set in the underground room are introduced with a shot that suggests a CCTV camera, before we see multiple shots of the character chained to a pipe.

Red Run:

Opening titles are animated and matched to a sequence of a kettle being filled and turned on. There is a lack of diagetic sound that is a problem; it breaks the verisimilatude.

Points on the slasher genre

Music heavily influences the fear factor in slasher films, as it effectively increases the tension.

15-24 is the age range commonly targeted by slasher films, as it's considered the ages people are most interested in the features offered by slashers; explicit violence and sex. People of this age group can also be genre fans, and can be drawn in by intertextual references to other films. The secondary target audience includes both younger and older ages, including some in the 24-34 age range, as well as some aged 15 and below. But it's the 15-24 range that remains the most popular, making up around three quarters of the audience figures. Older adults are often useless authority figures, and a common character is a sheriff, usually the parent of one of the teen characters.

Halloween is an exception to Todorov's rule of equilibrium, as it ends with the state of disequalibrium maintainted, with the sequel continuing immediately on from the first film.

The false scare partially demonstrates hybridity as it usually creates comedy by causing the audience to laugh. The cat scare is a common example of a false scare, as is the backwards walk.

20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. are both examples of high-budget production companies, while an indie company such as Warp Films is low-budgeted.

The final girl, a term created by Carol Clover in her book 'Men, Women and Chainsaws', that suggests that viewers initially share the perspective of the killer, before shifting to the final girl towards the end of the film.

Slasher films history (continued)

In the 50's and 60's, horror cinema was either gothic or creature-features, involving monsters and other villains. Universal produced films such as 'King Kong' and 'Godzilla'. Hammer studios made films revolving around characters such as 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein's monster'.

The main characters were mature adults, usually upper-class. It was the switch to working and middle-class, and younger characters in later horror/slasher films that marked a great change in how the films worked. These older films often look more theatrical and stagey, whereas later films featured a greater use of more 'realistic' settings.

Although a couple of the earliest slasher films, 'Psycho' and 'Peeping Tom' came out in 1960, fears over the violence in them led to the major studios to not dare releasing any imitators. It took the success of 'Halloween' and others a decade later for the sub-genre to really get going.

Slasher films history vodcasts

Millie, Kate and Poppy:

Psycho - archetypal slasher film; an early, highly influential film, introducing a scream queen and a masked, sexually confused killer

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Introduction of more realistic violence, and feature gore and nudity. Along with Last House on the Left, was made on a very low budget, featuring first-time directors and actors

Black Christmas (1974)

Action takes place in one location, a single house. This was a way of keeping the budget down, but challenges the director to keep the film interesting.

All three of the above films have had remakes and/or sequels. Introduction of using a camera to show the killer's point of view - thought to be made in Halloween, but actually introduced in earlier films such as Peeping Tom.

Halloween (1978)

Relies on tension and scares than extreme violence and gore. Launched the career of Jamie Lee Curtis who went on to stare in several other slasher films influenced by these films, such as Prom Night and Terror Train.

Friday the 13th (1980)

Spawned a massive franchise that continues to this day, with several sequels and a pair of modern remakes. Initially set around the murder of teenage campers at an abandoned summer camp.

Final girl theory suggests that the female lead has some androgynous characteristics, such as a unisex name and later trates of mausculinity. They are often more academic and resist the temptation of vices, unlike other characters, and are often virginial.

Long notes subconsciously encourage the audience to hold their breath; faster notes interfere with their heartbeat and cause it to beat faster. This combines to form physiological effects on their body, causing psychological feelings, making the audience feel more involved in the action, often tense and on the edge of their seats.

Peeping Tom (1960) Director: Michael Powell

An example of a proto-slasher

Psycho (1960) Director: Alfred Hitchcock

A who-dunnit, keeps the killer's identity a mystery

Later films introduce supernatural elements, in Halloween Jason is unhuman and seemingly industructible. Friday the 13th also makes its killer unhuman, and Nightmare on Elm Street plays with this idea by making its killer only effective in people's dreams, as he doesn't exist in the real world.

Later slashers featured hybridity, combining the genre with other genres, creating such things as a slasher-comedy. Sequels and the building of franchises continued throughout the decade.

The 90's introduced the post-modern slasher, which includes self-referentiality and intertextual links, as well as self-aware characters.

Slasher films

An American Werewolf in London

Director: John Landis (1981) $10m

April Fool's Day

Director: Fred Walton (1986) $5m

Babysitter Wanted

Director: Jonas Barnes (2008)

Cherry Falls

Director: Geoffrey Wright (2000) $14m

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Director: Tom McLaughlin (1986) $3m

Leprechaun

Director: Mark Jones (1993) $900k

The Lost Boys

Director: Joel Schumacher (1987)

Slasher franchise

The Halloween Franchise


Halloween (1978) Dir: John Carpenter $320k Box Office: $60m Worldwide, $47m US

Halloween II (1981) Dir: Rick Rosenthal $2.5m Box Office: $25m Worldwide, $20m US

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) Dir: Tommy Lee Wallace $2.5m Box Office: $12m US

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) Dir: Dwight H. Little $5m Box Office: $17m US

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) Dir: Dominique Othenin-Girard $5m Box Office: $11m US

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) Dir: Joe Chappelle $5m Box Office: $15m US

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) Dir: Steve Miner $17m Box Office: $55m US

Halloween: Resurrection (2002) Dir: Rick Rosenthal $15m Box Office: $37m Worldwide, $30m US

Halloween (2007) Dir: Rob Zombie $15m Box Office: $80m Worldwide, $58m US

Halloween II (2009) Dir: Rob Zombie $15m Box Office: $33m US

The franchise has consistently remained low budget in US terms, although the budget for each film has mostly increased as the series progresses. This is largely due to the guaranteed high box office figures, as people come to know what to expect from the franchise; as a result almost every film has made a profit.

There has been longer gaps between later films in the series, 'Halloween H20' was made as if the previous four films had not been made and therefore links more directly to the first two films, which could be viewed as one long film, the first leading directly into the second.

The latest pair of films are remakes of the original 'Halloween' and a sequel, and are therefore completely out of continuity with the rest of the franchise. Both of these recent films have performed fairly well at the box office. Trends among remakes are increased levels of gore and sexual explicitness.

The original 'Halloween' is often regarded as one of the most influential in the slasher genre, as well as being one of the earliest films in it. Notably it has an extremely small budget and an almost unknown cast (with the notable exception of Donald Sutherland). In terms of the genre, it was one of the first films, if not the first, to present the killer as an indestructible 'other', as opposed to a human menace. This theme has continued in subsequent, more fantasy orientated slasher films.

Specifically, the killer in the franchise, Michael Myers, is introduced as killing his sister as a little boy, and remaining in a mental institute for the next decade or so. This makes him fairly unique as a slasher film killer, having no real motive for carrying out his attacks.

History of the Slasher Genre

Our group has written and prepared the above vodcast; a brief history of the slasher genre from it's earliest beginnings to the present day.

Some possible distributors for our film

Top 10 film distributing companies in the US, from 1995 to 2012:

Warner Bros.

Walt Disney Pictures

Sony Pictures

Paramount Pictures

20th Century Fox

Universal

New Line

Dreamworks SKG

Miramax

MGM

(Source: The-Numbers)

Most successful distributors in the UK, top 10 films 2012:

Sony

20th Century Fox

Warner Bros.

Universal

Walt Disney

eOne

Paramount

Lionsgate

Momentum

Entertainment Film Distributors

(Source: James Bond News)

Low budget and indie film distributors in the UK:

Optimum Releasing

Optimum Home Entertainment (DVD & Blu-ray)

My definition of distribution

Distribution is the release and sustainment of films in the market place. It is 'selling' the product.

BFI: Film distribtion

Wikipedia: Film distribtion

Raindance: Film distribution

AS Coursework: Film distribution

Launching Films: Film distribution

SlasherEG3: Cry_Wolf

Cry_Wolf
(2005) Jeff Wadlow
PRODUCED BY: Rogue Pictures, Hypnotic
DISTRIBUTED BY: Rogue Pictures, Universal Pictures (US) (full list)
BUDGET: $1m
BOX OFFICE: $10m US, $15.5m Worldwide
RATINGS: IMDB 5.7
MY RATING:
WIKI, OFFICIAL SITE

The only ident is that for Rogue Pictures, the main production company. We hear the sound of panicked, heavy breathing before are aware of what we are seeing; a chase sequence has already begun.

The opening is almost pitch black, the only light being a torch held by the persuer. This is an effective technique, as it suggests the location of the stalker, but hides their identity.

We get brief CU shots of the fleeing girl; she fulfills the female stereotype of being scared and ineffective against her stalker. She is also blonde, another feature that connotes being a helpless victim.

At this point in the sequence, there is no soundtrack, all sound is diagetic. We rely totally on the fast-paced editing and other sound effects such as the crunch of leaves underfoot to build up the tense atmosphere.

We cannot make out everything within the frame, as the girl effectively blends with her background, and we haven't seen the stalker at all so far. This use of narrative enigma is a key factor in keeping the viewers hooked.

The camera has remained quite close to the girl for the first part of the scene; this proximity causes the audience to fix on this character as their viewpoint.

Now the shot changes, seemingly to a POV shot of the stalker, casting his light across the ground. This acts as a shift in which character becomes our viewpoint.

The stalker moving across shot reveals that we are actually standing a little behind the character, not seeing through their eyes as we first thought.

The girl in her hiding place remains unseen as she searches for something.

Her mobile phone provides the only source of light in this scene, and as movement has stopped it is almost entirely silent. When the phone rings, the sudden noise shocks us, and also acts as a cue for the music to build to a crescendo.

In this final shot, we get a very brief look at the stalker who appears to be wearing dark clothing. They are also carrying a gun as their weapon, which is unusual in itself as the typical slasher uses a knife or some other such bladed object.

The shot from the gun turns the screen white, with some pale pink or red colouring that has obvious connotations of blood, making it clear what has happened. The white screen is also an effective transition into the next sequence and the opening titles.