Research into teen horror sub-genre

Plot: The plot of a teen horror film typically includes a group of teenagers doing something wrong, e.g. drugs, trespassing in abandoned areas, staying out after curfew and as a result landing themselves in a deadly situation. The films always include all of the characters with all of the teens dying at some point until one is left.

Conventions:

·       Blood/Gore

·       Relationships

·       Weapons

·       Violence

·       Darkness

·       Chase scenes

·       Death

Iconography is often used in teen horrors, where a certain murder weapon, for example is used to identify the killer, this is demonstrated in A Nightmare on Elm Street where Freddy Krueger’s hand made of knives is his signature weapon.

Characters: The main characters in teen horrors are teenagers and usually a mix of males and females however many may have a group of all females but it is rare to see a group of all males in horror, this is because horror as a genre leans more towards targetting males by showing females as sexual objects. Also female characters are easy targets for male villains and so often play the part of the innocent victim. In spite of females mostly being portrayed as weak and vulnerable it is very common that the last character to survive is female, this appears in films such as Scream, Eyes of a Stranger and Halloween.
Stereotypes are played upon in teen horrors and particularly in American teen horrors we see the presence of the jock and his girlfriend, the nerd, the drug taker and the misfit, typically the character is killed off in a way that reflects their personality for example in Final Destination 3 two female characters who are portrayed as vain and ditsy are killed by being incinerated in sunbeds which reflects their vain personalities.

Location: The locations within the film tend to be everyday places where teens would be such as at home, school/college or a holiday camp, these places are turned from safe, normal locations into places of danger and allow the teen audience to imagine their safe hangout places in place of the ones in the film.