Case Study relating to my Horror film trailer

Media case study
In this case study I intend to gain vital information into the background of serial killers. I will use this information to shape the background of my killer, to make it the most realistic and interesting as possible. I feel that certain films portray a set of “codes and conventions” for a slasher film killer. This information coupled with real life example will be extremely beneficial.
Halloween
The plot for this film relates to the narrative that Dean and I are assigning to our horror film. In the film “Halloween” a 17 year old girl named Judith Myers was stabbed to death, by her 6 year-old brother. Myers (the boy) was then institutionalized for 15 years, just to break out days before Halloween. Myer's physiatrist Dr. Loomis was the only one that knew that Michael is coming back to Haddonfield, but by the time the town realized it, it was too late for many people.
The above narrative is the basic plot for the film “Halloween” I feel that this was important to include as the film “Halloween” was a major success when it was first released in 1978. This film explains the story of “Michael Myers” who vents his anger on the individuals that reside in his home town. Due to this I feel that it would be important to assign a space in our case study dedicated to this film.
There are a many aspects of this basic plot which compares to the basic plot for my horror film, for example the fact that the boy was institutionalized. However our child is institutionalized under different circumstances, as he witnesses the brutal murder of his parents, his mind becomes twisted; therefore he must be institutionalized for his and other people’s safety. Also the length that Myers was institutionalized for compares to my film, as our killer gets breaks out after 15 years. The weapon that the killer uses also compares to my film as we intend for the killer to use a big kitchen knife. The final comparison between “Halloween” and my trailer is that the killer returns to the scene of the original murder to truly express his hate for the town/street. In “Halloween” Myers does this by hunting a group of teenagers, however in my film the killer does this by trying to kill everyone who lives in that street.


Friday the 13th
Unlike “Halloween” this slasher only marginally relates to our horror film. The basic plot for this film is; in 1957, at Camp Crystal Lake, a young boy named Jason Voorhees drowned, due to the counsellor’s lack of attention. Now, in 1979, Steve Christy finally reopens Camp Crystal Lake with the help of a few new counsellors. Ignoring the warnings from a local, the murders start once again as Jason prowls the area looking for someone to kill. Is it Revenge that the killer is looking for? Who will survive the nightmare and live to tell the story?
Again like “Halloween” “Friday the 13th” was an iconic film of its period, reopening the lost ties to the slasher industry which “Halloween” opened in 1978. I felt that this would be an important film to include because of its huge success and influence. This film follows “Jason” as he enacts his revenge on those who didn’t pay any attention to him.
There is one main aspect of this plot which compares to the narrative of my horror film. This is that Jason returns to the scene of where he supposedly drowned to enact his revenge. Similarly to this and “Halloween” the killer presented in my film will return to the same suburban street where he witnessed his parents murder to enact his revenge on the individuals currently living there.


Nightmare on Elm street.
I have chosen to include Nightmare on Elm Street in my case study because it was a very successful and influential horror film in the 1980s. Along with Halloween and Friday the 13th this film shaped the horror genre and attracted huge interest. Due to these reasons i felt it was important to include this film in my case study.
Also the killer Freddy Krueger relates to the killer in my horror film. The main relation between these two killers is the act of revenge on a quiet suburban street. In Nightmare on Elm Street Krueger enacts his revenge by haunting and killing teenagers of the parents who killed him in their dreams. Similarly in my horror film the killer revisits the street where his parents were killed, filled with a hatred he plans to enact his revenge on the simple inhabitants of “Lansbury Drive”
In the early 1980's, a psychopath named Freddy Krueger murdered several children with a glove with straight razor blades attached to the fingers. When a decision by a judge sets him free, Krueger is burned alive in the boiler room where he worked by an angry mob of the parents whose children he terrorized & murdered. Years after his death, the children whose parents were responsible for Krueger's death are experiencing terrifying nightmares. The ghost of Freddy Krueger is haunting their dreams, and when Nancy's best friend Tina dies in her sleep violently during a dream confrontation with Krueger, Nancy realizes she must find a way to stop the evil psychopath's reign of terror - or never sleep again.
A new 2010 remake of “Nightmare on Elm Street” directed by Samuel Bayer is set to be released in May 2010.


Texas Chainsaw
As with all of the films I have included in my case study i believe that “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was an influential movie in its era. You can identify its success by exploring the amount of re-makes of this classic.
Also the killings can relate to our horror film. The fact that this film plays on the role of the quiet “family house” being a setting for gruesome murders relates to the theme of our film. For example a number of killing s will take place in the home where our killer used to live, playing on the role of the quiet suburban home. However our film focuses more broadly on the whole road as a setting for horrific killings, whereas “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” only stays within the house and the surrounding area.
A group of five close friends are heading through the back roads of Texas en route to their grandfather's potentially vandalized grave. Along the way these teenagers pick up an apparently mentally unstable hitchhiker, who managers to cut himself and Franklin with a knife, before getting thrown out of the car. They then go to visit an old house where Sally and Franklins' Grandfather used to live; one of the characters upon hearing a generator enters the house in search for the owner. What none of them realize is that this house is the home of Leather face and his evil, demented family of cannibalistic psychopaths. One at a time, the teens are murdered by Leather face in horrifying ways.