Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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giallo-influenced slasher films of the late 1970s-early 1980s do. The prevailing firstperson
exploitations of sex and violence can be seen, with notable exceptions such as
Candyman (1992, dir. Rose), Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994; dir. Craven) and
The People Under the Stairs (1991; dir. Craven) in the decreasing numbers of slasher
films released in the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. The later films from the initial The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, such as Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III
(1990; dir. Burr) and The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also titled The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation) (1994; dir. Henkel), as well as
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995; dir. Chappelle) all display useful
examples of this voyeuristic tendency.
In the mid-1990s, the slasher sub-genre experienced resurgence in popularity
due to Wes Craven’s successful film Scream (1996), where the killer is apparently
someone obsessed with slasher films. In order for the characters to try to prepare for
attack or defend themselves, a familiarity with generic standards and tendencies is
necessary. Using this plot, Craven is able to take the aesthetic elements commonly
used in horror and make them self referential, causing it to be categorised as
postmodern by critics. In her discussion of the significance of the home video
market to horror, Linda Badley says, “‘Horror 101’ was inspired primarily by the
‘master classes’ already embedded within the self-reflexive textures of the genre and
particularly the course’s capstone text, Scream, in which media, horror video in
particular, played the leading roles.” (2010; 55) Davinia Thornley writes specifically
of Scream’s self-reflexiveness, saying, “The Scream series is perhaps the
granddaddy of contemporary reflexive horror, leading the way for films such as The
Blair Witch Project and forcing the audience to question their own pleasures and
assumptions even as they watch.” (2006; 140) Valerie Wee claims that the Scream