The antagonists place a huge tole within horror films; their responsibility: to be scaring the audience. In order to do this, these Killers tend to conform to a set of codes and conventions:
- mentally deranged and/or physically deformed.
- probably traumatised and/or injured at an early age; this incident sometimes has a link with the killer's weapon of choice.
- identity is often (but not always) concealed/unknown
(by a mask or creative lighting and camera work).
- often mute.
- superhuman abilities that allow them to withstand injuries inflicted by their victims.
- usually very big/strong.
- it's always implied that the killer is male with extremely masculine qualities.
- prefer handheld weapons.
- killer remains constant throughout most franchises.
Freddy Krueger
Face: Kreuger's face is evidently severely disfigured due to burns; effectively masking him. This therefore fits the slasher conventions of being mentally deranged/physically deformed and concealing the killer's true identity with a mask/lighting/camera work.
Costume: Krueger also wears a hat which to some extent helps to conceal his identity further. The rest of his attire is black, symbolising his dark intentions, and red, useful for disguising blood. His striped jumper is tattered and torn, indicating that Krueger is unclean and partakes in violent/rough physical activity often - thus fitting with his character traits.
Weapon: Krueger's weapon of choice is his bladed glove; consisting of a five parts: the glove, the back-plate, the fingers, the fingertips, and the four blades. This weapon was fashioned by Krueger himself in his Boiler Room, out of sheet metal, pipes, fishing knives, rivets, and an old leather work glove. This fits the convention of a slasher that the weapon of choice is handheld and requires close, direct contact.
Leatherface
Face: The aptly named Leatherface conceals his identity via a mask made from human skin (that of his victims). This gives us an insight in to the type of person Leatherface truly is: A murderer and cannibal from an inbred family. Aside from their cannibalistic tendencies, his family also use the skin and bones of the victims to upholster furniture e.g. a leather sofa.
The reason why Leatherface wears masks is to cover a severe facial deformity that ate away most of his nose; leaving him subject to being tormented by others. He originally covered the lower portion of his face with animal hides, but later switched to fully hiding his face with the skin of his victims when he began murdering.
This therefore conforms to numerous conventions of the slasher genre: concealed identity, physical deformity, mental derangement, and a traumatic childhood.
The reason why Leatherface wears masks is to cover a severe facial deformity that ate away most of his nose; leaving him subject to being tormented by others. He originally covered the lower portion of his face with animal hides, but later switched to fully hiding his face with the skin of his victims when he began murdering.
This therefore conforms to numerous conventions of the slasher genre: concealed identity, physical deformity, mental derangement, and a traumatic childhood.
Costume: Leatherface's costume alters depending on who his family needs him to be. He appears as a grandmother, a pretty lady, and a killer within the first film. He generally is seen wearing a black suit and tie, with a white shirt; this outfit is disgruntled and messy - a common factor amongst the clothes of slasher killers - showing that Leatherface usually partakes in a lot of vigorous physical activity/doesn't take care of himself.
Weapon: A chainsaw is the chosen weapon of Leatherface (hence the title Texas Chainsaw Massacre). This choice lends itself to the horror genre, working alongside many conventions within the slasher sub-genre, and although the chainsaw itself doesn’t play the part of most murders throughout the film (most of the victims get shot, stabbed and impaled), the audience can become easily warned of the oncoming threat of the killer due to its loud, quintessential sound, and the violent connotations surrounded by the handheld weapon. Additionally, the fact that the weapon is handheld supports codes and conventions of slasher horror as the weapon choices of slasher villains usually permit close contact between the killer and the victim.
Face: Jason Voorhees is known to have had severe facial deformities since birth (we see this when he arises from the lake in which he drowned in the original Friday the 13th). He wears a hockey mask in order to cover this and to generally conceal his identity when he murders his victims. This therefore meets the conventions of childhood trauma and deformity as well as the aforementioned concealed identity.
Costume: Voorhees, alike the other slasher antagonists, is seen in tattered and dishevelled clothing. This displays the physical violence Voorhees partakes in and an evident lack of self care. Additionally, Voorhees is seen to have clothes covering all of his skin, fully concealing his identity, all of which are suitable for strenuous activities and dark enough to camouflage into the background at night when slasher murders typically take place.
Weapon: Voorhees' weapon of choice is a machete. This fits with the generic idea of a slasher weapon, due to the fact it is: a handheld weapon permitting close contact between the killer and their victim; a blade ensuring the death will be gory - a convention within the slasher sub-genre. The close up killing also allows us to witness Vorhees' superhuman ability as he's able to 'appear' by his victims out of nowhere, displaying his unstoppable nature and need to kill.
Michael Myers
Face: Michael Myers' mask is different within every film but bares the same characteristics: white, emotionless, latex. The original mask was acquired among a variety of items stolen from Nichol's Hardware Store after escaping the sanatorium in the first film.
Costume: Myers wears a boiler suit throughout the film, the attire he would've had to have worn within the sanatorium. This allows us to understand that Myers is in fact mentally deranged, if this hadn't already been made clear enough through the dialect and action within the film. The fact that the boiler suit is left on also indicates that Myers has no time to alter his appearance before doing what he feels the need to: kill.
Weapon: Myers' signature weapon is a kitchen knife, first used in the original Halloween when he commits his first murder as a child - a knife being the most accessible weapon at the time. Alike the other antagonists mentioned, a handheld bladed weapon is used to commit the murders to enable close contact killing and a gory death.
Chucky
Face: Charles Lee Ray (aka The Lakeshore Strangler/Chucky) is a serial killer that inhabits a fictional "Good Guy" doll in the film Child's Play - clearly displaying elements of supernatural ability. Chucky's vessel, being a doll, is an exception to the general convention that slasher films have human killers. In his human form, Ray is a white man, with shoulder-length auburn hair and blue eyes; meaning his appearance is similar to that of the "Good Guy" doll. The doll appears to be a normal doll for the first three films, however he appears in the fourth film (Bride of Chucky) with his famous scars and stitches, as well as a bloody eye, as a result of being chopped up at the end of the third movie. In the sixth film (Curse of Chucky), he wears a rubber mask over his face to conceal his afflictions and pass himself off as a normal toy - just as the other antagonists do. However, the mask begins to peel and is removed to reveal the scars and stitches from the previous two films.
Costume: Chucky is in the same attire as all of the other "Good Guy" dolls; wearing a multi-coloured striped long sleeve T-shirt, with mid/dark blue denim dungarees that have the "Good Guys" logo on them, and red trainers. By not changing Chucky's outfit, the doll is able to appear unsuspicious to anyone unaware of his true nature, as it looks just like all of the other dolls from the brand.
Weapon: Following the convention of handheld weapons - blades in particular - Chucky wields a knife and uses it to bring his victims to a bloody death, in the hopes of transferring his soul from the doll to a human body.
Face: Charles Lee Ray (aka The Lakeshore Strangler/Chucky) is a serial killer that inhabits a fictional "Good Guy" doll in the film Child's Play - clearly displaying elements of supernatural ability. Chucky's vessel, being a doll, is an exception to the general convention that slasher films have human killers. In his human form, Ray is a white man, with shoulder-length auburn hair and blue eyes; meaning his appearance is similar to that of the "Good Guy" doll. The doll appears to be a normal doll for the first three films, however he appears in the fourth film (Bride of Chucky) with his famous scars and stitches, as well as a bloody eye, as a result of being chopped up at the end of the third movie. In the sixth film (Curse of Chucky), he wears a rubber mask over his face to conceal his afflictions and pass himself off as a normal toy - just as the other antagonists do. However, the mask begins to peel and is removed to reveal the scars and stitches from the previous two films.
Costume: Chucky is in the same attire as all of the other "Good Guy" dolls; wearing a multi-coloured striped long sleeve T-shirt, with mid/dark blue denim dungarees that have the "Good Guys" logo on them, and red trainers. By not changing Chucky's outfit, the doll is able to appear unsuspicious to anyone unaware of his true nature, as it looks just like all of the other dolls from the brand.
Weapon: Following the convention of handheld weapons - blades in particular - Chucky wields a knife and uses it to bring his victims to a bloody death, in the hopes of transferring his soul from the doll to a human body.
- R
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