SLASHER FILM RULES - Scream

Films have formulas and rules, but how well do films follow those formulas?  The most commonly known (and mocked) film rules are those of the slasher film (sometime generically called horror film rules) but are they true?

Scream, a post-modern look at the genre.  The makers no the rules.  The people in the film know the rules, but does that mean it follows them or not?

"What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It's insulting." ~ Sidney Prescott.

ROM COM RULES - Knocked Up

More than just being romantic and having comedy, a Rom Com follows a strict formula and a set of rules.  Can a film be a Slacker Comedy and a Rom Com?  Let's look at Knocked Up.

SLASHER FILM RULES - Alien

"Don't worry Parker, you'll get whatever's coming to you" ~ Lt Ripley.

The xenomorph from Alien (1979) isn't a guy with a knife/machette/power tool chasing scantily clad teens, but it is a single killer taking out a small number of victims in a very remote, confided space.  So, given that it vaguely fits the genre, does it follow the rules?

ROM COM RULES - Four Weddings & A Funeral

Another British Romantic Comedy this time around, Four Weddings and a Funeral.  Rom Com Rule follower or no?

SLASHER FILM RULES - Psycho

"We all go a little mad sometimes." ~ Norman Bates.

Psycho, Hitchcock's 1960 classic, with cinema's most famous shower scene, and referenced time and again by the makers of slasher films.  But does it, itself, follow the rules?

THE FILM RULES - Overview #2

The Films Rules blog is about looking at the rules that films follow Overview #1.

THE ROM COM FILM RULES

The  10 RomCom Rules are explored in the following film posts:

• Roman Holiday (1953)
• 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
• Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

THE SLASHER FILM RULES

The 10 Slasher Film Rules explored in the following film posts:

• Wolf Creek (2005)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

RANDOM RULES

A rant not relating to the above rules:

• 10 Ways Film Nudity can be more than Gratuitous Titillation.

~ DUG.

Other Overview Posts.

SLASHER FILM RULES - Friday the 13th Part 2

"Jason's a legend, Ginny.  A legend." ~ Paul Holt.

As the name suggests, Friday the 13th Part 2 is a sequel to the original Friday the 13th.  But does that make the 1981 film more or less likely to follow the slasher film rules?