TK: Research into Horror/Thriller - Sources 1 & 3

Reading Source 1 -

1 - Traditionally in horror, female characters were represented as the victims, hunted down by the stalking killer, until they were saved by the conventionally masculine male hero. However in the 1970s, various political and social movements prompted directors and writers to think differently about this gender bias. The so called 'New women of horror' were repositioned from being victims, to becoming powerful and strong characters in their own rights, not just defending themselves capably from the evil of the film, but actively seeking it out and destroying it.

Marilyn Burns starring as Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974)

2 - The Stalk and Slash subgenre can easily be summarised as something very formulaic and derivative. Almost always they are American produced and based productions, centering around a familiar plotline - a group of mixed gender teenagers travel somewhere remote, indulging in stereotypical teenage behaviour (Drinking, drugs, and sex) before being murdered one by one by an unknown killer, who is often masked. In the film's final act, only one member of the group remains, which leads to a confrontation with the killer, in which they are forced to end them, leading to the reveal of the killer's identity.

The masked, machete wielding killer Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980)

3 - These films were commonly popular with audiences of young men and teenage boys, which stemmed from two key aspects of the genre - attractive female characters (even female nudity in some) and the graphic scenes of violence. So much was the demand for films like this, that directors became increasingly creative with both the killers featured as the threat, and the manners in which hoards of teenagers were killed off. 

4 - It is argued by some that these films merely exist for visceral entertainment, created to appeal to a specific demographic of thrill-seekers and nothing more. However the opposite is also argued; on some level these films are responsible for making icons of their main villains, namely Jason Voorhees of the Friday the 13th series, and Freddie Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984). These are not only ingrained into pop culture, but also helped solidify many of these films as continual franchises, even spanning into the present day decades after the original's release. 

Freddie Krueger portrayed by actor Robert Englund

In terms of plot, it can also be seen that these are moral tales, as the killer is often punishing the group that is trespassing on their territory, or avenging a wrong that they have committed. This in itself can be linked to traditional American values of puritanism, so at the core of these films, the murderer is simply an extreme form of punishment, used against the teenagers for committing what are represented as immoral actions. 

5 - The Final Girl is a term coined by Carol J. Clover in her essay "Her Body, Himself" published in 1987, used to describe the common trope of slasher films, where there is a sole female survivor of the killings. She stated that this character is often marked out as different from the rest of the teenage cast, displaying more intelligence and quick-thinking, but also alluding to an unwillingness to take part in the same raunchy, 'immoral' activities like her friends. She is also often written in such a way that she points out how these actions are lacking in morals, and creates a binary opposition between what is considered positive and negative in the film, in a way attempting to justify the killer's actions. 

Sidney Prescott, The Final Girl of Scream (Craven, 1996)

Whilst she is marked as powerless at first for not partaking in the same activities as her friends, the final girl emerges as one of the few who are able to overcome the threat. The balance is tipped in her favour, as her friends are killed off, she turns from powerless, into powerful. This collates into the final act, in which The Final Girl kills the killer, often prompting the narrative to return to a state of equilibrium. 

In most aspects, it is seen that the shift from powerless/powerful represents a shift in feminine/masculine, encapsulated in the final act of killing the villain using phallic object, I.E. a machete, chainsaw, or shotgun, something suitably violent. The Final Girl is symbolically surrounded with masculine connotations from the film's outset, which compounds in the way in which the killer meets his final end - often with a dismemberment or decapitation, seen as a symbolic 'castration', and simultaneously a freeing from The Final Girl's perceived sexual repression thus far. Consequently, she becomes a symbol of both masculinity and femininity, as an adult living on her own terms.

Reading Source 3 - 

1- Research into the psychology of fear at the Open University discovered that human's tend to have a fear of things that are 'Near-human'. This phenomenon is referred to as 'Uncanny valley'.

The Uncanny Valley was discovered when researching robots, and whether giving them human like features would make them more accepted into the homes of humans, or more accepted by people who worked with them. Initially, people seemed to be more receptive to them. However, if the effect was taken too far, people became repulsed, and instead of being a form of reassurance, it became one of something sinister.

A diagram/graph outlining the emotional response to the anthropomorphism of an object

The effect explains why dolls, puppets and masks are such icons of horror, as we are naturally wired for them to instil fear in us. And so too, are zombies. The way a zombie's face reflects a human one almost - but not quite - is what makes them so disturbing and unsettling to people. The process has to do with the way the brain reads faces, and how even something small that is out of place can lead to a disruption of the visual processing, leaving a sense of unease and fear.

Often the case is that people want to lake a near-human face, however the processing mechanisms of the brain tell them something is wrong.

2 -

• The Zombie apocalypse scenario at its core is appealing for one reason - it is survivable. Whereas a freak storm or stray asteroid will wipe humanity out without mercy, the Zombie apocalypse contrastingly is represented as something that anyone can survive by using their instincts and mind. 

The Walking Dead is an extremely successful take on the subgenre in TV, with millions of concurrent viewers

• Other apocalypse scenarios don't offer the same imaginative prospects, as they are far more bleak views of the future, almost selective in the idea that one has to be special, or chosen to survive them. With a Zombie scenario, anyone can get through it - or at least that's how it's represented. 
• The subgenre brings out the fantasy-infused part of the mind, allowing people to insert themselves into the narrative of an apocalypse, disregarding their reality. It appeals to the escapist portion of the brain. 
• This doesn't take into account any long term issues raised by a Zombie Apocalypse, seemingly only the base elements are what make it attractive as an escapist power fantasy. 
•  The violence of the event is also something appealing, to the primal part of the human mind. A key point is that "killing zombies is like killing people without the guilt". This is something that is heavily emphasised in mass media, most notably in video games such as the Call of Duty franchise in which the player can team up with friends and fire-fight zombies.

3 -

• Zombies are often a series embedded in gore and blood, something viscerally appealing to a lot of audiences in the same way slasher films are appealing. 
• Zombies are something that can be played with in a lot of different ways. They can be skewed to anyone's personal preferences or fantasies. 
• Often, narratives of the Zombie subgenre centre around placing a cast of everyday characters into an apocalyptic situation, and watching how they work together, co-operate - or don't. This is most prevalent in Zombie franchises such as The Walking Dead 
• These narratives too are often written in a way that connects us emotionally with the human characters. We are positioned with them against the zombies, and are rooting for them to survive.