4. The Feminist Critique Of Basically Every Slasher Film
Perhaps not every slasher film, but a good proportion more than you think have some rather interesting things to say not only about the people who watch this particular sub-set of horror films, but the wider culture in which they exist. Wes Craven's Scream was the first big hit to draw attention to the tricks and tropes of the slasher genre in a very self-aware way, but it didn't exactly interrogate or engage with them in any sort of meaningful way. You might very well be aware of the Final Girl idea, but if not, a quick refresher: ever notice how a large proportion of the lone survivors in slasher films are young women? Not only that, but they're almost certainly the young female character who didn't engage in any bad stuff like pre-marital sex, underage drinking or imbibing of other illegal substances before the masked maniac started stabbing people. All of which serves to give the majority of slasher films an oddly puritanical feel for a genre that delights in transgressive gore and nudity, offering them up whilst suggesting that maybe enjoying such things is a sin punishable by death - and the only way to survive is being as pure as the Virgin Mary. Think about that on your next rewatch of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/