Components of the Slasher Film
Weapons
Second perhaps only to the killers, the types of weapons used in these films are one of the most recognizable and distinguishable characteristics of the slasher genre. Unlike the American western or most thrillers, the uses of guns are limited, replaced by knives, chainsaws, hammers, arrows, axes, pitchforks etc. After all, "the slasher film was not named erroneously."8Adam Rockoff, Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986 (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2001), 7. When future victims actually find guns for potential use (lest we forget, this is America), they usually fail to fire. Most presumably lifesaving tools, from "telephones, fire alarms, elevators, doorbells, and car engines" ultimately fail, amounting to what Clover called an "emotional terrain of the slasher film [being] pretechnological."9Carol Clover, Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), 31.
Clover also noted the phallic symbolism involved in the slasher weapons. These handheld weapons allow the killer to not only achieve the element of surprise but also allow them to confront their victims at an extremely close distance, permitting pleasurable penetration of the victim's body impossible with a firearm.
Gallery
Despite the diversity of arms, do you agree with Clover that the weapons in slasher films are remarkably similar?
