Research

Slasher Horror intros

 I'm going to analyze intro scenes that correlate with scene I might do but mainly to understand the concepts and media tool used to execute an intro scene.

Intro scene of SCREAM 6 (2023)

The scene starts with a tense nighttime shot, but in a normal setting, the bar. This first part of the scene make it feel like a regular night, a first date.  The victim in this scene, the woman is waiting to check her phone and texting the man when he sends her text that he's lost.

 The man asked to call her to help direct him to where they are meeting.  She starts helping by going outside and where he says he is to guide her towards him. The danger starts with just a phone call, not a knife. the killer uses directions, distance and voice to control the victim. The victim chooses to move in the danger. This shows various ways the killer can attack.

Shift in scenery

The setting shift from a public street to a dark alley. Still keeping the dark setting, it becomes more suspenseful with her trying to find a man and go searching. The camera shots may hint that someone might be following her or watching her. It also helps the audience see the setting and how scary it is for both of them watching and the character in the scene. This makes the audience feel tensions rising through visuals and audio, by having barely any dialogue.

The Kill

she then proceeds to navigate more into the dark alley when her date supposedly is in danger. It then reveals the killer was the person on the phone. she then gets jump scared by children running. Then killer approaches her by jump scarring her when she looks back at the alley and proceeding to stab her at the same time. she then is stabbing multiple time with a gory blood coming from the mouth. the killer is masked with black attire as his costume. he then is later revealed by taking everything off and leaving the scene. this unusual for a slasher horror for the killer to revel himself. it takes away the Ghostface rule that every scream movie does by unrevealing himself. 

Facial expression

The victims face expression throughout the scene slowly changed from happy to scare. at the beginning she was happy for a date, but when she staring going where her date was lost, which was the alley, her facial expression changed to more of a scared look. This helps guide the audience in what she's feeling at that particular time. Then when she's gets more into the alley her face gets more scared and when she's gets more into the alley here face expression turns all the way into fear. this helps the audience see how she's feeling and tells the audience that she's not feeling comfortable and genially scared.

 

This is also paired with the commentary of the intro as well. As her face changes the man on the phone is saying that someone creepy is looking at him. This is her face in the second picture of her worried for the man. Then later it revealed the person she was talking to is someone else and scared who's she's been talking to this entire time.

this intro plays with the typical slasher horror where the killer reveals himself in the begining making us the viewers question what's really happening and is he the actual killer of this film.

Intro Scene of HELL OF A SUMMER (2025)

This intro is in a dark setting and two couples outside maybe camping with two lawn chairs and the man playing his guitar, toning it. This intro is all in dark setting with no light anywhere except their bonfire they are sitting in front of.

The couple are happy enjoying and joking between each other and then after she leaves to get more beers, leaving the man alone in the dark night in the woods.

It is then the man alone playing the guitar starring out towards the lake in front of him. The camera angles changes to behind him and the camera shaking like someone breathing, making it seem like there's someone behind him watching him.

she's at a fridge grabs the beers and the fridge closes of a pic of them together indicating that they are together. a magnet letter of x start falling down. That's probably added to indicate an execution or to foreshadow one's death.

she then is returning with no light and just the darkness of the woods to make it scarier. It then has a shot of the two chairs with no one sitting on it. This increases suspense because he's no longer where he was left. She then gets close and she stop and sees he's been killed with his own guitar because its shatter and inside him. This brings in the killer of movie.

she then runs up out of the woods to her car that their cabin is because the shot shows a building like a cabin in the back. she's putting the keys in the ignition and then it cuts to her view of the woods and back to her just staring intently in front.

it's her just starring for a couple of seconds and then a hand appears behind her seat in the darkness. her head start to go down, and a knife is behind the front seat head rest indicating she's been killed from her head.

The killer

The knife starts to come out slowly, and the killer is shown with a mask on sitting in the back seats. The killer than takes the knife out and hold it. This shows the viewers who the killer of the film will be and how he attacks.

This intro scene is the typical slasher horror opening with victims being killer and introducing the killer. this intro help the audience see who the killer is. 

Intro scene reflection

After reviewing and analyzing how each intro is shot, I know what elements and what is used for my intro. This also shows me two different ways I can go about doing my intro, with revealing or not revealing the killer.