Can you name a slasher movie.. - Hush (2016) Discussion

[–] Stovepipe99 8 years ago

Well, most slasher movies end with at least one person from the main group still living.

A big part of the cathartic experience of a horror movie is someone triumphing at the end. I watch a ton of horror, and a movie has to really, really good if its ending is totally bleak. For many viewers, having all of the protagonists (especially the most likable/central one) die at the end is not a good feeling. We want the thrills of being scared but not an ending that leaves you depressed. That's not to say that horror movies can't have sad endings, but I think that it makes for a different kind of viewing experience. I would similarly say that I don't ever really think that the protagonist of an action movie is going to die (unless the movie has a really heavy theme of redemption)--but that doesn't lessen the experience for me. Likewise I never really believe that Captain America would just be dead at the end of a movie.

Slasher movies in particular tend to follow a pattern of a group of people being terrorized by a killer/killers, and then one member of that group being strong enough to fight back in the final showdown.

I will post some movies below that are horror/slasher movies where the female protagonist is killed at the end. The thing that is hard about that is obviously I am spoiling any movie on the list because I'm telling you that the main character will be killed. If you don't like spoilers, please skip over the list

Horror/Slashers Where the Main Character is Killed by the Killer

(MAJOR SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY, FOR EVERY MOVIE ON THIS LIST!!!!!!!)

The Ugly (1997)--slasher/thriller
Candyman--okay, the killing is slightly indirect, but it shocked me at the time and I think it counts
Curtains (1983)-100% slasher flick
The Girl in the Photographs--slasher/thriller
The Victim--sort of a slasher/thriller

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[–] Carandiro 8 years ago

Thank you for your response.
I guess you're right. Most of the audience want some relief at the end of the movie, like a kind of reward for enduring 90 mins of thrill and horror. But especially those slashers with a female lead are so easy to predict, what makes it very dull to watch them. I watched that movie knowing what will happen in the end by only looking at the poster..still watched it and was of course disappointed in the end for being right.. I'm waiting for an author to break that habit. Thanks for your suggestions.

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[–] smokzey 8 years ago

OP, this is not a slasher movie - it is an invasion type horror film, slasher film's younger cousin (eg Ils/The Strangers/Panic Room/You're Next)
Ingredients: Person/People at a house or isolated location? Check. Wacko(s) (human;not unead/evil) from outside trying to "get inside" and kill the ones inside? Check. Survival horror element? (Characters are aware of the danger outside and think of ways to get out?) Yup.
Concerning your question, it would spoil the films.. Ils/The Strangers doesn't have a "happy ending"

What differentiates the "slasher film" from these I think is the fact majority of the film the protagonist is unaware of the "ticking bomb under the table", though the audience is - and one by one the protagonist's friends/etc. get killed. Concerning whether the protagonist should survive or die by the end I think it's much harder to create a good satisfying "happy-ish" ending, than simply kill them off for sheer "shock value". Hush made me feel she could die at any time, even when the police sirens were coming in from afar - now that is great writing! I have the utmost respect for the writer for not killing off the cat, but creating that dread/fear anyway

If you think about it, the protagonist has lost everything, killing the protagonist too provides no window of hope and leaves a bitter taste - it's very satisfying to see when someone much weaker is able to survive the bear, not by luck but by wit and will - it is karma - no matter your beliefs - evil is weaker than good - like a cockroach, can be squashed easily - it is fear that gives it power, without it, we can see it for what it is.

What's the point of watching a mouse being chased around by the cat and see it eaten alive? Or a rat slowly eating someone alive? Only a masochist would enjoy something like this. Not judging here - the truth is the amount of people (audience) who would enjoy and rewatch a film where the mouse wins far outweighs the ones that seek out the "disturbing"/"evil is cool" shiet - which is great, otherwise you can start marking your calendar for the end of times. The exception to this is if the protagonist is guilty - if their actions dug them their grave (eg Eden Lake), then by law of karma, they had it coming.

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[–] Stovepipe99 8 years ago

But are there even many movies that you'd consider slashers that don't have a female lead?

I think that another element to all of this is that horror movies (and especially slashers) have kind of a problematic history in terms of how they use (or misuse) their female victims. Having at least one woman in the movie triumph takes some of the sting out of that dynamic. It's how an audience can justify what comes before--you watch women being hacked apart for 90 minutes, but it's okay because in the end, a woman takes him out.

One thing that I liked about Hush was that while it was incredibly violent and disturbing in parts, it never really felt exploitative to me. For example, we don't see the killer torture/torment the neighbor, Sarah. We do see her violently killed, but the whole framing of her killing seemed like it was really bringing home the whole idea of stabbing killings being directly tied to sexual frustration--as Maddie refuses to look over at him his stabs get faster as he stares at her through the window, even after Sarah is clearly dead. We never saw the lead character in the shower. The movie didn't introduce unnecessary elements of sexual violence (aside from those implied in the killer's actions).

Like I said in my first post, I like horror/thriller movies mainly for their cathartic effect. I get to encounter, vicariously, something that I find scary. Many slashers play on very real fears that people--and especially women--have about the world. But do I actually want to believe that someone is going to murder me? Hell no. Having the end of the movie contain an element of triumph or survival allows an emotional "exit" to the anxieties of the movie. The bad guy is dead. He isn't waiting for me in the parking garage.

Movies that end with a dead protagonist don't give you that release/exit. It would be like a romantic comedy where at the end the two leads don't get together. Is it the artist's prerogative to break with that convention? Absolutely. The first two movies that I listed in my spoiler list actually buck convention really well. The romantic comedy (SPOILERS!!!) Before We Go bucks that genre's convention of having the leads end up together. If done well, it can be really thought provoking.

I was like 99% sure, going into Hush that the lead character was going to survive and kill the bad guy. But it didn't bother me. I feel like you can predict the ending of most movies--it's how you get to that ending that makes or breaks most films. And that gorgeous slo-mo shot of the glass shattering behind Maddie as the killer lowers himself through the window into the bathtub? That was some style right there.

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[–] Stovepipe99 8 years ago

EDIT: I do just want to add that I agree with you that certain kinds of predictability can make a movie less fun.

While I obviously liked Hush, it was obvious from the first ten minutes that the insanely loud fire alarm thing was going to be used in the final showdown. And yet there were like two or three different shots that kept showing the alarm sitting there on the counter. There was also a slightly lingering shot of her putting the corkscrew down on the table after she opens the wine bottle. It's like "We get it!!".

That's the type of predictability that I don't care for in a movie.

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[–] Stoop_Kid 8 years ago

Those things were quite obvious but we didn't know exactly who'd end up with the corkscrew: Maddie or the baddie lol. The one thing that because quite obvious is that Maddie would grab the corkscrew upon touching it. I'd have preferred she stabbed him upon her final breath. Both dead. Would've made for a more guy-wrenching ending in my opinion.

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[–] Stovepipe99 8 years ago

If Maddie has died at the end I think that the movie would have been sadder, but I don't know that it would have been better. If you are going to kill off your protagonist, you'd better have a really good emotional payoff, because otherwise it can come off as just being "edgy" for the sake of it and not because it thematically fits the story.

The movie deals a lot with the idea of independence and control. Maddie has to work harder for her independence because of her hearing/speech loss. The movie several times brings up the idea of creating an ending. In contrast, the killer seeks out control and power by hurting others. For him, control is about superiority and domination, even if it means "cheating" (ie by not fighting the neighbor fair and square).

Like I said above, movies where the protagonist survives are cathartic. They provide an emotional release. Movies that kill off their leads feel much heavier, like someone saying "And the world is a horrible place. The end.". Hush would have been a very different movie if Maddie didn't survive, and frankly I personally would have found it to be an unsatisfactory conclusion.

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[–] KingCobra686 7 years ago

Any time a movie shows extended footage of something random, it most likely will become important later on in the movie. There are so many movies that can be predicted if you pay attention to scenes like this that seem random.

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[–] chozenn1 8 years ago

Probably not "slasher" movies but try Wolf Creek or Funny Games.

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[–] statuskuo 8 years ago

I think it spans two movies, but "Friday The 13th 1 & 2." Adrienne King

You could argue Janet Leigh in "Psycho" depending on if you consider Norman Bates a "slasher"

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[–] fire-baby 8 years ago

not really a slasher but "pitch black"'s female protagonist died.....

and a rom-com where they didn't end up together, "my best friend's wedding", although i think that was the whole point of the movie, lol....

in "bring it on" they didn't win the championship, the protagonist survives in "the mist", but he mercy kills everyone else then 20 seconds later realizes he didn't have to, the threat was over, and i'm pretty sure everyone dies in one of the "final destination" movies....

i kinda like when movies go against the formula, but again it has to be right for the film... is she died in this it would've sucked, not because she died but because it wouldn't seem right...
a lot of protagonist deaths in movies, however sad, still have to feel right within the context of the movie (e.g. "gladiator" or "cruel intentions")....

It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality...

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[–] jamesdean-13 8 years ago

Usually in the prequel everyone dies ?

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[–] prplayer 8 years ago

The Descent, although you don't see the actual killing and it's not technically a slasher

ok never mind

so many movies, so little time

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