Nowell’s
book Blood Money (2011) is primarily concerned with a point on audience: that slasher
movies were aimed as much at female as at male audiences. He also makes an
incredibly useful analysis of what he considers the universal components of the
early slasher
narratives, listed below, also noting that films were given some
differentiation + novelty alongside their redundancy by playing around with the
ordering of these. Once more, Todorov’s notions influenced him.
‘Part One: Setup
1.Trigger: Events propel a human
(the killer) upon a homicidal trajectory.
2.Threat: The killer targets a
group of hedonistic youths for killing.
Part
Two: Disruption
3. Leisure: Youths interact
recreationally in an insular quotidian location.
4. Stalking: A shadowy killer
tracks youths in that location.
5. Murders: The shadowy killer
kills some of the youths.
Part
Three: Resolution
6. Confrontation: The remaining
character(s) challenges the killer.
7. Neutralization: The immediate
threat posed by the killer is eliminated.’
(p.21)