Sub Genre Research
A sub genre dictates what specific type of film the audience is watching, when looking at a film of a certain genre.
There are four main categories of Horror film: 'Psychological', 'Killer', 'Monster'and 'Paranormal'. Despite this there are still lots of films that are popular that are in the sub genres shown in the lists below.
Our film falls into the subgenres of gory and disturbing horror, and cannibalism.
Changing Representation Of Cannibals In The Media
Early depictions of cannibalism were somewhat mythical, with cannibals being shown as old brutish characters, with the concept often being that by eating the young, youth could be regained.
In more recent times, cannibalism as a theme has become one of many horror and shock tropes in Hollywood level films, and has become "westernized" losing its tribal connotations. Cannibals now are depicted as smart yet psychotic characters lacking empathy, in the same way as many psychopathic villains common in crime dramas.
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As time went on, cannibalism became more of a exotic concept, often associated with satanic rituals or tribal behaviour. Cannibals were depicted as savage tribespeople, with films often stereotyping white people as victims of black "jungle" people. Cannibalism was often only seen in cult B movies.
In contemporary and current media, cannibals are still shown in the same way as calculated psychopaths, however it is now much more stylelized and graphic, with a strange normality in the behaviour of the cannibal character.
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Our film will be borrowing from the more modern depiction of cannibals as smart stylish cold killers and its associated themes of psychopathy, cooking and more personal violence.