Genre Mood Board- Dystopian and Stalker/Slasher Hybrid

Genre Film Poster Analysis

This is my film poster analysis for the dystopian film genre. I chose to analyse the "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" poster because it has been one of the most popular films of it's type in the recent years and feel that we could use some of the techniques seen in this poster and adapt them to fit our own. 

History and Background of Genre

Stalker/Slasher

Slasher/slasher is a sub-genre of Horror films but mainly due to the involvement of psychopathic killers who stalks and plans murders that are usually random or many within a day etc. The psychopathic killer usually has a sort of disguise like a mask to remain anonymous to the public.

The slasher film as a genre can be connected to a real-life event in the 1957 a man named Ed Gein was known to be a psychopathic killer, who was obsessed with dead human bodies which started to become an extreme case collecting them. This real-life event of Gein inspired a book called Psycho by Robert Bloch in which lead killer movies to be created in the 60's like Hush, hush sweet Charlotte,  What ever happened to baby Jane, Maniac, Satans Bed and Strait Jacket alongside Psycho itself. There are also recent movies within the 2000 till now like Cherry Falls (2000), Cry Wolf (2005) and the well known final destination.

Horror is the main genre of this whole slasher/stalker kind of films so we have to ensure to also have knowledge on this genre as a whole too. Horror's aim is to frighten the audience and induce the whole feeling of terror and horror by creating an eerie and frightening atmosphere throughout the whole film.

Dystopian future

Dystopia is a community or a society that is undesirable and is the opposite of utopia. Dystopian future genres concept produces these undesirable disrupted futures such as dehumanisation, corrupted governments, environmental disaster etc.  The idea of dystopia was cacotopia before hand, which is the word for the imagined seating of the worst government.

One of the earliest dystopian films is Blade Runner from 1982, and American neo-noir dystopian science fiction film based in Los Angeles in November 2019. It is about humans being genetically engineered replicants who are indistinguishable from adult humans created by a mega corporation.

They were made essentially for labor and entertainment purposes and are illegal on earth, if they make it to earth they are to be killed. A Blade runner, a hunter of replicants seek these replicants who wish for their lifespan to be extended.

Films like this with a futuristic disrupted society has helped influence films now like The Purge, The Hunger Games, In Time and Divergent.

Genre Research - Institutional Context

Top rated slasher feature films (IMDb)

-Se7en (Drama, Mystery, Thriller) [1995] - 8.7/10

-The Silence of Lambs (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [1991] - 8.6/10

-Psycho (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) [1991] - 8.6/10

-The Shining (Horror) [1980] - 8.5/10

-Halloween (Horror) [1978] - 7.9/10

-Deep Red (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) [1975] - 7.7/10

-Grindhouse (Action, Horror, Thriller) [2007] - 7.7/10

-Santa Sangre (Drama, Horror) [1989] - 7.7/10

-Man Bites Dog (Comedy, Crime, Drama) [1992] - 7.6/10

-American Psycho (Crime, Drama) [2000] - 7.6/10

Top-Grossing slasher feature films (IMDb)

Hannibal (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [2001] - $165,091,464

Scary Movie (Comedy) [2000] - $157,019,771

The Silence of the Lambs (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [1991] - $130,742,922

Scream (Crime, Horror, Mystery) [1996] - $103,001,286

Scream 2 (Crime, Horror, Mystery) [1997] - $101,334,374

Se7en (Drama, Mystery, Thriller) [1995] - $100,125,643

Red Dragon (Crime, Thriller) [2002] - $92,930,005

Scream 3 (Horror, Mystery) [2000] - $89,138,076

Freddy vs. Jason (Horror) [2003] - $82,163,317

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Horror) [2003] - $80,148,261

Film Productions and Distributions for some 'Slasher' and 'Dystopian Future' feature films

The Purge (Dystopian Future)

Film Production Companies

- Blumhouse Productions

- Platinum Dunes

- Media Rights Capital

Distributed by:

- Universal


The Silence of Lambs (Slasher)

Distributed by:

- Orion Pictures


Divergent (Dystopian Future)

Film Production Companies

- Red Wagon Entertainment

- Summit Entertainment

Distributed by:

- Lionsgrate


Scream [series] (Slasher)

Film Production Company

- Woods Entertainment

Distributed by:

- Dimension Films

- Konrad Pictures

- Outerbanks Entertainment


Hannibal (Slasher)

Film Production Company

- Scott Free Productions

Distributed by:

- Universal Pictures

From the research of some of the films listed, it has come down to a conclusion that Universal Pictures seem to be one of the top distributors for slasher-feature films as well as dystopian future feature-films. It's one of the main and most known film manufacturing companies in the film and media industry. Universal Pictures works with the parent company known as NBC Universal and is also known as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. The company offers range of production services such as set lighting, grip to proper and special effects. For post-production media services, it also has on offer a variety of services such as sound editorial & design to picture editorial. Universal Pictures is mainly known for its creating and distributing of theatrical and non-theatrical entertainment on film. The Purge: Anarchy has achieved a total gross of $71,562,550 and is ranked number 108 overall the movies produced by Universal Pictures. The company is also in a partnership with Blumhouse Productions, Focus Features, Illumination Entertainment, Laika, Legendary and Working Title.

Blumhouse Productions is an company in partner with Universal Pictures. It's an multi-media American Film Production Company that's founded and run by Jason Blum. The film production company produces low-budget genre films such as Paranormal Activity and Inisidious. The majority of the films Bluehouse Productions produces seem to mainly be horror, thriller and slasher films such as The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy. The film production company is known for it's debut movie 'Paranormal Activity' where the budget is estimated to be about $15,000 and grossed at $107,918,810 in 2010. The film production has more of a known-title within the horror-genre films since for Halloween 2012, they did an event called 'Blumhouse of Horror' which is an innovative haunted house experience located in Downtown Los Angeles; an escape game experience as a sort of marketing for the next upcoming film 'The Purge: Breakout'.

Horror Repertoire of Elements

Repertoire of elements accc from Ced-1014

Trailer Mood Board

This is a mood board showing iconography relevant to our trailer.

Influential Genre Examples

These are the two most influential films I feel are in the stalker/slasher and dystopian genres.