We’re doing this because you were home: an analysis of elements of the slasher formula in The Strangers (2008)

This article verifies how Bryan Bertino’s 2008 film The Strangers articulates the slasher formula (CLOVER, 2015; DIKA, 1985) in order to tell a horror story that is tune with cultural context from first decade of 2000s United States. Drawing analyses impact terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, we point out evolutions convention, including dissidence films made be deeply self-referential and campy. We also demonstrate recognizable structure subverted play viewer expectations, potentializing its bleak nihilistic ending, narrative feature described by Pinedo (1996) as post-modernist trend breaks away classical structure.