Prop Analysis

What do Props do?

The main use of a prop in a horror film is to represent a character. If the character is using a weapon, it will tell the audience that the character has bad intentions and plans to kill people. The choice of prop may also tell you what sort of person a character is, if he/she is wielding a chainsaw it tells us that this person likes gore and blood when killing his victims. On the other hand, if they are carrying a small blade, this may tell us that they prefer to be silent and quick with their murders.

As you can see in this photo, the antagonist is carrying a small blade. This tells us that he prefers his murders to be more up close and personal. Something that particularly stands out to me is the size of the knife, it is no more than 3-4 inches long, this is not the sort of weapon that will kill someone instantly, telling me that he enjoys plunging the knife repeatedly into his victim, portraying him as a malicious character.

This prop represents the character carrying at as someone who also like to get up close and personal with his kills, but this time, he wants the kills to be a lot more bloody and gory. Unlike the common knife, you don't often see a chainsaw used in many horror films, it presented this character as being a vicious and creative killer . A chainsaw is known for being a very loud contraption, so the fact that his victims may already hear him before they see him tells us and the audience that he like to chase his victims before he kills them.

I feel that the props in this scene are used for a specific reason, if you watch the video you will see that the victim in this scene is sat in a position that looks like he is going for a haircut, you will also notice that the victim is someone who has scruffy hair and has an untrimmed beard. So I feel that the use of the scissors and the straight razor are implemented to make us feel like the man is going for a haircut as the the scissors and the straight razor are items used by barbers. When we get further into the scene, we see the antagonist proceed to scalp the victim, whilst he is still sat in the chair, this could also connect to a barbers or a hairdressers.