Deconstruction of the Killer's background

In my post on the victim's background (here) I looked at Se7en, the Saw films, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare On Elm Street and the TV series Pretty Little Liars and briefly explained the killer's motives in that post.

In Pretty Little Liars, Alison was alleged murdered but no one
knows who did it. There were many people who knew her, and mostly disliked her, in that small town the night she 'died'. Therefore, there are many culprits. However, the A character blackmails Alison's four friends by attempting to expose their darkest secrets which only Alison knew (Alison appeared to trust-worthy so each girl told their secrets to only her) unless they do something A wants. This is a good storyline for the killer because it is clever, crafty and gripping, and can be portray well in a trailer. However, the killer's and victim's background cannot both be too complex otherwise there will not be enough attention on the storyline of the film.

In Se7en (1995), the killer is jealous of Mills' life and at the end he kills Mills' pregnant wife (which then spurs Mills to kill him to complete the sin of wrath). The killer is obsessed with doing 'God's work' by 'exterminating' the repeated sinners, almost as if the killer saw them as animals because of their worldliness. This storyline has inspired Annie and I to have a similar storyline in our trailer. It has depth but has the capacity to be revealed in one minute.

In Drag Me To Hell (2009), the killer is an old lady who is foreign and chants spells and threats in an ancient tongue. This has the purpose of disturbing the audience as they feel threatened; they do not understand what she is saying and feel helpless, like the victim in the film. In terms of mise en scene, she has one grey eye (the other brown), scars all over her face and dirty broken teeth. The mise en scene is impressive and adds to her character by making her seem more scary and deranged. Annie and I like the idea of different coloured eyes because it is unnatural and ominous - especially when used in horror films.

In You're Next (2011), a family holiday at a vacation house where they are targeted by 3 people wearing animals masks - Lamb, Tiger, and Fox. The family cannot escape and cannot call anyone for help as no one is near, and they cannot get any signal on their phones. Killers in masks is frequently used in horror films as it creates a sense of mystery as well as ambiguity as to who the killer/s may be and their motive to kill these victims. This allows the audience to come up with their own ideas of the killer/s as well as persuading them to watch the film in the hopes that the masked killers will be exposed at the end. I like the idea of a masked killer because of the enigma and ambiguity, however our new storyline of somebody 'possessing/telling' someone to kill sinners, a mask will not fit in very well with this storyline.

In conclusion, I like the idea of a killer's face being rich with mise en scene, as seen in Drag Me To Hell and You're Next, however I feel masks will not be appropriate for our trailer. Annie and I were thinking of making the killer wear unnatural coloured contact lenses to represent how he is not (fully) human and to add depth, as well as mystery, to his character to entertain and persuade the audience to watch the film.