The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family Author(s): PAT GILL Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 54, No. 4 (WINTER 2002), pp. 16-30 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688391 . Accessed: 17/07/2012 02:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. University of Illinois Press and University Film & Video Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Film and Video. http://www.jstor.org The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films,and the Family PAT GILL IN I978, HALLOWEEN HERALDED a new SUD spread crime, easy access to drugs, unsuper genre of horror,the teen slasher film.Combin vised friendships.The danger iswithin, the ing inventiveviolence and a clever,eerily evoc filmsseem to say; the horrorderives fromthe ative suburban mise-en-sc?ne with engaging, familyand fromthe troublingordeal of being a believable, contemporaryteen protagonists late-twentieth-century teenager. Several critics and a superhumankiller, director and co-writer have noted horrorfilms' overt relationto and JohnCarpenter created a new, effectivetype of covertdependence on theAmerican family,and filmthriller.