14. The Horror of the Geek: The Geek Archetype in Slasher Film

One of the most well-known subgenres of cinematic horror is the slasher film, whose main feature is that evil is embodied in human nature. The victims are usually represented with stereotypical characteristics and some major archetypes have been created over the years, such as the virginal archetype, the “sexual transgressor,” and the killer. This chapter examines the representation of the “geek” characters in slasher films and how they affect the formula of the narrative. Based on an in-depth examination, the analysis incorporates three distinctive slasher films from three different decades—Scream (Craven 1996), Halloween: Resurrection (Rosenthal 2002), and The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard 2012)—for an understanding of the geek’s representation in slasher films and society as a whole.