Primary & Secondary Slasher Audiences

Laura Mulvey - feminist theorist

The primary target audience for a slasher film is the 15-24 age group. They're also mostly aimed at males, and to attract the male audience, Laura Mulvey's male-gaze theory is often used. The male-gaze theory is a feminist theory, which was developed to analyse the way women are portrayed in films. She stated that the camera shows off women's bodies, and objectifies the woman on screen give the male viewer 'pleasure'. This can also affect the way women view themselves and other women. Because of this, the audience is almost forced into viewing the film from a male's perspective, which can affect the way in which women view themselves and other women. The characters in slasher films also tend to be teenagers, and the adult characters are portrayed as useless, which again attracts a teenage audience, as they can easily relate to the feelings and emotions denoted by the characters. 

The secondary target audience tends to be the mature youth (25-34). Higher rated films (18+) may be more appealing to this age group, due to more scenes of a violent nature, nudity and sex.