Genre research for High School Horror Films

Horror is a classic genre, which has been around since the 17^th Century. Its influence is so great that it has branched out into many sub genres, over the years which in themselves, have become almost as big as the classic straight horror genre film. The genre ‘High School Horror’ is one of these sub-genres; which can be seen to be very popular with the younger horror audiences, however, at the same time includes all the elements that older horror audiences love. Making this genre one of Hollywood's most noteworthy and popular, in today's film industry. To show this, I did some research into the success of the High School Horror genre. Here is a handful of films with their worldwide box office earnings, along with their distribution companies:
Scream (1996): $173,046,663 - Dimension films, directed by Wes Craven
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997): $125,586,134 - Sony Columbia, directed by Jim Gillespie
Prom Night (2008 remake): $57,197,876 - Sony/ Screen Gems, directed by Nelson McCormick
The Faculty (1998): $40,283,321 - Miramax (Domestic gross only available,) directed by Robert Rodriguez
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984): $25,504,513 - New Line (Domestic gross only available,) directed by Wes Craven .
(Figures taken from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

To further my research, I went into advanced detail and considered the following elements that make this genre appeal to its target audience:.
The typical narratives:
One girl being harassed by the killer
A group of teenagers do something criminal and then are harassed by someone who "knows the truth"

School is haunted by a ghost/ school taken over by one student who has been bullied (wants revenge!)

Murder is on the loose in a small town and is killing High School students

A group of students try to save each other and attempt to kill the bad people

Settings:
High Schools
Parents houses
Pubs/clubs
Cars
Old abandoned houses/ desolate building

Middle of nowhere/ middle of a forest
.
Stock Characters:
Blond haired popular girl with big boobs
A jock/ popular male lead who thinks that he can save everyone
The geeky one who gets killed first
The Goths who are mistaken for the killer
The girls who are home alone get killed
.
Iconography:
The school bell
Telephones/ Mobile phones
Sex/ Relationships
Booze
Lots of Blood

Knives/Guns/ other kinds of weapons

Screaming/ shouting for help

Going to College/University
Computers/TV/Video games
Books
.
Audience:
Can be anyone who likes the horror genre but this specific sub-genre of horror, is stereotypically aimed at teenagers. This due to the fact that they can connection and relate to the emotions characters and the teenage themes that occur during these films. However, because some of the High school horror films are rated 18, this shows us that maybe the target audience is actually a more mature audience who are more interested in the amount horror that is included in the film rather than the plot or the character’s stories within it.