1. Alex (Henry Davine)
Henry’s physical appearance can be associated with
gang connotations and interpretations of social issues.
His shaved head and over-sized black hooded jacket
emphasises the dominant hegemony of teenage
apparel. It provides a deep wide analysis of ‘The Return’
as it focuses on the pressing social and soci-historic
context that the film was made in. in addition,
performance wise Henry could verbally fulfil the typical
teenage role with the use of colloquialism or slang which
the audience can relate to hence satisfying the audience
and catering to their wants and needs due to ‘The
Return’ having many relatable aspects for the teenage
demographic it is aimed for.

2. Frankie (Alex Kelly Lambert)
Frankie who is played by Alex Kelly Lambert plays the
role of our final girl. We felt she was perfect for the role
as she is perceived as not wearing too much makeup
which reinforced her innocence. She could also utilise
her facial expressions well, imitating effective confused or
overwhelmed expressions which would work well in
scenes where Frankie is being attacked. She is
perceived as attractive and good looking, yet does not
display an overly flirty demeanour which reinforces our
protagonist. We can see that she also has long dark hair,
which is also a convention for a final girl as it reinforces
hegemonic values. This was perfect for the conventional
aspects of the role of the final girl in a formulaic manner.
Also the role required a sister, and due to Mia Kelly
Lambert being her identical twin, this allowed a realistic
portrayal of a biological sister in our film. Her sister
provided an area to apply to Claude Levi Strauss’s theory
of binary opposites as Mia (who plays Amy) could display
everything Frankie is not, making good consumption of
narrative theory.

3. Jay (Nitin Kapoor)
Nitin provides further reinforcement for the dominant
hegemonic values of the general reckless teenage
lifestyle. He provides an outgoing, bubbly and ultra-lively
performance which implies a drunken state when
juxtaposed in a party scene with surrounding entailed
alcohol and music. Through the slight humour displayed
in his performance, he could provide an entry point for the
audience to relate to. The role of Jay is close to Frankie,
who can be seen as ‘more than friends’, although due to
Frankie’s role of the final girl and being ‘virginal’, this is as
far as their friendship goes. Therefore, viewers will be
rooting for his survival and expect him to live, and shares
a similar amount of empathy with the final girl. These
qualities further enhance and boost audience
engrossment with the character and provide a richer
viewing experience. Nitin provided these qualities which
as a result obtained him the role of jay.

4. Jason (Dilan Patel)
Sharing similar characteristics with male friends Jay, Alex and
Trey, Dilan provides in his performance qualities that
collectively, when accumulated with in particular on-screen
best friend Alex, reinforces typical teenage behaviour. Dilan
maintains a driver’s license which allows consumption of a
vehicle which creates a more realistic verisimilitude for the
audience to become engaged with. His clothing worn during
the audition provided the reinforcement of dominant ideology
of the generic teenage materialism via the Nike branded
product he is wearing. This idea of materialism shown in his
performance displays a desire to be identified with a group or
gang which targets pressing social issues seen today such as
gang conflict which demonstrated soci-historic context and
commentary in ‘The Return’. This also may be provided in
focal point of relation for the teenage demographic this film is
targeted for. The name Jason also provides a direct
intertextuality reference to Jason from Friday 13th, and this
provides viewers gratification as slasher fans will be pleased
to identify the link catering to the wants and needs of the
audience obtained through my audience research.

5. Chelsea (Rosie Jacobs)
Rosie plays our character Chelsea who characterises
the role of a conventional formulaic sexually active girl.
Similar to Mia’s (who plays Amy) performance, she
provides a flirty and sexually accessible performance in
her audition which suited the conventional role. She also
has blonde hair which is codified for the role of the
sexually active girl as it reinforces hegemonic values.
This is useful as when analysing ‘The Return’ genre
wise in a wider meaning, Chelsea is punished for her
sexual activity. She is attractive and wears a reasonable
amount of makeup to be deemed or identified as
sexually active by the viewers. She also provided a
realistic ‘drunk’ performance for the party scene which
reinforces dominant hegemonic ideology of teenagers
living recklessly. She and Harry (who plays Trey)
represent the wider meaning of ‘The Return’ hence why
she and Harry were chosen to play the on screen
couple.

6. Trey (Harry Adebayo)
Harry plays the role of Trey, who demonstrates a typical
generic representation of the conventional black
character within slasher films. It is conventional for this
character to die first as ethnic minorities are
formulaically displayed this way. Harry suited the role
with a good build and in the audition displayed a
sexually active appearance which reinforces the reason
for him dying first. This is useful as Trey engages in
sexual activity with his on screen girlfriend Chelsea. We
felt this sexually active appearance can be used as an
area for relation in terms of the teenage demographic
‘The Return’ is aimed at, who may relate to his
behaviour which thus provides a more immersive and
gripping viewing experience for the audience. In
addition, Trey is quite aggressive towards his peers and
when being hunted down by Ruby, this was a quality
prominent in Harry’s audition hence our selection of him
for the role.

7. Amy (Mia Kelly Lambert)
Mia provided the role of the final girl Frankie’s sister which
opened up an opportunity of usage of binary opposites.
She could display a flirty, playful and a sexually accessible
demeanour in her acting which subverted Frankie’s
behaviour of being the formulaic innocent and virginal girl.
Her blonde hair reinforced dominant hegemonic values of
blondes being sexually active which fitted into her role as
her character is killed with the wider meaning implying
punishment because of this. In addition to these attributes
displayed she also bears Frankie’s likeliness which creates
a more realistic representation of a biological sister on
screen. The vast personality differences allowed the main
character Frankie (the final girl) to be clearly displayed and
easily identifiable in comparison to Amy, otherwise the
likeliness between the two actors would have been a
hindrance however the binary opposites application gets rid
of this possible complication.

8. Ruby (Roma Nair)
We chose Roma as Ruby to perform the main
role of the villain for various reasons. Firstly her
eyes were sharp and large similar to a child’s
eyes but also when her eyes were made wide it
created an unnerving look. Also her long black
hair provided a perfect ‘mask’ to abide by the
codes conventions of a masked killer in the
slasher genre, yet catering to a female killer role.
We felt that having a female killer yet masked
abided yet subverted the conventions of the
slasher genre in a healthy and interesting way.
Roma is also perceived as petite which implies
dominance with elements of a smaller childish
nature. Acting wise, Roma displayed strange
stared and sluggish scary movements which fell
into the role of a villain hence her selection for
the role of Ruby.

9. Ruby, Amy and Frankie’s
mother (Sharon (Ms) Malins)
Ms Malins performed the mother of Ruby, Amy
and Frankie. Her performance was very sincere,
calm and collected. These factors fit perfectly into
the role of an older benefactor who is wise or
beholds a greater level of intelligence to the
teenage characters which may be regarded as a
‘gift’ (Vladimir Propp narrative theory). With the
utilisation of Ms Malins as the mother, she can
fulfil the formulaic aspects of the wiser older
character which are a conventional aspect in
slasher films.