Thank you for the replies. I know the subgenre (and precursors like the giallo) like I know the back of my own hand, so that's not much of issue, it's just that I'm trying something new instead working off my own knowledge of and attraction to these kinds of films.
I have a killer who is somewhat sympathetic. He has a certain degree of emotional complexity and yes, he comes replete with an iconic look.
Part of the humor comes from the fact that is ultimately a silly idea delivered with complete earnestness. No winking at the audience. You either get it or you don't.
The killer's identity is not a secret, and he is already a figure of infamy at the start of the story, but his *exact* motivations are purposely obscured until about midway through the second act.
There is isolation, and there is sex, drugs, and alcohol.
There is a nominal quasi-supernatural element, or at least a single event that evades the realm of possibility to the Nth degree and it is purposely never explained.
There are characters you care about and who don't want to see get hurt, but they are dealt with in a completely ruthless manner.
There is a very tough, very smart, and often very funny Final Girl...and therein lies one of my problems. She's taken on a life of her own and gotten away from me. When I try to pull her back, it feels unnatural, like she's less of the character I fell in love with. I hate the idea that a character needs to sympathetic (the very first thing you see her do is pitch a soccer ball at a douchebag's head while he's hanging out the passenger window of his speeding car, talking all sorts of mess), that they need to be vulnerable, when for me, they just need to hold my attention. However, I realize that for the type of story that this is, if she is virtually never afraid, and always thinking on her feet, I find that it lessens the tension. You know she'll win.
That's where I'm at right now. I need to add more though, but I don't have time at the moment.
