We’re continuing our look at horror for October. We’ve beheaded the zombies, vanquished the vampires and now we turn our blunt instruments to that other great horror staple, the slasher movie.
Whether it’s the supernatural killing machine of Jason Voorhees or the quiet mummy’s boy Norman Bates, the psycho killer has both terrified and enthralled us for decades. One of the earliest examples of the mainstream slasher movie is Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho from 1960 and Hollywood still churns them out today.
But it’s tough to define a slasher movie. Does A Nightmare on Elm Street and it’s subsequent sequels count as a slasher movie? It’s certainly has the crazed psycho killer, but does Freddy’s penchant for killing teens in their dreams make is more of a supernatural horror than slasher? How about Jigsaw’s traps and elaborate revenge schemes, does that exclude Saw from the genre - does it firmly belong in the torture horror subset?
Lottie decided that when compiling our list, we should limit ourselves to the slashers that have a solid basis in reality - the films that ‘could happen’. Granted, that eliminates Freddy and Jigsaw. Many of the Friday 13th and Halloween sequels are out and both Candyman and Chucky are off the list too. But that still leaves us with a wealth of knife and axe wielding psychos to choose from.
Darren’s Top 5 Slasher Movies
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
“That’s the last goddamn hitchhiker I ever pick up.”
Once again, it’s always tough to choose 5th place. There’s so many other movies which could be here in its place, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is of such importance to the genre, I’d be remiss to leave it out. Inspired by 1950s mass murderer Ed Gein, Tobe Hooper’s debut opens with five teens driving in a van through rural Texas. After a terrifying exchange with a demented hitchhiker, the group ends up at an old farmhouse, where the residents begin to wreak havoc on the youngsters. When her friends and brother disappear one by one, the terrified Sally must summon the strength to escape from the ghoulish family of mass murderers, who are led by the gruesome, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface. This low-budget exploitation slasher became a cult hit and helped define the genre by introducing such standard features as the house of terror and the girl in peril becomes the heroine.
4. Wrong Turn (2003)
“We are never going into the woods again.”
Steeped in the traditions of classic ’70s-style horror movies, Wrong Turn stars Desmond Harrington and Eliza Dushku who end up stranded in the back arse of middle America, surrounded by crazed inbred killers. Borrowing heavily from the likes of Texas Chainsaw and The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn manages to set itself apart from the many other carbon copies by being clever, brilliantly directed by Rob Schmidt and having some truly chilling original horror moments. I have watched this movie countless times and I still love it after every viewing.
3. Halloween (1978)
“I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong.”
There’s very little I need to say about this movie. Halloween takes us into the world of a mad killer, Michael Myers, for the first time. The film launched the careers of director John Carpenter and scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. Produced for very little money and a tight shooting schedule, it was a massive success when it was released and is single-handedly responsible for turning the slasher movie into a viable, successful, mainstream genre.
2. Psycho (1960)
“Oh, we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 vacancies.”
The original and best slasher film? Well, not quite on either count. There were slasher movies before this and there are better examples of the genre too, but Psycho will be remembered forever as being the father of the modern horror movie. Hitchcock introduced us to Norman Bates and twisted the suspence movie beyond all recognition to create a frightening and unforgettable film.
1. Scream (1996)
“We all go a little mad sometimes.”
Part spoof, part satire, part slasher, Scream manages to balance funny and scary at a level never even attempted before. Often credited with reinventing horror in the 70′s, there is no doubt that Wes Craven re-reinvented it in the mid-nineties. He took all the elements that went into making the typical slasher movie and turned them on their heads to make a post-modern, intelligent and yet still very scary film that is not just a parody of the genre, but also a prime example of it. It spawned sequels and imitators, but no film has ever come so close to perfectly defining what the slasher movie is, while also breaking every rule in the slasher movie guidebook. Genius and completely re-watchable time and time again.
Lottie’s Top 5 Slasher Movies
Like Darren what makes a slasher scary for me is that it has the potential to be real, it could happen. This is the reason I’ve always found Slashers that little bit more unnerving than the supernatural horrors. As always my list is a mixture of those movies which I find fun, entertaining, those that I watch again and again and those that entirely terrified me. While I concede that Darren’s list is almost perfect, do I agree with it entirely? Well where would the fun be in that?
The interweb says that a “Slasher” movie involves “a crazed human or sub-human is tracking or preying on another human being for the express purpose of torturing, maiming, stabbing, shooting, scaring to death, dismembering and/or killing for absolutely no reason at all.” I think my list hits the mark.
5. Wolf Creek (2005)
“What was it your mate said again? Oh, yeah, that’s not a knife - *this* is a knife!”
Wolf Creek made my fifth spot when we did our Top 5 Horrors back in July. The innocuously named villain, Mick Taylor plays that mild-mannered helpful stranger Norman Bates precision. You do not immediately suspect that he will be our baddie. It’s vicious, clever and magnificently infused with that tension that all great Slasher movies require.
4. American Psycho (2000)
“Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a watermark!”
Does this fall more into the genre of psychological thriller? I think so.
Set in the world, arguably the mind of Patrick Bateman, a misogynistic, affluent Wall Street yuppie whose mindless lifestyle of compulsive consumption, pop culture binging and one-night stands is peppered with improbable acts of murder and torture carried out with inexplicable impunity.
With nods to Hitchcock this social satire of a slasher is clever, brutal and stays with you long after you’ve taken out the DVD and put it in the freezer with The Shining and Little Women. **Culchie points for whoever gets this reference first.**
3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
“Those girls… those girls don’t wanna go messin’ round no old house!”
I only found out that this is based an actual true story. I mean they all say that but actual real-life events? While I enjoyed the 2003 remake starring Jessica Beale it lacked the grit of the original.
2. Halloween (1978)
“He came home!”
Halloween has everything. Genuinely scary with none of the kitsch of it’s successor Friday The 13th (1980). Halloween invented the slasher movie as we know it today not least of all the concept that one’s survival was directly proportional to one’s sexual experience. The spine chilling theme music, the William Shatner-like pale mask peeping through the bushes, the suspense created by the seemingly slow lumbering giant with freakish stealth…it still gets me.
One of the most successful independent films ever made the legacy of Halloween can be seen throughout the effects can be seen in the Friday the 13th series, The Nightmare on Elm Street series, the Hellraiser films right up to the more modern of this genre such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
1. Psycho (1960)
“I think I must have one of those faces you can’t help believing.”
The “mother” of all slasher suspense movies with a subtlety and consideration for plot and character that was lost in later generations. Hitchcock manipulates the audience into identifying with both the victim and the killer.
The famous shower scene is one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. It has been parodied in countless movies from Dressed to Kill (1980) to Scream 2 (1997) and even in animated features such as Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), in which Bugs acts out with the film’s black-and-white footage with chocolate syrup poured down the drain.
Honourable Mentions: Madman, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Severance,Pathology, Friday the 13th, Wrong Turn (notably one of my favourite modern horror movies but, for me, it didn’t sit right in this list).
Scream is definitely my favourite of the lot. It brought back the slasher from obscurity.
Although Chainsaw Massacre does hold a certain place in my black, black heart.
@Lottie I see you’re a Friends fan.
A couple of thoughts on productions that had some slashing content, both from 1979. The play “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” starring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou, which I saw in NYC then, was great, better than the recent film I think.
The film “Time after Time” in which David Warner played Jack the Ripper, Malcolm McDowell as H.G.Wells, where the villain uses the time machine to travel forward to the 1970′s to wreak havoc.
Definatly agree with your top three there!
Psycho is a masterclass (and piece) in film-making as well as a suspensful shocker. Shame about the shot-by-shot remake…good director, good cast, but WHY?
Th original Halloween - again, a masterpiece of film-making, and still unnerving (expecially the scene where M. Myers is standing behind the hedgerow). Almost a younger child to Psycho too (both suspensful masterpieces, one starring Janet Leigh, the other her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis). But again, has an awful remake. Rob Zombie (and so many other modern horror directors) should learn that non-stop blood and violence is simply no subsitute for geniune suspense and scares. After all, there is little to no blood in the original Psycho and Halloween.
The Texas Chainsaw definatly benefits from the whole gritty/lens flare look. A real classic, and revolutinised the horror genre (along with Night Of The Living Dead). As with the last two movies too, very little or no blood - it’s all implied, though it doesn’t pretend to be a masterclass in suspense. The scene where Leatherface first appears is a shocker though. And yes, the remake merely copies the surface without gaining any of the original’s grit.
Wolf Creek - only seen once, but thought it was okay, if nothing special. The director’s follow-up movie Rogue is definatly worth checking out in my humble opinion. An under-rated gem!
I liked American Psycho, though I thought the book itself was more chilling. Christian Bale’s performance veers between truly terrifying and very funny.
Honorable mentions…a Nightmare On Elm Street (maybe not a true slasher?), Scream (1 & 2), and Peeping Tom - a British masterpiece (that came out around the same time as Psycho) that unfortunately ended its director’s (Michael Powell) career. And sure, also the first Friday 13th, even though it’s pretty much a bad rip-off of Halloween. The last scare is good though
Oh right, Freddy’s off the list anyhow
lol
The Shining and Little Women…um, well i know Christian Bale was in the latter, and the whole nutter-with-an-axe link with the former? I’m probably completly wrong!!!
Oh and sorry Darren, i meant I agree with Lottie’s top three!!!
I have to say i don’t quite agree with some of the choice’s.
I would go as far to say that some of the choice’s belong in sub-genre’s or even cross genre’s.
Wolf Creek is part of the Hitchhiker-horror sub-genre. While The Hitcher is not actually a part of this airy fairy idea of a sub-genre it is a movie that define’s it.
Wrong turn is a cross between Inbred-Thriller and Slasher. The Hills have eyes, Texas Chainsaw and several others fulfill the Inbred sub-genre, with even Deliverance tagging along, and a very good episode of the X-files.
Scream, halloween and psycho however are all prime examples of the genre.
However excluding Friday the 13th (the first and original one) is massive movie mistake!
It almost reeks of you not seeing the opening scene of SCREAM or even Stab the movie-in-a-movie in Scream 2. A girl died for not knowing that Jason Vorhee’s was not the killer in the 1st one. Not only that but he wasn’t supernatural till the 3rd and didn’t have his trade marked look until well into the abortive level’s of that franchise.
Honorable mentions for Man-hunter/Red Dragon and Hannibal, Urban Legends and from television Dexter.
Hmmm somewhat of a niche film genre there but I am game to give anything a go:
The Exorcist
Demonic possession can lead to so many things - spitting up pea soup, using a crucifix in a VERY unique way and peeing on carpet. So please people - stay away from those Ouija boards.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Yes - THAT scene when Austin gets de-frosted. I am amazed his poor bladder simply didn’t explode with trying to keep it in. All I can say is “Evacuation Complete!”
Team America: World Police
You will need to get the unrated DVD to see the famous golden shower sequence. I always suspected puppets of being the devils creation
True Lies
It must be that scene where they take poor old Bill Paxton and go all secret service on his ass! In fairness if Arnie threatened me I would piss me pants too
Fight Club
I have learned so much from movies - in fact I think everything worthwhile in my entire life has been gained from movie lore. And Tyler Durden is right up there with the best of teachers. From him I learned never to get the lobster bisque in any resturaunt he is working in
So there you have it - my top 5 slash movies.
Peter
PS For those who don’t get my somewhat obscure jokes (and that would be many many of you) look here http://newpics.org/david/GoingForASlash.aspx
Oh oh - can I get some points for talking about Joeys and Chandlers fridge??
@ Pete - LOL
Oh, and my Friends knowledge is limited at best, so
lol
@Niall & Peter - Chching! @Emlyn - sort yourself out man!
@Peter - you made my head hurt!
@ Lottie - yes, yes, for shame! lol
@ Lottie - my work here is done.
It has to be Halloween number one for me…also because its my favourite film of all time. Its just…brilliant.
Definitely would include Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Scream.
Id argue that Elm Street most certainly is a slasher film, i dont think the genre precludes supernatural elements…one could argue Michael Myer’s isnt exactly human. Certainly in the later sequels (which mainly are poo) he is decidely supernatural.
Id also throw in some of the Jason films. They’re pretty shit as films go, but I grew up with them ( i was a horror nut as a young’un, had them all on VHS).
@Ronan Scream is one of those ‘perfect’ movies - one I wouldn’t change a single second of.
@Niall She is, in the truest sense, a fanatic.
@Keleher I can’t believe you got to see Angela Lansbury’s Mrs Lovett. I’ve seen a video of the original production and I loved it. No one could ever do the Worst Pies in London as well as her.
@Emlyn I’ll admit to really liking the remake of Texas Chainsaw. It certainly pushed the gore factor. It was missing much of the original’s tension though. Also - I must check out Rogue.
@Hugo It was a tough Top Five to pigeon-hole, but we felt it was worth trying. There was undoubtedly going to be disagreements over what truly is a slasher movie, but I’m happy with the list. And Halloween came before Friday 13th - didn’t it?
@Peter I’m pissing myself laughing (get it?).
@Ruairi It pained me to exclude Elm Street. Freddy has been one of my favourite horror characters since I was a child. He’s frightening and funny. Iconic. But allowing him into the list didn’t feel right. Granted both Jason and Myers went down the supernatural route in later films, but they did start in the real world.
@ Darren - no - what am I missing?
@ Ruairi - well yeah, Michael Myers is a supernatural sort of bloke (according to the end of the first movie). But i think that actually made him less scary somehow.
@ Darren - oh ‘Rogue’ (in my humble opinion) is a real underrated gem - it’s pretty obvious from the opening sequence (and movie poster) what it’s all about, but still worth checking out. ‘Black Water’ is a similar, but just as nerve-wracking gem. Have only seen the ‘Texas’ remake once, so maybe i will give it a second viewing sometime. Interesting, but useless fact - it was lensed by the same cinematographer as the original
@ Keleher - would have loved to have seen the original version of ‘Sweeney’ too! Loved the movie version, though wish Tim Burton would stop doing remakes and something more original (okay, okay, though i am dying to see his ‘Dark Shadows’ movie)
In addition to all the superb examples above (I can’t argue with any) I’d like to add the following:
April Fool’s Day (1986) Underrated 80s slasher
Black Christmas (1974) Brilliant! Scariest Christmas ever
Communion/Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) Pretty damn scary unknown horror
Final Destination (2000) Technically not really a slasher but a great idea nonetheless
Happy Birthday to Me (1981) Best horror movie ever to feature a Shish-Kebab
Hatchet (2007) Solid recent effort
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) Inventive and clever
Last House on The Left (1972) Excellent examination of ordinary people pushed to the limit
Madman (1982) Unoriginal but worth a look
My Bloody Valentine (1981) Could have been epic, except for the censors
Stage Fright/Deliria (1987) A quality example of the genre
Suspiria (1977) Dario Argento’s classic. Simply brilliant.
Terror Train (1980) Halloween-esque terror on a train!
The Burning (1981) Genuinely scary stuff
The Hills Have Eyes (2006) Above average remake
The House On Sorority Row (1983) An above average slasher film
The Prowler (1981) Dark, scary, gory and fun
@ Niall -
April Fool’s Day - VERY underrated (and somewhat derided)
Alice, Sweet Alice - I unfortunately caught this as a child…and that mask alone gave me nightmares for weeks afterwards
Suspiria - a classic indeed!
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