It’s that time of year again. It’s time for the leaves to change colors, the weather to start cooling down from the summer heat, and people going shopping for the best costumes that they can afford for the big holiday of the month: Halloween. While I’m not necessarily a big fan of dressing up for the holiday(haven’t done that in years), it’s actually really cool to see people actually put forth some effort into their costumes to get into the spirit of the holiday. For movie buffs, October is the month in which we dedicate a lot of time towards horror movies. Outside of science fiction, fantasy and action, horror is my favorite film genre. It is incredibly versatile with various sub-genres that include comedy, action, drama, and science fiction. For the month of October, I will be focusing more on films that are horror or fall more in line with All Hallow’s Eve. I will be doing episodes of The Best with specific sub-genres such as slasher films(which I’m doing in this post), but I will also be reviewing more horror movies.
For this post, I will be discussing my favorite slasher films. What is a slasher film? A slasher film is a movie in which multiple people are murdered in brutal fashion by a complete psychopath. Now, most slashers have a tendency to follow a certain pattern. Certain kinds of people die in a specific order: Boyfriend dies first, then the promiscuous girl, the pothead, and so on and so forth. Most people go to these films to see how people die. It might seem kind of morbid, but people having been enjoying stuff like this for thousands of years. The Roman Colosseum or the Grand Guignol, anybody? It’s human nature to enjoy stuff like this, even if you refuse to admit it. So…with that mind, let’s get into some of my favorite slasher films, or as the late Roger Ebert used to call them: Dead Teenager Movies.
Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon takes the idea of the slasher film and flips it on its head by focusing more on its villain instead of the victims. It’s a very unique approach to what has, up to that point, been a stagnant genre. This is achieved by the character of Leslie Vernon hiring a journalist to document his method of slaughtering his victims. From selecting specific targets, up to and including what is generally known as The Final Girl, the film takes us through each step of his plan, including the execution(yes, pun was intended). The actual slasher aspect of the film doesn’t really happen until the final act, everything else is a build-up. The film also has a sense of humor, especially when it comes to cardio and being able to keep up with people that running away from him. It’s an incredibly smart film that shakes up the genre in the best way. Definitely check this one out if you can find it.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
A slasher film will often live or die by how strong the main villain is. Thankfully, for A Nightmare On Elm Street, we got one of the most iconic movie villains of all time, Freddy Krueger. In the film, Freddy Krueger was a child killer that was murdered by the parents of the victims. The terror didn’t end there, Freddy ended up being able to kill people in their dreams. What makes Freddy Krueger such an intimidating villain, IS his ability to kill people in their dreams, but he doesn’t just stab them. Oh, no. He gets creative in his kills, especially as the series goes on. But for the original film, the kills are extremely spectacular. Johnny Depp, in his first big-screen film, dies by getting pulled into his bed and turned into a fountain of blood. It’s gruesome, yet awesome at the same time. The film also features some pretty decent performances by Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon. The real star of the film, however, is Robert Englund as Freddy. This is the film that really put him on the map. His performance was absolutely electric and scared the hell out of people back in 1984. He’s done other stuff, but it’s Freddy that he will always be known for.
Final Destination
While my inclusion of Final Destination on this list might strike you as odd, let me explain. Final Destination is still a slasher film in every sense of the term. The difference here, is that there is no physical villain. Each of the Final Destination films follows a specific pattern: A person has a vision of people dying in a massive incident, only for the person to wake up and freak out. But afterwards, each person that was supposed to die in a specific order, dies in that order in some pretty violent ways. Final Destination is actually a pretty clever take on the whole slasher genre, in which it’s more supernatural, but it’s never explained as such. While a couple of entries in the series are hit and miss, the original film was incredibly unique and stands up even nearly 20 years later. Definitely see it.
Hatchet
Hatchet is definitely what I would call a throwback to the old slasher films of the 80s. The character of Victor Crowley, played with gusto by genre veteran Kane Hodder, is an intimidating presence that just can’t die. Out of the hundreds of slasher movies that have been released, Hatchet is interesting not just because it’s one of the goriest films in the genre, but also because it’s managed to inject a great deal of humor into the whole affair. People who go to see movies like this know what they’re getting into, so the film really wastes no time in getting to the red stuff. While some of the writing is a little suspect in my opinion, the practical effects in the film are astounding. Not once do you see an ounce of CGI blood anywhere. Puppets and prosthetics are used to great effect, and the kills are brutal, yet will have you laughing at the same time because of how outrageous they are. It’s definitely worth a look.
Halloween
We can’t have a list of slasher movies during the month of Halloween without discussing John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, Halloween. I will fully admit that I’m more of a fan of Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween, but I can’t deny that John Carpenter’s film pretty much established the rules and patterns for which all other slasher movies follow. The character of Michael Myers, in the words of Donald Pleasance’s characeter, is simply evil. There’s no reason or any explanation for why Michael does what he does. He’s a force of nature. While Rob Zombie’s film attempts to try and explore the psychology behind Michael Myers, the original film doesn’t bother. It also establishes Jamie Lee Curtis as one of the genre’s defining scream queens. Curtis has since become one of the best actresses of her generation. With a brand new Halloween film due to be released later this month starring Jamie Lee Curtis, I thought it was fitting to revisit the film that really kick-started the whole slasher genre.
Friday the 13th, Part II
When it comes to classic slasher villains, you really can’t leave Jason Voorhees off the list. He’s also the reason why I don’t include the original Friday the 13th on this film. The killer in that film was Jason’s mother. It wasn’t a bad film, but Jason Voorhees is who this entire series is known for and most people forget that Jason didn’t really show up in the original film until the last 5 minutes. To me, the real start of the Friday the 13th series is Part II. This is when Jason begins his killing spree. Most people don’t know this, but Kane Hodder didn’t start playing the character until Part VII. The character didn’t get his iconic hockey mask until Part III. Regardless, Part II is where the franchise really took off. Not only were there more kills, but they were definitely more brutal and a bit more creative. If you want to start watching Friday the 13th, Part II is really the one to start with.
High Tension(Haute Tension)
While America kind of held the monopoly on slasher films, it wasn’t until the French slasher flick Haute Tension came along that other countries got into the action. Director Alexandre Aja would take the horror genre by storm with his gritty and brutal take on the genre. This movie is absolutely brutal and is one of the most intense experiences that I’ve had in a horror movie at the time. I have to hand it to the French, they really know how to make a horror movie. Following the success of High Tension, Aja would take on movies like the remakes of The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha, and Mirror. While High Tension has an ending that had most people scratching their heads, nobody can dispute that the film had left its mark on the genre.
House of Wax
House of Wax is a film that’s related to the Vincent Price film by name only. This is a slasher film through and through. It has a pretty strong cast including Jared Padalecki, Elisha Cuthbert, and Brian Van Holt. This is actually a pretty creepy movie. Original? Not particularly. It follows the standard tropes of the slasher genre to a tee, and doesn’t deviate. What the film does have going for it, are some really creative set pieces centered around two brothers, who kill random people and pose them in a wax museum. The two brothers are actually played by the same actor, Brian Van Holt, who is absolutely nuts. This movie got a lot of buzz because it had Paris Hilton in it. She’s not an actor, but her death scene was pretty awesome. Overall, the film is well-made and pretty intense. It was actually the horror movie that got me re-interested in the genre back in 2005. It’s definitely a lot of fun.
There are more slasher movies out there than I can count. A lot of them are also from around the world. America no longer holds a monopoly on the sub-genre, even if it is where it started. There are some movies that could have been on this list, but I chose to leave off, because I feel that they really don’t belong in the genre or aren’t good enough to be on this list. It doesn’t mean that they’re bad movies, it’s just I have a particular idea of what a slasher movie needs to qualify it as such. Well, that’s going to cover it for slasher movies. The month of October has just begun, and I have a lot more coming your way. Stay tuned and good night.