Catch up on some past horror film history articles about Universal Monsters, Godzilla, Aliens, and Psycho before reading if you’d like more background!
We all know the classic image of the slasher genre—a masked maniac chasing a group of teenagers through the woods, slicing and dicing them one by one until there’s only one girl left to fight him off. Some slasher films are more beloved than others, resulting in so many sequels and remakes that I’ve lost count, and some have been lost to time. But the universal draw of the slasher, from its meek origins in the early days of film to its “Golden Age” between 1978 and 1984, can’t be understated.
Maddie, you might be thinking, what do you mean by “slashers started in the early days of film?” Well, dear reader, let me tell you. The slasher first started differently from how we think of it today, and equally different from our beloved Hitchcock classic we discussed last week, but the origins of on-screen slash-age are still important to note.
Besides the obvious love and fascination for violence that has been a staple in human “entertainment” for centuries (looking at you, Ancient Rome), there are films that predate the birth of the slasher genre that have often been cited as early influences. Stories of murder, mystery, and menacing men were rife in the 1920s-1930s, especially in films like The Bat (1926), The Old Dark House (1932), The Cat and the Canary (1927), and Thirteen Women (1932).
The Bat is based on the 1908 horror novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart called The Circular Staircase1, in which guests staying in a remote mansion are harassed and terrorized by a killer in a terrifying mask (notice the slight Clue (1985) parallels? Among many other films.). The Old Dark House and The Cat and the Canary are both based on written works where strange country folks are pitted against town dwellers (Hello influences on X (2022), Silence of the Lambs (to an extent) (1991), Children of the Corn (1984), Jeepers Creepers (2001), and even The Blair Witch Project (1999)). Thirteen Women may have one of the biggest influences on the slasher genre for its focus on sorority girls (oh, Black Christmas (1974), The House on Sorority Row (1982), Killer Party (1986), and Prom Night (1980) (while not exactly a sorority, this film definitely influences it in other ways), it’s your turn).
Psycho, which we discussed last week, isn’t exactly a slasher—Norman had too much self-control for that—but it definitely shows some elements of the genre that would be adopted in the Golden Age. In all of Hitchcock’s horror films, as well as in every slasher, the key scare factors are the psychological suspense and nonstop thrills. What’s waiting behind the corner? What’s that noise? What’s under the mask? Eek! So many unanswered questions and so many new ways to answer them!
If you’ve been following along with our AYSY horror film history series, you know all about the Hays Code and the switch to the MPAA guidelines post-Psycho.2 (If not, I’d first go back and read about the Hays Code and the switch and then come back here). Once the strict Hays Code was replaced in 1968, the MPAA system allowed filmmakers much more creative control over what they made. While Hitchcock certainly opened many doors, there were others whose films made waves with the evolution of production codes. 1966’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? used language that the Hays Code prohibited, and the filmmakers of Woolf and other films filed lawsuits against the Code citing the First Amendment rights to free speech.
Since so many filmmakers were pushing the limits on what they created, a new system had to be enacted, and with it came a rating system that allowed creative liberties and viewer discretion. Rather than censoring their creations to be appropriate for every audience, filmmakers could now create what they wanted and rate it according to audience guidelines (general, mature, restricted, and X, each with age restrictions and parental guidance suggestions). With these new guideline changes at the start of the 70s, the slasher was able to make its way to screens without mass censorship.
Before we discuss the first slashers, it’s important to talk about the formula and definitions of a slasher film. The stereotypical formula that slashers adhere to is as follows: a person (usually a male) undergoes severe trauma in their past, and that trauma is then reignited by an anniversary or reenactment (usually by stupid teenagers) which then brings our slasher back for revenge or for kicks and giggles. Stalking and murder are the typical format for these killers, and while not exactly original, it sure is effective. Paste Magazine defines slasher killers as “human beings, or were human beings at some point…whose actions are objectively ‘evil,’ because they’re meant to be bound by human morality. That’s part of the fear that the genre is meant to prey upon, the idea that killers walk among us.”3
The slasher killer doesn’t just pick a target and go for them and them alone, like in The Wicker Man (1973). They have to go through the “annoyances” to get to their real target—or to torture their target by eliminating everyone their target holds dear. Maybe their real target is just mass killing, in which case they will kill whoever they happen to come across. Slasher killers are not only efficient but also ruthless. Their lack of humanity is a crucial part of the genre and a huge part of why both casual viewers and devotees of horror alike are still consuming the same stories over and over. The lack of humanity that we can never fully comprehend is what fascinates and terrifies us, sparking our fight or flight response and making us crave more screams and scares.
The killer isn’t the only important part of a slasher, though. Most often, their counterpart is the virginal final girl surrounded by sex-obsessed teenagers. The binary opposition of good vs evil, light vs dark, dead vs alive, and killer vs victim is essential to the story. We the viewers are seeing the epitome of evil fight the epitome of good, and the ultimate question in our horror WWE smackdown is “Who is going to be left standing?” The killer needs his nemesis—the good, pure, law-abiding individual—to fight against him—the bad, corrupt, lawless maniac. It appeals to our human need and desire to see good win and to feel like we aren’t as “touchable” as we want to admit. In many societies, we believe that being a “good” person makes you untouchable from evil, and horror, whether consciously or not, appeals to that belief. Horror, and slashers, reaffirm the belief that if you are good, you will win, and if you are evil, you will lose.
So, who’s gonna tell that to Jason?
Now that you know what a slasher movie consists of, we can talk about what slashers made up the Golden Age and what made them so golden. As I mentioned before, the Golden Age of Slashers lasted from 1978-1984 and was kickstarted by John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Before Halloween, though, was Black Christmas (1974), which I mentioned earlier, and which also shared a similar plot with Halloween, as well as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) (along with many others, but these two are some of the biggest ones). Black Christmas was a true product of its time, dealing with topics like women's liberation/feminism, Roe v. Wade and abortion, and alcoholism—all topics that were crucial to the conversation of the 70s zeitgeist. In Black Christmas, a group of college girls are terrorized in their once safe home during a holiday and acts as an early example of the “killer calling from inside the house” trope (which is a fear sparked from a real murder case).4
Is my visceral fear of chainsaws a result of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? No. That fear spawned during a visit to a haunted house a few years ago, although that movie didn’t help, but millions of other people worldwide did develop a gut-wrenching fear after watching Leatherface’s chainsaw-wielding and face-wearing carnage. However, the scariest part is that a “mask” wearing, terrifying figure stalking and murdering innocent young people wasn’t just fiction. Leatherface was inspired by serial killer Ed Gein, and many horror films took inspiration from other real-life serial killers like Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer.
Halloween was an interesting entrance to the Golden Age for a few reasons, but one of the biggest is the change of POV. In many scenes, Halloween follows the POV of Michael Myers, the unkillable masked murderer hunting down sexually active teens (the filmmakers say they didn’t intentionally make “sex-equals-death” the moral of that movie, but the audience certainly thought it for a while there, and some still do. How could you not when the only survivor is the virginal final girl?). Opposite Michael Myers was Jamie Lee Curtis—daughter of Janet Leigh, our Psycho scream queen—as Laurie Strode, who quickly became the quintessential final girl we still think of today.
Friday the 13th was the most financially successful slasher of 1980, giving Jason Voorhees his first of many appearances in the gore-filled series. Prom Night (1980) with Jamie Lee Curtis, My Bloody Valentine (1981) (which was heavily edited because of the scrutiny of its violence after the murder of John Lennon), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Halloween II (1981), The Evil Dead (1981) (more supernatural than slasher but with that amount of gore, it counts), An American Werewolf in London (1981) (which is also arguably a non-slasher, but since it is an all-time favorite of mine, and pretty gory, I’m including it), Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Children of the Corn (1984) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) (the release of which sparked picketed protests across America with the placard tagline “Deck the halls with holly—not bodies!”), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) are just a few of the many films made in that six-year stretch.5 With the release of Elm Street, special effects were now an accepted norm for filmmakers and made a huge splash in the decades to come.
But why, despite all of the violence, horror, and gore in slashers, do we love them so much? Maybe it’s the taboo nature of it all since it’s a topic we shouldn’t be seeing play out on screen, but we can’t stop watching. Maybe it’s the intense activation of our sympathetic nervous system but without the real threat of violence. Maybe it’s that final emotional catharsis that getting the bejesus scared out of you brings. Maybe it’s looking at the final girl fighting for her life on screen and saying, “Things may be bad for me, but it ain’t that bad.” Maybe it’s something else. Whatever it is for me, for you, or for others, there’s something about slashers that makes us at the very least intrigued—which is the entire draw. You have to know what happens, who is going to be left standing, and who is under that mask—which is exactly why we watch.
I think that the real draw of the slasher, as well as horror films in general, is a combination of a lot of those maybes, but the final girl is the perfect example of why we’re drawn to the dark and gruesome. We have to know what happens to the “perfect” person—the person who can do no wrong and is then thrown into the jaws of hell—and what she does to claw her way out. Maybe, just maybe, if she can fight a masked murderer, fall out of windows, break bones, and lose everything she loves because of someone’s cruelty, we can get through our unbeatable evils, too.
Next week, we will discuss “the final girl” trope, and which Scream Queens shaped the genre with their iconic looks, bravery, and shrieks.
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Are you scared yet?
Read the book for free on Project Gutenberg
Great insight into the slasher genre and what makes up a slasher
More on the real-life murder of Janett Christmann
I went in feeling like I could trace the general origin of the slasher genre, but I learned a ton! Most of the films you mention I know culturally without ever watching, which speaks to the fraidy cat I was as a teen. Scream remains my favorite in the genre, but I have to think that is a self-aware homage as much as an authentic entry. In any event, thinking about Myers and Vorhees isn’t maybe the smartest move before turning out my lights for the night, but I enjoyed this. (I really liked the WWE line, by the way.)