What is a Slasher Film?

If you’re one to watch films that are based on psychopathic killers that basically stalk their victims and go around on killing sprees? You might be totally into slasher films. These films were incredibly common in the 1960s. They hit a peak period throughout the 1970s. And are said to have resulted from the Italian giallo films of that generally timeframe. But what is a slasher film?

What is a Slasher Film?

Slasher films are a subgenre of horror films that are characterized by the typical plot. Which involves a psychopathic killer who generally stalks and murders multiple adolescent victims in an unprovoked, incredibly random manner.

The slasher film is often referred to as a body count film or a dead teenager movie. For good cause since the majority of the victims in these violent and incredibly graphic films are teens.

According to recent studies of the slasher film genre, scholars believe that there are three distinct historical periods of slasher films:

• Classical period – beginning in 1974 and laying through the end of the 1980s.
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• Postmodern period – running throughout the 1990s.
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• Neoslashers – beginning in the millennium and continuing still today.

Focus on Teenage Girls

Characteristically, slasher films typically focus on teens that are for some reason somewhere far from mainstream civilization (how convenient for a murdering psychopath) and may be involved in drug or alcohol use as well as promiscuousness.

Most slashers would begin with the murder of a young female and many would end with a single young female alive in the very end. The only problem?

She finds out that the psychopath isn’t gone, and that the problem is not completely resolved. Thus, there’s always room for a possible sequel.

Famous Slasher Films Throughout History

Throughout the 60+ years in which slasher films have been produced there have been many prolific slasher films to draw attention at the box office.

Hollywood cinema has certainly seen its fair share of slasher films throughout history including:

• Psycho – the earliest known inspiration for a slasher film, by Alfred Hitchcock.
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• Black Christmas – quite possibly the first “true” slasher film, although the pacing wasn’t quite “right.”
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• Halloween
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• Friday the 13th
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• A Nightmare on Elm Street
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• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
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• Candyman
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• I Know What you Did Last Summer

Final Girl Trope

Throughout many of the most prevalent and widely recognized slasher films in Hollywood’s history is the final girl trope. You may recognize that Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) from Halloween was the “final girl” for that film.

She had the stereotypical makeup that would be seen in many other slasher films over the years. Additionally, the villains from many slasher films would become incredibly popular – think Michael Myers, Freddy Kreuger, and Jason Voorhees.

So, what is a slasher film? It’s a film whose plot is that of a stereotypical psychopathic killer on the loose. That essentially goes after primarily teens and young adults, often ending with a sole survivor.

A lone girl or young woman that typically realizes just at the end that her troubles are not over.

Take a deeper look at the history of slasher films courtesy of this awesome video by CineFix!