Definition of Slasher

A slasher is a sub genre of horror, and typically follows a group of characters, in an isolated situation, who get hunted down by a killer. With common stereotypical characters such as the 'scream queen', 'final girl' and the masked murderer. The audience for most slashers are the modern horror lovers, which aim at young adults, who are a similar age to the cask, which can increase verisimilitude to the situation of the film, as they might be college kids themselves.

A common, and effective, use of camera shots that are used throughout a wide variety of slasher films is the point of view shot from the killers perspective. This builds tension as the viewers know that the victims are being watched, and more so that the killer is close.

The History of Slashers

With possibly the most well known slasher, Halloween, being released in 1978, slashers do precede this film. Films such as Psycho and Peeping Tom, both 1960. Tobe Hoppers' 1974 film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, brought a family of cannibalistic sadistic to the big screen; Bob Clarks' Black Christmas, 1974, created the now common prank call from inside the house plot.

Friday the 13th, 1980, is an influential slasher, including aspects of foreshadowing and perhaps some irony, the film inspired future slasher directors, and also its own with the various sequels that followed Friday the 13th.











By the 90's, new, unique ideas for slasher concepts wore thin, but in 1996 Scream became a massive box office hit. More recently, directors have, instead of aiming for a brand new plot, re-created old classics. Examples include the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which then was followed by a 2006 TCM : The Beginning.  The Hitcher and The Hills Have Eyes are other remakes. In 2007, Rob Zombie Halloween was seen as a re-imagining, in which the narrative is somewhat similar, but does not stick to the exact plot.