Slasher: the stalk-and-kill subgenre, defined
Slashernoun
A slasher is a horror film in which a killer, often masked, stalks and murders a group one at a time until a lone survivor confronts them.
A slasher is a horror film built on a killer who stalks and murders a group of people one at a time, usually with a blade and often behind a mask, until one survivor turns and fights. It is the most formulaic subgenre in horror and, for that reason, the one most fun to argue about.
Where it comes from
The ancestors are Psycho (1960) and the Italian giallo, which supplied the gloved killer and the set-piece murder. Black Christmas (1974) put the killer in a house full of young people. Halloween (1978) fixed the formula: a suburb, a date on the calendar, a silent killer, a final girl, and a score that tells you he is behind her. Friday the 13th (1980) added the body count and the practical gore; A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) added a killer who talks. By the late 1980s the formula was so familiar that Scream (1996) could make a hit out of its characters knowing the rules.
The cycle keeps restarting. The 2000s remakes, the Terrifier films, and the recent return of long-running franchises each find new audiences for the same architecture.
Why it matters
Slashers are where horror learned to build suspense in the open. You know the killer is coming; the question is only when and from where. That makes them the purest test of craft in the genre: two directors with the same script will produce a tense film and a dull one. They are also, as a set, the most rankable horror there is, since the films share so much that comparing them is natural.
In Gasper
Slashers is a Discover shelf, resolved from TMDb keywords, next to Teen Horror and Serial Killers. Rankings in it collect a recognizable set of tags: Jump scares, Gross, Tense, Rewatchable. In the "Which was scarier?" head-to-head, slashers often split scare from love hardest: a film can sit low on your scare list and still get a heart (Loved), which is the usual fate of a sequel you have seen nine times. That is the subgenre working as intended. A good marathon is a run through one franchise ranked in order, and the guide to horror marathons covers how to pace it.
Questions people ask
What was the first slasher?
Critics argue. Psycho (1960), Black Christmas (1974) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) are the usual candidates, with Halloween (1978) setting the formula.
Is a slasher always a horror film?
Nearly always, though the subgenre overlaps with thrillers about serial killers and with horror comedy.
Are slashers scary or just gory?
Both and neither, depending on the film. The best ones run on suspense; the worst ones run on the kill count.
Go deeper
- FeatureSubgenre browsingThirty-three subgenre shelves, from Slashers to Cosmic Horror, resolved from TMDb keywords.
- GuideThe Horror Marathon Guide: Pacing a Night of ScaresPlan a horror marathon that lands: order films by subgenre and intensity, copy a sample four-film night and rank each film in the break after it
Related terms
- Body horrorBody horror is horror in which the human body itself transforms, mutates, decays or betrays its owner, often in graphic detail.
- Cosmic horrorCosmic horror is horror built on the dread of forces vast and indifferent to humanity, whose true nature cannot be understood or survived.
- Final girlA final girl is the lone survivor, usually a woman, who confronts the killer in the last act of a slasher film.
- Folk horrorFolk horror is horror rooted in rural landscapes, old beliefs and isolated communities that turn on an outsider or one of their own.
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