A slasher film is a sub genre of Horror Films. A slasher film typically involves a masked killer with a weapon stalking and murdering teenage girls. Many Horror fans believe that John Carpenter's "Halloween" was the first slasher film. That film was released in 1978 and became the Highest grossing Independent film of all time. "Halloween" introduces Horror Icon Michael Myers, an escaped mental patient who stalks a babysitter on Halloween night. The first slasher to be considered a slasher is Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", which came out in 1960. There are two other Slashers that also came out before "Halloween." They are "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Black Christmas" which were both released in 1974. "Texas Chainsaw" is about a group of teens on a road trip through Texas that get terrorized by a family of cannibals. "Black Christmas" is about a killer killing off Sorority Girls in their own house one by one. So even though "Halloween" is considered the Grandfather of the Slasher films, there were three other Slashers that were released before it. Slasher films continued to be popular all the way through the 1980's. The Slasher Genre was revived in 1996 with "Scream" and multiple rip offs of Slasher films from the early years.
Leatherface
Norman Bates
Michael Myers
Craig, with technology evolving there was a time for this kind of movie. (Horror)People never seen movies like these until the 70's. I think it is cool with the art of creation of evil characters in movies.Movies like these capture the what people are thinking.
ReplyDeleteCraig, horror movies such as Friday the 13th and Halloween continue to be popular today. Most people love these movies. The like the adrenaline they get from watching them. I myself are more into love stories, however, I do watch an occasional horror film with my family. Sometimes I find myself laughing at them. I know this is sick but it is my way of making my mind believe that what I am watching is not real. I guess that is where the science of it all comes in. I really enjoyed your post. Mary Ann Reday.
ReplyDeleteAs much as directors love to make slasher movies today, it really don't seem like their doing a good job. Let's take Saw for instance. It just seem like they keep going with it and they don't need too. Every time I saw they were coming out with another one, I got mad instead of happy.
ReplyDeleteI love the cheesy 80's horror films. I guess they are cheesy because of how much older they are. Movies today are more realistic. When movies were made in the 80's there was not much technology. They were still made good for their time period.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Craig. Slasher films are a rite of passage. I think every teen has stayed up late and watched a slasher film with their friends. I know I've seen many but when you watch them today, they look stale and kind of fake. I don't think there has been a good slasher film release in a long time. Recently they tried to redo Texas Chainsaw Massacre and that was pretty good, probably because it was a remake of a classic Slasher.
ReplyDeletei would have to agree with most people that some slasher movies back in the day were better but some slasher movies of today age are just tacky. like the latest Friday the 13th movie, i thought there was more funny parts in it then scary parts, it was just a sad movie. i still think movies or the old days are better because they were though out more due to the lack of technology.
ReplyDeleteOMG! The four movies you posted about are the scariest movies I have ever seen! ( House of a 1000 Corpses, directed by Rob Zombie is the other.)
ReplyDeletePsycho is very suspenseful, as is Halloween. Michael Myers is so creepy when he is stalking the babysitter! Leatherface is horrifying! I am always scared in the country and think of this movie, God forbid I break down and have to ask a murderous local for help. Cell phone coverage can be sketchy! Black Christmas was okay, making me scared to be alone after I watch it movie. (The re-make done in 2006 sucked.) Awesome post!!