Slaughter High (1986)
Slasher Film
A cheap and very poorly made British variant on the slasher film with much unintentional laughter potential, including a 36 year-old Caroline Munro cast as a teenager
Slasher Films
The slasher film was a genre created with the enormous success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), which was followed by Friday the 13th (1980), which was made as a quick copycat. (There have been some works cited as earlier influences but these two films created the genre). Both spawned a long line of sequels and numerous imitators using similar holiday titles.
The slasher film mostly focuses around a group of teens often isolated at a locale like a summer camp or in the woods as they are stalked by a hulking, frequently deformed maniac who hides their face behind a mask and despatches them in a series of novelty deaths.
The genre underwent a revival in the 1990s where the tropes and cliches of the genre have been deconstructed, homaged and parodied in some often witty ways. The 2000s/10s has also seen a number of remakes of the 1980s originals.
Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988)
Slasher Film
Sleepaway Camp with its unforgettable twist ending stood out in the wasteland of most 80s slasher films. This was the first of four sequels where Bruce Springsteen’s younger sister inherits the role of Angela. While the original stood out, this merely slips into unmemorable formula
Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland (1989)
Slasher Film
The first Sleepaway Camp was a classic of the slasher film for its unforgettable ending. This was the second of two back-to-back shot sequels starring Bruce Springsteen’s younger sister Pamela as the murderous Angela
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Slasher Film
Classic from the heyday of the slasher film. While the plot only recycles Friday the 13th, everything else is above average from the characterisations to the novelty deaths, before the film reaches one of the great unforgettable endings of the cycle
The Sleeper (2012)
Slasher Film
Not to be confused with the Woody Allen film, this is a modern slasher film that pays homage to its 1980s counterparts – in particular, the sorority house slasher as a maniac who deep-breathes down the phone stalks assorted co-eds. Unexceptional in all regards
Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever (2012)
Documentary About the Slasher Film
A documentary about the slasher film, which interviews various directors and actors behind the films about the genre’s origins and rules
The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Feminist Slasher Film
Supposedly a feminist parody of the slasher film but one has doubts. For one, the film is lacking in discernible irony and otherwise no different from the other slasher films of the era bar the fact it was directed by a woman
Slumber Party Massacre (2021)
Slasher Film
The original feminist slasher film gets the remake treatment with interesting results
Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
Slasher Film
The Slumber Party Massacre was an mundane and unmemorable slasher entry; this is a nonsensical sequel that tries to turn it into a copy of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Contains some of the bizarrely ridiculous scenes to ever take part in any slasher film of the era
Slumber Party Massacre III (1990)
Slasher Film
Second film to follow-on from The Slumber Party Massacre. While the original was a straight-up slasher film, the second became completely ludicrous as it veered off in trying to copy the A Nightmare on Elm Street films but this returns to the slasher basics for a vigorous workout of the formula
Sorority House Massacre (1986)
Slasher Film
A Roger Corman produced slasher film, which spawned two sequels. The plot draws heavily on Halloween and comes with all the usual scenes of co-eds being stalked by a maniac escaped from an asylum
Sorority Row (2009)
Sorority House Slasher Film
Loose remake of the 1980s slasher film The House on Sorority Row, competently made but in the end this never sufficiently surmounts the routine
Stage Fright (2014)
Slasher Musical
A slasher musical??? The mind does a double takes trying to process the incongruity of the genre mash-ups. That said, this works exceedingly well – neither compromising on the slasher aspects, yet equally delivering some clever and witty musical numbers
Stan Helsing: A Parody (2009)
Horror Parody
Film from one of the producers of Scary Movie that heads for the same lowbrow comedy routines while spoofing 80s horror films
The Summer of Massacre (2011)
Anthology of Slasher Tales
The unique idea of an anthology made up of five different slasher tales. Unfortunately, the film’s only raison d’etre is serving up serial gore scenes, which have the effect taken out of them because they are all conducted digitally and look biologically preposterous
Sweet Sixteen (1983)
Deadly Teenage Girl/Slasher Film
80s slasher film about a teenage temptress who leaves a trail of dead men around her. An impressive cast but the film sits on a very dubious line
Tales of Halloween (2015)
Anthology of Halloween Horror Stories
An anthology of Halloween-themed horror tales, all from different genre directors, including some interesting high-profile names. The results are uneven with the film providing a couple of amusing segments but nothing truly standout
Terrifier (2016)
Killer Clown
A variation on the killer clown film that does rack up quite a degree of tension and pushes the material for something edgy. A popular hit that has produced two sequels.
Terror Train 2 (2022)
Trainboard Slasher
Sequel to the remake of the 1980s horror classic, shot back-to-back with its predecessor, this is a better film than the remake was
Terror Train (1980)
Trainboard Slasher
One of the better entries among the 1980s slasher film cycle – and even featuring the era’s quintessential heroine Jamie Lee Curtis. Essentially Halloween aboard a train, at which the film does the basics of the genre with perfect competence and undeniably stylish photography
Terror Train (2022)
Trainboard Slasher
Terror Train starring Jamie Lee Curtis was one of the classics of the original slasher film fad. This is a remake
Thanksgiving (2023)
Slasher Film
Eli Roth’s homage to the slasher film that comes with a dark sense of humour and a series of novelty deaths that rival the best of the 80s slasher heyday
13 Fanboy (2021)
Killer Stalks Friday the 13th Actresses
Slasher film that comes with a great hook – one where various real-life actresses from the Friday the 13th films are stalked by a masked maniac
Timecut (2024)
Time Travel/Slasher
A time travel film produced by Christopher Landon that has a number of similarities to Totally Killer in which a girl travels back in time to 2003 to prevent her sister being murdered by a serial killer
Toolbox Murders (2003)
Apartment Block Slasher
After a decade-long slump, Tobe Hooper started to show he still had what it took with this remake of the 1980 slasher film
Totally Killer (2023)
Time Travel/Slasher Film
A Blumhouse production that ends up being a smart conceptual mash-up between Back to the Future and Halloween
Tragedy Girls (2017)
Teen Girls on a Killing Spree/Black Comedy
Darkly funny comedy where two girls in high school conduct a series of murders to create publicity for their true crime blog
Trick (2019)
Halloween Killer
In an era where horror has become safe and mainstream, where content is specifically marketed to PG-audiences, this film about a killer that strikes on Halloween comes with a ferocious gore-drenched enthusiasm
Trick or Treats (1982)
Slasher Film
From the heyday of the slasher film, an effort about a babysitter stalked by an escaped maniac on Halloween Night, which draws great influence from classics of the era such as Halloween and When a Stranger Calls. Nothing standout but what a great supporting cast
Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)
Giallo Psycho-Thriller
A giallo thriller from Mario Bava that is often regarded as the prototype of the slasher film. The film borrows from Agatha Christie with people isolated on an island being killed amid Bava’s artily extravagant set-ups
Unmasked Part 25 (1988)
Slasher Parody/Slasher Maniac in Love
A parody of the slasher film with an amusing central idea – what if a slasher maniac found a love interest and wanted to give up hacking and slashing to be with them?
Urban Legend (1998)
Slasher Film
Following the success of Scream, this was an attempt to make an upmarket slasher film based around the motif of urban legends in the same way that Scream used 1980s slasher films. It is a stretch to make urban legends fit in some cases but director Jamie Blanks delivers reasonable tension
Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
Slasher Film
Sequel fairly much in name only to Urban Legend and barely at all about urban legends, this has the amusing idea of taking place at a film school and features a number of sly asides. This alas befalls routine direction
Valentine (2001)
Slasher Film
Following the revival of the slasher film with the success of Scream, this was a slick but forgettable studio copycat set around a Valentine’s Day motif
V/H/S (2012)
Anthology of Found Footage Horror Tales
An anthology of five short Found Footage horror films each from a different director. As with any anthology these are variable in tone but are on the whole mostly effective and contain a number of alternately unearthly and spooky moments
Victor Crowley (2017)
Slasher Film Homage
Adam Green has enjoyed some success with the Hatchet films; this is the fourth entry in the series … Most of the other films have consisted of not much more than buckets of gore and a host of genre cameos – here though, Green adds a considerable sense of humour to the mix
Visiting Hours (1982)
Slasher Film
Taut and effective effort from the heyday of the slasher film, one of several films on the theme of a woman newscaster being stalked by a psycho. A young Michael Ironside goes to town on the role of the psycho and plays to the gallery with nastily effective results
When a Killer Calls (2006)
The Asylum Mockbuster/Slasher Film
One of The Asylum’s first mockbusters, designed to popularise on the remake of When a Stranger Calls
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Babysitter Stalker
The original babysitter stalker film based on a short film that was then expanded out to feature-length following the success of Halloween
When a Stranger Calls (2006)
Babysitter Stalked
Passable remake of the 1979 slasher film that streamlines the original and sets it all in amazing designer dream home
X-Ray (1982)
Hospital Slasher Film
An early Cannon Films offering among the 80s slasher fad premised around a hospital setting and seeing the phenomenally well-stacked former Playmate Barbi Benton undressed. Most of the paper thin plot seems to have been made up on set and the direction is ridiculously overwrought
You Can’t Kill Stephen King (2012)
In Search of Stephen King/Slasher Film
You have to admit the title gets your attention but this is otherwise a slasher film of sorts about a group in search of Stephen King’s home
You Might Be the Killer (2018)
Slasher Deconstruction/Possession by Indian Mask
There have been some clever and witty deconstructions and parodies of the slasher film in recent years. This starts in with an immediately captivating hook where the title phrase is turned around on the protagonist