Horny Teenagers Must Die! (2024)
Slasher Film
A slasher film that certainly grabs your attention with a sensationalistic title. While not without occasional amusements, this is mostly amateurish
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.
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
Prom Night (1980)
Slasher Film
Entry amid the 1980s slasher fad featuring Jamie Lee Curtis. A fairly dreary effort that comes with much disco dancing footage
Alice in Murderland (2010)
Alice in Wonderland Slasher Film
This came out the same time as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The idea of Alice twisted into a horror film holds an irresistible appeal but this is an amateurish mess than squanders its potential
The Masque of the Red Death (1989)
Edgar Allan Poe Slasher Film
Disappointingly, not an adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story but more of a Poe-themed slasher film about a masked killer dressed as the Red Death
Halloween Ends (2022)
Slasher Film
David Gordon Green and Jamie Lee Curtis return to round out their highly underwhelming Halloween reboot trilogy. By now, this feels like a Halloween film in name only
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
Slasher Film
In recent years, we have seen successful revivals of the Scream and Halloween franchises. Now it is the turn of another classic 1990s slasher film, a reworking that emerges with hugely underwhelming results
Lady Krampus (2018)
Christmas Slasher
This is a misleadingly titled film that features no Krampus and is actually a low-budget Christmas slasher that has been renamed by the distributor. Poorly made on all accounts.
April Fool’s Day (2008)
Slasher Film
One of the worst among the 00s fad for remakes of 80s horror films. The original is abandoned all bar the name and becomes an I Know What You Did Last Summer-type slasher peopled by unlikeable teens
Bikini Girls on Ice (2009)
Slasher Film
This gets full marks for an attention-grabbing title. Unfortunately, it is the most interesting thing about the film that otherwise only offers up plentiful bikini-clad girls but routine slasher mechanics
The Lurker (2019)
High School Play Slasher Film
Scout Taylor-Compton stars in a slasher about a killer stalking the cast of a high school play. She plays with a professionalism but the rest feels like an amateur production
Black Christmas (2019)
Girl’s Dormitory Slasher
A remake of the work that has been cited as the first slasher film. This is less a horror film than a horror film that has been hijacked by a political agenda, delivered with a relentlessly loud and damning misandrist tone
Don’t Fuck in the Woods 2 (2022)
Body-Snatching Parasites
Don’t Fuck in the Woods was a reasonably smart slasher film that came with an attention-grabbing title. This is a sequel that introduces body-snatching parasites to the mix
Cut Shoot Kill (2017)
Movie Set Slasher
Low-budget horror film in which a novice actress signs on to star in a low-budget slasher film only to find the director appears to be killing off people for real
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Slasher Film
Slasher film from the 1980s heyday directed by the once great J. Lee Thompson. This drags drearily where the only going for it are some novelty splatter effects and a twist ending that makes no sense whatsoever
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
Scream for Help (1984)
Psycho-Thriller/Slasher Film
Often wrongly pegged as a slasher film, this is more of a 1940s psycho-thriller with slasher sensibilities. The notorious Michael Winner directs with typically crude and unsophisticated effect
Scream VI (2023)
Slasher Sequel
The sixth entry in a series that began as a smart and clever parody/deconstruction of the slasher film. Now this has become just another teen franchise film that has forgotten all the meta margin notes.
Pandemonium (1982)
Slasher/Horror Parody
The slasher film only really came into existence in 1980 but was so prolifically milked that by even two years later it had spawned its own sub-cycle of parodies. This hits in with a wacky anything goes absurdity but, aside from an amusing Carrie spoof, little of it is funny
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
Don’t Go in the Woods (1981)
Slasher Film
One of the ‘don’t __’- titled entries of the 1970s/80s. This was an entry in the decade’s popular slasher cycle with a hulking manic stalking trampers in the backwoods
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981)
Psycho Film
One of the original Video Nasties. In all rather regards, this is a fairly scuzzy looking grindhouse psycho film. Nothing terribly interesting to the show, although it does eventually offer a couple of gory killings, which is what got the censors upset during the day
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Slasher Film
The sixth of the Halloween films, the fifth with Michael Myers. By now John Carpenter’s original eerie suspense has been reduced to crude slasher movie payoffs. This tries to add some nonsense about druidic cults
A Nightmare on Elm Street Part II: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
Dream-Invading Boogey Man
The first and worst of the A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels. The dream logic becomes incoherent, while the film is twisted out of shape to become a bizarre gay Coming Out parable
Scary Movie (2000)
Genre Spoof
The first in a popular series of comedies, this spoofs the recent hits of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer in the most vulgar and witless way possible
A Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master (1988)
Dream-Invading Boogey Man
Fourth of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films. Under Renny Harlin’s hand, the unworldly atmosphere of Wes Craven’s original is replaced by moments of incredible silliness
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Slasher Film/Psychic Powers
The seventh of the Friday the 13th films, this tries to add some novelty with a heroine who has psychic powers but is mostly the same thing as before
The Dungeonmaster (1984)
Warrior's Virtual Quest/Anthology
An anthology film produced by Charles Band where assorted directors turn in seven episodes all centred around a videogame warrior put through a series of tests by The Devil
Bloodmoon (1990)
Girl's School Slasher
Belated Australian entry in the slasher genre about killings at a Catholic girls’ school, this is shabby on all counts
Rocktober Blood (1984)
Psycho Rock Star Returns from the Dead
The first in a cluster of mostly terrible 80s films that tried to incorporate horror and rock music, this concerns a rock star sent to the electric chair after a killing spree who now appears to return from the dead
Pieces (1983)
Slasher Film
A venture into the slasher film from hack Spanish director Juan Piquer Simon that features utterly surreal bad dialogue and copious amounts of blood
National Lampoon’s Class Reunion (1982)
Slasher Film Parody
Following the highly successful Animal House, this was the second of the films made using the name of the satirical magazine National Lampoon and is a feeble parody of the slasher film
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
Slasher Film
The fifth and arguably the worst of the Friday the 13th films. Jason is resurrected and engaged in much butchering, before an end reveals it was someone else altogether
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
Christmas Slasher Film
The first sequel to the Santa slasher film. This has become a bad movie classic because half the film brazenly consists of footage recycled from the first, while the other half is dominated by the hilariously bad acting of psycho Eric Freeman
Fatal Pulse (1987)
Slasher Film
Entry in the 1980s slasher fad with a manic killing women at a sorority house that comes with a Jekyll and Hyde rationale. Shabbily made on all counts and often repellent in its nastiness
Die Cheerleader Die (2008)
Slasher Film
Hands down, this is the worst slasher film ever made. Seemingly shot by amateurs who have never held a video camera before and acted by those who have no prior experience, this is a painful viewing experience
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
The Burning (1981)
Slasher Film
Shabbily made entry in the 1980s slasher genre. Noted in retrospect for several before they were famous names and being the first producing credit of Harvey Weinstein
Motor Home Massacre (2005)
Slasher Film
Ridiculous backwoods slasher film featuring a no-name cast that frequently collapses into the laughable
Kill Her Goats (2023)
Folk Slasher
You could maybe coin the term Folk Slasher for this low-budget film where girls are pursued by chainsaw wielding figures in goat-headed masks. Painfully bad on all counts.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
A Nightmare on Elm Street Sequel
The sixth of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films, sold with the gimmick of a 3D release. New director Rachel Talaly refuses to take the material seriously and turns the show into an absurd cartoon
Open House (1987)
Radio Talkback Slasher
Shabby entry in the slasher genre with a radio talkback host receiving calls from a killer who is slaughtering female realtors
Friday the 13th Part III in 3D (1982)
Slasher Film
Third of the Friday the 13th films, shot in the brief fad for 3D films in the early 80s. This is also the one where Jason adopts his trademark hockey mask