The slasher film genre
Slasher films can be defined as a subgenre of horror films, which typically consist of a “psychopath or murderer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed tools.” Yet it is argued that slasher films posses certain qualities that make them stand out from other horror subgenres. This paper will go through the origins and history of the slasher genre, while also breaking down particular films of this genre, in order to try to answer the central question: what film was the first the ‘true slasher’?
One immediate film that comes to mind when thinking of a slasher film is Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho (1960). It is one of the “first” mainstream movies to have the iconic image of someone with a knife cutting someone up. Psycho essentially made apparent violence tangible to a mainstream audience in American film. After Psycho in 1963, American filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis came out with Blood feast (1963), two thousand maniacs (1964), and colors me blood red (1965), which were very gory and violent films. Yet these films were closer to exploitation film in American film rather then traditional horror/ slasher film. Straying away from American film to get more background of the slasher genre, we have the birth of the Italian Giallo style of film in the early 60’s. Giallo was specifically an “ Italian- thriller genre that has mystery or detective elements and often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller/ horror, exploitation, sexploitation, and less frequently, supernatural horror elements”. These films had many similarities to a slasher film, as they were very violent, sexual, containing a killer, confusing endings, etc. The godfather of these types of films was Italian director Mario Bava, directing films such as the evil eye (1963). Dario Argento known as the so-called “Italian Hitchcock” directed films such as Cat O’ nine tails (1971) and Four flies on grey velvet (1971), but it wasn’t till Mario Bava’s film A bay of blood (1971) that became known as the model Giallo film, which was an extremely violent film that came to inspire future American slasher films.
Moving into the 1970’s we have the question “what was the first true slasher film?” Many argue between, Black Christmas (1974) and Halloween (1978) being the first slasher film, yet in actuality there is no true answer due to both films possessing certain qualities. Black Christmas came out before Halloween in 1974, which included a faceless killer, and point of view shots of the killer walking and going through the window. Although this film never really broke through as mainstream, despite this film being very well done and Bob Clark being a great director. On the other hand, Halloween used many of the same techniques that Black Christmas did and it caught the eyes of many American film consumers. At one point Halloween became the most successful independent film ever created, and “Adjusted to 2018 prices, the 1978 independent film made $184 million on a budget of about $1.3 million” (Brueggemann, 2018). Halloween was a film ahead of its time and an all around excellent film, and even people who are not avid film consumers can recognize Halloween as being an iconic film. Two years later the film Friday the 13th came out which many look at it in a form of mocking Halloween, although Friday the 13th is still a very well made film. The murder in Halloween was more of in the shadows and off camera, yet in Friday the 13th the murderer was all in your face, with a full on decapitation taking place, which was never seen by a film audience at the time. It can be said that it was Friday the 13th that opened the gates to let all the future slasher films flourish, such as Prom night (1980) and my bloody valentine (1981) and so on with countless other films being produced into the 1980’s. Halloween and Friday the 13th really set a standard in slasher films and throughout the 1980’s dozens and dozens of films in this nature were being produced
When talking about slasher films (especially the most successful ones) there seem to be certain characteristics that these films obtain. In many of these films there is the “final girl” who can be defined as the “primarily female character that survives until the end and dispatches or escapes the killer” (Clayton 6). A notorious and very well know “final girl” is Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween (1978). She is a smart girl who is also a babysitter and decides to babysit on the night of Halloween, able to fight off Michael Myers throughout the entire film. Another characteristic these films obtain is the isolated setting such as a summer camp, high school, a party, etc, where adults don’t have much access to, therefore making these kids left on their own to fight off the murderer. Another characteristic is the mask covered killer present in these films, such as Leatherface in the Texas chainsaw massacre, Michael Myers from Halloween, and Jason from Friday the 13th. A lot of these killers being masked have to do with a psychological aspect of unexpected death. Many people find it more terrifying to be killed by someone you cannot identify, because “Our brains are specialized for recognizing faces; we identify each other by our faces” (Radford, 2009). Another very well known characteristic of these films, and arguably the most notable, is the famous point of view shot, where the audience is seeing through the eyes of the killer, as seen in Halloween.
Slasher films have always been a genre that produced great young stars such as Kevin Bacon in Friday the 13th (1980), Brad Pitt in Cutting class (1989), etc. As the years progressed slasher films became a topic of parodies, with films such as Student bodies (1981) and Wacko (1982) that made fun of the slasher genre films, yet also implemented the techniques that made them successful. As the slasher film started to decline by the 90’s a lot of people acclaimed it to the fact that a lot of these films were repetitive and did not evolve at all. While this can be true in some aspects it is also far from the truth when looking at the films that really embodied the characteristics of a slasher film, such as Halloween and Friday the 13th. This can be seen in the sequels of Halloween as seen in the 3rd movie where Michael Myers was absent through the film as well as the 5th Friday the 13th film where the killer was not Jason but instead a paramedic, or in the 9th film when he went to hell, and in the 10th film where he went to space. In my opinion, the slasher films that tried to deviate too much from their roots is what caused the decline of this genre at this time.
The unanswered question still remains, what was the first true slasher film? While there is controversy between many films being the “first true slasher” such as Psycho, Halloween, and Friday the 13th, many accredit Halloween being the first true slasher film. The question is, was Halloween the first true slasher film? Upcoming filmmaker John Carpenter, which turned a three hundred thousand budget into seventy million at the box office, directed the film. Halloween is an undisputable a hit, and not only because Michael Myers came again in nine other films, with the most recent Halloween film that came out in 2018, but because everyone seemed to copy Halloween up until the mid 80’s. After Halloween was made there were countless films made with a masked killer that embodied the same characteristics of Halloween such isolation, masked killers, and POV shots, up until the death of slasher films. These types of killers were known as slashers, and it is believed that Halloween is the first true slasher film. Slashers are known for their tropes, which can be defined as “devices and conventions that a writer can rely on as being present in the audience's minds”, which usually include the masked killer, the hunt, the final girl, and a lot of death. Although Carpenter collected inspiration from previous films and trends, therefore should look back at those films in order to try to answer, “what was the first slasher film?” In 1960 the film Eyes without a face featured a white expressionless mask, which can be seen as similar to Michael Myers mask. A month later the film Peeping Tom was released which pioneered the killer Point of view shot, which a decade later would be seen in the opening scene of Halloween. The most resemblance seen with Halloween can be the film Psycho directed by Hitchcock, which broke box office records at the time. Many refer Psycho as a proto- slasher film, which carpenter owed a lot to this film. In Halloween Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of Janet Leigh as seen in Psycho, yet one of the greatest similarities between the two films is the knife, as you can see both killers in the films “slashing” with the knife, although that seems to be where the similarity between the two films ends. Norman Bates from Psycho was a very different type of antagonist when compared to Michael Myers in Halloween. Bates can be seen as a very sympathetic character throughout the film, and the psychiatrist in the film explains how such this man is capable of such evil acts. In retrospect, Michael Myers doctor Samuel Looms simply calls him “purely and simply evil” (Halloween, 1978). In short Psycho is not a true slasher film. Months after Psycho was released, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday came out as discussed earlier, with many other films being released. Bava’s victims are choked, drowned, burned, etc. In this aspect we see the hunt and a lot of death, which would come to be known as the slasher. Filmmakers like Bavo created a unique style, which is often cited today as precursors to future slasher films, yet his films were not true slasher films. If we move forward ten years the films Black Christmas and Texas chainsaw massacre both premiered in October of 1974. These films provide a number of the tropes that are present in slasher films and provide the first examples of “the final girl”. It can be said that these two are the first true slasher film, yet they are very different from one another, just as they are both different from Halloween, which brings the question back “was Halloween the first true slasher film?” Halloween was doubtlessly the moment where all these pieces and components seen over the decades found its cohesion.
Another thing that can be implicitly seen in slasher films is themes of sexuality and gender. From the beginning of these films we can begin to see who the “final girl” is due to the fact that they are the only character developed through the film. In the beginning of these films the final girl can be seen as scared and feminine, yet as the film progresses we can see the final girl obtaining more “masculine” traits, due to the fact that the final girl always attempts to hunt down the killer instead of running from it. This is seen in Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis, how at first she is very vulnerable and timid, yet by the end of the film she is brave and wants to fight back. The functions of the monster and victim have always existed and have tended to be male. Likewise, the function of the victim has always existed and tends to be women. It is clear in this light that the victim function presumes “female-ness”. It could be interpreted from an audience that the only girl who seemed to survive these slasher films were virgins, and if you had sex you would die. As stated by Carol J. Clover ““Killing those who seek or engage in unauthorized sex amounts to a generic imperative of the slasher film. It is an imperative that crosses gender lines, affecting males as well as females. The numbers are not equal, and the scenes not equally charged; but the fact remains that in most slasher films after 1978 (following Halloween), men and boys who go after ‘wrong’ sex also die.” In regards to Halloween it can be seen as just a film, as Carpenter has stated many times he created the film with no deeper and underlying meaning, other then to create a good horror film.
In conclusion, the slasher genre died off as quickly as they lasted, yet while they did last it unquestionable that these films had a vast impact for feature films to come, and were very well constructed films. The slasher genre we know of today developed over decades, with tropes and characteristics of this genre developing in the mid 90’s, until all the aspects were cohesively put together in films such as Halloween, and Friday the 13th, along with many other films from the 70’s and 80’s. From Mario Bava to Bob Clark, John Carpenter, Sean S. Cunningham, and so on, have each had an impact towards the slasher genre we know of today. One thing that can be said for certain is that all these slasher films all possessed the same tropes and characteristics, which ultimately where the foundation of slasher films. The characteristics defined by slasher films were a masked killer, a knive, isolation, a final girl, point of view shots, etc. Whether or not these films have an underlying gender ideology, such as the final girl becoming more masculine throughout the film and being “pure” throughout the film is speculated. In addition whether or not Halloween was the birth of the slasher genre can not be answered as well, as there have been many films before Halloween possessing some of these traits of slasher films, as well as films that came out after Halloween. Despite all that, and despite how fast slasher films died out as they did come, one thing that can be said is that these films are truly an experience to watch, and have served as a foundation for many other modern films of this era.