What makes a good slasher?

The necessary elements for a great horror film

I was watching a newer slasher movie recently, one that people on Letterboxd said was fun, and I absolutely hated it. (More on that movie in another post.) But it got me thinking about what makes a truly great, or even just a good, slasher movie. Aside from the fact that it should overall be a well-made film, here are necessary elements of a slasher.

#1 - The Killer

In my opinion, the killer is the most important part of a slasher. A good killer, like Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger, is memorable and elevates the movie. A boring killer, like the one from Nail Gun Massacre or whatever that was from I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, will ruin a movie.

A good killer has to have a mysterious backstory, an iconic weapon or costume, and a specific goal, even if it’s just something like “kill all teenagers at this camp”. A killer needs to be charismatic like Freddy, menacing like Jason, terrifying like Candyman, or maybe all three like Patrick Bateman.

#2 - The Kills

This should probably #1 part 2 rather than #2. Creative kills with practical effects and buckets of blood make or break a slasher. This is what I like about the Terrifier movies; they’re not overly scary but Art the Clown sure does know how to spill more blood than a human body should contain.

But it’s not just creativity in kills, a slasher has to be more than a one trick pony. There needs to be a variety of kills, preferably ones that grow in intensity over time. You don’t have to have the same throat slashing every time and you definitely don’t want your first kill to be the best.

#3 - The Characters

Slashers have a lot of tropes, and the colorful cast of characters is probably one of the most well-known. You need to have a quiet girl and a peppy girl, a sarcastic guy and an arrogant jock, someone with a secret past and someone who’s afraid all of the time, a guy who only wants sex and a smart girl who knows where the library is. And they all talk like actual human beings instead of Disney Channel kids written by a 60-year-old.

One by one these characters all die off until there’s only one left, usually the quiet girl. Or, if the movie is subverting your expectations, the jock will survive and the virginal girl will be the first to die.

#4 - The Humor

Obviously, this whole list is subjective, but this one might be the most subjective. A slasher needs to have some moments of comedy, or at least some light moments. Some people like them really silly, like the later Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but I prefer mostly serious movies with a bit of humor thrown in.

#5 - The Setting

The setting for a slasher needs to give a feeling of isolation, even if it’s not in a remote location. The woods is a good setting because it can quickly and easily produce intense feelings in the viewer. The woods are isolated, far from help. They’re expansive and never ending but also claustrophobic and maze-like. The perfect place to let a killer run loose.

But it doesn’t always have to be remote. Halloween is set in a small town or a suburb but help never really seems nearby. It draws on the feeling of isolation in the suburbs, of having a home but not really being a part of a community, little islands in an ocean of freeways.

Time is also a part of the setting. The night is scarier than daytime because things can be hiding around any corner, in any shadow. The 1990s and earlier make for a good setting because you don’t have to worry about cellphones, GPS, and security cameras everywhere.

#6 - The Incompetence

We laugh about how people always split up in horror movies, or how the police never listen to young people, but it’s integral to the slasher. If everyone was hyper competent and thinking clearly, then the story wouldn’t happen. Sure, you don’t want your characters to be complete morons, or at least not all of them, but a sense of superiority is kind of part of the genre.

#7 - The Jump Scares

This one is divisive because some movies have relied too much on jump scares, but I believe you need a limited amount in a good slasher. Maybe one or two fake outs and then a real one. Maybe a fake out followed quickly by the killer jumping out. The audience needs to be on edge, not knowing what to expect next.

And finally …

#8 - The Music

A good slasher has to have great music. The theme from Halloween is a classic and it only adds to the feeling of horror. While not a slasher, the music from Jaws instantly evokes fear and dread in the viewer, making them hyper aware something bad is about to happen.

So, these are the things I think make a good slasher. A great slasher will excel in all of these. In the next post I’m going to talk about relatively new slasher and why it fails in almost all of these. Comment and let me know if you would add anything else.