Horror Films

For the past few weeks, students have been turning in scary stories that they work on, either in class or during their free time. But let’s talk about the watchable equivalent to written works: movies. The film industry has been booming for over a hundred years. In that time, a lot of different genres have emerged. One of the most prominent is the horror genre. The horror genre is composed of slashers, ghost stories, suspense, and psychological thrillers. Some of the oldest widely known movies in this industry include Nosferatu (1922 in Germany), House of Usher (1960), and Rosemary’s Baby (1968). These are more on the psychological side. Scary movies are the base films for blood and gore, particularly in slashers. The slasher genre seems to be the most representable sub genre for horror. Best known movies here include Psycho (1960), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Child’s Play (1988).

The term “slasher” was coined by audiences and producers alike because of the movie being qualified as “slasher” involves murder, often bloody, at the hands of a killer. However, even though they were considered slashers, older movies such as Psycho, while still entertaining, seem to be only mildly violent by today’s standards. Today’s standards of horror movies: LOTS OF BLOOD and extreme violence. This applies to remakes, which always seem to be gorier, but not necessarily scarier.

One model slasher film is Halloween. Made in 1978, this movie focuses on a teenage babysitter whose friends are massacred by infamous murderer Michael Myers. When it opened in theaters, it was a massive success. It has been stated that this film, which later grew into a popular franchise, laid down some of the most influential guidelines for the slasher genre, including teens engaging in non-married sex get killed, and the popularization of the “final girl” trope, in which one female lead often survives, in which her character is more ‘good’ than other females in the movie.

Another well known horror franchise is Friday the 13th, starting from an original film originally conceived based on Halloween. Set in a summer camp, it follows the camp counselors getting slaughtered by the maniacal mother of a kid who allegedly died at the camp years earlier. The kid, who did not die, would grow up to become the camp’s basic horror attraction: Jason Voorhees. It is known for its musical score, the performance of the actors and actresses, and its infamous “ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah”. This franchise, along with Halloween, are the two horror series that provided the slasher genre with the basis of younger people being methodically stalked and murdered by someone they don’t know.

In film, slashers are probably the most represented brand of horror film there is, particularly that of those released throughout the 1980s.