The Golden Era of Slasher Films
Slasher films have been around for almost forty years and are still a topic on everyone’s mind. They all also have their own themes, plots, notable music scores and most importantly the iconic killers. There is no exact beginning but there are two films that influenced them.
The first film that influenced the slasher film was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) being the most important (Petridis). What the author is saying about this film is that it shows a normal motel manager (Anthony Perkins) running it all by himself and then he gets kind of sexually aroused by the main actress Marion (Janet Leigh), then shows another evil side to him that we wouldn’t expect until later in the film. There is the peeping tom that has influenced many not just slasher films but horror films that involves the killer or stalker looking at the victim silently without them noticing. Also, what this film influenced is the fact that the narrative includes a killer, victims and survivors which carries onto the future slasher films. A key factor in this film is how the character is always a victim of sexual punishment and kills Marion because of a dramatic experience. Although, it is recognized as the ancestor of slasher films to some film critics and scholars. Another film that was argued to be the start of slasher films is Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) because it added more elements to the genre.
What Texas Chainsaw Massacre did to the genre was not use older adults as victims but instead used teens as the protagonists and victims (Gill). What Gill is trying to say is that this film was made to draw in a younger audience, warn teens about vigorous things and what would happen if you did this, and that this is what will happen and this is what many slasher films are based off. Furthermore, this film has been argued as the start of the slasher genre because of the murderer, victims and plot of the film. On another note, it’s also based on a true story, which is different from other slashers. Furthermore, the crucial elements that are shown in this subgenre are the killer, location, weapons, victims, shock and Final Girl (Clover). The next film to take off was not made as well as this one but it is regarded as the start of “The Golden Age of Slasher Films.”
For the killer, their theme is always kill the teens due to past events and the location is very crucial because it should be in an unknown place like a camp or a small town. The killers always have a specific weapon like Michael with a knife, Jason with the machete and Freddy with his glove. Victims just to recap, it’s always teenagers doing rebellious things and leaving themselves vulnerable and the Final Girl which is usually the “pure” girl that destroys the killer. Finally, the shock which as it fully states the films shock the audience with suspense and horror.
The impact on film history these films have made is that they weren’t going to be horror movies but be a whole different type of genre. It was due to the fact of these films it all was just representation of gender and sexuality. Also to it wasn’t formally accepted in being any subgenre. Also, introducing different and new techniques of using the camera to tell the story in first person or third person. We are even introduced to different and new characters.
That film that started “The Golden Age” is Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), it also added a brand-new look into this subgenre of horror films and the teen slasher film (Gill). This film paved the way for a new look into horror films. The new theme that was added into this was the survival of the “Final Girl” known as the survivor of the film (Clover, 342). What this theme in the films did was it gave at least one teenage girl masculine traits and made them the “virgin” who could kill the killer. Halloween is known for this theme because Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) doesn’t do drugs [even though she took a small puff of a joint], underage drink or have premarital sex. Even though she doesn’t, she’s surrounded by her friends that do. The music is very iconic because every time you hear the music you wonder where the hell the killer is or what’s going to happen. Music was a key factor to this and future films because even if no one has never seen this film they know that feeling of the song. That led to the next film that comes up with a chilling sound that frightened people.
Next film that kept the subgenre going was Friday the 13th (Sean Cunningham, 1980). What I mean by sound is the sound of Jason Voorhees mother (Betsy Palmer) [Later in the sequels] killing the camp counselors. What you are hearing is the sound of Jason’s voice through his mother “Ki Ki Ki ma ma ma.” Everyone also gets chills when they hear this because it gives you the same feeling of when is he or she going to strike. This film, however, does break the Final Girl theme because the heroine (Adrienne King) has sex with the camp counselor instructor, therefore breaks the rule but she manages to kill Mrs. Voorhees. Little do we know she will pay the price in the sequel. Then when this film and Halloween were moderate hits and made a good amount of money, more and more copy cats and sequels were being made but didn’t make as much. These ones did contribute to the subgenre but the next film with a new character was going to make almost just as much.
What also contributed to these films was all the different camera movements and angles. In Halloween, the shots were sometimes in first person point of view to what the killers are seeing. The other view was also when we see him it’s in third person view to see him lurking in the background as a creeper or stalker tone to his character, where the camera focuses on just Michael and Laurie. In Friday, it does not begin like Halloween where it’s only the characters’ perspective instead the camera lurks over the whole campsite, where the killer is looking at everything not just one specific person or group. Specifically, these films and the ones to come after all have same elements but different camera angles.
That made about the same amount as those films was Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984). The only reason it made a little more money was because what Wes Craven did was changed in theme and character. In Nightmare, it was changed in theme because the character of Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) shows a great example of feminism that was very similar to the women in the classic horror films (Christensen). Which indeed Nancy was given the scared and frightened girl impression all throughout the film up until the climax. Then towards the end of the film, she used knowledge and wisdom to defeat Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) because she had to think of how to kill him due to her friend and family thinking she’s crazy. The character of Freddy though has the same characteristics as Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931), Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931) and The Wolfman (George Waggner, 1941) because he has that unique laugh and scary laugh that everyone is familiar with.
What I’ve also learned about these movies is that most of the films were made at independent studios and had new directors and a new cast. For example, John Carpenter was not well known before Halloween and after the film’s release he was filming some big budget films like Halloween II, The Thing and The Fog. Wes Craven wasn’t a name until after Nightmare then he was known for films like The Scream movies and Carnival of Souls. For actress like Jamie Lee Curtis she really was a horror icon after Halloween in films like Prom Night (Paul Lynch, 1980) and Trading Places (John Landis, 1983). Also, Kevin Bacon was being recognized after Friday the 13th in films like Footloose (Herbert Ross, 1984), JFK (Oliver Stone, 1991) and Apollo 13 (Ron Howard, 1995). Finally, Robert Englund and Johnny Depp after Nightmare became famous after this film with the sequels and New Nightmare (Wes Craven, 1994), Johnny Depp became famous after this film in Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990) and Pirates of the Caribbean series. The biggest film that was influenced by these films combined was Scream (Wes Craven, 1996) because of its content. The content that this film mentions is that it almost gives a nod toward the slasher films especially with what they came up with “The Horror Movie Survivor Rules.” Which this just shows that you can never have premarital sex, can never do drugs or drink and never say “I’ll be right back” ‘Cause you won’t. That basically does show how much of an impact slasher films have made.
To end it, there have been many horror conventions based off these films. There have also been many in depth fans that love these films and cherish these films, an example for Nightmare fans have been known as “Fred Heads” for being big fans of the franchise. Also, too there are Friday Fans and Halloween fans who are not as well known.
What I’ve learned throughout this semester with these films is that they are all unique and different than most horror films. They add new plots, themes, elements and characters that we can be haunted by, scared of or shocked from. They have made a big mark in film history and continue to this day.
Works Cited
Friday the 13th. Dir. Sean Cunningham. Paramount Pictures, 1980. Film
Halloween. Dir. John Carpenter. Compass International, Falcon Productions, 1978. Film
Nightmare on Elm Street. Dir. Wes Craven. New Line Cinema, 1984. Film
Christensen, Kyle. “The Final Girl versus Wes Craven's ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’:Proposing a Stronger Model of Feminism in Slasher Horror Cinema.” Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 34, no. 1, 2011, Jstor.org. Web. 08 Mar.2017
Clover, Carol J. Men, women and chainsaws: gender in the modern horror film. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U, 1997. Print.
GILL, PAT. “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family.” Journal of Film and Video, vol. 54, no. 4, 2002, pp. 16–30., www.jstor.org/stable/20688391.
Petridis, Sotiris. “A Historical Approach to the Slasher Film.” Film International 12.1 (2014): 76-84. Web.