What Makes A Great Slasher Film?

Modern Slashers..................................................................................................................................
What makes them great or rubbish, well for me their are several key points, as displayed below which I believe the great slasher film must have. Slasher films are a sub-genre branching off from mainstream horror which aims to scare people. A slasher film can involve a serial killer, a creature-feature or even the supernatural! For me I prefer the serial killer however a killer monster is also cool. So what does the great slasher need....

1) Most important is a half-decent plot and script - eg. serial killer comes round to a party and slaughters teens, as simple as that.
2) Nudity , essential for a slasher, at least one hottie must go topless at some point and preferable remain topless whilst she gets killed. Often the less clothes she has on the more vulnerable she will be!
3) Have likeable characters that live or else kill off all the goodies or heros that are unlikeable.
4) Develop the characters as regards personality.
5) Don't make it too short.
6) Be inventive, creative and get a half-decent camera-man.
7) Have a reasonable budget.
8) Make killings unpredictable.

Too many recent slashers do not follow these 8 key rules and fall foul of decent cinema standards. Disgraceful films as shite as Scarecrow Gone Wild and Scream 2 & 3 are prime examples off the top of my head. Below is a poll so you can select multiple options on what you personally feel is the most important point. :wink:

Amount of blood/gore should be an option....

Good Plot & Script
Unpredictable Killings
Being Creative

Myself I'm not a huge fan of slashers, but of the ones I have seen, I prefer ones that try to do something intelligent with it, and dont stick to the genre staples, such as the typical characters e.g. Hot Dumb Blonde, Nerdy Kid, Thick Sports Guy, Wise-Cracking-Afro-Donning guy.

I'd say rather than killing people off in a grusome way, its the imagery that builds up before that is crucial to making the actual death. Hmm...lets find an example to explain this. Jeepers Creepers (terrible film imo), here we firstly arnt shown who it actually is killing, but just what they've done. SO we have the people fixed to the wall and mutilated. At that point you start to think that the film may actually have vestiges of goodness. Unfortunatly it ruins things with the bat-monster-thing.

I think more than anything I just dislike the "teen slashers" that rarely move from the genre staples. The ones that try to do something new tend to be better.

Topless Brunette sluts!

Originally Posted by The Sword of Cao Cao

Topless Brunette sluts!

Knew I'd forgot something? :laughing:

Where's the perverse humor option?

Haha, love this poll. I voted how creative it is. I love all films, and slashers are great for all those reasons. True slasher films are rare these days, a lot of psychological horror out there now, focusing more on the tension building up to death, as opposed to quick out of nowhere murders. The last true slasher films I can think of were the Scream movies, same formula as Friday the 13th and Halloween.

@Justinian: Sweet avatar man I just noticed that heh.

Though hot chicks should be a thing to keep in mind, having a good and intricate plot will make it interesting (Halloween, or FvJ anyone?), good and sympathetic characters will make people identify with it (Halloween 4, Friday 13th films, elm street), and unpredictable killings will make it both scary and memorable.

I don't really like slasher films....meh...

Donald Pleasents should be an option on his own.
Great site.
http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filma...h1pictures.htm

Originally Posted by halie satanus

Donald Pleasents should be an option on his own.
Great site.
http://www.halloweenmovies.com/filma...h1pictures.htm

Don't think I can add more options can I?

Why is there an option for Nudity and one for Topless Blonde Sluts??? aren't Topless Blonde Sluts nude??

Originally Posted by HappeR

Why is there an option for Nudity and one for Topless Blonde Sluts??? aren't Topless Blonde Sluts nude??

Because some slashers often don't have the topless blonde.

if the film is slasher... why is a topless, or nude, girl necessary. can't she get slashed just as bloddily with her clothes on?

its just gratuitous and pointless nudity for the sake of appealing to sex starved teen male audiences.

Originally Posted by the Black Prince

its just gratuitous and pointless nudity for the sake of appealing to sex starved teen male audiences.

Are we minding now?

Originally Posted by the Black Prince

if the film is slasher... why is a topless, or nude, girl necessary. can't she get slashed just as bloddily with her clothes on?

its just gratuitous and pointless nudity for the sake of appealing to sex starved teen male audiences.

When a girl takes her clothes off she is more vulnerable to the killer. I'd show you an example only I'm afraid it would be......closed.

Originally Posted by the Black Prince

Its just gratuitous and pointless nudity for the sake of appealing to sex starved teen male audiences.

Considering that that is the primary audience of horror and slasher flicks, wouldn't that be kind of a good thing to include the titty-titty?
Besides, what are you, some kinda of a anti-nudity puritan moralist prude?

lol, well i am, as there's never enough male nudity, full stop...

but if you want naked chicks, then 1/ buy/rent a porno film 2/ go see a film that has necessary nudity thats useful or part of the plot... there are plenty of films like this, or there certainly used to be...

the whole allegation of senseless violence and nudity comes from its gratuitous use to sell films. a slasher film, in my opinion, is one you'd expect to have violence in... its a gory horror film. you'd be hard pressed to describe a slasher flick as gratuitously violent unless it was scene after scene of violence with no actual plot. but where's the need for nudity?
its this kind of idea that a teen film has to have nudity in it that gives hollywood especially, and film studios in general bad reputations


i should probably say i'm not a fan of any horror film though... i saw some scary physchological **** when i was 12 that really scared me :wub:, and i've never liked the genre since... i'm too imaginative lol... what i think is gonna happen is invariably worse thanj what does...

besides, i like to be thrilled and entertained when i go see a movie, not scarred :wub:... i don;t mind being turned on either... but generally i prefer that to happen in private!

Originally Posted by the Black Prince

lol, well i am, as there's never enough male nudity, full stop...

but if you want naked chicks, then 1/ buy/rent a porno film 2/ go see a film that has necessary nudity thats useful or part of the plot... there are plenty of films like this, or there certainly used to be...

the whole allegation of senseless violence and nudity comes from its gratuitous use to sell films. a slasher film, in my opinion, is one you'd expect to have violence in... its a gory horror film. you'd be hard pressed to describe a slasher flick as gratuitously violent unless it was scene after scene of violence with no actual plot. but where's the need for nudity?
its this kind of idea that a teen film has to have nudity in it that gives hollywood especially, and film studios in general bad reputations

Male Nudity (next post I'll be anti-gay as well). No there's no shame in a good looking girl taking her clothes off in a slasher film. That's part of the criteria needed. It's essential, crucial too the film's success in this genre. If it did not have any it's not slasher. Also I disagree about your whole 'go rent a porno film' argument as I am not a fan of hardcore porn only softcore which is what you get in slashers and I also enjoy watching the slut get killed !

not all

i appreciate some well filmed nudity, when its actually appropriate to the plot for it to happen and it to be shown...

but when you go see a movie, and there's this obligatory poorly filmed sex scene that mainly shows some woman getting her tits out, its just crude...
it does nothing for the film, its just htere gratuitiously

there are plenty of good films where nudity, and sometiomes far more nudity than a mere pair of tits perfectly fits in with the film, where the intimacy or the actions shows something that is relevant