For decades, one of the most prevalent subgenres in horror is the slasher. The barebones definition of a slasher, according to Merriam Webster, is a person who kills with an edged blade. Along with that, there are tropes most slasher films abide by. For instance, a slasher film often features a group of teens or young adults who are the killer’s victims. Said killer usually has some quality that makes them more than just a serial killer. Some slashers have unnatural or supernatural abilities, like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, who are practically immortal, or Freddy Krueger, who kills via dreams. Although, there are exceptions, like Scream’s Ghostface.
With the popularity of slasher films, as well as how many slasher films there are, there is debate over what film is the first slasher movie. On Reddit’s r/horror, scary movie fans put forth their own contenders for what the first slasher is, and these fans make excellent points, so the answer is not so cut and dry.
Psycho Came Before Many of Horror’s Biggest Slasher Icons
Without question, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is one of the most influential horror movies. Coming out in 1960, audiences were horrified and shocked by some of its provocative and violent imagery. For instance, the infamous shower scene electrified and terrified audiences with the violence implied during it.
The killer at the heart of Psycho is none other than Norman Bates, and he meets the barebones definition of a slasher. When it comes to other elements of a slasher film, Psycho doesn’t necessarily meet those expectations. Bates, for instance, is just a person with the capacity to do violent and horrible things, he’s no boogeyman. Meanwhile, when he kills, he is not seeking out numerous victims. Instead, he targets women who check into his motel. While this horror movie has inspired the genre in numerous ways and predates other slasher films, a killer with a knife alone does not make a slasher movie.
Halloween Was Inspired by Black Christmas
Unlike a lot of other slasher films, Black Christmas did not spawn a decades-long franchise. Instead, the 1974 film was eventually remade in 2006 and again in 2019, but it would not get a direct sequel. This film set the groundwork for most slasher movies. For instance, like many of the slasher movies that would follow, Black Christmas is about a group of young adults — sorority girls — who are stalked by a killer, with Olivia Hussey’s Jesse Bradford being the film’s final girl.
While Black Christmas doesn’t have an actual follow-up, in a way, it did get a spiritual successor with John Carpenter’s Halloween. In fact, the director of Black Christmas, Bob Clark, even addressed how he never intended to do a sequel; however, he did discuss with horror icon John Carpenter what a sequel to Black Christmas would look like.
“I said it would be the next year and the guy would have actually been caught, escape from a mental institution, go back to the house, and they would start all over again. And I would call it Halloween“, the filmmaker shared with Icons of Fright, per Bloody Disgusting.
This idea bears a lot of similarities to 1978’s Halloween, but as Clark clarified, he sees Halloween as Carpenter’s movie through and through, even pointing out how the script Carpenter directed came with that title on it. That in mind, Clark acknowledged that there is a chance that Carpenter and Halloween are inspired by his Black Christmas, which would not be surprising since it paved the way for the wave of slasher films that would come in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s.
Even Before Black Christmas, Another Icon Changed the Horror Game
While Black Christmas set up many of the tropes expected of a slasher film, just a few months prior to its release, another horror movie changed the game entirely, delivering with it one of the most iconic villains in horror history — Leatherface. While The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Leatherface is a fan favorite with slasher icons like Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger, he is also similar to the proto-slasher Norman Bates.
Like Norman, Leatherface is just a man — a dangerous man with extreme strength, but a man nonetheless. Along with that, while he butchers humans and uses their remains for art, Leatherface is not seeking out victims. Everyone he kills in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre comes to his home first. Unlike Psycho, Leatherface does have an ensemble to take on — like most contemporary slashers — and this ensemble better represents the demographic slasher films usually target, young adults. Along with that, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre features an iconic final girl: Marilyn Burns’ Sally Hardesty. She demonstrates the grit of a final girl, and her escape provides a necessary catharsis for the audience.
With all that in mind, one of the major things that makes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre an unconventional slasher film is the fact that Leatherface is not working alone. His entire family is in on the murders, but he is also a victim to their abuse. While Leatherface is the main killer of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, his brother and father are the masterminds behind this house of horrors, and they are at times more frightening than Leatherface.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is early enough in horror history that it is not conforming to any specific slasher rules. When one thinks of a slasher film nowadays, the structure of movies like Black Christmas and Halloween more so come to mind. There is no denying that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has what would be considered slasher elements. Along with that, it is a film that feels at home with the grindhouse horror, which is often defined by its salacious content and low budgets. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is more so a mix of horror subgenres, even before some of these sub-genres, like the slasher, were part of the cultural zeitgeist.
It makes perfect sense that there is debate over what is technically the first slasher film, and there is no denying that these four films — Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, and Halloween — have paved the way for what a slasher movie looks like in the 2020s. Perhaps the most cut-and-dry slashers out of the bunch are Black Christmas and Halloween, with the latter having a longer legacy than the former. There is no Halloween, nor is there a slasher genre, without the other movies.
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2025-03-16 18:21