Slasher movies are a horror subgenre that has developed a cult following unlike any other. Due to real-life influences such as serial killings, murders, and odd crimes that began occurring in the United States, the genre flourished in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The catharsis formula is frequently used in these films, as the villains almost always have unresolved prior trauma that they release by murdering others. Many cinema reviewers credit Hitchcock’s Psycho as one of the subgenre’s initial influences; yet, Psycho is now mostly classified as a psychological thriller.
Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise, Freddy Kreuger from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Chucky from Child’s Play, and Ghostface from the Scream series are some of our favourite and most well-known slasher villains.
Many of them were the brainchild of filmmakers who have been able to build a name for themselves simply because of these serial killers, but almost all of them were inspired by real-life serial killers in some way.
People have had a fascination with violence and murder for much longer than we can fathom. From medieval torture methods to famous murderers such as Jack the Ripper, the act of murder, no matter how gruesome, elicits fear and sadness in most people, but it also piques their interest.
Today, we’ll look at some of the lesser-known killers from slasher flicks that helped us fall in love with the genre, as well as others who didn’t get the attention they deserved.
ChromeSkull ( Laid to Rest, 2009)
Laid to Rest is a 2009 slasher film written and directed by Robert Green Hall and starring Bobbi Sue Luther, Kevin Gage, and Sean Whalen (0.20 to 0.21). ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest II was released in 2011 as a sequel, and a prequel is still under development.
A small girl awakens and escapes from a morgue casket in the first scene of the film. She contacts 911 out of panic, but the line is disconnected. When the mortician comes to check on what is going on, he is killed by a man that appears out of nowhere, wearing a metallic skull mask. In order to escape, the girl (nicknamed “Princess”) is able to stab him and run out where she is picked up by a boy named Tucker who agrees to take her home to his wife Cindy.
While tracking Princess down to Tucker’s house, ChromeSkull murders Cindy, allowing Tucker and Princess to flee. The two meet up with a man named Steven, who discovers that ChromeSkull is a serial murderer who uses a camera on his shoulder to record himself murdering women and then delivers the tapes to the authorities.
Many people are slain as Tucker and Steven confront ChromeSkull and escape several times in order to keep Princess alive. ChromeSkull has no qualms about murdering everyone who gets in his way or gets in his way.
In the climax of the film, ChromeSkull traps Princess and shows her his camera where she finds out she used to be a prostitute whom he drugged and then beat on the head with his bat, causing her to get amnesia.
This frustrates her and she attempts to attack the killer. In the midst of all the struggling, his mask falls off and he accidentally puts on another one which Tucker had lined with Cyanoacrylate .
The chemical causes his face to start melting and as ChromeSkull writhes in pain and agony, Princess bludgeons him, seemingly to death with an aluminium bat. Princess leaves behind a missing persons flyer that Steven had earlier printed out for her and writes down a detailed explanation of everything that went down for when the police arrive.
ChromeSkull’s real name was Jesse Cromeans, and he was from Jacksonville, Florida, according to what is known about him. He was deafening and would sample the audio from the women’s voices and use it to construct unique voice recordings that he could use to communicate with others after recording himself killing his victims.
ChromeSkull was incredibly strong for his size, and his weapon of choice was a pair of twin hunting knives.. When he returns in the 2011 sequel, it appears that he was nursed back to health by the secret organisation he ran instead of being found half dead by the police like Princess had planned.
He tries to go on another killing rampage on Halloween and the film ends with his pregnant wife finding out about his killings. Not being able to bear the news, she shoots herself in the interrogation room itself.
Gunther (The Funhouse, 1981)
The Carnival of Terror, directed by horror filmmaker Tobe Hooper, was also released as a sequel to The Funhouse. Elizabeth Berridge , Kevin Conway, and William Finley starred in the picture.
After The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Hooper’s next huge hit was The Funhouse, which was set against the backdrop of a local carnival’s terrifying ride, where a group of youngsters are hunted by a deformed killer. Amy reluctantly decides to go to a carnival with her boyfriend Buzz(1.58to1.59), her friend Liz, and Liz’ boyfriend Richie in the film’s narrative.
At the carnival, the teenagers smoke pot, cause chaos, view exhibits and magic shows and even watch a strip-show they were not legally of age to view yet. It all seems fun and games until their activities seem to border on more danger to derive more adventure.
Richie dares the group to spend the night on a dark ride called The Funhouse after the park closes. The group hides during closing time to avoid getting caught and once the carnival is shut down for the night, they come out. As soon as they do, though, they witness a man murder one of the carnival fortune tellers who works nights as a prostitute.
Richie manages to grab some money while the group tries to find a way out, which the killer’s father and the carnival’s barker believe he took after murdering the fortune teller.
Conrad, the barker, gets into a physical altercation with his son Gunther, only to reveal that beneath the mask was a horribly disfigured visage with jutting fangs and thinning, white hair.
Richie’s pals encourage Conrad to return the money when he realises that they are being observed, but they recognise that it is too late. Conrad assassinates Richie by hanging him from one of the Funhouse’s ropes.
Meanwhile, a hysterical Liz after witnessing her boyfriend’s death is confronted by Gunther. She tries to fight him off, but he puts her head through an exhaust fan, mutilating and killing her.
Although Buzz manages to stab and kill Conrad when he gets confronted by him, Gunther comes in at the last minute to kill Buzz. In classic slasher film fashion, it boils down to the last surviving member of the group and the evil killer who has killed all her friends.
It does not take much on Amy’s part to defeat Gunther as he dies in an electrocution accident in the Funhouse’s maintenance area and an exhausted Amy walks out of the carnival at dawn to finally go home.
Gunther was the film’s secondary antagonist, but due to his unusual look, he is included on this list rather than Conrad. Conrad and Gunther’s familial history is unknown, as is the reason for Gunther’s appearance. However, it is evident from his interactions with his father that Gunther was never treated properly, probably due to his appearance.
He also seems to exhibit strange sexual behaviours, as he begins to lose it following his premature ejaculation during his contact with the prostitute. Overall, his physical and psychological growth was stymied, resulting in a reversal of his mature patterns.
Babyface (The Hills Run Red, 2009)
Dave Parker directed and David J Schow wrote The Hills Run Red, which was published on home DVD in 2009. Sophie Monk, Tad Hilgenbrink, and William Sadler starred in the picture. This film follows in the footsteps of Scream in that it has a film within a film about a terrifying killer.
Things quickly go awry, and all of the terrifying fictitious events begin to occur in real life. When a young guy named Tyler goes looking for a copy of the film The Hills Run Red, he runs upon Alexa, the daughter of Wilson, the film’s director.
Tyler goes in search of said film to Wilson’s home in the woods after Alexa tells him it is where he would find it. Meanwhile, we find out that his girlfriend Serina has been cheating on him with his best friend Lalo .
Tyler takes Alexa, Serina and Lalo along with him but the group gets attacked by rednecks on the way who threaten to rape and kill the two girls. The rednecks are attacked by someone dressed as Babyface, the leading antagonist and killer in the film The Hills Run Red.
The gang is then kidnapped by Babyface, who attempts to kill Tyler and Serina while they attempt to flee, only to injure themselves multiple times. Tyler is approached by director Wilson as he wakes up bound to a wheelchair, who explains why the picture was never permitted to be released all those years ago.
Wilson dons Babyface’s disguise and bludgeons the actors to death with the axe, dissatisfied with the fright factor and performance in the film. As a result, the film was not allowed to be released due to its gruesome nature and the fact that the murders depicted in it were genuine.
Another gruesome truth that is revealed is that Alexa and her father Wilson had an incestual relationship when she was only thirteen years old, which got her pregnant. The child she had is Babyface and has been the one attacking the group since they got there. In the midst of the confusion, Wilson ends up shooting Alexa and assuming she is dead, Babyface kills Wilson in anger.
The assailant then tries to assault Tyler, but Serina, who had escaped, stabs him from behind. Alexa, on the other hand, is still alive and, after killing Lalo, uses a shovel to knock Tyler and Serina out. Alexa ties Tyler up in the final scene and forces him to see her version of the movie, which drives him nuts. A post-credit sequence in the film shows a pregnant Serina, to whom Alexa sings a lullaby. It’s safe to conclude that Babyface was the father of her child.
Babyface seemed to have psychological complications since childhood, thanks to his father’s psychopathological ways and his mother’s rape as such a young child. Both Alexa and Babyface grew up craving approval from Wilson, a horror director so hellbent on making his films realistic that he donned the look of the killer and made his daughter film himself murdering the cast.
Babyface had carved his own face as a child and stitched on a mask that looked like a baby’s face in a bid to gain Wilson’s approval. Like Wilson, he grew up to be bloodthirsty and undeveloped, just like Alexa. Serina’s pregnancy was induced by his rapping her, resulting in more children with similar DNA and opening the possibility of sequels.
The Reeker (Reeker, 2005)
Devon Gummersall, Derek Richardson, and Tina Illman star in Reeker, which was written and directed by Dave Payne. The story revolves around a trapped group of individuals who must fight a decaying beast known as the Reeker in the desert.
In this film, Trip, Gretchen, Nelson, Cookie, and Jack (who is blind) prepare for a rave in the desert that they will be attending soon. Trip meets up with a drug dealer before departing on the adventure, and while he isn’t looking, he steals the drugs. Nelson, on the other hand, warns Trip that the dealer is a dangerous man who has allegedly killed people previously. On hearing this and on getting a call from the dealer about his knowledge of the stolen drugs, Trip agrees to go back and return them.
On their way back, Gretchen kicks Trip out of the car on realising he is carrying drugs and when the group stops at the side of the road, they notice a tremor and even see an overturned vehicle on the way that they dismiss as an unreported accident.
The group then gets abandoned as their car runs out of gas and the nearest diner is closed. As Trip walks down to find a place to stay, he has a run-in with the dealer and escapes. He also comes across a man in an RV called Henry who claims to be looking for his lost wife. On returning, Trip brings the man back with him as the group decides to stay at a motel and does not mention anything about the drug dealer to them.
Things quickly deteriorate once Trip and Henry realise they are both seeing dead things, as Cookie, Henry, Trip, and Nelson are inexplicably slain one by one. Only Gretchen and Jack are left alive as a creature that appears to be stalking the area where the gang has set up camp begins to maul them to death.
It is revealed, in a bizarre turn of events, that the group had been seeing foreshadowings of their doom all along. When Gretchen stopped the car to kick Trip out for carrying drugs, the group had felt a slight terror which is later revealed to be from the crash that Henry’s RV made into the group’s car as he lost control of his vehicle due to a heart attack.
Even the overturned automobile they saw on the road was their own accident, and when the “monster” murders the members of the groups, they all die the same manner they did in the accident.
Cookie dies of internal haemorrhage, Nelson’s neck is severed as he is pushed through the windshield, same as it is when he tries to escape out the motel window, and Trip’s arm is severed while clutching a cell phone, and he dies of blunt force trauma.
Gretchen and Jack were lucky to survive the accident, and because the drug dealer had been following them and had witnessed the collision, a dead Trip had images of being chased by him throughout the night.
The film ends with Gretchen and Jack not being sure if they remember the accident at all, leaving the audience in a mixed bag of feelings with this sudden twist of events.
The Phantom (The Town that Dreaded Sundown, 2014)
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a meta-sequel to the 1976 film of the same name, for which it was conceived as a remake. It has multiple references to the original film, and critics have given it mixed reviews. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directed this American slasher film, which starred Addison Timlin, Travis Tope, and Spencer Treat Clark.
Corey and Jami, a young couple, find a secret nook to get intimate during the screening of 1976’s The Town that Dreaded Sundown. Here, a masked killer appears, killing Corey and telling Jami “This is for Mary.
Make them remember Mary.” Soon, more murders take place, mostly when the victims are getting intimate with one another, and the killer sends a clear message to Jami that it is going to continue unless she manages to remind them of “Mary”.
With the police now involved, Jami tries her best to figure out who the killer could be along with an old classmate named Nick. The police visit a church to see Reverend Cartwright as they found an email from the Phantom killer that seemed to have been sent from his computer to Jami.
However, the police find it hard to believe that he could be the real killer. While the murders continue, Jami and Nick discover that the Phantom killer is the grandson of one of the original Phantom’s victims after a comprehensive investigation. He selected to be the next murderer because his grandfather’s death was not as well-remembered as the other victims’, and his wife’s name is Mary.
As Jami gets accepted into a college in California and leaves town with her grandmother to move there, the Phantom shows up at a gas station they stop at and kills the grandmother as well as many bystanders.
As she runs into a Union train station to try and escape, she stumbles upon Nick’s dead body as the Phantom had killed him just that morning. Soon, she is confronted by not one, but two Phantom killers and they are revealed to be Corey, her boyfriend who faked his death and Deputy Foster who was meant to be her police escort. Foster was the grandson of the original Phantom’s forgotten victim.
When Corey has had enough of trying to persuade Jami that they are correct and society is wrong, he plans to murder him, but Foster kills him instead. His ultimate plan was to accuse Corey and Jami for all the deaths and get away with it, but Jami manages to get her hands on the gun in the middle of the battle and kills Foster. Jami moves to California and starts a new life for herself at the end of the film, but she is pursued by the Phantom’s shadow because Foster’s body was never located.
The Phantom killer was inspired from the real Phantom that went on a murderous rampage in the 1946. The films did a great job at maintaining the fictional character’s personality as similar to the real killer as possible.
The Phantom was a psychopath that lacked any empathy or remorse and it is likely that his crimes were sexually motivated as he mostly targeted people who were in the act of getting intimate. He was known for using ruthless and cold-blooded methods to execute his victims and was willing to do just about anything to get away with the crimes he committed.
The Collector (The Collector, 2009)
The Collector was directed by Marcus Dunstan and released in 2009. Its script was originally named The Midnight Man. For a brief moment, the producers considered promoting it as part of the Saw franchise, but ultimately opted against it. Josh Stewart, Michael Reilly Burke, and Andrea Roth feature in The Collector, which was followed by The Collection in 2012.
The film follows Arkin, a former convict turned handyman who is trying to save his wife and children from loan sharks to whom they owe a significant amount of money.
When Arkin breaks into the home of the Chase family, he sees Michael, the man of the house being dragged into the basement by a masked man and so he goes on to dial 911. The phone does not work as the perpetrator has lined everything including the phone in the house with some or the other trap, so that no one can escape.
On entering the basement, Arkin is told by Michael that his wife Victoria has also been captured while his daughter Hannah is hiding somewhere in the house. His older daughter Jill was out that night.
Arkin uses the passcode Michael gave him to unlock the rifle they had hidden, but it is empty of bullets. Then Arkin comes finds Larry, a bloodied man (who was shown being attacked along with his wife by the same killer in the beginning of the film). He tells Arkin that the man is a “collector” of people who only takes one family member.
Soon after, the Collector murders Michael and stabs Victoria, forcing Arkin to flee and hide. In the midst of the carnage, an unaware Jill returns home with her lover Chad, but as soon as the Collector notices them, he kills Chad and pursues Jill before Arkin can help.
Jill, not trusting Arkin, tries to stab him with a pair of scissors which sets off another one of the killer’s traps, leaving Jill dead as well. When Arkin is somehow able to save Hannah by pushing her down the laundry chute, he is attacked and captured by the Collector himself who tortures him for a while.
Meanwhile, a police officer who Jill was able to reach to somehow shows up but is killed by the Collector’s dog. Arkin, using this distraction as an opportunity, frees himself, comes across some fireworks and traps the Collector after killing his dog. Arkin and Hannah manage to flee, but one of the incoming police cars hits them.
Despite the fact that the Collector’s house blows up, the killer manages to flee and pursues Arkin in an ambulance. He kills everyone save himself, and in the post-credits sequence, we see the Collector sitting on top of a red box, watching a movie. Arkin’s enraged screams may be heard from within.
The reason behind the Collector’s twisted psychology can be cited mostly in his childhood and a particularly bizarre incident with his father. One day, as the father accidentally consumes taxidermy chemicals that cause him to go insane, he murders the whole family except his son and stuffs them like he did with animals he performed taxidermy on.
He then went on to place them around him at the dinner table and have a thanksgiving meal with them as if they were still alive. This caused the young son’s first ever encounter with a killing so bizarre. As an adult when the Collector would kill and collect one member of each family he attacked, he would torture them till they went insane or conduct brutal experiments on them.
He then used their remains to put them together like giant insects and kept his “collection” at a hotel rigged with traps that would set off and kill anyone who would try to enter.
In the sequel The Collection, we discover more about the Collector’s past, witness him murdering more people (and more cruelly), and witness yet another fight between him and Arkin, with the latter emerging victorious. The Collector has been captured by Arkin, who intends to torment him in the same way he tortured his victims, according to the film’s conclusion.
The Miner (My Bloody Valentine, 1981)
My Bloody Valentine is a legendary horror film from 1981, which was remade in 2009. George Mihalka directed this film, which stars Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, and Neil Affleck.
A Valentine’s Day party thrown by a group of teens goes horribly wrong very quickly when a disguised killer decides to crash the celebration. After a twenty-year hiatus, the mayor of a small town decides to resurrect the annual Valentine’s Day tradition for the town’s residents.
The reason for those dances being stopped was the occurrence of a tragic accident in which supervisors left miners to attend the dance and the unchecked levels of methane gas in the mines ended up killing them.
The only survivor of the accident was Harry Warden who not only resorted to cannibalism but also went insane due to the trauma. After killing the supervisors who were careless, he vowed to kill again if the dances were reinstated and hence the townspeople felt safer with him being put away in an asylum.
The police decide to cancel the dance when a town resident is murdered and the cops receive their heart in a box of chocolates with a note advising against reviving it. The young people, on the other hand, decide to throw their own Valentine’s Day dance party at the mine.
Despite the fact that two of the group’s members were brutally murdered at the start of the party, the participants had already made up their minds and had gone into the mines for the fun they had planned after a couple of them contacted the authorities.
As one of them tries to go in after the partygoers with the police to save them from potential murder, the masked killer starts impaling, drilling and beheading the ones already inside.
When very few people manage to get out and a fight ensues between the miner and one of them, the murderer’s mask comes off and it turns out to be Axel, a member of the partygoers’ group who had previously faked his death.
He admits that he observed Harry Warden murder his father, one of the mine managers, as a boy, and that it had such an influence on him that he resolved to become a mine killer himself. As the mines collapse around them, Axel becomes trapped and must amputate one of his arms to escape.
After becoming wild, Axel runs into the tunnel, laughing uncontrollably and screams that one of the group’s members, Sarah, is his “bloody valentine.” He tells residents that if the town stages another Valentine’s dance, he and Harry would return, despite the fact that Harry Warden died in an asylum five years ago.
Victor Crowley (Hatchet, 2006)
Hatchet was a 2006 slasher that was written and directed by Adam Green . The film was followed up with three sequels in 2010, 2013 and 2017, with the most recent one being named after the main antagonist Victor Crowley. An intriguing fact about this film is that Kane Hodder, the actor who played Crowley in all four films, also played the famed Jason Vorhees in four Friday the 13th films.
Joel David Moore, Deon Richmond, and Tamara Feldman feature in Hatchet. The storey revolves around Ben and Marcus, who decide to take a haunted swamp tour in New Orleans on Mardi Gras day. When they arrive, they discover that the trip has been cancelled because the guide, Reverend Zombie, was fired for negligence.
Ben and Marcus, go deeper into the woods to find another tour guide named Shawn who is not as experienced as Zombie, but likes to show off. Joining him and another group of people he is taking on the tour, the two friends get on a bus.
Soon, the group becomes aware of Shawn’s inexperience as he ignores the warnings of a homeless man against going deeper into the swamp and then crashing their boat on a rock, leaving them all stranded. While walking in search of transport or shelter, the group comes across Victor Crowley’s house, who is more or less an urban legend for those that live around there.
Marybeth, one of the group’s members, tells them about Crowley’s mythology, claiming that he was malformed as a result of being born with a rare condition and was thus subjected to frequent bullying by other children. His father, Thomas, felt humiliated and kept him concealed from the rest of the world for the most part.
When Thomas was away, a gang of mischievous youths set fire to the Crowley home. When Thomas returns, he tries to break down the home with a hatchet, but instead hits Victor, killing him. Marybeth warns them that the marsh is dangerous because an undead Victor roams the area looking for his father and murders anybody he encounters.
Just as she finishes her story, Victor appears out of nowhere, killing a few members of the group and causing the others to take refuge inside the house where they believe they can at least arm themselves. None of this works as Victor continues to pursue them and kills more of the group’s members.
Somehow, they are able to set Victor on fire, but they get extremely unlucky as it begins raining and the flames are extinguished. While trying to flee, Marybeth and Ben are the only survivors but the girl falls inside the lake.
She notices Ben’s arm reaching for her in the water but when she is pulled out, she is horrified to find it was Victor, holding a severed arm of Ben’s after having killed him. The film ends there and leaves the doors very clearly open for the sequel.
The writers remind the audience that Victor was conceived as a result of his father’s affair with his mother’s nurse, who was dying of cancer at the time. When the mother learned of her husband’s infidelity, she cast a curse on the unborn child, causing the swamp and all of the trees and plants in it to die after Victor’s birth. When his mother, a nurse, saw his disfigured appearance, she died in childbirth.
Frank Zito ( Maniac, 2012)
Franck Khalfoun directed this psychological slasher, which starred Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, and Jan Broberg. The film is a remake of the 1980 film of the same name, and it follows a serial killer on a deadly spree. Frank Zito, a schizophrenic, had a strange and traumatic childhood in which his mother forced him to watch her have sex with her prostitute clients.
As an adult, he develops an unhealthy preoccupation with women’s hair, bringing home the hair of the ladies he murdered, putting it on a mannequin as a wig, and stroking it. He did so since his lone happy childhood memory was of him caressing his mother’s hair before she left for the night.
One day, a young photographer named Anne comes into Frank’s mannequin store and is impressed b their antique looks. He helps her put together an art exhibit as a result of which the two become friends and he falls in love with her.
In order to control his violent urges, Frank begins medication, but it does not work as he goes on to kill more people and scalp them. At the art exhibit, Anna’s friend Rita makes fun of Frank for his interest in mannequins and in rage, he takes her home and scalps her alive after venting out his mother’s frustration on her.
When Anna phones Frank the next day, horrified over Rita’s murder, he unintentionally shares facts that only the murderer could have known. Anna stabs Frank in the hand as soon as she realises he’s the killer and tries to hide in the bathroom, but Frank breaks in and knocks her unconscious before loading her into his vehicle.
Anna regains consciousness and stabs him in the stomach when he arrives home and opens the van. She panics and goes out onto the road, flagging down a car. When the driver sees Frank covered in blood, he accidently runs him over, sending Anna flying out the window. Frank ultimately scalps her hair as she lies dying on the road.
On reaching home, he attaches Anna’s hair on a mannequin wearing a wedding dress but succumbs to his injuries as he hallucinates the mannequins taking form of his victims and tearing him apart. When the SWAT team arrives, they find Frank’s corpse surrounded by all the scalps he has collected over the years.
The Outcasts (The Final, 2010)
The Final, an American horror film directed by Joey Stewart and written by Jason Kabolati, was released in 2010. Marc Donato, Jascha Washington, and Whitney Hoy appeared in the film. After a scarred crying girl enters a restaurant and draws everyone’s attention, the film is told in flashback.
Ravi, Emily, Andy, and Dane, four high school outcasts, decide to exact vengeance on their bullies after having had enough. They draw inspiration from chemistry classes in school and ancient torture tactics. They also intend to exploit their horror film experience to cause suffering to their bullies, in the hopes of sending a powerful message to the community.
The outcasts invite the bullies to Dane’s uncle’s lake house where they lace the pinch with drugs that cause them to fall unconscious. Although Kurtis , someone who they decided to spare as he was always nice to them, is among the bullies the outcasts continue their plan.
In the middle of the torture session, Ravi helps Kurtis escape, but Dane had become so overcome with rage by then that he kills Ravi instead. Emily makes the bullies cut each other’s fingers off, smear their faces with blood while the others even proceed to shoot one of them.
The tortures become more severe, and Kurtis is able to call the cops to the residence. Kurtis, Kelli, and another boy are the only ones who survive, despite the fact that the majority of them die or are arrested.
Bridget, the girl whose finger was cut off by her classmate on Emily’s request, also managed to survive, as she was the scarred girl at the beginning of the film, according to the closing scene. All of their torture and illegal scheming is for naught because the bullies were tormented for “no reason,” according to a news report released after the occurrence.