20 best slasher movies that will make your hair stand on end

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

This list contains both recognized classics and noteworthy novelties.

Slasher (from the English slash - "cut from the shoulder") is one of the most popular subgenres of horror films. It is characterized by the presence of a maniac (sometimes there may be several killers) who deals with a group of young people, finishing them off one by one. Hence another name for slashers - "films about dead teenagers."

20. House of Wax

• Horror, thriller.
• Australia, USA, 2005.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 5.3.

Because of a car breakdown (horror directors love this banal move so much), a company of young people finds themselves in a small town, the main attraction of which is a huge museum with wax figures. The guys go to ask the locals for help, not knowing that the owners of the museum will not wait for the replenishment of their collection of exhibits.

19. I know what you did last summer

• Horror, thriller, detective.
• USA, 1997.
• Duration: 101 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 7.

A group of young high school graduates run over a man on the road. Deciding that nothing can help the dead, they dump his body into the sea and swear to each other to keep their terrible secret. And a year later, someone opens a hunt for them in order to punish them for their crime.

18. Ax

• Horror, thriller, comedy.
• USA, 2006.
• Duration: 85 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 7.

A group of tourists, having visited the Mardi Gras festival, goes on a boat trip through the swamps of Louisiana. As usual in horror movies, the vehicle breaks down right next to a dilapidated hut that once belonged to a bloody maniac.

His name was Victor Crowley, and he became famous for chopping the heads of victims with an ax. True, by the time the film takes place, the villain is supposedly dead for a long time … But this does not prevent him from killing further.

17. Silent Night, Deadly Night

• Horror, thriller.
• USA, 1984.
• Duration: 79 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 9.

The old man warns his grandson that Santa Claus is not at all as good-natured as they used to think, and that he will punish the boy if he behaves badly. And so it happens: a psychopath dressed as a Christmas saint kills the boy's family, leaving only him alive.

A few years later, the grown-up guy gets a job in a toy store. He has a nervous breakdown on Christmas Eve and begins to kill.

16. No one survived

• Horror, thriller.
• USA, UK, 2012.
• Duration: 86 minutes.
• IMDb: 6.0.

A gang of criminals, linked by family ties, is engaged in robbery and murder. In one bar, they accidentally run into a young man (Luke Evans) and his silent companion. For fun, the bandits kidnap a couple.

But this villainy does not end with anything good for them, because they only have to find out that the captured man is a cruel psychopathic killer, and in the trunk he has a tied captive. And now he is determined to deal with the losers who stood in his way.

15. Maniac

• Horror, thriller.
• France, USA, 2012.
• Duration: 85 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 1.

The role of the maniac here is played by the most famous hobbit in the world - Elijah Wood. He plays the quiet and indecisive owner of a mannequin restoration workshop. During the day, the guy fixes plastic dolls, and at night he goes hunting for young women. He rips off their scalps to decorate the heads of the mannequins with lush hair.

But suddenly he meets an attractive photo artist named Anna. And the recluse cannot decide in any way what attracts him to this girl - love or a desire to replenish the collection of scalps.

14. Wrong turn

• Horror.
• USA, Germany, Canada, 2003.
• Duration: 84 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 1.

The guy, rushing to an important meeting, decides to take a shortcut through the woods of West Virginia. His car crashes into a group of young people standing on the side of the broken car, and they all have to get out of the forest together.

Unfortunately, this is often home to a family of incredibly ugly cannibal maniacs, descended from the incestuous relationships of local rednecks. Using barbed wire, bows, axes and other weapons, psychopaths hope to get hold of fresh human meat.

13. Wolf pit

• Horror, thriller.
• Australia, 2004.
• Duration: 99 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 2.

Three students embark on a journey to Australia's landmark Wolf Creek meteorite crater. Their car breaks down, but there is a kind soul, a local redneck Mike, who promises to shelter travelers for the night and fix their car in the morning.

Naturally, he turns out to be a tourist-hating serial killer. The villain is copied from a real maniac named Ivan Milat, who killed seven people and has long been considered the only serial killer in Australia.

12. My bloody Valentine

• Horror, thriller, detective.
• Canada, 1981.
• Duration: 90 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 3.

Once upon a time, on Valentine's Day, a tragedy struck in a mining town that claimed the lives of five people. The only surviving man was taken to a psychiatric hospital as the alleged culprit of the misfortune. But 19 years later, another Valentine's Day is overshadowed by a series of brutal murders. A sinister psychopath dressed as a miner and with a bloody pickaxe sets off on a hunt to - as it seems to him - to restore justice.

11. The Hills Have Eyes

• Horror, thriller.
• USA, 2006.
• Duration: 107 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 4.

A family named Carter travels across America to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They have an accident in the desert where nuclear tests were once carried out. Local residents under the influence of radiation turned into real monsters, only vaguely resembling people. And the only source of food for them is the unfortunate ones who happened to be nearby.

10. Friday the 13th

• Horror, thriller, detective.
• USA, 1980.
• Duration: 95 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 5.

Through an oversight of the leaders of the children's camp "Crystal Lake", a boy named Jason is drowning in this very lake. His mother goes on the warpath and begins to take revenge, killing one counselor after another. And when they do manage with her, a drowned boy emerges from the lake, somehow having turned into an adult (but dead) man of impressive build and considerable physical strength.

This film marked the beginning of a whole series of sequels and got a remake in 2009, and Jason Voorhees - a revived bruiser in a hockey mask with a machete, killing everyone he meets, learning the voice of his mother in his head - has become a truly iconic character.

9. The last girls

• Horror, Fantasy, Thriller, Drama, Comedy.
• USA, Canada, 2015.
• Duration: 91 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 6.

The main character's mother was once a real star of 80s slashers. Now she is dead, and the girl, whose name is Max Cartwright, is grieving at the loss. She reluctantly agrees to go to a private screening of the tape in which her mother was filmed. But some space-time anomaly leads to the fact that Max and his friends are in the film. And now they have to escape from the movie maniac.

8. Happy death day

• Horror, fantasy, detective, comedy.
• USA, 2017.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 6.

The film is interesting in that it combined the idea of Groundhog Day with the concept of a slasher. The main character is a student, the most popular girl at her university, with whom everyone dreams of being friends. One day she is killed by a maniac in a mask of a plastic doll. But the girl does not die, but is transferred back to the beginning of the day. Now that she has an infinite (practically) supply of lives, she has to find out who and why so passionately wants to finish her off.

7. You're finished

• Horror, thriller.
• USA, 2013.
• Duration: 94 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 6.

A group of maniacs, hiding their faces behind animal masks and armed with crossbows, axes and other ominous tools, attack the cottage of the wealthy Davison family. They kill members of the family one by one, warning the next victims with a bloody inscription "You are next!"

Unfortunately for the hunters, among their targets is an unusual girl, a guest of the Davison. She herself will not hesitate to kill any marauder that comes to her hand.

6. Black Christmas

• Horror, thriller, detective.
• Canada, 1974.
• Duration: 98 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

A group of female students are getting ready to enjoy Christmas on their campus. Suddenly, a man calls them and begins to threaten with murder. Naturally, if the girls knew that they were in a horror movie, then after this they would immediately leave the campus and never return there.

But they ignore the call, and the maniac begins to subtly kill them one by one. The film has a good remake of 2006 and another, terrible in the worst sense of the word, 2019.

5. Scream

• Horror, thriller, detective.
• USA, 1996.
• Duration: 111 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

The psychopath, disguised as a ghost in a black cloak, kills young women. The killer is a big fan of horror films, he wields a knife and pre-mocks the victims, intimidating them over the phone. Scream was directed by Wes Craven, the director of The Nightmare on Elm Street, and in his film he left many references to famous slashers of the past.

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street

• Horror.
• USA, 1984.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

The well-known maniac from dreams named Freddy Krueger terrifies teenagers in the town of Springwood. Armed with sharp blades on a glove, he hacks victims to pieces in their dreams. And the one who dies in a dream dies in reality. Wes Craven's film, as befits a cult slasher, over time has acquired numerous sequels and remakes of dubious quality.

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

• Horror, thriller.
• USA, 1974.
• Duration: 83 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

This film contributed a lot to perpetuating the stereotype in society that a typical village family from the American hinterland is cannibal maniacs who engage in incest. This image is firmly entrenched in modern films and games.

The main villain is a killer named Leatherface, who wears a mask of the cut off faces of his victims and brandishes a huge chainsaw. He kills everyone who comes to hand (mostly teenagers who meddle in their own business) so that his crazy relatives always have fresh meat.

2. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

• Horror, thriller, comedy.
• USA, 2006.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The world shown in this slasher movie differs from ours in that the villains of classic horror films - Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers - are quite real-life maniacs.

Outback guy named Leslie Vernon - an aspiring but extremely ambitious serial killer - is set to surpass his famous predecessors. He invites journalist Taylor Gentry and her film crew to make a documentary about him, capturing all of his future atrocities on camera.

1. Halloween

• Horror, thriller.
• USA, 1978.
• Duration: 101 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

A classic slasher that spawned a bunch of sequels and a recent remake of 2018. A psychopath named Michael Myers, who later became a cult character, in his early years ends up in a closed hospital for killing his own sister on All Saints Day. After 15 years, he escapes from there, puts on a creepy version of Captain Kirk's mask from Star Trek and returns to his home to stage a fun Halloween massacre again.