The 15 Best Slasher Movies Ever Made, from ‘Candyman’ to ‘Psycho’
[Editor’s note: this list was originally published in October 2022. It has since been updated with new entries.]
Slasher movies are generally considered to be among the more disreputable horror film subgenres. They can be misogynistic, punishing women for their sexuality while also appealing to viewers’ most prurient, voyeuristic impulses: celebrating the male gaze while damning the objects of that gaze except for a virginal “Final Girl.” But slasher movies can veer the closest to true-crime of any of the horror subgenres, meaning that its issues of representation often say as much about an audience that wants to consume beastly criminality as packaged narrative, as it does the filmmakers who deliver them to us.
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The best slasher movies are as idea-oriented as any horror films. And almost all force you to look within and ask yourself: what’s the line between you watching a horrific act… and finally looking away?
The genre as we know it was birthed in the mid-’70s from American filmmakers like Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter, who broke new ground and introduced classic horror villains with films like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Halloween.” But its roots stretch back to formative ’40s films like “The Lodger” or “The Leopard Man,” which introduced the concept of a silent stalker into horror filmmaking. The giallo wave of the late ’60s and ’70s in Italy, lead by auteurs like Dario Argento and Mario Bava, proved key foundational texts for the slashers to follow, frightening audiences with unseen murderers in tight black gloves and elaborate, gruesome murder scenes that pushed boundaries for gore in cinema.
From the grungy, indie films of the ’70s that birthed the genre, slashers have since become arguably the most mainstream of mainstream horror. In the ’80s and ’90s, movies like “Chucky” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” kept the genre alive, while “Scream” introduced a self-referential streak that many lesser entries into the canon still attempt to emulate. While today’s discourse in the genre tends to be dominated by “elevated” horror like your “Hereditarys” or “The Babadooks,” slashers remain the gateway that can turn a horror skeptic into a foaming-at-the-mouth fan.
With Halloween 2024 upon us, IndieWire is revisiting our list of the best slashers ever made to provide a guide to whatever horror film marathon you have going on this spooky season. Read on for the 15 greatest slasher movies of all time, ranked.
With editorial contributions by Tambay Obenson, Christian Blauvelt, Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson, and Alison Foreman.
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