Slasher films

We all know what slasher films are, so I will not linger too long on the subject. In the genre, we see many examples of mass chaos caused by a psychotic killer on a rampage against, by and large, very fertile young men and women. Blood as fertility is seen time and time again here, as is bloodshed simply for the sake of shock and horror.


Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The mother of all slasher films with an amazing amount of bright red blood and catastrophic body splatters. Somehow, the awkwardness of the attacks makes the fear more palpable and the realism of the blood is overshadowed by the constant production of new splatters. An exercise in excess rather than restraint, setting the tone for the entire genre.


Friday the 13th (1980 and on)

This clip shows every death scene in all of the Friday films back to back. One can get a sense of the overwhelming amount of stage blood they must have used! And the screaming!


Scream (1996)

A meta-slasher series! The trailer above lays out, ironically, the "rules" so many slasher flicks followed (like I said, some big-breasted, sexually active, seemingly stupid girl gets mauled first!).

Why do "we" like watching these kinds of films so much and seeing this particular demographic get stabbed to death? Is it that we find it somehow gratifying to see youth destroyed? Or is murder of sexy people even sexier? Does the simple relentless violence in slasher (or for that matter, extreme gore like Hostel or Saw) films get our rocks off somehow?