25 Essential Slasher Movies

Slashers — that gloriously grubby, stabby subsection of horror — were first unsheathed in the early 1970s, when Mario Bava stalked his cavorting, frequently disrobed victims around in A Bay of Blood. The movie set up mood of the slasher: Sexually charged, with a degree of mystery, where the ample cast of characters one-by-one take a sharp turn into doom. Slashers can be stylish (Opera, Dressed to Kill), carnal (Torso, Friday the 13th), grimly violent (The Prowler, The Burning), trashy (Pieces, The Slumber Party Massacre) and even supernatural (Halloween, Child’s Play). We’re studying all sides of the blade as we assemble movies that best represent this killer genre in the 25 Essential Slasher Movies.

#25

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
38%

#25

Adjusted Score: 38.685%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In this horror film, a group of teenage girls gather together for a slumber party, only to be terrorized by... [More]

Starring: Michele Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villela, Andre Honore

Directed By: Amy Holden Jones, Aaron Lipstadt

#24

High Tension (Switchblade Romance) (2005)
41%

#24

Adjusted Score: 45.122%

Critics Consensus: There is indeed a good amount of tension in this French slasher, but the dubbing is bad and the end twist unbelievable.

Synopsis: French filmmaker Alexandre Aja writes and directs the slasher film Haute Tension, given the English title Switchblade Romance. Best friends... [More]

Starring: Cécile De France, Maïwenn, Franck Khalfoun, Marco Claudiu Pascu

Directed By: Alexandre Aja

#23

Maniac (1980)
40%

#23

Adjusted Score: 41.106%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Maniac, given an X-rating for extreme violence and gore, is the story of a New York psycho (Joe Spinell) who... [More]

Starring: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Gail Lawrence, Kelly Piper

Directed By: William Lustig

#22

Pieces (1983)
46%

#22

Adjusted Score: 46.347%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: With a tagline that reads, "You don't have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre," this Spanish-Italian entry into... [More]

Starring: Ian Sera, Frank Blank, Lynda Day George, Edmund Purdom

Directed By: Juan Piquer Simón, J.P. Simon

#21

My Bloody Valentine (1981)
54%

#21

Adjusted Score: 55.225%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This Canadian slasher film features a disgruntled miner cutting out people's hearts with a pick-axe. Most of the film takes... [More]

Starring: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Keith Knight

Directed By: George Mihalka

#20

Friday the 13th, Part VI - Jason Lives (1986)
50%

#20

Adjusted Score: 51.994%

Critics Consensus: Friday the 13th: Part VI - Jason Lives indeed brings back ol' Vorhees, along with a sense of serviceable braindead fun.

Synopsis: This impressive entry in the popular horror series brings back the relentless killer Jason Voorhees, this time as a supernatural... [More]

Starring: Thom Mathews, Jennifer C. Cooke, David Kagen, Kerry Noonan

Directed By: Tom McLoughlin

#19

The Prowler (1981)
67%

#19

Adjusted Score: 37.264%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: In this gory slice-n-dicer, a WWII vet returns home and finds his girl in the arms of another at the... [More]

Starring: Vicki Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Cindy Weintraub, Farley Granger

Directed By: Joseph Zito

#18

I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale (Torso) (Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence) (1973)
50%

#18

Adjusted Score: 46.459%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A psycho stalks attractive college students on an Italian campus before he rapes and dismembers them (hence the title).... [More]

Starring: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson

Directed By: Sergio Martino

#17

Candyman (1992)
75%

#17

Adjusted Score: 79.96%

Critics Consensus: Though it ultimately sacrifices some mystery in the name of gory thrills, Candyman is a nuanced, effectively chilling tale that benefits from an interesting premise and some fine performances.

Synopsis: Researching urban folklore, a University of Chicago student snoops around the housing projects of Cabrini Green to find more about... [More]

Starring: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons

Directed By: Bernard Rose

#16

The Burning (1981)
80%

#16

Adjusted Score: 74.157%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: Apart from early appearances by Jason Alexander and Holly Hunter, an interesting score by Rick Wakeman, and some typically effective... [More]

Starring: Lou David, Shelley Bruce, Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres

Directed By: Tony Maylam

#15

Happy Death Day (2017)
71%

#15

Adjusted Score: 77.164%

Critics Consensus: Happy Death Day puts a darkly humorous sci-fi spin on slasher conventions, with added edge courtesy of a starmaking performance from Jessica Rothe.

Synopsis: Blumhouse (Split, Get Out, Whiplash) produces an original and inventive rewinding thriller in Happy Death Day, in which a college... [More]

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews

Directed By:

#14

You're Next (2013)
78%

#14

Adjusted Score: 83.845%

Critics Consensus: You're Next's energetic and effective mix of brutal gore and pitch black humor will please horror buffs and beyond.

Synopsis: One of the smartest and most terrifying films in years, YOU'RE NEXT reinvents the genre by putting a fresh twist... [More]

Starring: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen

Directed By: Adam Wingard

#13

Child's Play (1988)
71%

#13

Adjusted Score: 74.285%

Critics Consensus: Child's Play occasionally stumbles across its tonal tightrope of comedy and horror, but its genuinely creepy monster and some deft direction by Tom Holland makes this chiller stand out on the shelf.

Synopsis: Child's Play seems to have been concocted by a parent who went berserk after standing in line for hours on... [More]

Starring: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Dinah Manoff

Directed By: Tom Holland

#12

Alice, Sweet Alice (Communion) (1976)
83%

#12

Adjusted Score: 83.472%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: The shockingly brutal murder of a little girl in a church where she was just about to receive her first... [More]

Starring: Brooke Shields, Linda G. Miller, Linda Miller, Paula E. Sheppard

Directed By: Alfred Sole

#11

Halloween (2018)
79%

#11

Adjusted Score: 95.245%

Critics Consensus: Halloween largely wipes the slate clean after decades of disappointing sequels, ignoring increasingly elaborate mythology in favor of basic - yet still effective - ingredients.

Synopsis: Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers,... [More]

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton

Directed By: David Gordon Green

#10

Sleepaway Camp (1983)
78%

#10

Adjusted Score: 79.383%

Critics Consensus: Sleepaway Camp is a standard teen slasher elevated by occasional moments of John Waters-esque weirdness and a twisted ending.

Synopsis: When Angela (Felissa Rose) and her cousin Ricky (Jonathan Tierston) go off to the dilapidated Camp Arawak for a summer... [More]

Starring: Mike Kellin, Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Jonathan Tierston

Directed By: Robert Hiltzik

#9

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
72%

#9

Adjusted Score: 74.374%

Critics Consensus: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors offers an imaginative and surprisingly satisfying rebound for a franchise already starting to succumb to sequelitis.

Synopsis: The best of the Elm Street sequels, this creepy, surreal fantasy features terrific effects, a fine young cast, and an... [More]

Starring: Robert Englund, Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Langenkamp

Directed By: Chuck Russell

#8

Friday the 13th (1980)
64%

#8

Adjusted Score: 68.897%

Critics Consensus: Rather quaint by today's standards, Friday the 13th still has its share of bloody surprises and a '70s-holdover aesthetic to slightly compel.

Synopsis: One of the longest-running horror film series began with this gory shocker from director Sean S. Cunningham, who had previously... [More]

Starring: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram

Directed By: Sean S. Cunningham

#7

Black Christmas (1974)
71%

#7

Adjusted Score: 74.334%

Critics Consensus: The rare slasher with enough intelligence to wind up the tension between bloody outbursts, Black Christmas offers fiendishly enjoyable holiday viewing for genre fans.

Synopsis: Black Christmas is an effective, frightening above average slasher movie with a good cast and a frightening, surprise ending. Barb... [More]

Starring: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon

Directed By: Bob Clark

#6

Dressed to Kill (1980)
80%

#6

Adjusted Score: 84.265%

Critics Consensus: With arresting visuals and an engrossingly lurid mystery, Dressed to Kill stylishly encapsulates writer-director Brian De Palma's signature strengths.

Synopsis: In this stylish, violent thriller,an unhappy wife, Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), meets a handsome man in a museum and goes... [More]

Starring: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon

Directed By: Brian DePalma

#5

Opera (1987)
91%

#5

Adjusted Score: 92.062%

Critics Consensus: The Opera house location gives plenty to work with for director Dario Argento, who hits his decadently bloody high notes here.

Synopsis: An obsessed fan stalks a young opperata and kills those who are closest to her.... [More]

Starring: Christina Marsillach, Ian Charleson, Mirella D'Angelo, Carola Stagnaro

Directed By:

#4

Reazione a catena (A Bay of Blood) (Twitch of the Death Nerve) (1972)
85%

#4

Adjusted Score: 85.896%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: This Italian shockerama was originally released as Twitch of the Death Nerve in 1971. When distributed to the US, it... [More]

Starring: Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Isa Miranda, Claudio Volonte

Directed By: Mario Bava

#3

Scream (1996)
78%

#3

Adjusted Score: 81.977%

Critics Consensus: Horror icon Wes Craven's subversive deconstruction of the genre is sly, witty, and surprisingly effective as a slasher film itself, even if it's a little too cheeky for some.

Synopsis: The sleepy little town of Woodsboro just woke up screaming. There's a killer in their midst who's seen a few... [More]

Starring: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore

Directed By: Wes Craven

#2

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
94%

#2

Adjusted Score: 98.009%

Critics Consensus: Wes Craven's intelligent premise, combined with the horrifying visual appearance of Freddy Krueger, still causes nightmares to this day.

Synopsis: A group of teenagers are terrorized by "Freddy Krueger", an evil being from another world who gets to his victims... [More]

Starring: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakely

Directed By: Wes Craven

#1

Halloween (1978)
96%

#1

Adjusted Score: 103.659%

Critics Consensus: Scary, suspenseful, and viscerally thrilling, Halloween set the standard for modern horror films.

Synopsis: A young boy kills his sister on Halloween of 1963, and is sent to a mental hospital. 15 years later... [More]

Starring: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles

Directed By: John Carpenter