Masked killers, bladed weapons, summer camps, innocent teens, and tons and tons of blood. Slasher flicks are the ultimate thrill-ride. Unlike the twists and turns of so many modern scary flicks, slashers’ sinister beauty lies in their simplicity.
And in that simplicity lives a genre that has lasted decades and decades, and will certainly continue for decades more. Is there not something comforting in flipping on a horror movie where you may not know what exactly is going to happen, but you kind of know? We love Halloween (1978), and the entire Friday the 13thseries, and we fully know what’s coming. It doesn’t matter; it’s just fun. But in those familiar themes in old movies come the occasional twist; movies (included on the below list) like The Cabin in the Woods or The Final Girls bring a self-awareness and sense of humor that only works within a genre that has its own built in frame of reference. And again, it comes down to that sense of familiarity.
A slasher, seeking revenge, hunts down a group of young people in their nightmares. A family, desperate to maintain the status quo, hunts down a new member of the clan. A serial killer, inhabiting the body of a children’s doll, wants out. Slashers have one goal in mind: to kill. And we, as viewers, have another goal: to throw popcorn at the screen whenever our protagonists just can’t seem to do anything right. So join us as we survive some of the most terrifying horror flicks out there. Below, 56 of the best slasher movies of all time, beginning with a classic:
John Carpenter’s masterpiece isn’t the OG slasher (that honor more commonly goes to Bob Clark’s Black Christmas or Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho), but you’d be hard pressed to find one that’s more influential and universally beloved. Jamie Lee Curtis is introduced to the world here as a babysitter named Laurie Strode who is (rightfully) suspicious about a certain looming figure…who just happens to be an escaped madman named Michael Myers. You probably know the rest, but if you somehow don’t…you’re in for a treat. And bonus points for the greatest theme song in horror movie history (composed, of course, by Mr. Carpenter himself).
For some reason, Halloween and Scream seem to go together really perfectly (and this Variety conversation between stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell certainly helps with that). Just like Halloween, Wes Craven’s meta re-imagining of the slasher genre is an annual classic, a movie people flock to year after year. But the thing that makes Scream special is that while it’s not taking itself all that seriously, it still has some serious scares, some serious kills, and a bunch of characters that you just really, really like. Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette are still playing these same roles 25 years later—and for good reason.
OK. Spoiler alert. Every Scream movie makes the list. They’re all great! Especially if you’re looking for a slasher movie. This second installment in the franchise finds Sidney Prescott off at college, and a cast—including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Timothy Olyphant, Jerry O’Connell, and Laurie Metcalf—that would make any 1997 aficionado proud.
Scream 3 is the weakest film in the series—there have been long-standing rumors that the movie had to pivot in the aftermath of the Columbine shooting—but it’s still a great time, and exactly what you’re looking for in a whodunit slasher. Parker Posey is a super fun addition to the cast, as is Patrick Dempsey.
It was more than a decade until we saw Sidney, Gale, and Dewey again—and proved to be the last time that horror master Wes Craven would be behind the camera—but Scream 4 was a more than worthy entry in the meta horror franchise. Emma Roberts, Hayden Panetierre, and Alison Brie were among the new entrants this time, and all held their own. This one might have the best twist of the entire franchise—brace yourself.
2022’s Scream—which is the fifth entry in the franchise—is really the start of a brand new Scream trilogy. This one smartly embraces new horror tropes, and most importantly, even without Craven at the helm, still feels like a Scream movie—while paying tribute to the horror master who made it all possible in the first place. New cast members Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, and Jasmin Savoy Brown are among the standouts.
There was a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie in 2022, but we’re not going to talk about that. Instead, let’s talk about the best Texas Chainsaw movie that doesn’t bear that franchise’s name: Ti West‘s X. Following a group of amateur pornographers who set out to a mysterious property to make an adult film, X is a slow burn with great visuals and a fantastic cast that really will suck you in—and leave you terrified and fired up. West also released Pearl—a spinoff horror that’s more character study than slasher—in 2022, with a third movie, MaXXXine, set for next year.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
A24’s Bodies Bodies Bodies is like a mix of Scream, Reservoir Dogs, and a far more comedic Euphoria. If that sounds like a weird mix, well, it is—but once you buy in to what’s happening, it all totally works. This story of a bunch of young people trapped in a big house during a tropical storm is led by a cast that includes Amandla Stenberg, Pete Davidson, Borat 2‘s Maria Bakalava, Industry‘s excellent Myha’la Herrold, Lee Pace, and the hilarious Rachel Sennott, and goes accordingly off the rails. This is a horror/comedy that leans into both of those classifications heavily.
In a good slasher, the victims are usually linked in one way or another. In Halloween and Scream movies, for instance, those facing Michael Myers’ and Ghostface’s wrath are linked by their Woodsboro or Haddonfield dwellings. Nightmare on Elm Street finds Freddy haunting adolescent dreams and nightmares. So on and so forth. It Follows takes things a step further, as an unseen entity stalks one victim at a time—and only moves on after that victim has sexual intercourse with someone else. It’s a grisly allegory for sexually-transmitted diseases, and one of the best horror movies of the 2010s.
Terrifier 2 is only just now out in theaters, but is quickly becoming one of those movies that horror fans are just going to kind of have to see just to say they did. Reports of audiences fainting and being upsettingly-shocked have already started to come out, and genre legends like Stephen King have sung praise for this little-indie-that-could (which has already made a killing compared to its budget at the box office). It’s about an utterly terrifying character named Art the Clown who, quite frankly, makes Pennywise look like Barney the Dinosaur.
Not entirely a slasher, but Malignant has the surprise and intrigue you’re looking for. Seriously—there’s no way you’ll have any idea where this one ends up.
Netflix didn’t just drop one Fear Street movie, but a whole damn trilogy of them in July 2021. The movies pay homage to some key styles of slasher film—one movie largely set in the ’90s and with Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes, another in the ’80s channeling Friday the 13th, and the last set hundreds of years ago with the vibe of The VVitch—but still standalone and (mostly) succeed in telling a rich and well-done horror story. Think slasher meets Stranger Things for these. Great soundtracks throughout.
Freddy vs. Jason is far from a masterpiece of cinema, but what are you expecting? This early 2000s movie may not quite be there, but it should be considered a silly horror classic. Freddy Krueger—in Robert Englund’s final turn in the iconic role—is worried he’s being forgotten, so he brings Jason Voorhees (ever heard of him?) to Elm Street to wreak some havoc as he regains his own strength. The two eventually face off. Some teens get in the way. The movie lives up to its title! And it’s fun! It’s as 2003 a horror movie as there could possibly be, and with these two legendary horror villains at its center, you could do much, much worse.
Have you ever wanted to see a serial-killing Vince Vaughn switch bodies with a teenage girl? It’s probably never crossed your mind, but guess what: it’s really good. Freaky is a horror-spin on the various iterations of Freaky Friday, and it comes complete with some solid scares, good kills, and a lot of laughs.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson went back to his teen slasher roots for the delightfully scary and fun slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer. This is not a movie you should take particularly seriously, but it’s very fun, has a decent mystery angle to it as well, and the super 90s cast—Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Ryan Phillippe—are really fun to watch and good in their respective roles.
If you love this movie and want more, perhaps consider checking out the brand new Amazon Prime Video series of the same name, re-imagining the story for a modern age.
The Final Girls is a fun meta-horror movie, where the protagonists of our story get sucked into a slasher horror movie in their own story. It’s a unique concept and one that doesn’t take long to be entranced by. Alexander Ludwig, who stars in the movie, thinks if the movie landed a few years later it would have been received way better.
“I just feel like if it came out now, when you have all these streamers, it would have had a different life,” he said in a Men’s Health interview. “But at the time everything was still kind of starting out, and they didn’t really have a place for it, which is too bad.”
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First and foremost: this movie is not good. I repeat: Sleepaway Camp is not good. But boy oh boy is it entertaining! This movie is completely batshit insane in every way, hitting all sorts of slasher genre tropes before an outrageous twist closes the movie out. My biggest recommendation here is to watch the movie as cold as possible, and then listen to the How Did This Get Made podcast episode discussing the movie. Lots of laughs, lots of fun.
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Once you consider yourself a true fan of the Slasher horror genre, you should check out The Cabin in the Woods, which at first seems like just another entry in the genre but…very much is not. This is one of the most unique and fun horror films on the list. Another one you should go in as cold as possible. Features a young, pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth, too, as an added bonus.
Some sequels get a bad rap. But with Friday the 13th, as the movies get campier and campier…they sort of become more and more fun. We don’t have to talk about the brilliantly titled Jason Takes Manhattan or the outer space hijinx of Jason X right now, but we do want to recommend Part 3, which was the very first movie where Jason put on his iconic hockey goalie mask. A legend was born in his truest form here, and this goofy, campy, violent movie is an absolute blast. A ton of fun for any fan of the genre.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
It was the horror flick of a generation that forced all of us to fear the one place we thought we’d always be safe: in our dreams. Robert Englund’s Freddy Kreuger, fedora and all, would go on to become one of horror’s greatest villains ever, forever influencing slasher flicks to come. Kreuger’s mission was simple: to avenge his own death by seeking the deaths of those living on Elm Street. In dream world, he’s invincible. In the real world, he’s powerless. Therein lies the crux of both this film and the multiple sequels that followed.
Few horror movies were as ambitious at the time as the Clive Barker-adapted story of Candyman, a murderous boogeyman stalking one of Chicago’s housing projects, waiting for his presence to be invoked with the simple, repeated calling of his name. A grad student launches on a mission to debunk his myth, only to come face-to-face with the consequences of her actions in a most violent, bloody manner. A Nia DaCosta-directed, Jordan Peele-produced sequel/reboot, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, came out in 2021 and was also worth a watch.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Another one that’s both an oldie and a goodie! The original Texas Chain Saw Massacre (yes, for some reason its title is stylized differently from the newer films in the franchise) is disorienting in so many ways, and it works perfectly for its cast of normal-enough, unrecognizable young adults who are just on a trip to check some stuff out and wind up in a nightmare that most of them probably will never wake up from. Leatherface as the villain is, well, it’s a slasher classic for a reason. And by the end, you’ll feel just as fucked up as any of the on-screen victims.
Sure, vampires, clowns, and masked killers are scary—but what about a murderous, knife-wielding children’s toy? We have Child’s Play to thank for single-handedly fueling our pre-adolescent nightmares with the sentient Chucky doll, an evil counterpart to the likes of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.
There are final girls, like Halloween’s Laurie Strode or A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Nancy Thompson, and then there are final girls like Erin from You’re Next, who make it their mission to not only survive, but to fight, strategize, and ultimately outsmart their masked killers. Erin’s invited to her boyfriend’s innocent-seeming family dinner in a house in a remote, snowy area, with the horror movie catch that several killers are stalking them from outside, with a bow-and-arrow as their weapons of choice. It’s violent, bloody, and an all-around good time watching Erin give the bad guys a run for their money.
This one is almost like an inverted slasher, as our heroine—played here by the excellent Samara Weaving—is all on her own, being hunted down by a group of out-of-control rich people (did we mention that the movie works perfectly when paired with Knives Out?). The movie is perfectly paced, and the plot will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Further proof that directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett knocked this one out of the park? They landed Scream (2022)—the first movie in that storied franchise to not be helmed by horror legend Wes Craven, who died in 2015.
So picture Groundhog Day, or Palm Springs, or Russian Doll, but with a murderous twist. Part slasher, part mystery, and all fun, Happy Death Day makes a star of its lead, Jessica Rothe, and features just enough thrills, chills, and scares to keep slasher purists happy. And did we mention its funny? Oh yes, it’s funny.
“Do you want to play a game?” an innocent-seeming question that terrified so many characters within the Saw universe. The first Saw, by comparison to its sequels, was far less complicated and concerned with piling on twists, which is precisely why we think it stands as the best of the franchise. Two strangers wake up in a room in an abandoned warehouse, chained to the room. They must follow Jigsaw’s directions to survive, but soon realize their lives are connected in ways they hadn’t realized.
This one was a big deal when it came out, and certainly pushed Eli Roth into the status of “horror filmmakers worth a damn” after his promising debut Cabin Fever. But where Hostel is best, really, is if you don’t know what’s coming. For the first 45 minutes, if you don’t know any better, the movie is basically a sibling to the similar but very funny Eurotrip. And then, well, it earns its place on this list. Don’t go for this one if you have a weak stomach. Seriously.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)
A horror-comedy two-for-one, this movie features a pair of inadvertent villains. Tucker and Dale, two hillbillies, accidentally become terrifying antagonists to a group of students staying in a cabin in the remote woods. It’s hilarious, dark, and everything you need in a fun horror flick of the non-scary sort.
This Jason Blum-produced flick turns several horror movies cliches—a woman, home alone, discovers she’s being stalked from outside her home by a masked killer—into a refreshingly innovative film. The fact that the film features a protagonist who is deaf adds a whole new terrifying element to an otherwise ordinary movie, as the audience learns of the slasher’s whereabouts well before she does. (And we’ll be hiding under our covers tonight because of it.)
Perhaps no movie on this list left more questions in viewers’ minds than this. Who are the masked killers? Why do they kill in such bloody fashion? And why did they go after this exact couple? Turns out, we do know the answer to that last question: “Because they were home,” perhaps the most unsettling thing ever uttered in any horror movie to date. Be prepared for a bloody good time, but don’t expect any real resolution.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
At the time of its release, the original 1977 Wes Craven-directed film was a minor success, perhaps shadowed by the releases of Halloween and Dawn of the Dead a year later. The 2006 reboot just as quietly entered theaters, but some critics applauded the movie’s ambition, taking the original to a whole other level in terms of action, violence, and gore. (The premise that several people who survived a nuclear blast have become disfigured cannibals in the aftermath is, in itself, a terrifying thought.) It’s not for the faint of heart, but that’s exactly why it’s on this list.
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)
High school’s hell, unless you’re popular, rich or beautiful, according to this slasher flick. Lucky for Mandy Lane, the whole school—mainly, the male student body—is obsessed with her. When a group of hormonal teens decide to trek to a remote cabin (where all good things happen), they realize they’re being stalked, and killed off one-by-one. Except, there’s a lot more to this story, and the origin of the slasher, than you might think.
‘Tis the season of the spooky haunted house attraction, except, the actors in this particular house literally want to kill you. Be prepared for some severed limbs, violence, and all-around seasonal fun in this indie flick about the horrors of signing away your life via liability waivers.
A grungy band winds up playing at a very scummy dive bar. Sounds familiar enough. But Green Room takes things further, when the band members witness something they weren’t supposed to see—and suddenly, it seems like they may never escape. The movie is led by Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and features a Patrick Stewart performance like you have truly never seen before.
There have been many Halloween sequels, but the latest entry in the franchise—directed by David Gordon Green and co-written by Gordon Green and his buddy Danny McBride—makes the smart choice to serve as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 classic. 40 years later, Jamie Lee Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, now a grandmother, and her tale with Michael Myers continues. And this update fits perfectly in our present. A sequel, Halloween Kills, is on the way, and if its anywhere near as good as this first new installment, we. are. ready. –
Halloween Kills is a fairly empty-headed continuation of what the 2018 Halloween started, but still: it keeps the story going. And while “Evil Dies Tonight” gets a little tiring to hear once it’s been said 12 times already, some of the violent, grisly Michael Myers moments won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
Halloween Ends is one of the most polarizing franchise horror films in recent memory. The conclusion to the Halloween trilogy produced by Blumhouse and directed by David Gordon Green, Ends brings back the cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak, but outside of that, frequently zigs when you expect it to zag. We won’t spoil too much, but while it’s certainly not a perfect film, it winds up being quite weird, unique, and fun. And most importantly, it’s got some brutal scares and even more brutal kills.
To go down a different Halloween path, you can check out the very first sequel to the original, first released in 1981. The movie was written by John Carpenter, though he didn’t direct it—and has lots of scares, a slow burn with some brutal kills, and a series-altering twist.
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Once you’ve seen original first two movies in the Halloween franchise, you can watch the ’90s sequel Halloween H20, which ignored everything else. This film brings Jamie Lee Curtis back into the fold as Laurie, giving the Halloween story by far its best entry in the ’90s horror canon.
The Faculty is a de facto remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, so it’s not quite a slasher movie with how much sci-fi blends into its horror, but the format is still the same: a big group dwindles down to a small group. This ’90s classic comes from screenwriter Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) and has a very iconic of the era cast, including Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Clea DuVall, and more.
Follow the good directors! Tobe Hooper earned his iconic (and somewhat controversial) post directing Poltergeist after Steven Spielberg saw and loved his work directing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Funhouse. The Funhouse isn’t anything too out of the ordinary, and that’s why we love it—a couple kids get sucked into a seedy funhouse ride at a traveling carnival when they see something they aren’t supposed to see. And at that point, it becomes time to get the hell out of there.
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
You could go with either version of My Bloody Valentine, but we’ll lean toward the updated effects and filmmaking of the 2009 version, starring The Boys’ Jensen Ackles. The plot isn’t too crazy here: a crazed miner in a mining town has a lot of victims in his sights, and, this being a slasher movie, hits a lot of his marks.
Friday the 13th Part 1 (1980)
So the original Friday the 13th was kind of a Halloween rip off, but guess what? We simply do not care, because this movie created its own mythology centered on the haunting setting of Camp Crystal Lake, and a bunch of dumb, horny, teenagers who just do not know how to get out of their own way. Pair this one with Animal House for a very fun “random early-career Kevin Bacon role” double feature if you so like. But just don’t expect that super iconic franchise villain to show up just yet—at least, not how you most expect him.
Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Yes, we stan this franchise hard, if only because the sequel somehow managed to be as good (if not, better) than the already incredible original. Once again, we find our protagonist Tree forced to live out the same day over and over. (Boring, right? Bare with us.) This time, the franchise tip-toes into sci-fi territory, placing Tree into multiple dimensions. It’s a fun twist that forces her into making the ultimate decision by the movie’s end.
What if the slasher never truly made its physical presence known? That’s the eery premise behind the Final Destination franchise (made up of five films, with a sixth on the way), where the true villain, Death, lurks behind every corner. The first is the best for so many reasons—the terrifying plane scene, the terrifying bathtub scene, the terrifying fire scene—you get the picture. A truly remarkable start to a wonderfully crafted franchise that never feels old or stale.
Final Destination 2 (2003)
Two words: log truck. Part of what sets Final Destination 2 apart from the rest of the franchise is the fact that, while, yes, it is basically the first movie done over again, and yes it is just a bunch of death scenes strung together, those death scenes are truly chilling. Not because any others on this list aren’t, but things like logs falling off a truck and causing a chain-reaction pile-up, or something falling from a construction site, or a random dentist’s office mishap…well, they really all could happen. Yikes.
Final Destination 3 (2006)
Final Destination 3 might just be the most off-the-rails sequel in the Final Destination franchise, which really is saying something. But let’s start off just by saying that the set piece this film is based around is on a god damn roller coaster. Does that not chill you to your core? Let’s toss in two more words: tanning beds.
We should also add that the lead this time around is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who you probably know from Scott Pilgrim vs the World or Birds of Prey. She’s a genuinely good actress and anchors the movie well.
Speaking of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she shows up in Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino’s lone contribution to the horror genre. This flick is an untraditional slasher that finds a mysterious dude named Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) showing off his old school Dodge Challenger. The movie was originally released as part of Grindhouse, a by-design double feature that saw Tarantino team up with Robert Rodriguez. If you’re into body horror, Rodriguez’s movie, Planet Terror, is also worth your time.
When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Carol Kane stars in this spine-tingling flick about the dangers of pre-caller ID communication. When a babysitter starts receiving calls from a stranger, asking if the children are safe, she assumes it’s a practical joke. It becomes very clear that it is not a joke when she gets an urgent call from the police, who utter one of the most iconic lines in horror film history. (You should probably check behind your couch right about now.)
Iconic for so many reasons, and for the purposes of this list, likely having birthed the slasher subgenre itself. An excellent entry into Hitchcock’s films, and one that might forever burn onto your brain. Perhaps not as scary as the other films on this list, but its influence on horror films to date won’t go unnoticed.
Forget holiday cheer—if you’re a cynic, like us, perhaps it’s time you take a dip into this terrifying tale of a sorority house slasher, wreaking havoc during the Christmas season. Be prepared for lots of jump-scares in this horror flick that would go on to influence the making of another seasonal classic: Halloween.
Carrie meets Saturday Night Fever in yet another horror classic starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Sure, it didn’t quite have the flare or scares of Halloween, but it’s become a cult classic over the years, exploring one masked killer’s mission to hunt and murder a bunch of teenagers on the most important night of their adolescent lives.
The 1975 Deep Red, directed by a pre-Suspiria Dario Argento, has been called one of the most cutting-edge horror cinematic masterpieces to date. (Both Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo Del Toro have raved about the film.) There’s really no adequate way to explain this film other than this: a pianist witnesses a brutal murder taking place, and the movie only spirals from there.
The House on Sorority Row (1982)
Perhaps not all that distinct from Black Christmas, The House on Sorority Row tends to fall more in line with your traditional slasher flick: A group of sorority sisters inadvertently murder their house mother, and are then stalked and murdered by an ominous figure in the aftermath. It’s good horror fun, but whatever you do, avoid the very bad 2009 reboot.
This flick about the horrors of an endless video call (feel familiar?) falls somewhere between the supernatural subgenre and slashers. In any case, it’s a damn good one, following a group of teens stalked by an avatar who plays the ultimate series of games that end in bloody murder. (And for a follow-up, try Shudder’s Host, a paranormal iteration that’s just as excellent.)
Evan Romano
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE.
Joshua Ocampo
Josh Ocampo is the Senior Editor at Men’s Health.
