10 Horror Slashers To Watch If You Love The Halloween Franchise

Often credited with kickstarting the “slasher” sub-genre, here are 10 similarly gruesome films to check out if you’re a fan of the Halloween movies.

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The slasher is a subgenre of horror that involves a deranged assailant embarking upon a murderous rampage, one that usually targets young, attractive coeds. John Carpenter and Debra Hill birthed the “Golden Age” of the slasher movie with their 1978 feature Halloween, starring masked boogeyman Michael Myers. The iconic movie, whose popularity launched a franchise, solidified many of the tropes that would become standard in these types of horror films.

That being said, Halloween is not the first slasher, nor it is the only low-budget independent horror flick to become a mainstream franchise. While Halloween’s similarities to Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are well-established, there exist a plethora of other worthwhile slashers fans of the Halloween films should watch.

10 Black Christmas (1974)

Considered one of the earliest slashers, Black Christmas is a tale of holiday horror set within the confines of a college sorority house. In the film, a mysterious stalker taunts members of the sorority through obscene phone calls that quickly escalate to murder.

As with many low-budget slashers, Black Christmas received mixed reviews when it was released, but it has since become a cult classic. Sophia Takal updated the film for contemporary audiences with her 2019 Blumhouse-produced remake.

9 Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

A 12-year-old girl is implicated in a gruesome series of murders around her Catholic church in this American slasher that delves into the world of religious-themed horror. The eponymous character in Alice, Sweet Alice seems to leave a trail of dead bodies wherever she goes.

Could Alice be the masked murdered in a raincoat capable of such carnage, or is she an innocent victim? Alice, Sweet Alice takes the slasher into new territory, incorporating more psychological horror and Hitchcockian atmospherics than other films of its era.

8 When A Stranger Calls (1979)

“Every babysitter’s nightmare becomes real…” is the tagline for this creepy feature based on the babysitter and the man upstairs myth. Carol Kane stars as the babysitter, who is watching over a few sleeping children when the telephone rings.

On the other end of the line is a crazed killer who just so happens to be calling the babysitter from within the house. When a Stranger Calls takes every paranoid—albeit all-too-often justified—thought women have about stalkers to extreme places.

7 My Bloody Valentine (1981)

A classic Canadian slasher, My Bloody Valentine’s villain dons a mine worker’s outfitter and goes after townies in Valentine Bluffs as they plan their first Valentine’s Day bash in 20 years. Two decades earlier, the town was devastated by a mining accident that left just one miner alive, and locals suspect the survivor has returned to exact vengeance.

While not quite an exploitation film, this horror movie gets very close. With its gruesome kill sequences set against heart-shaped decorations, My Bloody Valentine is one gory feature.

6 Blood Rage (1987)

Also known as Nightmare at Shadow Woods and Slasher, Blood Rage’s action unfolds over a holiday sometimes featured in horror films: Thanksgiving. Mark Soper plays identical twin brothers Terry and Todd Simmons, the former of whom goes homicidal whenever their single mother shares affection with men.

The nasty familial themes at the heart of the film are clearly influenced by Michael Myers’ bloodlust for his relatives in Halloween. While Soper’s performance isn’t always perfect, he does a good job showing how different the two Simmons brothers are in terms of their manias and traumas.

5 Savage Weekend (1976)

In Savage Weekend, a recently-divorced woman ventures out of NYC with a group of friends to get some rest and relaxation in the upstate. Instead, what she and her buds find is a serial slayer disguised by a deformed mask.

Savage Weekend plays on a classic trope in slasher movies: a group of people on vacation in a rural area have their chill vibes ruined by a bloodthirsty killer. In fact, this film by David Paulsen set many genre standards later seen in Friday the 13th and Halloween.

4 Silent Scream (1979)

A rarity among slashers, Silent Scream had an impressive theatrical run when it debuted in 1979 which was likely the result of Halloween’s success a year earlier. Rebecca Balding stars as Scotty Parker in the film, a college student who rents the attic apartment in a boarding house.

After one of the other college students living with Parker in the seaside mansion is murdered, the family who owns the house becomes the prime suspect. What it lacks in character development and fleshed-out narrative, Silent Scream makes up for with its cinematography.

3 The Prowler (1981)

A cross between Halloween and My Bloody Valentine, The Prowler follows a serial killer in World War II fatigues who targets college students in a small New Jersey town in the days leading up to a big spring dance. It turns out a double murder that occurred 35 years before is the murderer’s inspiration to strike again.

The film includes graphic violence and shocking special effects from Tom Savini, whose work contributed to The Prowler’s cult status. Many of Savini’s bloodiest scenes were cut for international releases.

2 Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972)

Another Christmas gorefest, Silent Night, Bloody Night is the oldest feature on this list. Technically a proto-slasher, it weaves a dour, moody tale about a man who, on Christmas Eve, inherits a mansion that was once a mental asylum.

Silent Night, Bloody Night suffers from a convoluted plot, poor camera work, and problematic depictions of mental health issues. That being said, it paved the way for the tasteless, grimy scary movies to come.

1 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a slasher at heart, one many fans consider the best-executed of all time. Hooper depicts just enough onscreen violence to appeal to viewers as his tale about a cannibalistic family in the Texas wastelands unfolds.

Even with its minimal gore, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned in multiple countries. While many slashers take the opposite approach to displays of bloodshed, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre contributes to the genre with its masked killer Leatherface, who dons a signature chainsaw and hunts his prey one by one.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/slasher-horror-movies-similar-halloween-franchise/