A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as monster movies, splatter films, supernatural and psychological horror films.
The final girl or "survivor girl" is a trope in horror films. It refers to the last girl(s) or woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in many films, including Psycho, Voices of Desire, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. The term "final girl" was coined by Carol J. Clover in her article "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film" (1987). Clover suggested that in these films, the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experienced a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., and starring Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Linnea Quigley, Britt Leach, and Leo Geter. The story concerns a young man named Billy Chapman, who suffers from post-traumatic stress over witnessing his parents' murder on Christmas Eve by a man disguised as Santa Claus and his subsequent upbringing in an abusive Catholic orphanage. In adulthood, the Christmas holiday leads him into a psychological breakdown, and he emerges as a spree killer donning a Santa suit.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is a 1987 American slasher film edited, co-written with Joseph H. Earle, and directed by Lee Harry. It is the sequel to 1984's Silent Night, Deadly Night, and was followed by Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! in 1989. Its plot focuses on Ricky Caldwell, the brother of Billy Chapman, and his own trauma regarding his parents' Christmas Eve murders, which triggers his own killing spree. The film relies heavily on flashbacks, utilizing approximately 30 minutes of stock footage from the original film.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! is a 1989 American slasher film written and directed by Monte Hellman. A direct-to-video release, the film is the second sequel to the 1984 film Silent Night, Deadly Night and centers around the Christmas-obsessed killer Ricky Caldwell awakening from a coma and stalking a blind teenager with psychic powers, while she travels to her grandmother's house for the Christmas holiday with her brother and his girlfriend. It was the last to follow the storyline set by the previous two films, the next two sequels being standalone entries.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 1976 American thriller horror film directed and produced by Charles B. Pierce, and written by Earl E. Smith. The film is loosely based on the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders, crimes attributed to an unidentified serial killer known as the Phantom Killer. It is narrated by Vern Stierman, who had narrated Pierce's 1972 film The Legend of Boggy Creek. Ben Johnson stars as Captain J.D. Morales, a fictionalized version of Texas Ranger Captain M. T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas. The Phantom is played by Bud Davis, who later worked as stunt coordinator on films such as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and Inglourious Basterds. The film was mostly shot around Texarkana, and a number of locals were cast as extras. The world premiere was held in Texarkana on December 17, 1976, before its regular run in theaters on December 24.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker is a 1991 American science fiction horror film directed by Martin Kitrosser and stars Mickey Rooney, who had previously condemned the original film. It is the fifth film in the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series.
Steven C. Miller is an American screenwriter, editor, and director. His feature film debut, Automaton Transfusion, became an instant cult classic and catapulted his career into Hollywood. He directed the remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night in 2012 and then shifted from horror to action. He has directed films starring notable actors such as Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, Aaron Eckhart, Giancarlo Esposito, and Dave Bautista.
Silent Night, Bloody Night is a 1972 American slasher film directed by Theodore Gershuny and co-produced by Lloyd Kaufman. The film stars Patrick O'Neal and cult actress Mary Woronov in leading roles, with John Carradine in a supporting performance. The plot follows a series of murders that occur in a small New England town on Christmas Eve after a man inherits a family estate which was once an insane asylum.
Smiley is a 2012 American slasher film directed by Michael Gallagher, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Glasgow Phillips. The film stars Caitlin Gerard, Melanie Papalia, Shane Dawson, Andrew James Allen, Liza Weil, Roger Bart, and Keith David. The film was released on October 12, 2012, to largely negative reviews.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a 2014 American slasher film and serves as a metafictional sequel to the 1976 film of the same name. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon in his feature-length directorial debut, the film was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and produced by Jason Blum and Ryan Murphy. The film stars Addison Timlin, Travis Tope, Spencer Treat Clark, Veronica Cartwright and Gary Cole and was one of the last films of Ed Lauter and Edward Herrmann before their deaths in October 2013 and December 2014, respectively.
All Through the House is a 2015 American holiday slasher film written and directed by Todd Nunes and produced by The Readmond Company. It stars Ashley Mary Nunes, Jessica Cameron, and Jennifer Wenger, and follows a masked killer dressed in a Santa Claus costume who terrorizes a neighborhood during the Christmas holiday. The film was shot in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Lake Arrowhead, California over a period of 21 days.
3615 code Père Noël is a 1989 French action-horror thriller film written and directed by René Manzor. It is noted for its similarities to the 1990 American film Home Alone, the makers of which Manzor once threatened with legal action on the grounds of plagiarism, alleging that they had "remade my movie."
Silent Night, Deadly Night is an American Christmas horror film series, consisting of six films. The first film in the series, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), originally titled Slay Ride, tells the story of Billy, a young man who experiences a psychotic break and goes on a murder spree dressed as Santa Claus. The film received theatrical distribution from TriStar Pictures, but was pulled from theaters in November 1984 after a series of protests against the film.
Billy Chapman is a fictional character in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise. Created by writers Paul Caimi and Michael Hickey, the character serves as the protagonist and antivillain of the first film, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), and is featured in flashbacks in the sequel, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987).
Aubrey Bradimore is a fictional character in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise. Created by Jayson Rothwell, she is a police officer in a small Midwestern town who finds herself hunting a killer dressed in a Santa Claus suit on Christmas Eve. Portrayed by Jaime King, the character is first introduced in Silent Night (2012), a loose remake of the original Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
Billy is a fictional character from the Black Christmas film series, first appearing in Black Christmas (1974) as a deranged murderer who taunts and kills a group of college students during the Christmas season. Created by Bob Clark and A. Roy Moore, the character was partly inspired by the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs", as well as a series of real murders in Montreal during the 1943 holiday season.
Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival is a 2014 holiday horror film, a sequel to the 1972 film Silent Night, Bloody Night. The film is a direct sequel and continues the story of the original 40 years later.
Christmas Bloody Christmas is a 2022 American Christmas-themed horror film directed and written by Joe Begos. It follows a robotic Santa Claus who goes on a killing spree on Christmas Eve. Riley Dandy, Sam Delich, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Dora Madison, Jeremy Gardner, Jeff Daniel, and Kansas Bowling also star. The film was released on December 9, 2022 and received mixed reviews from critics.
Christmas horror is a fiction genre and film genre that incorporates horror elements into a seasonal setting. It is popular in multiple countries.
