Legacy Legacy
Volume 23 Issue 1 Article 7
2023
Killer Fears: Slasher Films and 1980s American Anxieties Killer Fears: Slasher Films and 1980s American Anxieties
Gabriel White
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
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Gabriel White
Killer Fears: Slasher Films and 1980s American Anxieties
The opening scene of the lm Scream IV frames a lm professor nervously
waiting at a restaurant for her blind date. While waiting at the bar, she received
a phone call from her date informing her that he got lost and could not nd
the restaurant. She decides to nd him. Remaining on the phone with her date
as she attempts to pinpoint his location, the conversation shifts to the topic of
slasher movies and their importance. “You can really examine the culture of
the moment by looking at the tropes of the time,”
1
says the professor before
being gutted by her supposed blind date. This scene illustrates the signicance
of studying slasher movies.
Horror lms, as an all-inclusive genre, have been produced for
generations. Each era of horror lm has left its mark on society. From the early
horror classics such as Nosferatu and Frankenstein to more recent lms such as
Get Out and X, American audiences have eagerly consumed horror for over
a hundred years.
2
However, one horror subgenre arguably stands out from
the rest: the slasher lm. First popularized in the late ‘70s and amassing an
even larger audience in the ‘80s, the slasher genre and its slew of antagonistic
characters have become iconic. Although many people appreciate slasher
movies, others discredit them as cheap and dirty entertainment. Slasher
lms, however, are much more than just entertainment. They can provide
historians a gateway to understanding the past by focusing on society’s
anxieties captured in the celluloid. These lms oer a glimpse of the socio-
economic, political, and cultural anxieties of the historical period when they
were produced. Understanding these slasher lms is important as they can
provide an accessible and easy-to-understand bottom-up approach to many
issues plaguing the United States in the ‘80s. Using cultural theorist Stuart
Hall’s notion of encoding and decoding media texts, this study shows how
slasher lms can provide glimpses of the socio-economic and cultural issues
1 Scream VI, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (2023; Montreal,
Canada: Paramount Pictures, 2023), Theater.
2 Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau, (1922; Germany: Jofa-Atelier Berlin-
Johannisthal,1922), Streaming; Frankenstein, directed by James Whale, (1931;
Universal Studios, CA: Universal Pictures, 1931), DVD; Get Out, directed by Jordan
Peele, (2017; Fairhope, AL: Blumhouse Productions, 2017), DVD; and X, directed by
Ti West, (2022; Queenstown, New Zealand: A24, 2022), DVD.
70 LEGACY
occurring when they were made. It follows Kara M. Kvaran’s methodology
deploying Hall’s ideas “which states that texts can have multiple meanings
that are then interpreted by audiences in dierent ways depending on their
subject position. The creators may not intend these decoded meanings and
can be collectively or individually understood by the audience.”
3
The Rise of 1980s Slasher Films
Slasher lms are a subgenre of horror movies that often involve a
wicked character that stalks and kills a group of people, usually youth (high
school/college age), involved in inappropriate and what society or their
parents deems as immoral behaviors. These behaviors include premarital
sex, underage drinking, and illicit drug use. While not all slasher movies
depict these behaviors, the most prominent slasher lms, such as Friday the
13
th
Part III and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, do.
4
These two
lms include characters who participate in these behaviors, including a drug
abuser and characters who engage in premarital sex and underage drinking.
Along with portrayals of youth engaged in improper conduct, slasher lms
tend to have a sole survivor who successfully defeats the killer. This surviving
character is usually a woman who does not participate in the aforementioned
immoral behaviors.
5
While many view the 1960s classic Psycho as the rst slasher movie, the
lm does not meet many of the earlier characteristics of traditional slasher
lms, like having a youthful cast or heavy use of drugs and alcohol.
6
The
earliest examples of traditional slasher movies include The Texas Chain Saw
3 For the work of Stuart Hall, see David Croteau and William Hoynes, Media Society:
Industries, Images, and Audiences (London: Sage Publications, 2003), 269; and for
Kara M. Kvaran, see Kara Kvaran, “’You’re All Doomed!’ A Socioeconomic Analysis
of Slasher Films,” Journal of American Studies 50, no. 4 (November 2016): 953-970.
4 Friday the 13
th
Part III, directed by Steve Miner (1982; Saugus, CA: Paramount
Pictures, 1982), DVD and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, directed by
Russell Chuck (1987; Los Angeles, CA: New Line Cinema, 1987), DVD.
5 For lms containing the trope of sole survivor, see Halloween, directed by John
Carpenter (1978; Pasadena, CA: Compass International Pictures, 1978), DVD; Friday
the 13
th
, Cunningham (1980; Blairstown, NJ: Paramount, 1980), DVD; A Nightmare
on Elm Street, directed by Wes Craven (1984; Los Angeles, CA: New Line Cinema,
1984), DVD. For lms depicting sexual situations, see Halloween, Carpenter, 1978.
Friday the 13
th
: The Final Chapter, directed by Joseph Zito (1984; Santa Clarita, CA:
Paramount Pictures, 1984), DVD; Sleepaway Camp, directed by Robert Hiltzik (1983;
Glens Falls, NY: American Eagle Films, 1983), DVD. For lms containing drug
and alcohol use, see Prom Night, directed by Paul Lynch (1980; Toronto, Canada:
Guardian Trust Company, 1980), Streaming. Halloween, Carpenter, 197; and.
Cunningham Friday the 13
th
, 1980.
6 Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1960; Universal Studios, CA: Shamley
Productions, 1960), DVD.
Gabriel White 71
Massacre and Black Christmas, both released in 1974.
7
These movies popularized
many of the tropes that later became staples of the genre. Both lms featured a
cast of late high school/early college-aged people who unexpectedly become
targets of a malevolent killer. In some movies, there are multiple killers, such
as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, where the survivor characters face a family
of cannibals. Black Christmas and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre also created
the “nal girl” trope as both movies focus on a female lead who manages
to survive the killer. These lms also ignited a trend of having the storyline
occur in a single location. Black Christmas takes place at a college sorority
house, while The Texas Chain Saw Massacre occurs at a house in the middle of
nowhere.
8
The conning of the plot to a single location became a common
occurrence in the slasher genre. This boundary created greater tension for
both the on-screen characters and the audience, as both parties would feel like
there was nowhere to run from the killer. The movie April Fool’s Day uses this
idea to full eect. The lm takes place on the connements of an island where
the characters realize they have no way to escape the killer.
9
The release of the lm Halloween in 1978 quickly became the blueprint
adopted by future lmmakers of the genre. Scholars often credit his movie
as the rst actual slasher lm that set the standard for the slasher craze of the
‘80s.
10
This lm rmly brought together all the previously mentioned tropes
and featured all the aspects of what became traditional slasher movies. These
characteristics included an antagonistic killer stalking a group of delinquent
friends, who eventually kills everyone but the “nal girl,” who is not involved
in the immoral activities her friends participate in, such as drug use and
immoral sexual practices. In the article “Razors in the Dreamscape: Revisiting
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and the Slasher Film,” James Kendrick discusses
the trope of the “nal girl.” He describes some characteristics of the “nal
girl” and states, “Unlike her girlfriends, she is not sexually active.”
11
This
quote helps explain why the “nal girl” is supposed to be of a higher moral
character than her friends, which is why she is the one who survives the terror.
Halloween also includes a very self-contained setting, a small town in Illinois.
Critics have noted Halloween’s inuence on many popular slasher movies,
such as Friday the 13
th
and My Bloody Valentine, on establishing the tropes and
7 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper (1974; Watterson, TX:
New Line Cinema, 1974), DVD; and Black Christmas, directed by Bob Clark (1974;
Toronto, Canada: Warner Brothers, 1974), DVD.
8 Ibid.
9 April Fool’s Day, directed by Fred Walton (1986; British Columbia, Canada: Para-
mount Pictures, 1986), DVD.
10 Carpenter, Halloween, 1978.
11 James Kendrick, “Razors in the Dreamscape: Revisiting ‘A Nightmare on Elm
Street’ and the Slasher Film,” Film Criticism 33, no. 3 (2009), 26.
72 LEGACY
techniques of how those lms were shot.
12
Slasher movies gained a massive amount of success, especially during
the 1980s. One reason slasher movies were so popular during this period was
the introduction of strong female leads and the inclusion of female characters
who deed typical gender roles. Strong women protagonists were not the
norm in horror movies. In the past, lead characters were predominantly white
men who came to the rescue of women characters needing to be saved. For
example, the lms Dracula and Creature from the Black Lagoon end with women
being taken away to the monster’s lair and having to be saved by courageous
men.
13
The slasher genre changed the norm, however, with the introduction of
strong female leads as the women became the ones who would ght against
evil. This empowerment attracted a female audience to buy tickets to watch
slasher movies. As Kara Kvaran notes, “The target demographic of slasher
lms, historically speaking, was adolescent males, though a large part of the
audience was likely to be female.”
14
More women became interested in slasher
movies due in part to this shift in which female characters went from always
needing to be saved to now becoming the ones who defeated the killer and
survived the carnage. For example, in the 1988 slasher lm Child’s Play, a
single mother unknowingly buys a possessed doll for her son but soon must
ght against it to save her life and her son’s. While this lm does not contain a
teen lead like other slashers, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, it has a female
lead role like A Nightmare on Elm Street.
15
This woman empowerment can
help explain why slasher lms became so popular, especially with younger
women who wanted to ght back against the more traditional gender roles
stressed by the conservative adults, not only as a result of the age gap but also
in terms of the changes in the political climate of the nation. This lead woman
embodies the ‘Final Girl.’
The Final Girl is often the very last member of the teenage group alive at
the end of the slasher; this includes characters like Laurie Strode (Halloween)
and Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare on Elm Street.)
16
These characters have
been important in demonstrating women’s empowerment in horror movies
and how the role of women changed during the 1980s. Carol Clover’s article
“Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film” discusses this relationship
between women and empowerment in lms. In her article, Clover details
12 Halloween, Carpenter, 1978; and My Bloody Valentine, directed by George Mihalka
(1981; Sydney Mines, N.S.: Paramount Pictures, 1981), DVD.
13 Dracula, directed by Tod Browning (1931; Universal Studios, CA: Universal Pictures,
1931), DVD; and Creature from the Black Lagoon, directed by Jack Arnold (1954; Uni-
versal City, CA: Universal Pictures, 1954), DVD.
14 Kvaran, “‘You’re All Doomed!’,” 958.
15 Child’s Play, directed by Tom Holland (1988; Chicago, IL: Universal Pictures, 1988),
DVD; and Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984.
16 Carpenter, Halloween, 1978; and Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984.
Gabriel White 73
the evolution of the Final Girl throughout the history of slasher movies and
describes the characteristics of these characters. She breaks down the main
elements of a slasher lm, which include the killer, weapons, ‘Final Girl,”
and the “terrible place.” According to Clover, the terrible place is a location,
typically a house or tunnel, where the victims nd themselves at the mercy of
the villain.
17
James Kendrick also discusses the Final Girl in his paper “Razors
in the Dreamscape: Revisiting ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ and the Slasher
Film.” Kendrick also discusses similar characteristics that were mentioned in
the previous article, such as the fact that the Final Girl is usually not sexually
active.
A source from A Slash Above dotcom created a comprehensive list of
slasher movies released over time.
18
This list included 604 individual slasher
movies spanning from 1960 to 2015. Of these 604 movies, 264 debuted between
1980 and 1989. In other words, 42% of the lms on the list came out in just the
1980s. The author of the list noted that there were some movies left o because
they did not meet the author’s criteria, which is why there are a few problems
with this source. It does not include A Nightmare on Elm Street, a commonly
held slasher franchise.
19
This omission makes one question the validity of the
source as it is challenging to know what other slasher lms were left o and
what ones were included that should not have been, which means that the
number of slasher movies in the ‘80s could be higher or lower than what the
list shows. Nevertheless, this source still provides a way to illustrate that more
slashers were produced in the ‘80s than any other decade before or after.
One of the reasons why slasher movies were so abundant during the ‘80s
was that they were very lucrative and easy to make. Often, the production
cost for these lms was less than two million dollars; however, they grossed
millions at the box oce.
20
Slasher movies did not require an all-star cast or
various lming locations. All they needed were young actors and a unique
idea of a killer. They usually do not even need a complex plot or a deep story.
One of the most signicant examples of a slasher with a minimal story and
small budget is the original Friday the 13
th
.
21
The production budget for the
rst movie was only $550,000, while it grossed $60 million worldwide.
22
17 Carol Clover, “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film,” Representations no.
20 (Autumn, 1987): 187-228.
18 “A-Z of Reviews and Full List of Slasher Movies,” Aslashabovedotcom, accessed
Apr. 14
th
, 2023, https://aslashabovedotcom.wordpress.com/a-slash-above-slasher-
index/.
19 Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984.
20 John Hoskins, “Top 20 highest grossing slasher lms of the ‘80’s,” IMDB, Apr. 13
th
,
2023, https://www.imdb.com/list/ls009410482/.
21 Cunningham, Friday the 13
th
, 1980.
22 “Friday the 13
th
Box Oce History,” The Numbers, Apr. 4
th
, 2023, https://www.the-
numbers.com/movies/franchise/Friday-the-13th#tab=summary.
74 LEGACY
When adjusted for ination, this equals $2 million and over $200 million,
respectively. The success of Friday the 13
th
demonstrated how a studio could
make a protable movie with such a small amount of money.
The rise of slasher movies also parallels the rise of another lm genre
that was very prevalent: the teen lm.
23
Both lm genres contained similar
features, such as a group of youth throwing parties; however, the characters
in slasher movies had a worse fate than those in typical teen lms. Slasher
lms provided a dark contrast and a stressed-lled take to the lighthearted
teen lms of the decade. While teen lms gave the youth a vision of what
they wanted their life to be, slasher lms showed the audience a glimpse of
that life before the killer disrupts it. When related to real life, the killer is a
representation of the fears and anxieties many teens had during the 1980s.
Slasher Films and the ‘80s in Literature
The slasher genre gained its most success from the late 1970s to the end
of the 1980s when the United States underwent a broad societal change. The
1980s saw a rise in conservatism. Conservatism is a political ideology that
greatly emphasizes traditional values over change. In the 1980s, conservative
ideals began to become mainstream due to the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan was widely known as a proponent of conservative beliefs, mainly
traditional “family values.” For example, as Simon Heer stated, Reagan
advocated returning daily prayer to schools and supported a bill allowing
school prayer to return.
24
He also ercely opposed communism and enacted
many neoliberal policies. As Reagan’s time in oce sparked moves towards
conservatism for American culture, many Americans began consuming more
traditional media forms. In “America During the ‘80s: Summing up the
Reagan Era,” Karl Zinsmeister explains this return to conservatism and how
it specically aected many means of expression. He explains that there was
a push to return to more traditionalist and conservative ideals, especially in
lm and music.
25
These ideals often included family and religious Christian
values. These values are often not represented in many slasher movies.
Karl Zinsmeister also discusses the United States under Ronald
Reagan’s leadership in the article “America During the ‘80s: Summing up the
Reagan Era.” This article details the socio-economic and political landscape
of the United States in the 1980s. It discusses government spending as well as
the eventual recovery of the economy. The author also describes that with this
23 Tim Dirks, “The History of Film The 1980s,” FIlmsite, accessed, Apr. 13
th
, 2023,
https://www.lmsite.org/80sintro.html.
24 Iain Dale and Simon Heer, The Presidents: 250 Years of American Political Leadership
(London, England: Hodder & Stoughton, 2023), 430.
25 Karl Zinsmeister, “America During the ‘80s: Summing up the Reagan Era,” The
Wilson Quarterly 14, no.1, (Winter 1990), 117.
Gabriel White 75
recovery, American families had more money to spend on luxury items such as
electrical technologies, better houses, and even increased movie theater ticket
sales. Zinsmeister also explains the social problems that were occurring, such
as the crime and drug waves. The Bureau of Justice Statistics states that “The
number of Federal cases involving drug oenders and the sanctions against
them [drug oenders] increased dramatically between 1980-1986. There was
a higher ling rate for such oenders than for all other crime categories.”
26
The issue with drugs was so severe that Nancy Reagan, the wife of President
Ronald Reagan, championed the “Just Say No” campaign, which aimed at
encouraging children to reject the use of recreational drugs. Zinsmeister ends
his article by explaining that many lms, books, and music looked to return to
praising traditional values.
27
Kara Kvaran looks at slasher movies through a socio-economic lens
in the article “‘You’re All Doomed!’ A Socio-economic Analysis of Slasher
Films.” In this article, Kvaran explains that the slasher movies of the ‘80s
provide a way for historians to understand the United States economy in the
‘80s and how the youth of that era felt about it. She argues that the slasher
movies arose during a period of great recession, which helps explain their
dark tones.
28
Kvaran also explains how, in these movies, the youth battle a
seemingly unstoppable evil, representing the economy to her. She concludes
that the youth used slasher movies as a way to escape the stressors facing
them in adulthood and, thus, a possible bleak future.
From a dierent standpoint, slasher movies suggest that the villains
of the stories represent the conservative and religious revival underway
during the 80s. Conservatism and a religious revival swept through the nation,
and as a result, many forms of expression, including music, art, and lms,
were under attack for promoting ‘satanic beliefs.’ John Brackett suggests that
religious groups believed that these forms of entertainment, such as heavy
rock and slasher movies, contributed to the decline of American morals.
29
Slasher movies were considered part of the problem as they not only depicted
violence, but the characters in the lms were participating in acts such as
premarital sex, uncontrolled drinking, and drugs.
Alternatively, slasher movies can be understood as sites of both pro and
anti-conservative values. While it was previously mentioned that slasher
lms contain images that are very much against conservative beliefs, it also,
in a sense, demonstrates that characters who participate in immoral acts get
26 Jan M. Chaiken and Douglas C. McDonald, “Drug Law Violators, 1980-1986,” in
Bureau of Justice Statistics (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1988).
27 Zinsmeister, “America During the ‘80s,” 115-17.
28 Kvaran, “‘You’re All Doomed!’,” 953-970.
29 John Brackett, “Satan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development
of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s.” American Music 36,
no. 3 (2018): 274-275.
76 LEGACY
punished like the conservatives suggested. So, looking at both sides, these
movies can be seen as both pro and anti-conservative. The lms promote and
contain many anti-conservative images while at the same time making it clear
that those who do partake in them will be punished. Richard Fink discusses
this in his article “How Slasher Horror Movies Reect Conservative Values,”
where he states, “ These lms are typically the favorite of a younger audience,
as they tap into the unseen darkness hiding in the shadows as well as featuring
plenty of nudity and bloodshed that makes for a cinematic experience….
While these villains are trapped in darkness, they are also instruments to
remind young people to stay on the proper path.”
30
This quote does a great
job of encapsulating the tension between pro and against conservative values.
The idea of adult abandonment is very prevalent in many slasher
movies. In the article “You’re All Doomed! A Socio-economic Analysis of
Slasher Films” Kvaran explains how in many slasher lms, the cast is primarily
comprised of youth, and the adults are often either not present at all or are
unhelpful when they are present. She implies that in most cases, an adult
represents authority and safety, but in slasher movies, however, they often do
little to help or hinder their survival.
31
Pat Gill also echoes this in the article
“The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family,” arguing that
even the caring parents will often be too distracted to help or may even create
the monster.
32
This trope is essential to slasher movies and understanding the
relationship between the young and generations in the 1980s. The lack of help
from the parents in slasher movies can be seen as a reection of reality, with
the parents standing by and allowing the new conservative ideas to attack the
freedom of expression and behaviors that many of the youth enjoyed.
Slasher Films and Disposable Income
The beginning of the ‘80s was marked by stagation when an
economy suered from high ination coupled with a high unemployment
rate.
33
As the decade progressed, this began to improve, and many Americans
eventually enjoyed increased prosperity. Karl Zinsmeister noted that during
the Reagan years, many Americans were able to enjoy leisure activities more
frequently. These activities included buying new houses, going on trips,
and increasing attendance at leisure events, including sports games and art
shows. As a result of the leisure spending, there was an increase in theater
30 Richard Fink, “How Slasher Horror Movies Reect Conservative Values,”
MovieWeb, accessed July 10, 2023, https://movieweb.com/slasher-horror-movies-
conservative/#:~:text=Audiences%20looking%20deeper%20at%20the,stay%20
on%20the%20proper%20path.
31 Kvaran, “‘You’re All Doomed!’,” 959.
32 Pat Gill, “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family,” Journal of
Film and Video 54, no. 4 (2002), 17.
33 Kvaran, “‘You’re All Doomed!’,” 956.
Gabriel White 77
attendance. Zinsmeister notes that the admissions increased from “$4.5 billion
in 1988 versus $2,7 billion in 1980.”
34
More people could see new movies in
theaters, which helps explain why slasher movies were so protable.
Slasher movies also appealed to a wide range of teen audiences as their
characters lived an idealistic middle-class life that teens strove to have. The
lm A Nightmare on Elm Street portrays this ideal middle-class life. In this
movie, a man terrorizes a group of teens in their dreams. The characters in
this movie live in very nice homes, wear expensive clothes, and have luxury
items like their own cars and TVs. Thus, much of the young adult audience
envied the luxurious lives and freedoms the ctitious characters in these lms
seemed to enjoy. They watched movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street and
Halloween and longed to be in the same nancial situation as the characters in
the lm.
35
However, the socio-economic and political realities of the ‘80s made
this dream of a luxurious life unrealistic for many teens.
Fear of The Cold War and Nuclear Fear
One of the most explicit connections that can be made is the connection
between slasher lms and the Cold War. While the war was stabilizing and
eventually came to an end in the late 80s, there were still many fears about a
potential nuclear war. John Muir writes about this in his book Horror Films of
the 1980s. In the introduction, Muir explains that the idea of an “apocalypse
mentality” was prevalent in horror during the ‘80s. This idea responded to
the public’s fear of a potential nuclear war.
36
This anxiety can be seen in many
famous horror movies of the 80s, such as Friday the 13th, where a group of
people tried to live out their lives, but all the while, there was a foreboding
presence threatening to kill them all.
37
The fear of nuclear annihilation was at the forefront of many Americans’
minds during the 1980s. This fear was due to the Cold War, which was an
ideological battle between the United States and the Soviet Union that had
been ongoing for decades, ever since the end of WWII. One of the most
important developments that came with the Cold War was the threat of
nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons were used by the two superpowers (the
U.S. and the Soviet Union) as a way to intimidate other nations, especially
each other. While the Americans were the only nation to use nuclear weapons
on their enemies, the Soviets’ testing of similar weapons caused panic
among many Americans. Many Americans feared that the Cold War would
eventually lead to a massive military conict that could end civilization
entirely. John Muir’s Horror Films of the 1980s illustrate the idea of apocalypse
34 Zinsmeister, “America During the ‘80s,” 117.
35 Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984; and Carpenter, Halloween, 1978.
36 John Muir, Horror Films of the 1980s, Vol. I (Jeerson, NC: McFarland, 2013), 6-7.
37 Cunningham Friday the 13
th
, 1980.
78 LEGACY
mentality and how it shaped many artistic expressions during this era. Muir
argues that apocalypse mentality is the fear of a sudden apocalyptic event
occurring, such as a nuclear war. He notes that many Americans, especially
the youth, had this fear during the 1980s, creating a sense of foreboding doom
for them.
38
Most of the slasher movies of the 80s follow the pattern of having
youthful characters attempting to enjoy the pleasures of American life, yet
they are always under the shadow of an evil force. For example, in The Evil
Dead, the main character Ash opens the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, also known
as the Book of the Dead.
39
The opening of the book acts as a catalyst for the
remaining events of the movie, where a demonic entity slowly kills o the
characters. The opening of the Necronomicon can also be seen as a metaphor
for the Cold War, where the opening represents the ring of a nuclear weapon,
which would lead to massive destructive events that would follow.
The common theme of carefree youth living under the threat of a menacing
force, like in slasher lms, is a good analogy of what it was like to be a teenager
in the 1980s. During this period, the possible occurrence of an apocalyptic-
like event was not out of the realm of possibility. Once nuclear arms were
introduced into their daily lives, many Americans began to question whether
they were genuinely safe since the enemy had a way of causing signicant
damage to the country from afar. People began to fear that the places they
felt most safe no longer provided that same sense of security. Many slasher
movies play into this idea through their lming locations. Places like high
schools, summer camps, suburban homes, and even one’s dreams became
unguaranteed of safety. These fears of loss of security and the previously
mentioned possibility of nuclear annihilation are represented in slasher lms.
In slasher lms, the teens had to worry about being attacked by a
seemingly unstoppable killer such as Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees. In
contrast, in the real world, the teens had their unstoppable monster to fear in
the Soviet Union.
40
The ‘nal girl’ case, thus, is recast as the sole survivor of a
nuclear or world-ending event. This reformulation can especially be seen at
the end of Friday the 13
th
, as the ‘nal girl,’ Alice, runs through the camp and
nds the dead bodies of all her friends.
41
Alice slowly realizes that she is the
only survivor of the annihilation that happened at the camp. Another horror
lm depicting the idea of mass destruction emerges in Killer Klowns from Outer
Space.
42
While this is not a traditional slasher lm, it still contains an analogy
between the fears of a war with the Soviet Union and the horror lms of the
38 Muir, Horror Films of the 1980s,” 6-7.
39 The Evil Dead, directed by Sam Raimi, (1981, Marshall, Michigan: Renaissance
Pictures, 1981), DVD.
40 Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984; and Cunningham, Friday the 13
th
, 1980.
41 Cunningham, Friday the 13
th
, 1980.
42 Killer Klowns from Outer Space, directed by Stephen Chiodo, (1988; Santa Cruz, CA:
Chiodo Brother Productions, 1988), Streaming.
Gabriel White 79
time. This movie features a colony of aliens invading a small town on Earth
who begin to harvest the town’s people until only a small group remains to
defeat the Klowns. This struggle is a metaphor for the fear that the Soviet
Union may invade the U.S. and destroy the American way of life, where the
invading aliens are the representation of the Soviet Union coming to take over
the United States. The idea of adult abandonment is also prevalent in both
slasher movies and a teenager’s view of the Cold War.
Adult Abandonment and Conservative Backlash, and the Religious Right
As suggested earlier, one of the most common tropes in slasher movies is
the presence of incompetent adults. Throughout almost every major slasher
movie, the adult gures are largely absent or uncaring throughout most of
the lm. Pat Gill states, “Even caring, concerned parents are impotent; often
they are hapless and distracted, unaware of their children’s problems and
likely to dismiss and discount their warning and fears.”
43
An example of this
is seen in the lm A Nightmare on Elm Street, where Nancy’s parents do not
believe her when she tells them that she is being attacked and stalked in her
sleep. The parents are unhelpful to the point that during the movie’s climax,
where Nancy is ghting for her life against Freddy, her mother is asleep, and
her father only comes to help once Freddy has already been defeated. While
Nancy’s parents cared for her, which is evident in that they sought help from
a dream specialist, they never took her cries for help seriously.
44
This feeling
was very familiar to many American youth as they felt that the adults in their
society had abandoned them similarly.
45
From their continued participation
in the Cold War to the adults attacking the media that the youth liked to
consume, many young people felt like the characters in the lms that the
adults of their day had failed them.
Conservatives were also opposed to slasher movies, as stated earlier
in the essay. Many felt the contents of most slasher movies went against the
most prominent conservative beliefs. Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead is an example
of a slasher movie that was not well received at the time of its release.
46
This
lm contains everything that traditional conservatives opposed. It depicted
underage drinking, sexual deviancy, demonic possession, and a copious
amount of gore. For these reasons, the lm received an X rating typically
reserved for pornographic lms. Several foreign countries even banned it.
Religious values, in particular, became prevalent during this time as
there was a rise in a group called the Religious Right, also known as the New
43 Pat Gill, “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family,” Journal of
Film and Video 54, no. 4 (2002), 17.
44 Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street,1984.
45 Kvaran, “‘You’re All Doomed!’,” 958-961.
46 Raimi, The Evil Dead, 1981.
80 LEGACY
Christian Right. The Religious Right was a group of evangelical conservatives
who believed that the morality of American society had begun to collapse. In
a document titled “The Moral Majority And Its Goals,” the group is stated to
be “Americans from all walks of life united by one central concern: to serve as
a special-interest group providing a voice for a return to moral sanity in these
United States of America.”
47
This group openly opposed the use of drugs
and pornographic media and championed preserving traditional family
values. The Religious Right also believed that one of the primary causes
of the breakdown of American society was the lms and music of the ‘80s.
They believed that this media not only contained satanic imagery but that
it also promoted it. John Brackett states that many leaders of the Religious
Right “threatened to boycott the major television networks over charges of
excessive and graphic descriptions of sex, violence, drug use, and other forms
of immoral behavior.”
48
They attributed all of these behaviors to the decline
of American morality, especially in the youth. Slasher movies were under
attack by this group as they went against everything that the Religious Right
stood for. An example of this can be seen in the movie Hellraiser.
49
The lm
was centered on a family who found themselves under attack by an undead
family member, as well as a group of interdimensional demons who are bent
on imprisoning the family in a version of hell where they will experience all
kinds of torture. This movie contains everything that the Religious Right was
against, from satanic images and the breakdown of the traditional family to
sexual deviancy.
It was not just the Religious Right that attacked slasher lms, as many
critics also had very scathing reviews of them. In an article from the horror
movie magazine Fangoria, lm critic Gene Siskel expressed his dislike of the
genre when he noted that “To [him], these [slasher] lms, [were] nothing more
than killing lms,” he considered them “sick, and [he] fail[ed] to appreciate
the entertainment value on that.”
50
It was commonly understood among
many adults that slasher lms were a lthy genre and lacked taste. This image
of slasher movies has persisted and is part of why many horror movies do
not receive the recognition they deserve, especially from major lm guilds.
Slasher movies in and of themselves can be used to reect the opposition
to them. The survivor characters of the slashers represent the youth in the
1980s, while the force that attacks them represents the people who attacked
the forms of expression that the youth commonly enjoyed. While the creators
47 Moral Majority Incorcoparated, “Moral Majority and Its Goals [1979],” in Robert
Muccigrosso, Basic History of American Conservatism (Malabar, Florida: Anvil Press,
2001), 195.
48 Brackett, “Satan, Subliminals, and Suicide,” 276.
49 Hellraiser, directed by Clive Barker, (1987; London, England: New World Pictures,
1987), DVD.
50 Joseph Reboy, “Taste Will Tell…,” Fangoria 3, no. 15 (October 1981), 38.
Gabriel White 81
of this media may not have had this specic idea in mind during the writing
and production process, we can return to Stuart Hall’s notion used by Kara
Kvaran that “texts can have multiple meanings that are then interpreted
by audiences in dierent ways depending on their subject position. The
creators may not intend these decoded meanings and can be collectively or
individually understood by the audience.”
51
Conclusion
The slasher lms of the 1980s have become renowned worldwide and
have launched several successful franchises that are still relevant to this day.
However, slasher lms are more than just a successful form of entertainment.
Just as the lm professor in Scream VI explains before her untimely demise,
slasher lms have provided historians a way to understand the past.
52
Slasher
lms can help historians explain a great deal about the political, economic,
and cultural anxieties of the ‘80s through the lens of the relationship between
youth and elders. The directors of the ‘80s slasher lms incorporated the fear
and anxieties present in the 1980s, such as that of nuclear annihilation, while
capitalizing on those themes by creating movies targeting an audience fearful
of the future. The writers not only succeeded at making massive prots at the
box oce, but they also successfully produced a medium that captured the
zeitgeist of the 1980s.
Horror as a lm genre has existed for over a hundred years and has dozens
of other subgenres beyond slasher. Each of these other horror subgenres
has a unique perspective about the eras in which they were produced. For
example, one could look at the various horror lms of the ‘50s, like Invasion of
the Body Snatchers, to understand the fear of the Red Scare and McCarthyism.
53
Alternatively, one might look at the slasher revival of the 2000s to understand
the housing crash and the war on terror. There are countless lessons and
understandings that horror lms can provide. There is much more to learn
in the future about movies of the past, assuming one lives to see the sequel.
51 For the work of Stuart Hall, see David Croteau and William Hoynes, Media Society:
Industries, Images, and Audiences (London: Sage Publications, 2003), 269; and for
Kara M. Kvaran, see Kvaran, “’You’re All Doomed!’,” 953-970.
52 Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett Scream VI, 2023.
53 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, directed by Don Siegel, (1956; Los Angeles, CA: Allied
Artists Pictures, 1956), Streaming.
82 LEGACY
