Best Slasher Movies

Based on the infamous double initial killings out of Rochester, New York, The Alphabet Killer is exactly what you’d expect – suspenseful, scary and completely unsatisfying in the end and I don’t necessarily mean unsatisfying in a bad way.

The movie is only loosely based on the real life events, but even so, the real alphabet killer is still unknown so for that reason alone, I think the ending worked well. Yes, it was frustrating, but to have the killer arrested would’ve felt like a cop-out.

The Alphabet Killer boasts a cast of some of my horror favorites. We have the gorgeous Eliza Dushku (Wrong Turn) in the best performance of the movie with a supporting cast that includes Cary Elwes (Saw) and the always fabulous Bill Moseley (Rob Zombie’s Halloween, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Army of Darkness) – all turning in incredible performances.

Overall, The Alphabet Killer isn’t the type of movie that stays with you for weeks after viewing it, but it is a decent serial killer that leaves you feeling unsettled and disturbed – and that’s why we watch these movies, isn’t it?

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Wolf Creek, somewhat based on the true crime story of The Backpack Murders, consistently shows up on lists of the best slasher movies ever made, so I had to include it here. Not only is it one of the best, it’s one of my personal favorites.

Perhaps one of the things that makes Wolf Creek so effective is the first half of the movie. You really get to know the characters and that’s so rare in a genre where character development usually takes a back seat to gore. Wolf Creek shows us that yes, a movie can be violent and bloody but it’s also possible to make an audience care about who is shedding the blood.

The usual horror/slasher movie cliches are almost non-existent in Wolf Creek and the characters react to what’s happening in very believable and very real ways. It’s almost impossible not to get drawn in to what’s going on. The movie doesn’t get going right away – taking time to really make you feel for the characters while building tension and suspense. The signs are there that things are going to go bad for these poor bastards, but one of the greatest strengths of Wolf Creek is that it doesn’t rush anything.

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Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea turn in amazing performances in Stuck – a dark comedy (very, very dark) inspired by a true story. The important thing to note here is that it is inspired by a true story not based on. The car crash that sets the scene for the events that take place actually took place. Everything else is fictionalized. That doesn’t take anything away from the story.

I can understand why Stuck might not appeal to a wider audience. The comedy is extremely dark which combined with the gore and tendency to highlight the absolute worst in people make it a hard movie for the general public to swallow. I, however, am far from the general public and found the movie worked very well.

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The Haunting In Connecticut is one of those movies that’s hard to catagorize. While not necessarily a slasher flick, it earns its place on my Best Slasher Movies list because sometimes you don’t need blood and guts to be truly terrifying.

The fact that The Haunting in Connecticut is based on a true story is what does it for me. Imagine a setup more ideal for a horror movie: a mother moves into a new home with her son so that they are closer to the hospital where he receives treatment for cancer. Upon moving in they discover that the house was formerly a funeral home that may have been the site of seances and various other sinister acts. From there, strange and awful things start happening; convincing the family that their new house in haunted. Scary, no? Of course it is. Scarier still that apparently this all really happened to Sarah Campbell and her son, Matt.

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