This article has spoilers for many of the 1980s' slasher movies discussed.
The slasher subgenre ofhorror moviesburst onto the scene in the early 1980s in the wake of John Carpenter’s 1978 juggernautHalloweenand the firstFriday the 13th. While slashers have continued into the present day, and many of the more modern titles have become instant classics in their own right, there’s nothing quite like the first wave of ’80s slashers.With their final girls, gory practical effects, and whodunit narratives, the tropes seen in these films would go on to inspire thegroundbreakingScreamfranchiseand other meta-slasher horror comedies.
For horror fans who might be new to the slasher subgenre, or for more seasoned fans looking for a rewatch, Tubi offers several titles from the early wave of slasher movies. From underrated gems to some of the most infamous titles ever produced, the free streaming service has a little something for everyone.
Pieces
Cast
A frustrated Boston detective searches for the maniac responsible for mutilating a number of women in campus.
Piecesisn’t exactly a good movie, but it’s one of the most entertaining so-bad-it’s-good movies out there. A black-clad killer goes on a rampage on a college campus, hacking up co-eds with a chainsaw and other weapons. The film features a college student protagonist, Kendall, who is inexplicably loved by the local police force — with one cop proclaiming he trusts the kid with is life. The love and admiration they have for Kendall, who doesn’t prove himself to be exceptional in any way, is justone of the many absurd quirksPiecesoffers viewers.
With numerous quotable moments, questionable acting choices, unforgettable line deliveries, and, of course, plenty of gratuitous violence,Piecesdelivers the goods. The movie also contains one of the most wild and nonsensical endings ever conceived; it’s certain to send audience members into hysterics. Perfect for a party, or for anyone looking for a bloody good laugh.
Hell Night
Hell Night, directed by Tom DeSimone, follows four college pledges who must spend a night in a deserted mansion as part of their initiation. They encounter the monstrous remnants of a family massacre, leading to a terrifying ordeal as they are pursued throughout the night.
Starring Linda Blair in one of her post-The Exorcisthorror movie roles,Hell Nightfollows a group of Greek pledges who stay the night in an abandoned mansion where a man murdered his entire family years before. Naturally, someone — or something— starts picking the students off one by one. Paced well and featuring some solid jolts,Hell Nightgets the job done when it comes to the slasher basics, butit’s also unique for utilizing elements of the haunted house narrative.
Blair’s Marti is an interesting character, as she comes from a lower-class background, setting her at odds with her wealthy classmates. She discusses the differences between their classes with Jeff, Marti’s love interest and one of the few of his ilk that doesn’t seem to enjoy fraternity life all that much. This theme of class disparity isn’t explored as deeply as one might hope, but its very presence in the film makesHell Nightan interesting entry into the slasher canon.
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me is a Canadian slasher film directed by J. Lee Thompson. Released in 1981, the movie follows Virginia, a student at a prestigious academy, who grapples with blackouts as her friends are targeted by a series of mysterious murders leading up to her 18th birthday.
Helmed by J. Lee Thompson, director of the original 1962Cape Fear,Happy Birthday to Mefeatures an oddball plot focusing on teenage members of an exclusive school clique getting killed off by an unseen murderer. Unseen, that is, until the film reveals the killer a little after the middle of the film, then subverts that reveal with a wild, albeit implausible, final act twist. It’s altogether a satisfying end toone of the more unique slashers to emerge during the first wave of films.
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The poster forHappy Birthday to Megives away one of the movie’s most inventive kills, involving a shish kebab skewer, though the decision to include the image on promotional materials made the poster just as iconic as the scene itself. And while the shish kebab scene might be the film’s most memorable moment, it’s not the only gnarly murder the movie has to offer.
Terror Train
Terror Train is a 1980 horror film directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Set during a New Year’s Eve costume party aboard a train, the film follows a group of college students who are stalked by a masked killer seeking revenge for a fraternity prank gone wrong. The narrative unfolds with a series of suspenseful and chilling events as the partygoers try to identify and stop the murderer.
Starring venerablescream queen Jamie Lee Curtis, who belts out a few of her trademark blood-curdling shrieks in the film,Terror Trainmakes excellent use of its often claustrophobic locomotive setting.Viewers can really feel the proverbial noose tighten around Curtis’s character’s neckas the killer, who mostly wears a Groucho Marx costume, slashes his way through her friends aboard the train.
Like some other films of the early slasher era,Terror Traindips its toes into transphobic waters. It turns out the killer has been disguising himself as a magician’s female assistant in order to maneuver through the crowd largely unnoticed. While this depiction isn’t as offensive as that of other movies — the female disguise is just another illusion performed by the magic-obsessed killer — it still unintentionally equates gender-bending with psychotic murderousness.
The Prowler
A mysterious killer, dressed in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, terrorizes a small town during its graduation dance, echoing a gruesome double murder from 35 years ago. As the killer stalks the town’s youth, the community faces a terrifying night of bloodshed and suspense.
The Prowlerisn’t discussed as much as some of its slasher companions, but it’s an underrated gem worth checking out, particularly for the absolutelynasty gore effects from “The Sultan of Splatter”, Tom Savini.Director Joseph Zito would go on to helmFriday the 13th: The Final Chapterthree years later, but his chops as an expert slasher director are on full display here. He crafts a brutal, often intense, and altogether satisfying film that never fails to entertain.
The masked killer, dressed in full World War II-era combat fatigues, dispatches his victims with the cold ferocity of a trained soldier. He is dispassionate and indiscriminate in his killing, neither enjoying it nor hating it. It’s just a job that must be done. This gritty quality to the many murder scenes, combined with the ultra-realistic effects Savini is known for, makes them all the more disquieting. This makes the titular villain ofThe Prowlerone of thebest slasher villainsof all time.
The Burning
In “The Burning,” a horrific prank gone wrong leaves camp caretaker Cropsy horrifically disfigured and burning with vengeance. After years of recovery, he returns to the familiar campgrounds, now filled with new, unsuspecting campers. Wielding a pair of deadly garden shears, Cropsy embarks on a brutal killing spree, targeting the campers one by one.
Another in a long line of slasher films featuring the effects work of Tom Savini,The Burningalso boasts a few big-name actors making their screen debuts — namely, Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter. It’s also notable for being the first writing and producing credit of Harvey Weinstein, who rode the slasher wave to fame and fortune, and later spurred the #MeToo movement with his vile actions.
Those who have seen it know it is hands down one of the most gruesome ’80s horror movie death scenes, and a fine showcase of Savini’s bloody work
Apart from the cast and crew,The Burningalso gained infamy for one particular scene, in which a number of the teenage characters are slaughtered on a raft by the film’s slasher, a garden sheers-wielding burnt man named Cropsy hell-bent on revenge. Those who have seen it know it is hands down one of the mostgruesome ’80s horror movie death scenes, and a fine showcase of Savini’s bloody work.
Prom Night
Paul Lynch’s Prom Night is a slasher film released in 1980 and follows the students of a high school stalked relentlessly by a serial killer leading up to their prom night. Following the death of a young girl named Robin six years prior, her surviving siblings prepare for their big night as a killer begins to target those close to them, seemingly related to the incident.
Jamie Lee Curtis screams and screams again inProm Night, a good old-fashioned whodunit in which the principal characters being stalked and killed hold a terrible secret from their past. The violence here is a bit more subdued, save for a few memorable kills sprinkled throughout. Prom Night is perhaps more famous for its disco dance numbers, in which Curtis out-steps her partner by leaps and bounds. The scenes are a perfect time capsule of the era, and part of what makesProm Nightso endearing.
Naturally, the real draw here is Curtis’s performance as Kim, the film’s final girl.Curtis always brings a sense of affability to these characters, and Kim is no exception. Audiences have no trouble rooting for her survival as the bodies pile up around her and the ski-masked killer closes in. Unfortunately, there isn’t much chance for Curtis and the villain to go to toe, as she does inHalloweenand other slasher films, before the killer is unmasked and dispatched.
Sleepaway Camp
The 1983 cult classic slasher horror Sleepaway Camp follows Angela Baker (Felissa Rose), an introverted teenage girl who’s sent to summer camp years after a traumatizing event deeply affected her. However, she is constantly bullied and abused, and everyone at Camp Arawak begins to die, one by one.
It’s impossible to discussSleepaway Campwithout addressing itsinfamous and controversial twist ending, in which it’s revealed that the film’s protagonist, Angela, is not only the killer, but in fact biologically a male. Turns out, Angela’s demented Aunt Martha forced Angela to adopt a girl’s persona at a young age, and this gender confusion manifests itself as a desire to kill anyone who wrongs Angela or gets too close to their secret. It’s by and large one of the most unforgettablehorror movie twist endingsin history.
Critics and horror fans alike are divided on whether the ending ofSleepaway Campis transphobic or not, though some positive assessments assert that the film is an over-the-top warning against forcing individuals to conform to gender and sexual identities they don’t actually identify with, making the film perversely pro-trans in its messaging. After all, the surreally cartoonish and selfish Aunt Martha is the film’s true villain, a figure more horrifying than any ghastly deeds committed by Angela, of which there are many.
Maniac
Maniac, released in 1980, follows a deeply disturbed man in New York City who, haunted by memories of his abusive childhood, becomes a serial killer targeting young women. The film explores his twisted psyche as he crosses paths with a photographer named Anna.
One of the grimiest slashers ever made,Maniaceschews a whodunit narrative by focusing its attention on the killer, Frank Zito, as he hunts and kills women on the streets of New York City. The film is instantly unpleasant in this way, but brilliantly so, as it becomesmore of a psychological study of a twisted mind, seen from the killer’s point of view. Still, going along with Zito for his nightly work is difficult to watch, and viewers aren’t terribly sad when he meets his inevitable end.
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The effects work by Tom Savini is as gnarly as ever here, with one particularly memorable moment occurring early inManiac, when a character played by Savini gets his head exploded by a shotgun blast to the face. The other highlight is the film’s finale, in which the ghosts of Zito’s victims tear the killer to pieces, which echoes Savini’s work onDawn of the Deadand other zombie movies.
The Slumber Party Massacre
The Slumber Party Massacre is a horror film that centers on a group of high school basketball teammates whose slumber party is violently interrupted by an escaped psychopath armed with a power drill. The film explores themes of survival and terror as the teens are forced to confront their deadly uninvited guest.
Written by noted feminist activist Rita Mae Brown and one of the few slashers to be directed by a woman, Amy Jones,The Slumber Party Massacreis a deadpan,self-aware slasher movie, full of meta jokes and characters who seem to know they’re in a horror movie.It subverts many of the slasher tropes throughout, but its most notable subversion is the absence of a final girl; there are several survivors in the film, all of whom get to triumph over the driller killer in the end.
In this way,The Slumber Party Massacreavoids singling out one woman as more virtuous, and therefore more deserving of survival, than all of her peers. Thehorrorfilm also subverts the “sex equals death” rule of the slasher film by largely removing the subject from the conversation. The killer isn’t enraged by promiscuous women exclusively — he hates and kills them indiscriminately, representing the wholesale disdain for women seen in patriarchal societies.
