Top 5 Slasher Movies That Will Make You Fall in Love with the Genre

Some people are avid horror fans. Others just don't get the genre. If you are one of the latter, but are open-minded enough to try to appreciate a good slasher movie, these five titles are for you.

Friday the 13th (1980, 6.4 on IMDb)

Available on: Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime

A classic of the slasher genre, Friday the 13th revolves around a group of summer camp counselors who prepare the once deserted Camp Crystal Lake for its reopening. In a few days, the camp will welcome new visitors after years of abandonment following the tragic murder of two camp counselors in the late 1950s. But before Camp Crystal Lake can reopen, the characters begin to die one by one at the hands of a mysterious killer.

The Final Girls (2015, 6.5 on IMDb)

Available on: Amazon Prime

Starring Taissa Farmiga and Malin Åkerman, this slasher comedy tells the story of Max Cartwright, an orphaned girl whose late mother was a star of the fictional cult classic slasher film Camp Bloodbath. On the anniversary of her mother's death, Max and her friends go to a special screening of the movie, where a fire breaks out, causing the characters to escape through a cut in the screen. But instead of escaping, they are trapped in the movie and must survive along with Camp Bloodbath's characters.

Happy Death Day (2017, 6.6 on IMDb)

Available on: Amazon Prime

Before Netflix's Russian Doll, there was Happy Death Day, a slasher comedy about Tree Gelbman, a popular college student who is murdered on her birthday. Luckily for her, Tree wakes up on the morning of the same day and has a chance to identify and stop her killer and break the vicious cycle. But before she can do that, she will die a series of horrible deaths at the hands of an enigmatic killer in a baby mask.

Scream (1996, 7.4 on IMDb)

Available on: Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime

Another classic of the slasher genre, this movie centers on a group of high school students from the fictional California town of Woodsboro. A serial killer wearing a ghostface mask is massacring the residents of Woodsboro. But when he tries to kill Sidney Prescott, she manages to fend him off. Now the police have more clues to identify the killer, but suspects abound and the murder count continues to rise.

Halloween (1978, 7.7 on IMDb)

Available on: Amazon Prime

John Carpenter's classic slasher film follows Michael Meyers, a mental patient confined to an institution after brutally killing his sister on Halloween night when he was just fifteen. Many years later, Michael manages to escape from the sanitarium and returns to his hometown on Halloween, where he begins butchering the locals. Meanwhile, his psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis, is out to get him.