Slasher movies hit their biggest level of popularity in the 1980s, but there have been some great slashers that came out in the 21st century as well. It seemed slasher movies were dying in the 1990s, and when Scream arrived as a form of a slasher, it ushered in the era of self-referential horror, replacing slashers in the mainstream.
That said, self-referential horror still kept the memory of slasher movies alive, and soon they were back in the 2000s and beyond. These included movies made by filmmakers who grew up watching slasher movies themselves, and other films that deconstructed the slasher genre to create something very fresh.
Hatchet (2006)
Kane Hodder on the Hatchet DVD cover
Released in 2006, Hatchet owes its entire existence to the slasher movies of the 1980s. Director Adam Green grew up as a huge slasher movie fan, and he made this as a love letter to the genre. He also added enough Easter eggs to make just about any slasher movie fan happy.
The story takes place in the swamps of Louisiana where a scarred and homicidal man named Victor Crowley lives and kills anyone who comes close to his home. The cast for this film is phenomenal, with Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees) playing Crowley, while Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Tony Todd (Candyman) also have roles.
The film was a cult success for horror fans, and it resulted in a franchise that saw three sequels and even a comic book series based on Victor Crowley.
Friday The 13th (2009)
Jason Voorhees in 2009 Friday the 13th
Slasher movies tried a revival in the 21st century, with several classic ’80s franchises trying to return. While A Nightmare on Elm Street was a terrible failure and Child’s Play lost what made the original great, Friday the 13th did almost everything right. It was violent, with some great kills, and took the character of Jason seriously.
Jared Padalecki stars in the movie as the lead, with Marcus Nispel directing, following him also bringing back The Texas Chainsaw Massacre a few years earlier. The film smartly played it straight, using some of the original score music and keeping the mask similar to the one in Friday the 13th Part III.
The film ended up as the second-highest-grossing movie in the series and kept the budget low to ensure it was a success. With some creative kills, it remains one of the best slasher revivals of the 2000s.
The House Of The Devil (2009)
Jocelin Donahue as Sam in House of the Devil
While he’s best known today as the director behind the amazing trilogy that includes X, Pearl, and MaXXXine, Ti West proved his mastery of horror with the 2009 slasher film, The House of the Devil. While it’s a throwback Satanic Panic movie, it has all the tropes of a slasher, done perfectly.
West wanted to ensure that the film felt like an old-school slasher movie by using old film technology and techniques to make it look like it was made in the ’70s or ’80s, and he even used The Texas Chain Saw Massacre trope of pretending it was based on a true story. It was a genuine throwback movie.
Critics loved the film, awarding it a certified-fresh 85% Rotten Tomatoes score, with the film honoring the past but still telling a fresh, and scary, slasher story.
Terrifier 2 (2022)
Art the Clown in Terrifier 2
Damien Leone shocked the horror world with his brutal Terrifier movie, introducing a new horror icon in Art the Clown. While that movie impressed critics and fans alike, he surpassed it on every level with his sequel, Terrifier 2. The kills were more creative, the story was better, and it was a perfect slasher movie.
The Terrifier franchise does what slasher movies have always done so well, by presenting a silent killer who just slaughters people without a care. However, it also took the personality of Freddy Krueger and had Art the Clown never crack a joke to make him even more terrifying.
The movie received positive reviews when it was released, with many critics praising the performance of both David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown and Lauren LaVera as Sienna Shaw. The latter actor is why the movie remains so great, as it finally gave Art a genuine nemesis.
Happy Death Day (2017)
The killer in Happy Death Day
Happy Death Day was a movie that perfectly blended self-referential horror with slasher tropes in a way that is rivaled only by Scream and its sequels. The movie was also unique because it’s also a time-loop movie, and that made the entire storytelling seem fresher than any slasher had in years.
The movie follows a young woman named Tree Gelbman who is murdered on the night of her birthday, but she wakes up the next day and realizes she’s reliving the same day again, and she has to find a way to stop her murder. This offers up the interesting twist of having the same person killed over and over in different ways.
The movie was a huge success, and it spawned a sequel two years later. Critics praised its originality and dark humor, and it remains a solid late-era slasher movie release.
Scream (2022)
Jenna Ortega as Tara in Scream
In 2022, something interesting happened to the Scream franchise. While the original surviving characters were still around, it introduced some new leads, and it felt like a shot in the arm, revitalizing the entire series. Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega became the new leads as sisters, Sam and Tara.
With the new leads, and a fresh direction for the franchise, this ended up as the best Scream movie in years and helped kickstart what should have been the next generation for the series. That wouldn’t happen, as the new leads lasted for one more movie before the studio fired Barrera and Ortega quit.
However, for two movies, things looked incredibly good for the Scream franchise, and it was this first film that breathed life into the slasher franchise and helped it roar back into the public consciousness.
Halloween (2018)
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween
Halloween is one of the longest-running slasher franchises in history, and it has undergone the most changes of any horror series. The first two movies featured the faceless slasher killer Michael Myers. The next series added in some cult horror slant, and then it went back to basics. After Rob Zombie shook things up, the 2018 reboot happened.
What resulted was one of the best Halloween movies ever released, with it playing as a direct sequel to the first film and Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode, now with a daughter and granddaughter of her own to protect. The scares are there, and Michael Myers was back to what people loved about him.
The movie ended up as the first part of a new trilogy, and while the last film remains polarizing, the first in the series remains a true modern-day slasher classic.
The Cabin In The Woods (2011)
Chris Hemsworth in The Cabin in the Woods
Cabin in the Woods stands as one of the most inventive slasher movies ever made. The movie opens with a strange scene of scientists before cutting to the main story of a group of youngsters heading to a cabin in the woods for a vacation. It was the perfect setup for a slasher horror movie.
When the deaths start, it all seems normal, but then it all takes a turn for the weird. The movie is the most meta of the self-referential slasher horror movies because it shows there’s a secret organization that has been releasing monsters to kill kids for years to keep a demon from destroying the Earth.
Seeing all the different monsters kept in captivity puts every other horror slasher movie ever made in a different light. It’s brilliant, and the shocking finale drives it over the line as one of the best in the history of horror.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a fascinating slasher horror movie because it blends the mockumentary found footage genre with the slasher, and delivers something great in both forms. The movie all starts as the found footage mockumentary, with a film crew interviewing a slasher killer.
This is great because he explains how he pulls off all the things that many people discuss when looking at classic horror films (the mishaps in the old house, the slasher killer always looking like he’s walking slow but always catching up, etc.). However, the second half flips a switch because the killer targets the film crew.
In the end, it works great as a slasher movie, because it not only breaks down how the tropes work, but then delivers them and shows them in action. This was a film that more people need to be talking about.
You’re Next (2011)
Sharni Vinson as Erin in You’re Next
You’re Next is a modern-day classic slasher movie because it takes the ideas behind the genre and flips them on their head by having the Final Girl turn into the most dangerous character in the movie. Directed by Adam Wingard, the movie stars Sharni Vinson as Erin, one of the best Final Girls in horror history.
Erin attends a dinner party with her boyfriend at a vacation home in rural Missouri when masked men attack the party and start killing the people there. However, Erin isn’t one to run and hide, and she takes the fight to the home invaders and starts to kill them one by one.
It’s easy to see this as a mix of Home Alone and a slasher movie, with Erin placing booby traps around the home and taking out each of the killers methodically in a way that every Final Girl that followed had a hard time following. You’re Next might be the best slasher movie of the 21st century.