Editorial

Slasher 101: A Brief History of the Genre

Published

1 month ago

April 3, 2026

The slasher film is one of the most prolific themes in the horror genre. Depending on how old you are, you might think slashers are only masked killers using various tools to off their victims, and to some degree you are right, but they are also totems of the time. That includes politics, social tastes, generational anxieties, and even filming techniques.

Maybe the most well-known early slasher is the masterwork of Alfred Hitchcock. His Psycho (1960) wasn’t just an example of suspense and mystery; it shook an entire generation, both with its violence and commentary on mental health and gender fluidity. It was shocking to see Norman Bates dressed in a gray wig and a house dress, murdering women. Of course, today we know his schizophrenia wasn’t gender dysphoria; it was the result of years of abuse and perhaps generational trauma. Still on the surface, back in 1960, nobody knew the difference. Hitchcock mastered the idea that violent people could act impulsively, and that was the real terror of the film to both movie-goers and censors.

Psycho

This idea that men were women’s natural predators went a little deeper in the film Peeping Tom, a movie considered to be the original slasher we know today. It came out the same year as Psycho (1960) and was kind of its British counterpart, like a salt and pepper set of disturbed men. But, whereas Norman Bates tried to suppress his desire for women by killing them, the villain in Peeping Tom took pleasure in stalking them, fueled by his desire to see them die. Peeping Tom also introduced the point-of-view technique, which has been used ever since. Furthermore, found footage films owe a bit of gratitude to Peeping Tom since our killer uses a camera to record his crimes.

Peeping Tom

But these films are tepid in comparison to what we got a decade later. Tobe Hooper shaped the genre even more with another shocker: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. His film asked Hitchcock to hold its beer, getting a whole crazy family of cannibals to dispose of our hapless, road-tripping victims. There was no psychology behind the crimes, no explanation of why Leatherface was using a chainsaw as a killing tool, and no backstory to the murderous patriarchy. They were just hungry. As a side note, both Hitchcock’s and Hooper’s movies were very loosely based on serial killer Ed Gein’s life.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Enter John Carpenter and his onscreen killer, Michael Myers, in Halloween (1978). The term “final girl” was coined (posthumously to Marylin Burns). Carpenter entrusted his lead, Jamie Lee Curtis, to do all the heavy work; Michael was a lumbering shape who walked around with a knife to off his victims. He didn’t talk; he didn’t have any motive; he just liked stabbing people, it seemed. Curtis, as Laurie Strode, was the virginal good girl tasked with outsmarting Michael to avoid being impaled by a large butcher’s knife. Carpenter also added a supernatural element to his monster–he never seemed to die. Halloween was a huge box office success, signaling that audiences were ready for more of this kind of independent movie.

Halloween

They got it in 1980 with Friday the 13th, which asked all of the films above to hold its beer, because director Sean S. Cunningham gave no fucks about censorship when it came to violence. In fact, he employed SFX master Tom Savini to do all the gore effects, which were extraordinarily graphic but extremely inventive. Cunningham appropriated a lot of the gimmicks from the movies above: a faceless killer, a POV style, a gunless stalker, a final girl, and trauma fueled serial killer. Friday the 13th would also spawn an iconic mascot with its subsequent sequels. The ’80s were the Golden Age of slashers, with one rip-off after the next hitting theaters almost every month.

Friday the 13th (1980)

Then, in 1984, came Wes Craven, and he turned the slasher boilerplate up another notch. This time, a killer who invades your dreams with five knives in one hand! His name is Freddy Krueger, and he’s a coded pedophile with a penchant for revenge. The effects were good, maybe not to the degree of Savini’s work in Friday, but let’s just say, Craven didn’t spare any blood. The slasher was now a profitable part of pop culture. Thanks to Freddy Krueger’s dark humor, he became an icon, generating merch, sequels, and even a TV show. The slasher was now a permanent fixture on the theater marquee almost every Friday.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Leveling off by the ’90s, the popularity of the slasher hit a slump. The formula was shopworn and oversaturated. Some titles managed to become low-level hits, but not to the extent of their predecessors. That is, until Wes Craven stepped in again to revive the genre with Scream (1996). This was a film that paid homage to the genre by keeping all of its nuances. Infusing mystery, gore, and a masked killer seemed like a send-off to the formula rather than an inspiration. But not so fast. Scream’s self-awareness ended up making it a tent pole rather than a grave stone, and a slasher renaissance seemed to happen overnight.

Scream

The turn of the century was just okay for the slasher genre. But it was more of the age of remakes and sequels rather than an inspirational period. It was strong in spots such as with Wrong Turn and, arguably, Valentine, but never went beyond familiar territory and established IPs.

Today, desensitization has set in, and the slasher is again on the verge of death. It’s only popular among genre fans who are looking to be as thrilled as they were the first time they saw one. Filmmakers like Christopher Landon, James Wan, and Radio Silence’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are doing their best, but nothing seems to be clicking. Damien Leone is probably the only modern filmmaker who has had a significant impact on the slasher genre with his Terrifier movies, but even that feels more derivative than inspirational.

Terrifier

We will have to see what’s in store for slashers in the future. The cinematic experience is changing. Big movies get all the good screens, the time from theater to VOD has shortened significantly, and studios are considering AI as a writing tool. It seems the Golden Age of the slasher ended a long time ago, and we will just have to appreciate what we have and hope for its strong return.

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Editorial

Jonathan Tiersten’s Greatest Role, and it isn’t Sleepaway Camp

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

Piper St. James

Horror actor and musician Jonathan Tiersten passed away May 4, 2026 at 60 years old. To many in the horror community, Tiersten will forever be Ricky Thomas from 1983’s Sleepaway Camp. The actor later reprised his role in 2008’s Return to Sleepaway Camp. In the summer camp slashers, Tiersten plays Angel Baker’s (Felissa Rose) protective older cousin; and boy does he have a mouth that would make a sailor blush!

While Sleepaway Camp is certainly the most popular horror movie Jonathan Tiersten is known for, it is arguably not the best.

The Perfect House

In 2011 Tiersten participated in a horror anthology titled The Perfect House. The movie was written and directed by Kris Hulbert, and co-directed by Randy Kent. While they did not share the screentime together on this project, Felissa Rose also participated in this anthology.

The premise of The Perfect House consists of a young couple who think they have found their dream house. Little do they know the foundation holds many secrets from the prior inhabitants who once resided within the walls. As the real estate agent takes them from room to room, stories of the past resident’s atrocities unfold.

Tiersten Gives of Killer Vibes

Tiersten’s short story in the anthology is entitled Chic-ken. His portrayal of a serial killer in collaboration with Hulbert’s script is pure horror gold. Known as Angela Baker’s savior time and time again in Sleepaway Camp, serial killer John Doesy in The Perfect House is anything but sympathetic to the men and women who are unfortunate enough to cross his path.

In this segment he plays a killer who keeps a female victim permanently imprisoned in his basement. Every week he brings new victims to torture and kill in front of her. In his twisted mind he affectionately calls her his muse. As he tortures and kills his new victims from week to week, he also tortures, rapes, and taunts his “muse”. He forces her to watch his “performance” and is fueled by her witnessing the pain he inflicts on those he deems as useless members of society.

Tiersten’s effortless delivery as a self righteous maniac surpasses many others who have tried to conquer similar roles both before and since. The fact Tiersten does all of this without hiding behind a mask adds an extra level of fear. Let’s face it, Tiersten is very easy on the eyes with his blonde hair, blue eyes, and muscular arms, which would initially lower anyone’s guard. To know someone who not only appears “normal,” but attractive, is capable of such atrocities is extra unnerving.

The confidence Tiersten exudes in his voice and postures, as well as how he carries himself throughout the scenes, sells his character’s excessive ego. He completely sells the fact his character full heartedly believes in the demented behaviors and murders he is carrying out.

Where to Watch

While The Perfect House did not have a theater release, it was the first feature film to premiere on Facebook. The creators released the movie on the social networking site with a seven day rental period. In 2014 the movie was released for home distribution on DVD.

Unfortunately, many horror fans still do not know of this movie’s existence. Hopefully now they will search for it on Amazon, Ebay, and streaming services such as Roku, Tubi, and Google Play, and Plex to continue Jonathan Tiersten’s legacy.

Editorial

Sleepaway Camp Knew Before I Did: The Legacy Johnathan Tiersten Left on Queer Media

Published

5 days ago

May 9, 2026

Luna Gray

Jonathan Tiersten died May 5 at his home in New Jersey. He was 60. He played Ricky Thomas in Sleepaway Camp, and I want to explain why a very specific group of people is taking this one harder than a 1983 summer camp slasher would usually warrant.

What The Film Means To Me

I am trans. That goes on the table first because nothing else I am about to say makes any sense without it.

I have been showing Sleepaway Camp to people since I was eleven years old. Everyone who mattered to me has sat through it. Friends who thought slashers were beneath them, partners who loved me enough to watch things they would never have chosen, my teenagers.

I give the same speech before every single viewing. Something is going to happen in the last few minutes, I tell them, and whatever your first reaction is, please sit with it for a moment before you say it out loud. Not because the reaction is wrong. Because there is almost always a second reaction underneath it and that is the one I am actually interested in.

What The Film Actually Is

Robert Hiltzik made a low-budget slasher set at a summer camp. Angela Baker is strange and barely verbal and is tormented by basically everyone around her while her cousin Ricky tries to run interference. The ending reveals that Angela was born Peter, that her father died when she was small, and that the aunt who took her in had always wanted a girl and simply decided Peter would become one.

Angela did not choose any of this. Not her name, not her clothes, not the gender she was made to perform in front of every single person she encountered every single day. And after years of living inside something she never chose, the pressure found somewhere to go.

That Ending

The transness is framed as the horror, as the explanation for the violence, and there is nothing there any trans person would hold up as a victory for representation. I understand all of that.

But I was eleven when I first watched it, and what I heard underneath everything it was trying to do was something nobody was trying to say. If you force someone to live as the wrong thing long enough, they will eventually stop being able to contain what that costs them. The film turned that into a monster story. I recognized it as a thing I had been trying to explain to myself without having the words for it yet.

Trans Representation In Pop Culture

For context, consider what came the year after. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective came out in 1994 and its treatment of a trans character is a two-minute sequence of Jim Carrey vomiting, using a plunger on his own face, burning his clothes, and sobbing under running water upon learning he had kissed her. The joke is that she is contamination.

My classmates quoted this film back at me for years. That was what mainstream culture had decided trans people were good for, and it went more or less unchallenged for a long time. Angela Baker, for all of Sleepaway Camp’s genuine limitations, is the protagonist of her entire film. Her history is the engine of the whole story. She is not a punchline. She is why the movie exists.

Trans representation in horror has never been particularly good, and I am not about to argue Sleepaway Camp is the exception. What I will say is that it accidentally told the truth in the middle of trying to do something else entirely, and horror films that stumble into the truth are still telling the truth. I have built twenty-five years of love for this movie on that.

Ricky

Ricky is most of the reason I keep coming back, which brings us to Jonathan Tiersten. He played Ricky as someone who never needed to understand Angela in order to be fully in her corner. He does not study her. He does not puzzle her out, he just shows up every time with the kind of furious loyalty that does not require an explanation because the explanation is right there. He loves his cousin, and he is not going to stand there while the world is unkind to her. That is not a complicated thing to put on screen. It is also rarer on screen than it should be.

Tiersten reprised the role in Return to Sleepaway Camp in 2008 and kept working in independent horror until the end. His most famous performance is forty-five minutes of a teenager planting himself between his cousin and everything the world wanted to do to her, and for some of us who grew up watching this film, that was the first time we saw someone treat that as simply the obvious right thing to do.

It was an answer to a question I had not yet figured out how to ask.

Editorial

HHN35, Jack vs Oddfellow: Place Your Bets!

Published

2 weeks ago

May 1, 2026

Piper St. James

Halloween Horror Nights is back for its 35th installment at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida as the Infernal Carnival of Nightmares!

Over the years HHN has proven original houses draw as much of a crowd, if not more, as the intellectual property (IP) houses based off of established horror movies.

Leading each year of fear and headlining some of these original houses includes some of the most beloved and iconic characters. These icons include; Jack the Clown, The Caretaker, The Director, Chance, Dr. Oddfellow, The Usher, Lady Luck, and The Storyteller.

This year Orlando’s convention MegaCon had a highly anticipated and attended panel focused on Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights 35. The masterminds speaking of the 35th year celebration included Michael Aiello, Lora Sauls, and Charles Gray. The creators teased the landmark year to salivating fans.

Gaged by the audience’s reaction as each icon was reminisced about and displayed on the panel’s screen were Jack and Oddfellow. Here it was announced to the fanatical audience that these two icons will be returning to lead Halloween Horror Nights into its upcoming year!

Bring in the Clown!

Jack the Clown, born Jack Schmidt, is an icon created by Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights. Jack made his debut during the Halloween event’s tenth year in 2000. He immediately won over attendees and became a fan favorite. His popularity grew so much that he has reappeared again and again in many of the Halloween Horror Nights events.

Jack has been featured in three of the five Universal parks that have hosted HHN; Orlando, Hollywood, and Singapore. He has even claimed a spot in Universal Horror Unleashed.

Unleashed is a haunted attraction residing in Las Vegas that offers a fully immersive experience for guests. Unlike Halloween Horror Nights, this attraction is open year round! Universal Horror Unleashed features haunted houses, live entertainment, and themed bars and dining.

Jack and Chance at Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas.

Here Jack stalks guests year round with his mistress in mayhem, Chance.

Jack’s History

In the late 1800s Jack was born with his brother Eddie inside the walls of Shady Brook Rest Home and Sanitarium. Jack escaped and ran away with the circus, leaving his poor and abusive family behind.

However, it was soon apparent he was not the jolly, entertaining clown he convinced his carnival spectators of.

Jack was a child murderer. As the traveling sideshow made its way through the southern states, a trail of abductions and disappearances followed. This attracted unwanted attention from federal authorities.

As the feds closed in, the clown disclosed his murderous ways to his employer, carnival owner Dr. Oddfellow. As the star attraction of the circus he hoped Oddfellow would hide him. However, the doctor was a man with his own sordid past with the law. He decided the best plan of action would be to cut ties with Jack, for good.

The circus owner had Jack Schmidt murdered, but not before the clown gave Oddfellow his trademark facial scar. A scar none of Oddfellow’s dark magic could erase.

Always the showman, Oddfellow decided Jack’s time in his show had not yet come to an end. Not even in death. The carnival owner hid Jack’s body, in addition to the thirteen children the clown had killed, inside his House of Horrors.

The Doctor is In!

Just like Jack “The Clown” Schmidt, Dr. Rich Oddfellow has a very long and evil history. He was introduced to Halloween Horror Nights in 2000, the same year as Jack. However, unlike the menacing clown, the doctor did not rise to instant fame.

Finally the Doctor found his time in the fog and in 2023 he was established as an icon of HHN.

Oddfellow’s History

Dr. Oddfellow is the notorious, darkly charismatic sideshow owner of Dr. Oddfellow’s Carnival of Thrills. He employed Jack Schmidt, the murderous clown who claimed the lives of at least 13 children. However, the clown was not the only member of the circus who had evil intentions.

Oddfellow was an evil sorcerer, and preyed upon his unsuspecting spectators from town to town. Using the souls of his victims, Oddfellow hoped to gain immortality as well as harness the power of the Dark Zodiac for himself. With this power he would have undying power at his fingertips all harnessed in the skull sitting on top of his trademark cane.

Dr. Oddfellow always left his mark of chaos, destruction and death. From the Jungle of Doom, to the 1939 Dustbowl, and an infamous 1969 Music Festival in upstate New York, Oddfellow reigned down his evil upon the innocent.

A Glimpse of HHN35

Not much has been revealed about how these icons of horror will be intertwined in the upcoming Halloween Horror Nights. However, we do know that despite how much these two despise each other, they will be sharing the spotlight as co-hosts for the much anticipated HHN35.

One of the ten haunted houses will feature the returning duo together. The house is called; Jack and Oddfellow: Chaos and Control.

As you travel through the house the stories of each icon of horror will be unraveled. You’ll wind your way through their evil dimension and see the two battle each other in a deathmatch that has been brewing for decades. However, as you near the end of the house Jack and Oddfellow come to realize that their power is much stronger together than separate. Will the souls of the guests be the fuel to their ultimate evil plan?

Tell us at iHorror who your favorite icon of horror is in the comments! If the two were to face off, who would win?