The heyday for slasher movies is often agreed upon to be the 1980s. Many horror classics came from this seminal time period, after all. And, the decade started with Friday the 13th, one of the most iconic movies and franchises in the entire genre.
After a huge boom, however, slashers took a break beginning in the late eighties. The nineties saw a large drop in them as well until the advent of Scream. This influential meta-horror film caused a renewed interest in the mainstream in the late 1990s and 2000s, but there are many modern slashers that are certainly underrated, too.
Scare Campaign (2016)
A horror prank show called 'Scare Campaign' is in trouble when a competing, edgier web program starts to outdo them. This forces the series to go all-out in its next stunt. Little do they know, 'Scare Campaign' is about to get a taste of its own medicine.
Although the twists verge on excessive in this import from Australia, there is never a dull moment in Scare Campaign.
Fox Trap (2016)
This slasher from across the pond takes many cues from the likes of Prom Night. It begins with a prank going terribly wrong and leaving someone physically disabled. Now, the guilty parties are invited to an isolated manor where they unknowingly are hunted by masked killers.
Fox Trap is hardly the most original horror movie, and it owes a lot to classic slashers. Be that as it may, the movie pays homage and does it with British flair.
Torment (2013)
Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) and Robin Dunne (American Psycho 2) play newlyweds in Torment, a Canadian home-invasion horror movie. Isabelle's character is now a stepmother, and she has to go to great lengths to protect her stepson when masked assailants attack her family.
Torment does not remotely reinvent the wheel, but it hits familiar beats and will manage to keep one in suspense for under ninety minutes.
Kill Your Friends (2015)
Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) headlines this satirical quasi-slasher based on the 2008 novel of the same name by John Niven. In it, Hoult is a charming, twenty-something A&R rep named Steven Stelfox. It's the '90s and the Brits are winning with their music. When things don't go his way, though, Steven starts to go a little mad.
Kill Your Friends is often compared to American Psycho, another send-up of yuppie life and mass consumerism.
Girl House (2015)
A struggling college student, who does not want to worry her widowed mother about money, accepts a job as a cam girl. This requires her to live at a remote, undetectable house with her co-workers. In the meantime, an unhinged computer tech and fan of the website figures out the house's location and pays the women a visit.
Again, this is not a slasher that's going to break new ground or be the second coming. Even so, Girl House is wildly entertaining.
Mischief Night (2013)
Mischief Night is another mix of home-invasion horror and slashers. In this movie, a teenager suffers from psychosomatic blindness because of a car accident that took her mother's life. While her father goes out on a date on the night before Halloween, the teen is left home alone with a hidden killer wearing a yellow raincoat.
There are actually two horror movies called Mischief Night that came out around the same time. The other one is radically different in execution.
Stag Night (2008)
A bachelor night goes terribly awry in Stag Night, what is essentially the slasher version of Death Line. Four men end up in an abandoned part of the subway with two of the dancers from the strip club they just visited. In time, all six of them are hunted by homicidal vagrants.
Stag Night is comparable to other survival-themed horror movies like Wrong Turn. It's fast-paced, gory, and harrowing.
Some Kind of Hate (2015)
There is a supernatural spin to Some Kind of Hate, a 2015 teen horror directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer (Daniel Isn't Real). Set at a reform center, a trouble teenager named Lincoln looks forward to a fresh start. Sadly, he is made to feel unwelcome by some peers. During his stay, Lincoln accidentally summons the spirit of a past student, Moira, who was driven to taking her own life. Now, Moira is going to get swift vengeance from beyond the grave.
Some Kind of Hate follows in the footsteps of recent vengeance horror movies like Avenged and the I Spit on Your Grave franchise.
The Hoarder (2015)
Mischa Barton, best known for The O.C., has made a name for herself with indie horror movies like The Hoarder. This film finds her character, a married woman suspicious her husband is cheating on her, investigating her spouse's rental storage unit. In doing so, she and a group of strangers get trapped in the building along with a murderous creature.
Evidence (2013)
Evidence combines both slasher and found-footage horror tropes. Stephen Moyer of True Blood fame is a detective looking into a bizarre massacre that took place at a gas station. The mysterious culprit wore a welder's mask and uniform. The only thing the cops have right now is video footage filmed by one of the victims.
This procedural thriller's ending will take all viewers by surprise.