Just curious what everyone out there likes/dislikes in Slasher films.

How important are the following aspects to you?
And are there other things you look for in the Slasher genre?

Gore
Unique/Clever kills
Antagonist's mask
Antagonist's motive
Protagonist's storyline/Plot/Goal
Character development
Tension/Suspense
Comedy
Drama
Jump/Fake scares

I fucking love slasher films. It's one of the few genres that can be horrible, but still good. A bad comedy just sucks; A bad slasher is great.

The subgenre gets some flack because of how formulaic the films can get, but that's one of the things that's good about them. They're all basically the same, just with varying killers and settings. You don't want to just rehash Halloween, but you don't have to make an ironic satire, either.

Can't go wrong with some interesting characters, a lot of gore and a unique villain. I don't ask for much.

But please, no fake-out scares. Those are the worst.

Slasher movies are one of my favourite subgenres there is. It's my dream to work on an 80's style slasher movie, I think being on set for that kind of thing would just be an absolute blast. Here's my input on what I look for in a slasher:

Gore: I like limited gore, but when the gore happens, go big! When the gore is happening too often, I find it gets really tiring and loses it's effect. Depends on the film though, the Evil Dead remake went over the top and I was a huge fan but that's really the only example I can think of where I truly appreciated it. (Side note: practical special effects gore or no gore at all)

Unique/Clever Kills: Absolutely, that's really what defines the slasher genre. I mean, movies like the Final Destination series (slasher? kind of I guess?) are all about what crazy way is the character going to die and the series learned to play with that suspense wise, which was extremely effective. I'm also a fan though of the simple kills, especially when they aren't expected.

Antagonists Mask: This isn't a huge thing for me. A masked killer is always fun but if the antagonist is creepy enough as a character, the mask doesn't really matter to me.

Antagonists Motive: This is one I'm pretty lost on, sometimes I think no motive can make a killer all the more disturbing, but if it's not done right than it can just be sloppy or senseless. I think it's generally better to have a motive.

Protagonist's storyline/Plot/Goal: This is what I think slasher movies need to improve on. While we all love the trope of horny high schoolers off to a friends camp, I think when you can create a world outside of the actual slashing with the characters, it becomes all the more interesting.

Character Development: Yes, yes and yes. A lot of slashers have one dimensional characters but having a set of characters that are well developed makes the entire slice and dice ten times more entertaining.

Tension/Suspense: This is what I think most horror movies of lately are getting completely wrong. I think suspense is so underrated, fear of the unknown is key, it's probably the scariest thing the horror genre has to offer. I'm a fan of a slow burn with a satisfying explosive final act.

Comedy: Slasher movies I can never take too seriously and I don't think they should be. I like a little tongue-in-cheek humour, particularly because it's a genre that's so overdone that you have to be able to laugh at certain parts. I'm sure it's possible to make a successful serious slasher movie but I think that would be a lot harder to accomplish.

Drama: I think with the characters to have underlying tensions and drama can be very beneficial to the story, but I'm not huge on high drama in slashers.

Jump/Fake Scares: Walking through a house and a cat jumping out is the worst thing ever and is completely cheap. I like my movies to genuinely earn their scares. Jump scares are the best when they are used sporadically.

Thanks for the input guys!
I pretty much agree with everything you guys said.

I love good slasher films and have watched plenty in my life. I think the older I get, I seem to veer more towards thrillers these days rather than horrors though. They usually make me have to use my brain a little more.

I actually have a film being shot right now that I think would be considered a slasher. It’s titled Scream For Me. It does involve a mask and it does have some gruesome kills. Even some humor…very dark humor, but still. They had a prosthetic butt made for one of the kill scenes involving a baseball bat. Can’t wait to see how that was being handled. So, it has, going off your list, the gore covered and unique kills too and as mentioned, there’s a mask too. I believe there’s a decent antagonist motive, but it’s tricky to describe here. The antag and protag are the same person. I also think the protag’s goal are pretty good too. Ditto that for character development. To me, a masked killer that just kills people is no fun. There has to be motives, goals and good characters for any story to work. I tried to work in a lot of suspense too. Hopefully that is handled well so it works on film. Comedy, yes, but dark. Drama is necessary for any story, IMHO. Jump/fake scares? I actually don’t remember if I put any in, but I personally love those. I like getting scared, that’s why I watch.  

So, in short, I like all the things on your list.

I like CrookedOwl's take on how good slashers are good movies and bad slashers are still entertaining nonetheless.  I like cheesy slashers as long as they know they're cheesy.  A good deal of them seem to float somewhere in the middle between utterly ridiculous and very serious and it ends up being a flop.

One thing I hate are the jumps/fake scares.  I think they're a a cheap way to get scares out of an audience.  A good antagonist motive goes a long way as does character development.  Usually characters in slashers get some time to develop before getting axed.

I love when horror and slashers effective utilize tension.  It's almost better than the slashing IMO.  A lot of slashers seem to pull the trigger on the chase to soon rather than basking in the creepy, stalking of the prey kinds of situations.

In either case, that's my take on it.  An awesome mask can always help our killer's image but not really vital.  Good thread, Steex.  Take care.

Johnny