8 Most Iconic Slasher Movie Death Scenes

Brutality was their paintbrush, unsupervised teenagers their canvas.

By Robert Cook /

Horror films have always been reactionary to our current fears. When America was at its most xenophobic; ghosts and ghouls reflected our national prejudices of our foreign enemies. While we couldn't punch Hitler in the face, we could see the European Dracula get staked repeatedly. These narratives lost much of their allure in a nation that gradually ceased viewing 'foreign' and 'evil' as one in the same. In exchange, a growing population of urbanites now feared the villain you couldn't identify with holy water or silver. The urban landscape led to urban crime: rapes, robbery, and of course, murder. These threats could be your own neighbors. Overseas, the Italian genre of Giallo Horror had already began to portray these fears by drawing from Noir films, which had threats that lurked in the shadows of humanity. This eventually caught on to American audiences in the 70's with the "slasher" subgenre. What captivated audiences of these films was a notable escalation in violence from classic horror. Grisly deaths were cathartic releases for audiences. With that in mind, lets' look at a few death scenes that linger in audiences' memories. Feel free to add any other particularly iconic death scenes in the comments!