10 Greatest 'I'm Dead And I Know It' Moments In Slasher Horror Movies

When you know you're next.

by Andrew Pollard
The Prowler Sherry
Sandhurst

Given its sheer nature, the horror genre is a corner of cinema that is so often brimming with death and destruction. For the slasher subgenre, that is well and truly the case - with this slice of the horror pie notorious for its high body counts and ludicrously lavish kills.

1974's Black Christmas and 1978's Halloween are viewed as the fore fathers of the slasher movie, ushering in a huge boom in popularity in such similar pictures as the '70s rolled into the 1980s.

And much like those two trailblazers, the subsequent years would see iconic (and not so iconic) killers introduced, memorable protagonists running wild, and the tried, tested and quite frankly tired trope of 'the final girl'.

For the victims of these pictures, the hope was that their inevitable deaths would be swift and over with before they even knew what was going on. However, in some cases, these victims had a moment of stark, scared clarity where they realised what was about to happen to them and that the Grim Reaper was knocking on their door.

With that in mind, then, here are the very best times slasher movie characters knew they were toast.

10. Sherry - The Prowler

The Prowler Sherry
Sandhurst

Released in 1981, The Prowler is a slasher movie that's gone on to become quite the cult favourite amongst horror hounds. That's not down to its plot or performances, mind, but more down to the exceptional special effects work of the legendary Tom Savini.

Savini himself has at times cited his work on The Prowler as being the absolute best of his career. When considering this is someone who has wowed with his makeup and effects work on the likes of Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Creepshow, Maniac, The Burning, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and two Friday the 13th pictures, that's quite the statement.

One of the more gnarly death scenes of The Prowler is the demise of Lisa Dunsheath's Sherry. With the mysterious titular killer having already killed her beau Carl, Sherry is blissfully unaware of this as she takes a shower.

Things take a turn for the worse for Sherry when her shower door opens, though, and it's here that she's greeted by the sight of a masked killer and a pitchfork. And with that, Dunsheath's character is brutally ran through with said pitchfork.

 
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.