10 Most Paused Slasher Movie Moments
5. The Skull-Laced Final Shot - Psycho
While some cite Black Christmas and Halloween as being the true launching point of the slasher subgenre, others will call on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho as the movie that really introduced audiences to what would become the slasher film.
The issue is dependent on just how many kills you feel are warranted to view a movie as a slasher movie. Psycho only offers up two deaths, of course - those being Marion Crane and Detective Milton Arbogast - yet the tone and approach of the picture is forever viewed as the pre-cursor to what would follow with the likes of the aforementioned Black Christmas and Halloween.
Due to its clear influence over the slashers that followed it, and for just how impactful its 'paused' moment is, that means Psycho is a worthy inclusion here - even if that's just as an honourable mention.
In terms of the paused moment in question, that's during the final moments of Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece. As we see the stoic, rational mask fall to the wayside, the true deranged nature of Norman Bates makes itself known as he lets out one of the most iconic, infamous grins in the history of cinema.
The grin itself isn't the main reason to freeze this frame, however, for instead it's the flickering skull imprint that flashes on Norman's face. That skull being that of Norman's long-dead mother Norma.