10 Precise Moments Horror Icons Stopped Being Scary

Halloween, whilst not the first slasher film to grace screens, was definitely one of the most impactful, spawning a template that horror movies for years to come adhered to. Whilst the movies have declined in quality since the first releases, Michael Myers has mostly followed the same character trope as ever, acting as the psychotic, silent killer knifing away at anyone that's unfortunate enough to get in his way.

The original film is one that stopped first viewers from sleeping, ingraining terror at the thought of a merciless intruder breaking into their house - but how many times have we seen this since? The one thing to Halloween's detriment is the sheer amount of copycat narratives it spawned, making any sort of attempt to watch it now fall flat in comparison to 1978's intense, gory thriller. It doesn't hold up any more as it's become a cliche: but at least it was for the solid reason that the first film defined the cliche itself.

To be honest, learning that Michael Myer's mask is actually a William Shatner face also ruins any scariness in the moment. Think of the spoken word covers, and a stab-tastic, pasty Shatner coming at you really doesn't do much.