Top 5 Slasher Villains

My second top list and I have decided to do it on my top five slasher villains! I am a massive fan of slasher films, I remember times where I have stayed up throughout the night watching them so in the future I will review those films. The reason it is five is because I cannot think of ten.

5. GHOSTFACE

 

Love the whole Scream franchise and Ghostface was a formidable slasher for the protagonists; he has a great mask and costume and the guy can take some punishment. Not to mention he has a love for horror films and likes to reference them. However the reason that Ghostface is fifth is because the identity of Ghostface constantly keeps changing and that is something I do not like. Not only that but his incarnations in Scream 2 – 4 have never been as great as the one in the original Scream.

4. FREDDY KRUEGER

 

The Nightmare on Elm Street film; a series that was so creative yet declined with every new film they released, the only ones I liked where 1 (of course this one!), 3, 4 and Freddy vs. Jason (If that counts). However something they did get right creating such an iconic character like Freddy; the burnt, knife fingered dream invader. This guy can really dread going to sleep however as the series declined so did he and they just made his murderers silly instead of creative since he could do anything in a dream. But I do not blame Robert Englund for this because he is one hell of a slasher actor!

3. NORMAN BATES

 

One of the first ever slashers to grace the screen and I am talking about the Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece not the remake. This guy is creepy as hell and I am not talking about when he dresses like a woman and kills women in the showers, even when he is not in his mother disguise there is just something unnerving about him. I am sure anyone who has watched the film remembers the scene where he is talking about taxidermy.

2. JIGSAW

A quite unique villain for the fact that he does not just straight up kill his victims with a knife; instead he creates many elaborate traps and make his victims kill themselves. Another reason is that he is not doing this out of pleasure or revenge (like some of his apprentices do), he has suffered in the past and his suffering with cancer so he knows how precious life really wants his victims to know that as well.

1.      JASON VOORHEES

 Now my favourite is the deformed serial killer from the Friday the 13^th series. Sure he has a bit of a mother obsession and he was not even the killer in the first film but he has become an imposing, un – killable behemoth. His signature machete and hockey mask have become so iconic and out of all of the killers on this list I really don’t want to be chased by him. I also really like all of his films and all of his portrayals; I even really like Jason X and the Friday the 13^th remake even though I know they were not well received.

 

References:

http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131103072806/h__/halloween/images/6/60/Ghost-face-accessory-mask-large.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Freddy_Krueger.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Norman-bates.png
http://crimson.fit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Jigsaw-puppet.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Jasonf.jpg

Film Review: Psycho (1960)

My first film review and I thought I would on one of my favourite films and an all time classic; Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Like all my other reviews this will contain SPOILERS so I advice you to only read on if you have seen the film.

This film stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane who steals $40,000 from the realtors office she works for in hopes of giving it to her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) because he is massively in debt and does not want to marry when he can barely afford it. Marion flees out of town and ends up staying a night at the Bates Motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a troubled man with a domineering mother. That is the first half of the story, the second half stars Marion’s sister Lila Crane (Vera Miles) who searches for her and also introduces the character Milton Arbogast (Jon McIntire) a private detective.

I really liked this story; it is simple but effective and really gets the audience involved with it. It also has a lot of suspense, for example when Marion is on the run there is a cop who stalks her and you just don’t know his the cop suspects her or not. (MASSIVE SPOILER) This film also contains the famous shower in which Marion is killed by Norman Bates and it is one of the best film scenes I have ever seen. The camera work and the acting by Janet Leigh is so convincing, this was a time when bloody violence and nudity was frowned upon but they do an amazing job making it as realistic as possible. That is another thing I really liked about the film; the brilliant camera work, they do a lot of excellent close up shots on the faces of the characters and there is a great scene where Arbogast is falling down the stars and like the shower scene they really convince you it is happening.

Every single character’s performance in this film is perfection but the highlight of them all is Anthony Perkins for his portrayal as Norman Bates. He makes the character seem as polite and shy as possible while at the same time really disturbed, especially during the conversation he has with Marion and he explains his hobby about taxidermy. The music is also great in this as well, the one that plays during the shower scene has become iconic and the fast paced one that plays when Marion is on the run really suits the moment.

Overall this is one of the most iconic films ever created and one of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest. Even though this film was not the first slasher film it is certainly started off a new craze for it that began in the 1980s. I really do not have anything bad to say about this film because it is a fine example of cinema at its best.

SCORE: 10/10