In this paper a comparative content analysis is performed on these films and their original versions. Later on, in the twentieth-first century, slasher films would make a comeback in the shape of remakes of the subgenre’s classics. Thenceforth, it would become highly popular throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, until entering into decline in the following decades once the novelty had worn off. Although the Italian giallo and films like Thirteen Women (George Archainbaud, 1932), Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960), Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) and The Last House on the Left (Wes Craven, 1972) could be understood as its precursors, it was the three aforementioned films that would establish the subgenre in its own right. Four years on, John Carpenter’s Halloween would define its characteristics once and for all: a serial or mass killer dedicated to stalking and massacring youngsters, mostly middle-class girls, employing to this end primarily blunt or sharp weapons like knives, axes, saws or harpoons (Hernández-Santaolalla, 2019 Keisner, 2008 Molitor & Sapolsky, 1993 Pérez Ochando, 2016 Petridis, 2014). In 1974, the release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) and Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974) marked the advent of slasher films, one of the most prolific subgenres of the horror film genre. The limited differences found between the original films and the remakes provide the basis for drawing interesting conclusions about the subgenre itself, as well as to raise discussions about the different contexts of production and reception. The results indicate that, although there have been a number of changes, such as higher doses of explicit violence and profanity and in the fight responses of the victims, most of the subgenre’s defining traits have remained intact, whereas others, such as those relating to the defining traits of the victims, should be questioned. In this paper, a comparative content analysis is performed on 13 slasher films made during the 1970s and the 1980s and 13 remakes premiered in the new millennium, focusing on the differences stemming from the adaptation of the latter to the new sociocultural context. In that regard, the twenty-first century has seen a revival of the slasher, combining the release of original movies with remakes of classic films, adapting the traditional plots to the current context. Since its origins in the mid-1970s, the slasher has been defined as a subgenre of horror in which a serial or mass killer stalks and massacres middle-class youngsters, and preferably attractive young women, using cutting weapons or projectiles.

Dead space 2 slasher female variant