Written by Cat Wilson catthewilson.com

What was the first slasher film? Slasher, the frightening sub-genre of horror where a human fiend stalks and murders people with sharp tools. Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho 1960 or Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1971? Either one could win. But why should women care about such violent films? Because of the final girl; the capable girl or woman that survives the movie. In her 1992 book, Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film Carol J. Clover, explores gender in slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Slashers films seem to offer sadistic pleasure to their viewers, Clover’s argument is these films are designed to align spectators not with the male monster, but with the "final girl" who finally defeats her assailant.

We chose for our first slasher Lady pick, Laurie Stodie played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the Halloween franchise. Laurie is the quiet high schooler in the first movie, who not only protects the children she is babysitting, but resourcefully defends herself. In Halloween H20 a old and wiser Laurie protects her son and makes sure the monster can never come back. Warning these movies are violent and bloody, hence the name slasher.