As the spooky season has been approaching, that means that all of our favorite fictional killers, monsters, creatures, and inhumane beings are showing themselves. But as we peek into 2025 horror, the genre seems to shift.
Starting with the eighties, horror movies entered the Slasher Era. Examples like Michael Myers, Freddy Kruger, and Jason Voorhees are just a few suggested names of that era. As we neared the 2000s and 2010s, we began the Paranormal Era of horror, like “The Ring”, “Paranormal Activity”, and “Insidious.” Now, we are in what I call the “Traumatic” Era, with featured movies like “FNAF”, “The Jester”, “Smile”, and “The Black Phone”. Why exactly does this matter? Let me explain.
Beginning with the Slasher Era, also known as the “Golden Age” of Horror, the 1980s and ’90s featured some of the most known Halloween figures at this time. Michael Myers, with his white mask and slasher knife; Freddy Kruger, with his fedora and striped sweater who haunts dreams with his claws; and Jason Voorhees, with his iconic hockey mask and machete, all different techniques, but one thing in common: they’re slashers. This era was the official “beginning” of what truly kicked horror into gear.
Slasher films focused on the fears of the audience, which at this time was “Who’s watching me in the window” type of fears. These movies tended to focus on simplicity, killers who targeted young teenagers or rookie adults. They aimed at physical encounters rather than the emotional well-being of victims, using close combat weapons such as knives, claws, or close encounter items. The deaths of such victims were often brutal; simple, but brutal, focusing on up close and personal moments between the killer and his/her victim.
Slowly, around the early 2000s, horror films climbed slightly out of its shell to embrace its next major era, the “Paranormal/Torture” Era. This era can technically be put into two different sections, so I’ll talk about each one individually. The Torture Era began in the 2000s with movies like “Final Destination“, “Saw”, and “Terrifier”, which is a horror sub-genre focused on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of victims that are targeted by the torture of killers. The “Saw” franchise looks at the character of John Kramer, who goes by Jigsaw, kidnapping people to play his “games”, that usually ended in death. Kramer often used Billy the Puppet to act as the game’s actual creator and host. Terrifier looks more at a deranged clown who terrorizes young women, stalking and eventually killing them. Final Destination is a franchise that focuses on people that are able to cheat death, but soon succumb to the Grim Reaper in usually quite graphic ways. These films focus more on the mental state of its audience, sparking fear through physiology, almost as if horror had begun to whisper instead of scream.
In addition, the Paranormal Era features films like “The Ring,” “Paranormal Activity,” and “Insidious.” These films focus on inhuman creatures, ghosts, or demons. It can also be matched with “Supernatural” films like “The Conjuring” and “Silent Hill.” These movies typically include demonic or life-after-death creatures that haunt a person or family. In “The Ring,” there’s a video tape that, when watched, brings out a demon. While in “The Conjuring,” a couple are haunted by a demonic presence, as well as a doll that a devil inhabits. “Silent Hill” on the other hand is a town that is found through a portal in reality. These films don’t feature killers, exactly, more of haunting that can lead to the death of victims.
Horror films didn’t end there, though. Creeping into the 2020s, films like “A Quiet Place,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “The Jester,” “Old,” “M3gan,” “Imaginary” and “Weapons” are just a few to name. These films tend to focus on horror themes of technology, human action/thought, and fear of yourself. Since these films arose in a time where Gen Z was taken into account when these movies were made, Gen Z is the heart of AI and technology, as well as one of the most depression-filled generations. These movies focus on including younger children and coming-of-age challenges. In “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” it focuses on technology as well as spiritual connections. The movie being based upon a video game by the same name, it also seems directed at the same generation, as being any electronic feature is widely used by Gen Z.
Yes, there are still slasher movies made in 2025, there was technology horror made before 2000, but I’m taking it as the “main” associations of certain movies in a year of change. Like the first movies you think of when talking about slasher films are “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Halloween,” and “Scream.” So even though there’s still those films made, I was making a basic analogy of when the main eras of those type of movies in a certain age group.
My main idea on this article is not that horror movies are getting worse, it’s the idea that producers and directors are realizing that people’s fears are changing as generations grow up and are affected in different ways.
