10 Action Movies That Are Basically Slashers
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The 1980s gave filmgoers around the world quite a few movies that blended genres, many with horror. The Thing had science fiction and horror down pat while Aliens focused far more on Space Marine guns’ blazing than the original film’s haunted house in space vibe. But it wasn’t just that particular decade that got experimental with where movies would be placed on Blockbuster Video shelves. For instance, filmmakers down the line have taken plenty of inspiration from the aforementioned two films alone, e.g. Stranger Things and The Thingââââââ.
And thank goodness, because this genre-blending train of thought can result in some worthy works that range between entertaining and masterful. The latter isn’t a word often mentioned alongside the slasher subgenre, but having other genres’ focuses while still including the tone and content of a slasher just may be the ticket. Heck, even the now-defunct Cannon Films found success with genre-blending in the ’80s, resulting in some of the most entertaining films of their run. Here are 10 action movies that might as well be slashers.
First Blood
Just about as responsible for Sylvester Stallone’s meteoric ascent as his earlier Rocky, First Blood is a film that’s aged remarkably well. Beautifully shot in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada, it’s a relatively low-budget film that uses every dime on the first two-thirds’ forest hunt and, especially, the third act’s in-town shootout.
It’s the first two-thirds of the film that’s essentially a slasher. Stallone’s Rambo doesn’t really even tough a gun until the climax, so it’s all down to his wits and a blade against an entire police department. Save for the wits, Jason Voorhees could claim to do much the same.
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The Hunted
While not quite one of Benicio del Toro’s best performances or movies, his work in The Hunted is still a visceral exercise in having a violent one-track mind. He essentially plays Stallone’s First Blood role: A former military man hunted by authority figures. In the case of The Hunted, del Toro’s Aaron Hallam is a former Delta Force operator, so he’s arguably more well-trained than even John Rambo.
But so too is the individual chasing after him. Instead of First Blood’s inept police department, it’s Tommy Lee Jones’ professional tracker. The Hunted is arguably more of a slasher than First Blood, namely because of del Toro’s character’s motivations and method. Specifically, Rambo was a survivor who had to then survive in his own country. Benicio del Toro’s Hallam is a man on a mission: To slaughter hunters who he deems to be insufficient.
10 to Midnight
Released by a subsidiary of Cannon Films, 10 to Midnight finds Charles Bronson in top form, the best he’d been since the original Death Wish. Admittedly, 10 to Midnight doesn’t have nearly as much on its mind as that classic, but it’s a wildly entertaining and well-cast ride along the way.
Bronson plays Detective Leo Kessler, a seasoned officer who teams up with a much younger man to stop a series of murders from continuing. 10 to Midnight works both as a slasher and as a reverse slasher. On one hand, it’s a movie that’s every bit as gratuitous as the average slasher. On the other hand, it makes Bronson’s character the stalker and the antagonist the runner.
Cobra
Not only does the grocery store scene in Cobra rank high among Sylvester Stallone cinematic moments, but it’s also responsible for the famous “Crime is a disease. Meet the cure.” tagline on the film’s poster. That tagline alone essentially reveals the film as a pseudo-slasher. Crime is a stand-in for libido-driven teens and Cobra — The so-called “Cure” — is a stand-in for the Jasons, Michaels, Freddys, and Leatherfaces of the cinematic world. But so too is the film’s villain, the “Night Slasher,” played memorably by the fearsome Brian Thompson (who could just about pass as a villain in a slasher film anyway).
Interestingly enough, Cobra was essentially built from the remains of what Stallone had visioned for Beverly Hills Cop before Eddie Murphy came in and made it one of the most successful films of the 1980s. The two films couldn’t be any more different, with Beverly Hills Cop being an imminently rewatchable ride through hysterics and character building and Cobra being an overwhelmingly grim shoot-em-up that fits in perfectly with the remainder of The Cannon Group’s output.
Overlord
Ranking high among Wyatt Russell’s best performances, the genre-blending Overlord is a film that benefits from tight pacing, an effective isolated location, and a dominating antagonistic performance from Pilou Asbaek. Admittedly, Overlord is just as much horror as it is action, but it does specifically delve into the slasher world.
Specifically, the antagonist has supernatural abilities. Like the killer in Silent Rage, he’s been exposed to an agent that increases physical ability, and once his face starts falling off without him dying the viewer gets major Jason and Freddy vibes. Overlord is a movie that doesn’t let up, nor does the antagonist, and if that doesn’t ring slasher nothing does.
Silent Rage
Responsible for at least one of the most essential Chuck Norris moments in movies, Silent Rage is certainly one of the most unique films the action star has released. The plot follows Norris’ heroic sheriff going toe-to-toe with a serial killer.
However, this is no ordinary serial killer, as the man has undergone an experimental procedure to grant him near-indestructibility. Even if the film focused on a regular serial killer it would get near to slasher territory, but an ’80s visual aesthetic mixed with a supernatural villain? Silent Rage is just as much science fiction horror as it is high-kicking action. And, while it’s not a particularly difficult title to gain, Silent Rage is also one of Norris’ best movies.
Hardcore Henry
Just as the slasher subgenre is known for employing the killer’s POV, so too does Hardcore Henry with the titular protagonist. From beginning to end, the film is shown in the first person.
As to how it works in the finished product: Not well. It takes about 10 minutes for the technique to become overwhelming, and while it’s an interesting idea for an experimental short film it’s an outright headache in a feature film. Even still, its POV usage rings true to the slasher subgenre. Furthermore, the violence is so constant and gratuitous that once the body count starts stacking up it’s hard not to imagine a gun-toting Michael Myers as the protagonist.
Hot Fuzz
Arguably the best of Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, Hot Fuzz is a film packed to the brim with surprises. Not to mention a few gory kill scenes that somehow manage not to detract from the film’s humor factor.
The brilliance of the film’s twist comes down to casting. When imagining a serial killer, the audience is predisposed to expect a single male in his 30s or maybe even 40s. But Wright’s film makes a whole town culpable, and when the town is populated by actors such as Timothy Dalton and Jim Broadbent, the twist becomes one of the best in slasher history. To boot, Hot Fuzz is also legitimately funny, so it works on several fronts.
Predator
Before it’s just Dutch (one of the Predator franchise’s best protagonists) and the Yautja, John McTiernan’s Predator is every bit the slasher film Friday the 13th is. A small group of characters, all of whom know each other, are placed in an isolated location. In that isolated location is a malicious force that keeps itself hidden for the vast majority of the runtime, only going for the reveal when it’s one-on-one. From that point, it’s the “Final Girl” (or final commando, in this case) vs. the antagonist, and like Chris Higgins slamming an axe into Jason’s head in Friday the 13th Part III, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch gets the upper hand on the alien.
The only thing that does separate McTiernan’s classic from grizzly slashers is an early focus on bombastic man-on-man combat sequences and a later focus on sci-fi elements. Save for going to outer space and fighting off some marines in Jason X, Friday the 13th doesn’t touch science fiction or firefights.
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The Terminator
The Terminator saga has gone on to be one of the most popular and widest-scoped cinematic franchises out there. But its beginnings were fairly small, with only a minute or so of time devoted to the future clash of man vs. machine.
Instead, it’s a wrecking ball chasing after someone who’s now a fish out of water in her own town. Her roommate is dead, every local woman who shares her name is the same, and seemingly the only one she can trust is a bizarre stranger whose only goal is to get her away from the killing force. Besides the T-800’s near-indestructibility, the overt 1980s visual aesthetic that permeates The Terminator sells it as a slasher. But this would immediately go away with the machine vs. machine sequel T2: Judgment Day.