The New Icons

Chapter 9 focuses on contemporary slasher villains that either have the capacity to become or seem to be designed as new slasher icons. The chapter’s central case study is the Hatchet series, and the analysis is augmented by also considering See No Evil (2006), Laid to Rest (2009), The Orphan Killer (2011) and Terrifier (2016). Metamodern new icon slasher films upcycle the properties and strategies that made established slasher icons 'classic'. The chapter argues that new icon films are informed by tensions that define the subgenre, combining past and present in a manner that is simultaneously future-facing (creating a new set of horror icons) and retrospective (nostalgically replicating what made past 'classics' so memorable and enjoyable). The chapter concludes with a final case study – Axe Murdering with Hackley (2016) – about an 'old school' slasher struggling to fit into the contemporary landscape. The film explicitly posits that innovation is required to maintain the subgenre’s cultural relevance.