Action Films of the 1980s and The Slasher Paradigm

Body count films of many forms found success in the 1980s. Slasher pictures dominated the horror market, generating major margins of profit on miniscule budgets (Parmount Pictures shuddered with eye-winking embarrassment when releasing the numbers on their senses-assaulting splatter flick, Friday the 13th). 

At the same time, major studios were redefining action movies for modern audiences. Hollywood had gone corporate. The social climate of the 1960s and 1970s had passed and was replaced by a more escapist form of entertainment. Instead of willfully challenging the political structure in America, Hollywood aimed to produce event pictures with wide popular appeal. 

Large-scale actioners offered adrenaline-filled thrill rides replete with dangerously exciting inclines and gratuitously violent plunges while echoing the structural framework and narrative tone of the slasher film. While the two genres may seem dissimilar, their themes and essential features bear scrutiny. 

Below are examples of three major action films of the ’80s and their contextual connection with the slasher paradigm.

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Action Films of the 1980s and The Slasher Paradigm