There’s something so familiar about the teenage slasher genre that it’s almost comforting. In that way, There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins was a — (dare I say it?) — cozy read. The book was published in 2017, and was Perkin’s first foray into horror, her first three books being contemporary romance. The book was adapted into a movie in 2021, and overall was well-received.

When I started reading it, I wasn’t sure I could handle it. After all, it’s a slasher! I haven’t watched a slasher film in fifteen years because of my anxiety, and I am particularly susceptible to books that have scenes of creeping/stalking inside a house. The violation of the home is one of my horror triggers, and can keep me up for weeks. That being said, There’s Someone Inside Your House was YA, and it came highly recommended, so I decided to button down and give it a try — only reading when my husband was home.

For those of you who are easily frightened of home-based horror, I will say that the first scene was unsettling for me. The egg timer (which other readers have reviewed as comical) very much had me on edge. But after the first kill, the book settled into a rhythm, and my anxiety did not spike again throughout the book. Perhaps that is because I am reading YA as an adult. Or maybe taking a step back and reading it with my critique-pants on helps.

Is a slasher a serial killer?

First, let’s get the biggest issue of the slasher genre out in the open. Do slashers actually belong in the serial killer genre? Honestly, I’m hesitant to put them there. Тhe difference between a serial killer vs. a mass murderer is muddied. Most definitions of serial killers include a “cooling off” period between murders, but the length of that period is rarely defined. If there is a spree that lasts a week, or a month, is that a serial killer or a mass murderer? And does it ultimately matter?

Maybe not, but when it comes to fiction, these are two very different types of stories. In the serial killer novel, there is usually a past murder that is slowly discovered through the lens of the current events. Going back to last week’s The Serial Killer’s Wife we have the first kill that, on its own, doesn’t even look suspicious. With the second, it begins to become unnerving, but can still be excused. But when we get to the third — the current events of the book — the first two murders come into focus, and the reader gains a more sinister understanding of them. The discovery that this is not a single murder but a habitual line of them, told almost in a dual timeline, is a key part of serial killer books for me. There is a certain horror to the slow revelation of repetition.

In a slasher, the murders occur in a condensed timeline, often put into a single week, weekend, or even one night. While the totality of the spree may happen over and over again, the focus is on surviving a very short-term story, not on the past events. The backstory may be given to “deepen” the slasher story, but it is not the focus. In fact, it’s usually just a short monologue or part of the killer-reveal, used to position the killer as evil or irredeemable.

Slasher stories do feature repetition in their kills, but it is not long, drawn-out repetition of serial killers. Instead, it is a rhythmic sing-song of gore that evokes the feeling of a fairytale in the reader. Once — twice — three kills, and then a life lesson. That’s how all fairytales go, right? They also tend to feature more mythic killers — those who can’t be killed or continue to return from the grave (because American media loves its sequels). In that way, the killing spree itself becomes repetitive, but not in a personal way so much as a cycle that mirrors natural rhythms. The reader stumbles into that unstoppable cycle with the protagonist, and they are forced to endure the ritual of the slasher until the end, which is usually the shot of the final girl, innocence lost, stumbling into the dawn. There is often little resolution, and if there is, it’s usually filled with hints of a sequel, whereas most serial killer books end with a more hopeless resolution, but with a certain amount of finality.

So, I would almost put slasher stories into a dark fairytale category rather than the serial killer category. However, there is a lot of overlap about social anxieties and post modernism in both the serial killer and the slasher book, so they are worth looking at together.

From Screen to Page

As far as I know, slashers splashed onto the scene in movies rather than books. (While you could argue that Psycho was in the slasher genre, I’d put them in serial killer, because of the implication of the steady, ongoing killing over years.) It makes sense — buckets of blood and visceral murders leads to a visual/audio experience. And it’s quite difficult to pull off a jump scare in text (thankfully). The genre started with Black Christmas and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and then really found its footing with Halloween.

When I did a search for slasher novels, I found very few written before the 2000s. Just three popped up: Robert Bloch’s Psycho (1959) and Jack Ketchum’s Off Season (1980) and Richard Laymon’s Island (1991). But hit 2000, and the genre explodes. I can’t tell you why. Maybe it has to do with onscreen killing being watered-down to achieve an R rating (or even PG-13) needed for a wide theatrical release. Maybe it has to do with the popularity of the ultra-meta Scream franchise that had more people thinking about the tropes in the genre. Maybe it coincides with more self-publishing and small publishers that allowed more freedom of topics. And maybe it has to do with the movie-fication of literature (more and more people writing books “for screen”). Likely it’s some combination of the above mixed with other things I haven’t thought about.

There’s Someone Inside Your House definitely reads as a movie on paper. There’s some internalization you wouldn’t get from a movie (such as Makani’s worry that someone will dig up her past), but it mostly stays true to the movie beats of the genre. The changing POV during each kill works as a camera that shows the murders as their own vignette, similarly to how each kill is featured in a slasher film. In this way, the book becomes a stand-in for a movie and almost feels like I’m at the movie theater rather than reading in bed.

Settling Into the Young Adult Section

The shocking thing the original slasher movies have in common? Not just their brutality, but the age of their protagonists. Always a young group of high school or collage aged people. During that period (late 70s, early 80s), there was a shift from adult-focused horror to young adult slashers. This was supposedly because the average age of the movie goer was younger. Sidenote — there have been arguments that the the intensity of the sexual relationships in slashers was to lure young female viewers, who were thought to have the decision-making power on dates. But the slasher works with young adults in a way that it wouldn’t work with adult protagonists. Young people are discovering the world — trying to make sense of the chaotic, brutal, and often uncaring reality of impending adult life. The slasher — unavoidable, overpowering, pure evil and chaotic, makes a great metaphor for the anxieties of growing up. The slasher story basks in the realm of social uncertainty — will the main characters fit in, and is it even worth it?

In classic serial killer films, the danger to youth comes when they step away from the safety of their adult oversight. Youth leave the city. Youth leave their parents houses. Youth on their own. The settings are sorority houses or summer camps or house parties. This creates a scenario that echoes a sort of Lord of the Flies anxiety — there’s no one coming to save you. There’s Someone Inside Your House modernizes the anxiety of leaving the protection of adults and shifts it to the very contemporary anxiety of abandonment and brokenness inside the home.

None of the murdered characters in the book are trying to get away from authority. In fact, they are more or less staying in what should be safe/secure places — the home and the school. But the adult figure is simply missing from these places. Makani is sent to this town because her parents choose to not be there for her. In fact, her mother seems to resent her very existence as something that clipped her own freedom at a young age. While her grandmother loves her, it is established early on that Makani is expected to take care of her during her early stages of dementia rather than be taken care of. Similarly, each of the murder scenes takes place where there should be an adult, but the adult has somehow not lived up to their duty. Makani’s parents don’t even answer her calls or care what’s happening to her. The football staff leaves the building early even though they are supposed to stay until every child leaves. Rodrigo’s parents are out celebrating their anniversary despite a serial killer on the loose. Even when the adults aren’t neglecting their duties willingly — such as with the single mom who has to work night shifts — there is a sort of emptiness that a society has been created in which these kids have to look after themselves even when there’s a serial killer targeting teens.

This seems to reflect the anxiety and anger many young adults have towards adults. That their generation has been abandoned. Not only is an adult not going to come rescue you, but there is no longer any safe space. The danger is in your house, and you must deal with it on your own.

Pulling Slashers Into the Contemporary Social Climate

There’s Someone Inside Your House paid homage to the slasher genre while also bringing in identities that don’t usually get to star in slashers. Most slashers feature the perfect-popular-pretty characters. But in There’s Someone Inside Your House the main character is a biracial transfer student from Hawaii. Her best friends are a trans boy and a goth girl, and her love interest is the town punk. Unfortunately, the slasher genre tends to be surface level, and so the treatment of these identities also felt a bit surface level or forced for me. Still, it was refreshing to see a varied cast.

The other aspect that was modernized scene where Makani and Ollie have sex. In true slasher fashion, their sex is followed by the first attack on the main characters. But in a modern twist, the character is not punished for sex by death. Instead, Makani is saved because Ollie is in the house with her. He’s even naked as he fights off the killer, in an almost metaphorical sex vs. violence scene.

What If A Slasher Was a Contemporary Romance?

If you go through the good read reviews, you’ll find a lot of people claiming There’s Someone Inside Your House wasn’t horror for a variety of reasons. The most common is that the book is a YA contemporary romance disguised as a slasher. It is true that at least half the book is dedicated to the romance between Makani and Ollie, but I don’t think one genre precludes the other. There is plenty terrifying about giving yourself to lover, especially as a teen. The balance of each secret or intimacy being shared being followed by a brutal death can be a valid way to show the terror of opening up as a teen. It can feel like death to reveal our shame and insecurities. But perhaps I am reading too much into that.

Overall, I don’t think the slasher genre is where I want to keep exploring. I do find it interesting how the visual storytelling is being adapted to the written form and what changes are happening in the modern slasher. But not enough for it to be my focus. Next up, I have Just One Look by Harlan Coben.

Sources

(An ongoing list of sources used in the Serial on Serial Killers)

Jack the Ripper and the social imagination of the serial killer:

• Deconstructing “Jack”: How Jack the Ripper Became More Fiction Than Fact
• Ripper Records: Fiction

Postmodernism and the circular creation of the serial killer:

• Aestheticization of Serial Killers in Contemporary Crime Literature and Film
• Fiction and Reality: Serial Killers as a Product of Postmodern Fiction

Critique of Serial Killer Fiction

• Literary Serial Killer Fiction: The Evolution of a Genre
• Psycho Paths: Tracking the Serial Killer Through Contemporary American Film and Fiction
• Serial Killer Fiction

Slashers

• The Literary Case for Slasher Films
• The 21st Century Slasher Novel
• Selling Slashers to Teen Girls