I Was a Teenage Slasher

Slasher film tropes are a motif for the theme of Fate Versus Free Will. They ensure that Justin and Tolly’s actions function according to a recognizable pattern, which Amber can identify because of her expertise with slasher films. The first time Stephen Graham Jones deploys slasher tropes is in the first chapter when he lays out the circumstances that result in Justin’s assault on Deek’s house party. The grisly nature of Justin’s death is reminiscent of the deaths of other iconic slashers, like Jason Voorhees, who died by unsupervised drowning, and Freddy Kreuger, who was burned to death by an angry mob.

Jones formalizes the function of slasher tropes in the second chapter when Amber observes the pattern occurring in real life. She identifies Justin as the slasher and Stace as his final girl, who is only able to overcome him after he has killed his final victim and perpetrator of the original sin, Deek Masterson, in a similarly grisly death. Once she realizes the same thing is happening to Tolly, she helps him to anticipate what he will do with the hopes of preventing more deaths from happening.

This motif reflects the way Tolly feels trapped by his circumstances.