I Was a Teenage Slasher

Content warning: This section of the guide discusses extreme violence and death by suicide.

Whenever Tolly Driver transforms into a slasher, he loses control of his body. He describes himself as a passenger in his own head, watching as the force that later becomes known as Strappy dispatches his former tormentors. Tolly can’t choose to spare his victims, nor can he redirect his slasher rage toward those more “deserving” of death than his one-time high school bullies. In a sense, he is trapped by his fate in the slasher narrative, killing his peers in the marching band precisely because that is what a slasher is meant to do.

The idea that Tolly has no agency over his actions speaks to the way he feels destined for an unremarkable life in Lamesa. Tolly is unsure of what direction his life might take after high school. His school’s encouragement to develop his talent for writing suggests that he could go to college. He more frequently considers, however, the likelihood that he will end up following his father’s footsteps to become a pumper. Without the resources to apply himself to a life beyond Lamesa, Tolly can’t see the point in working to fulfill his potential.