Who is the Killer in Slasher Season 1: The Executioner

In Waterbury the people are brutally slaughtered by The Executioner, but why and who is this masked and robed killer?

The Setting

In a small town called Waterbury a brutal double murder took place 30 years ago during Halloween, when Rachel and Ryan Ingram were stabbed to death. At the time Rachel was pregnant, and the killer cut the baby out of her belly, actually saving her. Now 30 years later this baby has grown into a determined woman, Sarah Bennett. She returns home with her husband Dylan to move into the home her parents were killed in. She wants to find out who they were and why they were murdered and visits their killer Tom Winston in prison.

But she’s not the only one who has returned, a new Executioner has risen to punish the sinners of Waterbury. It all has something to do with the murders 30 years ago, but also with the disappearance of a 15 year-old girl Ariel, 5 years ago.

Read the full review of Slasher: The Executioner, here.

The Characters

Sarah Bennett is the youngest victim and survivor of The Executioner and has a lot of questions. Meanwhile she opens an art gallery, and is a gifted painter herself. Her husband Dylan has found a job at the Waterbury Bulletin as an editor, but soon he covers all the murders, neglecting Sarah and making advantage of her personal involvement. He is pushed by his editor-in-chief Alison Sutherland and Lisa Ann who has her own crime tv show.

Due to the new murders, Sarah’s grandmother Brenda, who raised her, comes to stay with them to support Sarah. Sarah also finds support with Robin Turner, a real estate agent who rents her the space for her gallery and is married to a rich man Justin Faysal.

Cam Henry is a police officer and childhood friend of Sarah. He is the son of Alan Henry, the local vicar. He was 5 years old when Rachel and Ryan were killed. He is married to June, a paramedic. Alan was Rachel’s and Ryan’s best friend and was present at the time they were murdered, but the killer let him go. Now he repents for his own sins, by turning to god and is Tom’s religious counselor.

Tom Winston is the original Executioner and Sarah goes to him for information about her parents and he helps her as a Hannibal to his Clarice. Ian Vaughn is the chief of police and thinks Sarah is a nuisance. As does their neighbor Verna McBride and her nephew Trent, who once was also a paramedic, but got fired.

Meanwhile Heather Peterson has gone a little crazy after her 15 year-old daughter Ariel went missing 5 years ago and her husband hung himself after being accused for her murder.

Let the killings begin

It starts not with a killing but with the brutal beating of a high school bully Malcolm who is found in the woods.

Death no. 1: Verna is killed at home, tied to the bed and her hands and feet are cut off. Her sin was killing her husband out of Anger. The biblical punishment for Anger is dismemberment. She killed her husband because he had sex with Rachel who made porn tapes with Ryan to sell.
Death no. 2: Justin is poisoned at his own party, when he snorted rat poisoned coke. His sin was Gluttony. He evicted a family from their home, when he bought a piece of land, making them homeless. They had to go live in an abandoned house and used a gas heater in the winter, and they were poisoned with carbon monoxide. The biblical punishment for Gluttony is to be force fed rats, toads and snakes.
Death no. 3: Brenda was drowned in the lake tied to a cinder block. Her sin was Envy. In 1968 she was bullied by some girls and couldn’t go to prom night because she was pregnant. She waited on a bridge and threw down a cinder block at the car with the girls and their dates on their way to the prom. The brick fell on Ada who’s still in a coma. The biblical punishment for Envy is drowning.
Death no. 4: Trent McBride was thrown into a pit of snakes. His sin was Sloth. When Ariel went home 5 years ago she was drunk and sick, and he passed her in the ambulance, but didn’t bring her home, but let her walk by herself in the middle of the night. After that moment she disappeared. The biblical punishment for Sloth is being devoured by animals.
Death no. 5: June is being paralyzed and put in a field naked for the wild animals to devour. Her sin was also Sloth. June was with Trent that night and sat next to him in the ambulance. They had an affair and wanted to be together instead of taking care of Ariel.
Death no. 6: Alison Sutherland’s head is found in the fryer of a fast food joint. A boy eats her fried crispy ear. Her sin was Greed. When Ariel was missing, the story soon dried up and so she hacked into Benny Peterson’s phone and made up some pretty shameful texts, which pointed to him as a pervert and daughter killer. So he hung himself. The biblical punishment for Greed is burning alive in a vat of hot oil.
Death no. 7: Ian Vaughn is burnt alive in the furnace of the morgue. His sin was Lust. It was revealed that he was the one who kidnapped Ariel and held her all these years in his basement, while his wife knew. He even raped her and fathered a child, a boy named Jake who never has been outside. The biblical punishment for Lust is to be burned alive by brimstone and fire.
Death no. 8: Tom Winston. When Cam and another officer find the lair of The Executioner they find a notebook with the two last names on the list: Tom and Sarah. Their sins are Pride. Both wanted to play god, Tom by killing two people and Sarah once attempted suicide. When Tom finds out he escapes the ambulance while he is being transported from the hospital back to prison and gets Sarah whom he wants to protect. They hide out in the woods, but when he suffers from a seizure, Sarah has to flee, but they are both caught. Their sins are Pride and the biblical punishment for Pride is being broken on the wheel. But Tom sacrifices himself to save Sarah and throws himself on the table saw.
Death no. 9: Alan is strangled after he found out who the killer is.

The Suspects

While the editing and what is shown to us, point in Dylan’s direction, Sarah and Robin also speculate who the killer might be. Dylan is always absent and comes back a little later after a murder took place. Very convenient. He also has a motive, because he was on this story long before he met Sarah. He already had contact with Tom and only after he met Sarah to get more insight into the story in a secretive way, they fell in love. Sarah never knew that he already knew about her and he lied to her all this time. So Dylan had a hand in them coming to Waterbury, by bringing new life to he story, maybe even by playing the new Executioner. Also the Executioner spared Sarah’s life many times.

But Sarah and Robin think it might be Alan, for he is religious and seems mentally disturbed sometimes. He is also Tom’s religious counselor and maybe Tom is directing the murders while Alan is executing them. Also Vaughn does seem to do his best not to solve the case.

The Sinners unmasked

Now that all past sins are revealed the Executioner’s job is done. He has done the work of god and cleaned the town of Waterbury. Rachel and Ryan were two people who tricked or used others in secretly making porn. They even set up Tom who was the vicar at that time who fell in love with Rachel and made love to her, accidentally getting her pregnant. So Tom is actually Sarah’s real father. But they got it all on tape and blackmailed him to leave them and their business alone. Alan was their best friend, but he also was the one who distributed the tapes. So the first kills all had to do with the sins of Rachel and Ryan, causing others to sin as well, like Verna, Tom and Sarah.

The other storyline about a terrible act is about the missing Ariel. The kills of Trent, June, Alison and Vaughn all had to do with her disappearance. While June and Trent should have taken her home, she is picked up by Vaughn. He first intends to drive her home, but then she reminds him of his former girlfriend and better times and decides on a whim to kidnap her.

The Killer unmasked

Alan is the first one to find out who The Executioner is. It all goes back to 1996 when Cam has wet his bed and PJ’s and his mother got very angry at him and abused him mentally. Cam got mad and pushed her down the stairs, killing her. That was his first kill. Which Alan covered up.

Now Alan has found a wooden box in Cam’s closet with memorabilia of the victims. He wants to talk to Cam, but Cam kills him in church strangling him, while crying. His mother was his first kill and his father will his last.

It’s the day of Halloween and Sarah’s birthday. Cam has to act quickly, now at least one person has found out about him being the Executioner. He breaks into Sarah’s home and places the wooden box in Dylan’s bag for Sarah to find. When she finds it she is shocked and calls the police. But when Cam questions him, Sarah finds something else. An old yearbook of summer camp Motega. There’s a picture of Cam holding a drawing he made of Gluttony. The same drawing that was found amongst other drawings of the deadly sins in the Executioner’s lair.

She sneaks into Cam’s home and in the basement she finds sinks full of blood and the knife and a garbage bag with a severed hand. She visits Dylan and makes a plan of her own to punish Cam. But she fails, almost being responsible for Cam stabbing Robin to death. She runs home, being chased by Cam, where she is attacked and they fight. But Dylan being let go by his attorney arrives just in time and together they stab Cam multiple times to avenge all the killings, just before the police arrives.

The end

So it all started at Halloween 30 years ago and ended at Halloween at the same house. The only survivors are Sarah, Dylan, Robin and Ariel. And if it wasn’t for Sarah, if she never would have come home, Ariel would probably never have been found. Sarah finally has all the answers she needed, but at a great cost.