"Though wearing a mask makes the villains scarier, it would also make them far less efficient killers — especially, if, like Jason Vorhees, your face and eyes are disfigured to begin with. It's amazing he can see at all, much less hurl hatchets through the air, striking his terrified prey in near-darkness with deadly accuracy. It should be easy for the scared teens in slasher films to stay alive, all they'd have to do is stay in the masked slasher's obstructed peripheral vision — that, and don't go in the dark room to see what that noise is! Why are masks so menacing? It has to do with psychology and the fear of anonymous death. For many people, the idea of being murdered by an unidentifiable stranger for no reason is more terrifying than being killed by someone you do know, and for some good reason."