Slasher film
[3] Notable slasher films include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Black Christmas (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Child's Play (1988), Scream (1996), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).
[17] The appeal of watching people inflict violence upon each other dates back thousands of years to Ancient Rome,[18] though fictionalized accounts became marketable with late 19th century horror plays produced at the Grand Guignol.
[20][21] Crime writer Mary Roberts Rinehart influenced horror literature with her novel The Circular Staircase (1908),[22] adapted into the silent film The Bat (1926), about guests in a remote mansion menaced by a killer in a grotesque mask.
Along with the "madman on the loose" plotline, these films employed several influences upon the slasher genre, such as lengthy point of view shots and a "sins of the father" catalyst to propel the plot's mayhem.
[24] George Archainbaud's Thirteen Women (1932) tells the story of a sorority whose former members are set against one another by a vengeful peer who crosses out their yearbook photos, a device used in subsequent films Prom Night (1980) and Graduation Day (1981).
[26] Basil Rathbone's The Scarlet Claw (1944) sees Sherlock Holmes investigate murders committed with a five-pronged garden weeder that the killer would raise in the air and bring down on the victim repeatedly, an editing technique that became familiar in the genre.
[27][49] Mario Bava's A Bay of Blood (1971) is a whodunit featuring a subplot depicting creative death sequences on a secluded lakeside setting, which greatly inspired Friday the 13th (1980), its 1981 sequel and subsequent slashers.
The story concerns a violent clash of cultures and ideals between the counter-culture and traditional conservative values, with the film's squealing antagonist Leatherface carrying a chainsaw and wearing the faces of victims he and his family eat.
Using the "killer calling from inside the house" gimmick, Black Christmas is visually and thematically a precursor to John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), as young women are terrorized in a previously safe environment during an iconic holiday.
[84] Siskel, in his Chicago Tribune review, revealed the identity and fate of the film's killer in an attempt to hurt its box office, and provided the address of the chairman of Paramount Pictures for viewers to complain.
[8] Acclaimed filmmaker Brian De Palma's Psycho-homage Dressed to Kill drew a wave of protest from the National Organization for Women (NOW), who picketed the film's screening on the University of Iowa campus.
[87] Thematically similar to My Bloody Valentine, The Prowler hoped to lure an audience with gore effects by Friday the 13th's Tom Savini but large MPAA edits contributed to its failure to find a nationwide distributor.
Independent distributor Embassy Pictures released The Seduction to a surprising 3.9 million admissions, making a hit erotic slasher-thriller that predates blockbusters Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992) by several years.
[27] The success of A Nightmare on Elm Street welcomed in a new wave of horror films that relied on special effects, almost completely silencing the smaller low-budget Golden Age features.
Mirroring the punk rock movement, novice filmmakers proved anyone could make a movie on home video, resulting in shot-on-video slashers Blood Cult (1985), The Ripper (1985), Spine (1986), Truth or Dare?
[115] By 1989 the major series had faded from public interest, resulting in box office failures from Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995) was released under Miramax's Dimension Films banner to negative fan reaction and a weak box office, forcing its producers to reboot the franchise with the next entry.
[116] Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) used characters from his original Elm Street film in self-referential and ironic ways, as the actors played versions of their true personas targeted by a movie-inspired demon.
Despite solid critical reviews, New Nightmare failed to attract moviegoers and sold only 2.3 million tickets the North American box office, the lowest of any Elm Street film.
[failed verification][119] The marketing for Scream distanced itself from the slasher genre as it passed itself as a "new thriller" that showcased the celebrity of its stars Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell over its horror elements.
[121][122][123] Again, the marketing for these sequels relied on the appeal their casts, which included Adam Arkin, Jack Black, LL Cool J, Jamie Lee Curtis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Hartnett, Katherine Heigl, Brandy Norwood, Jodi Lynn O'Keefe, Mekhi Phifer, John Ritter, Jennifer Tilly, and Michelle Williams.
[134] Successful horror films including Final Destination (2000), Jeepers Creepers (2001) and American Psycho (2000) used slasher tropes but deviated from the standard formula set forth by movies such as Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996).
Made on a $12.6 million budget, Wrong Turn continued Scream's trend of starring popular actors like Eliza Dushku and Desmond Harrington, but returned to the violent and exploitative approach of films like The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Just Before Dawn (1981).
[149] Coming off the success of the Paranormal Activity and Insidious franchises, Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions began looking into rebooting popular slasher titles with "legacy sequels" that largely ignored the proceeding films in favor of new chapters, though not strict remakes.
[150][151] For their next slasher film, Blumhouse recruited director David Gordon Green and writer Danny McBride to reunite producer/composer John Carpenter and star Jamie Lee Curtis for Halloween (2018).
[failed verification][158] The directing team Radio Silence rebooted the Scream franchise in 2022 by uniting original actors Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette with new stars including Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega.
[159][160] Like Halloween, Netflix's Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) brought back its franchise's famous villain (Leatherface) to face off against its original final girl (Sally Hardesty, played by Olwen Fouéré replacing the late Marilyn Burns).
[178] Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Keke Palmer, Niecy Nash, Billie Lourd, and Abigail Breslin, the series developed a devoted cult following but was cancelled after two seasons.
[189][190] More traditional slasher movies[failed verification] like The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), Hell Fest (2018), Haunt (2019) and There's Someone Inside Your House (2021) found success on streaming services such as Shudder and Netflix, while Eli Roth's long-awaited Thanksgiving (2023) was a minor hit at the box office with 3.5 million admissions.
Damien Leone's Terrifier (2016) drew attention for its villain Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) and its inventive practical effects, but its perceived as misogynistic violence became controversial and the film failed to catch on with the general public.
