The crew also sneaked various in-jokes into the film itself, such as the clawed glove of Freddy Krueger, the primary antagonist of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of slasher films, which hangs in the cabin's basement and toolshed.

Other notable ' 70s slasher films include Bob Clark's Black Christmas ( 1974 ), which was released before Halloween, and was another start of the sub-genre.

Two main problems pushed horror backward during this period: firstly, the horror genre wore itself out with the proliferation of nonstop slasher and gore films in the eighties.

It began as a take on 1970s slasher films, but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded.

In 1999 Richard Zoglin of Time commented that it had " set a new standard for slasher films ".

Another study, investigating gender-specific perceptions of slasher films, involved 30 male and 30 female university students.

Carpenter relied upon taut suspense rather than the excessive gore that would define later slasher films in order to make the menacing nature of the main character, Michael Myers, more palpable.

" Of the later slasher films that largely mimicked Carpenter's work on Halloween, few have met with the same critical success.

His other successful films ( critically and / or financially ) were the 1978 Academy Award-winning California Suite, the 1980 Golden Globe-nominated slasher film Dressed to Kill, the 1981 war film Escape to Victory, the 1982 film Deathtrap, and the 1986 Academy Award-nominated Mona Lisa.

From 1995 to 2000, Kaufman directed three independent films distributed in limited theatrical releases: Tromeo and Juliet, a loose parody of Shakespeare's play ; Terror Firmer, a slasher film loosely based on Kaufman's book All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger, and an independent film sequel to The Toxic Avenger trilogy titled Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV.

Wesley Earl " Wes " Craven ( born August 2, 1939 ) is an American film director, writer, producer, actor, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and he also co-wrote A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors with Bruce Wagner, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character and has directed the entire Scream series, featuring Ghostface.

The film was immensely controversial when first released ; critics called it misogynistic ( as would critics condemn the slasher films during its golden age ).

Directed by Bob Clark ( later the director of A Christmas Story ), Black Christmas was one of the earliest films to present some of the characteristics that the slasher subgenre would come to be known for: a mysterious stalker, a set of adolescent or young adult victims, a secluded location with little or no adult supervision, point-of-view camera shots representing the " killer's perspective ", a jolting score and graphic depictions of violence and murder.

A long succession of slasher films were produced, though Halloween actually has far less graphic violence than the later films that defined the slasher genre.

Following a trend set by Black Christmas, Silent Night, Bloody Night, Halloween and Friday the 13th ( as well as To All a Good Night, a slasher film with a Christmas setting released in January 1980 and preceding Friday the 13th by four months ), many films of the era used special days or holidays as a motif.

The profitability of the slasher genre began to dwindle, and controversy over the subject matter would eventually persuade some studios to stop producing and distributing slasher films.

There is substantial critical debate as to how to define the slasher subgenre and what films are and are not slashers.

She theorizes that slasher films loosely adhere to the following formula:

The main character is usually a female ( sometimes male in other slasher films ) and the most quiet, nervous one.

1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street added supernatural twists to the slasher formula, as well as comedic elements as the series progressed.

The script carried its own learned analysis of slasher films, and was directed by Wes Craven, who directed A Nightmare on Elm Street.

In 2003, two of the largest slasher series, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, were combined by New Line Cinema in the film Freddy vs. Jason.

The success of the TCM remake would soon lead to a slew of other slasher remakes, including Toolbox Murders, House of Wax, Black Christmas, the " reimagining " of Halloween, Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine 3D, the Friday the 13th reboot, Sorority Row and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and comic books.

* Nightmare ( 1981 film ), a " video nasty " slasher film

Screamin ' focused primarily on characters from more contemporary slasher movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser and franchises like Star Wars and Mars Attacks.

While preparing to film the 1988 slasher flick Nightmare Beach in Florida, Umberto Lenzi had a falling out with the producer just as production started and wanted to be taken off the film, but the film's co-writer Harry Kirkpatrick ( who wound up receiving sole directing credit ) convinced Lenzi to remain on the set in an uncredited advisory capacity throughout the entire production.

Anderson is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie, as well as for her film roles ; as Vivian in Midnight Offerings, as Ginny in the cult classic slasher Happy Birthday to Me, and as Alex in the ABC Afterschool Special, Which Mother Is Mine ?, for which she won the Emmy Award in 1979.

Halloween ( 1978 ) was a smash hit on release and helped give birth to the slasher film genre.

A significant influence on the slasher subgenre was the Italian giallo film genre.

Particularly important to the development of the slasher subgenre was Tobe Hooper's 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which featured a mysterious masked killer known as Leatherface, building on the slasher villain formula.

The definition of a slasher film varies depending on who you ask, but in general, it contains several specific traits that feed into the genre's formula.

* The Location — Many slasher films are set in isolated locations such as on islands, deep in forests, small towns, abandoned buildings and farms.

The slasher genre resurfaced into the mainstream in the mid 1990s, after being deconstructed in Wes Craven's Scream ( 1996 ), which was a parody of Halloween which had a similar effect on the movie industry.

A self-aware satire of the slasher genre, whereby the characters did not make all the usual " mistakes " ( i. e. saying " I'll be right back "), critics lauded Scream for its clever storyline and three-dimensional characters, with more of a focus on suspense than gore.

Released by Paramount Pictures in the United States and Warner Bros. internationally, the film received generally negative reviews from film critics, grossed over $ 39. 7 million at the box office in the United States, and went on to become one of the most profitable slasher films in cinema history.

In 2003, it was leaked to the music and tabloid press that Ash were working on a horror film described as a ' teen slasher '.

* Kathryn, main character of the cult classic 1983 low budget slasher film The House on Sorority Row

Paramount's successful run of pictures extended into the 1980s and 1990s, generating hits like Airplane !, American Gigolo, Ordinary People, An Officer and a Gentleman, Flashdance, Terms of Endearment, Footloose, Pretty in Pink, Fatal Attraction, the Friday the 13th slasher series, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels.

" Friday the 13th Part 2, the sequel to the popular slasher film Friday the 13th, contains virtually shot-for-shot remakes of scenes from Twitch of the Death Nerve.

It was not until the huge box office success of John Carpenter's Halloween ( 1978 ) and Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th ( 1980 ), both of which spawned numerous sequels and remakes and countless imitators, that the slasher genre began to gain widespread popularity.

Friday the 13th was the first slasher film with an abundance of graphic violence to achieve mainstream popularity, and was also the first to couple this type of murderer character with the sequential murder countdown.

Friday the 13th is a 1980 American slasher film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller.

* The fictional slasher character Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th was revealed to have suffered from hydrocephalus in the first movie.

Also comparing the film's " interchangeable teens to slasher films, particularly the Friday the 13th franchise, Muir says that " it feels wrong for a Jaws film to dwell in that shallow domain.

She portrayed the female lead role of Rowan in the science fiction-horror slasher Jason X ( 2002 ), the 10th installment of the Friday the 13th film series.

He is set to direct the slasher film Black Friday 3D, which is based on a screenplay by Joe Knetter.

1971's Twitch of the Death Nerve is considered one of the earliest slasher films, and was explicitly imitated in Friday the 13th Part 2.

In many slasher films and monster movies, the killer or monster seemingly dies at the end of the film only to return for a sequel ; for example Jason Vorhees of Friday the 13th.

Betsy Palmer ( born November 1, 1926 ) is an American actress, best known as a regular panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing Pamela Voorhees in the slasher film Friday the 13th.

A spoof of slasher horror films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night., Student Bodies was the first movie to satirize the thriving slasher film genre.

Ford appeared in the 2009 slasher film Friday the 13th.

In April 2008, she was cast as the female lead in the slasher reboot Friday the 13th.

She later became quite interested in joining in the slasher film craze started with films like Halloween ( 1978 ), Friday The 13th ( 1980 ) Maniac ( 1981 ) and Prom Night ( 1980 ).

The film is notable for being one of the first slasher films and inspiring films such as Friday the 13th and John Carpenter's Halloween.

Friday the 13th was released by Domark in for the Commodore 64 ( 1985 ), ZX Spectrum ( 1986 ) and Amstrad CPC ( 1986 ) based on the popular slasher film series of the same name.