The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film produced, co-composed, and directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote it with Kim Henkel. The film stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen. The plot follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate. Although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein, its plot is largely fictional.
Eyeball is a 1975 giallo slasher film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. It’s an international co-production between Italy and Spain.
A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as monster movies, splatter films, supernatural and psychological horror films.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., and starring Robert Brian Wilson, and Linnea Quigley. The story concerns a young man named Billy Chapman, who suffers from post-traumatic stress over witnessing his parents' murder on Christmas Eve by a man disguised as Santa Claus and his subsequent upbringing in an abusive Catholic orphanage. In adulthood, the Christmas holiday leads him into a psychological breakdown, and he emerges as a spree killer donning a Santa suit.
Maniac is a 1980 American psychological slasher film directed by William Lustig and written by C. A. Rosenberg and Joe Spinell. It stars Spinell as Frank Zito, an Italian-American serial killer residing in New York City who murders and scalps young women.
The Last Horror Film is a 1982 American horror comedy film produced by Judd Hamilton directed by David Winters and starring Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro. Its plot follows a delusional middle-aged New York City taxi driver who, fixated on the idea of being a film director, visits the Cannes Film Festival where he begins stalking an actress he is obsessed with.
Night of the Demon is a 1980 American horror film directed by James C. Wasson, written by Jim L. Ball and Mike Williams, and starring Michael Cutt, Joy Allen, Robert Collings, Jodi Lazarus, Richard Fields, Michael Lang, and Melanie Graham. The film centers on an anthropologist who, along with a group of his pupils, embarks on an expedition to prove the existence of Bigfoot in a rural region of Northern California, only to be stalked and systematically slaughtered by the creature.
The Burning is a 1981 American teen slasher film directed by Tony Maylam, and starring Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua, and Lou David. Its plot follows a summer camp caretaker who is horribly burnt from a prank gone wrong, where he seeks vengeance at a nearby summer camp years later. The film marks the debuts of actors Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens, and Holly Hunter.
My Bloody Valentine is a 1981 Canadian slasher film directed by George Mihalka and written by John Beaird. It stars Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, and Neil Affleck. The plot tells about a group of young adults who decide to throw a Valentine's Day party, only to incur the vengeful wrath of a maniac in mining gear who begins a killing spree.
House of the Long Shadows is a 1983 British comedy horror film directed by Pete Walker. It is notable for featuring four iconic horror film stars together for the first and only time. The screenplay by Michael Armstrong is based on the 1913 novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Earl Derr Biggers, which was also adapted into a famous play that gave birth in turn to several films.
The Prey is a 1983 American slasher film directed by Edwin Brown, and starring Debbie Thureson, Steve Bond, Lori Lethin, and Jackie Coogan. It follows a group of campers in the Rocky Mountains who are stalked and murdered by a disfigured assailant.
The Prowler is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Joseph Zito, written by Neal Barbera and Glenn Leopold, and starring Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Cindy Weintraub, and Farley Granger. The film follows a group of college students in a coastal California town who are stalked and murdered during a graduation party by an apparent World War II veteran who killed his ex-girlfriend in 1945.
Killer Party is a 1986 Canadian supernatural slasher film directed by William Fruet, and starring Martin Hewitt, Ralph Seymour, Elaine Wilkes, Joanna Johnson, Sherry Willis-Burch, and Paul Bartel. It follows a trio of female sorority pledges who unleash a demonic force after participating in an initiation ritual in an abandoned house on their university's campus.
Edge of the Axe is a 1988 English-language Spanish slasher film directed by José Ramón Larraz, and starring Barton Faulks, Christina Marie Lane, Page Moseley, and Fred Holliday. The film centers on a masked maniac murdering people in a rural mountain town in Northern California.
The Initiation is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Larry Stewart, and starring Daphne Zuniga, Vera Miles, Clu Gulager, and James Read. The plot focuses on a young woman plagued by a disturbing recurring nightmare, who finds herself and her fellow sorority pledges stalked by a killer during their initiation ritual in a department store after-hours.
Mountaintop Motel Massacre is a 1983 American psychological slasher film written and directed by Jim McCullough Sr. and starring Anna Chappell, Bill Thurman, and Amy Hill. The plot concerns a psychotic elderly woman who, after being freed from incarceration, returns to the motel she ran and begins murdering the guests.
Superstition is a 1982 American supernatural slasher film directed by James W. Roberson and starring James Houghton, Albert Salmi, and Lynn Carlin. The plot follows a family who move into a house that was once the site of a witch's execution. Though shot in 1981, Superstition was not released in US before 1985.
Charlie's Farm is a 2014 Australian slasher film written and directed by Chris Sun. It tells the story of the violent history of Charlie's Farm, brutally brought to life when four horror seeking youths stumble across a legend that refuses to die. The film stars Tara Reid, Nathan Jones, Allira Jaques, Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, Dean Kirkright, and Sam Coward.
Satan's Blade is a 1984 American slasher film directed by L. Scott Castillo Jr., and starring Tom Bongiorno, Stephanie Leigh Steel, and Thomas Cue. It follows two groups of people lodging at a mountain resort who are stalked by a mysterious killer potentially linked to a supernatural entity in the mountains.
Bloodbeat is a 1983 supernatural slasher film written and directed by Fabrice-Ange Zaphiratos and starring Helen Benton, Terry Brown, Claudia Peyton, James Fitzgibbons, and Dana Day. The plot focuses on a young couple attending a family gathering for Christmas in a rural home when a spirit wearing samurai armor begins killing members of the family—two of whom have psychic abilities—and their neighbors.
