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Urban Legend is a 1998 slasher film directed by Jamie Blanks, written by Silvio Horta, and starring Jared Leto, Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Tara Reid, and Michael Rosenbaum, and is the first installment in the Urban Legend film series. Its plot focuses on a series of murders on the campus of a private New England university, all of which appear to be modeled after popular urban legends. In addition to its younger cast, the film features supporting performances from Robert Englund, Loretta Devine, John Neville, and Brad Dourif.
Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by Roy Moore. It stars Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon. The story follows a group of sorority sisters who receive threatening phone calls and are eventually stalked and murdered by a deranged killer during the Christmas season.
When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 American psychological horror film written and directed by Fred Walton, co-written by Steve Feke, and starring Charles Durning, Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst and Tony Beckley. Its plot follows Jill Johnson, a young woman being terrorized by a psychopathic killer while babysitting, the killer's stalking of another woman, his returning to torment Jill years later, and a detective's trying to find him. Rachel Roberts, Ron O'Neal, Carmen Argenziano, and Rutanya Alda appear in supporting roles. The film derives its story from the folk legend of "the babysitter and the man upstairs".
Hardware is a 1990 British cyberpunk science fiction horror film written and directed by Richard Stanley, in his feature directorial debut. It stars Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis, and also features cameos from Carl McCoy, Iggy Pop and Lemmy. The film is about a self-repairing robot that goes on a rampage in a post-apocalyptic slum.
When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American psychological horror film directed by Simon West and written by Jake Wade Wall. The film stars Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy, Tessa Thompson and Clark Gregg. Belle plays a babysitter who starts to receive threatening phone calls from an unidentified stranger, played by both Tommy Flanagan and Lance Henriksen. It is a remake of Fred Walton's 1979 horror film of the same name, which became a cult classic for its opening 20 minutes, which this remake extends to a feature-length film.
When a Stranger Calls Back is a 1993 American made-for-television psychological horror film and a sequel to the 1979 classic When a Stranger Calls which reunites stars Carol Kane and Charles Durning with director Fred Walton from the original film. It was originally broadcast on Showtime on April 4, 1993.
When a Killer Calls is a 2006 direct-to-DVD horror film directed by Peter Mervis and starring Sarah Hall, Mark Irvingsen, Robert Buckley, Derek Osedach, and Rebekah Kochan. It was distributed by B movie company The Asylum. The film was released in February 2006, to coincide with the theatrical release of the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls, which this film is a mockbuster of.
The Strangers is a 2008 American psychological horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino. The film follows a couple whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked intruders who infiltrate the home one night. It is the first installment in The Strangers film series. The screenplay was inspired by two real-life events: the multiple-homicide Manson family Tate murders and a series of break-ins that occurred in Bertino's neighborhood as a child. Some journalists noted similarities between the film and the Keddie cabin murders that occurred in Keddie, California, in 1981, though Bertino did not cite this as a reference.
Private Parts is a 1972 American horror film directed by Paul Bartel in his feature film debut, and starring Ayn Ruymen, Lucille Benson, and John Ventantonio. Its plot follows a troubled young woman who suspects a deviant serial killer is living in her aunt's dilapidated hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The film has been noted for its stylistic mixture of horror, dark comedy, and psychological thriller elements.
Absurd is a 1981 Italian slasher film directed, lensed and co-produced by Joe D'Amato and starring George Eastman, who also wrote the story and screenplay.
The babysitter and the man upstairs—also known as the babysitter or the sitter—is an urban legend that dates back to the 1960s about a teenage babysitter who receives telephone calls that turn out to be coming from inside the house. The basic story line has been adapted a number of times in movies. The 1950 murder of teenage babysitter Janett Christman is commonly cited as a source of the legend.
Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon were two young women who were murdered in separate, sexually motivated attacks by the same unidentified individual during 1975 in London, England.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar is a 1977 American crime drama film, based on Judith Rossner's best-selling 1975 novel of the same name, which was inspired by the 1973 murder of New York City schoolteacher Roseann Quinn. The film was written and directed by Richard Brooks, and stars Diane Keaton, Tuesday Weld, William Atherton, Richard Kiley and Richard Gere.
The Babysitter is a novel series by R. L. Stine. The first novel in the series was published in 1989, and it led to establish Stine as a prominent author in the children's horror genre. The first novel follows a simple premise of a babysitter who finds she is the next in a series of babysitting victims to a crazed killer. Three sequels of this book were published: The Babysitter II in July 1991, The Babysitter III in October 1993 and The Babysitter IV in June 1995.
Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed, co-written, and scored by John Carpenter. Starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis, with P. J. Soles and Nancy Loomis in supporting roles, the film is set mostly in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. The plot centers on a mental patient, Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween night when he was a child. Fifteen years later, having escaped and returned to his hometown, he stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends while under pursuit by his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis.
The House of the Devil is a 2009 American horror film written, directed, and edited by Ti West, starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, A. J. Bowen, and Dee Wallace.
Foster's Release is a 1971 American short film directed by Terence H. Winkless. The film has been credited with inventing many of the tropes of horror later used in films such as Black Christmas, Halloween and He Knows You're Alone.
Born for Hell is a 1976 horror film directed by Denis Héroux, and starring Mathieu Carrière, Debra Berger, and Christine Boisson. Its plot follows a disturbed American Vietnam War veteran who, after arriving in Belfast, terrorizes a house full of international female nursing students. The film is set against the historical backdrops of the Northern Ireland conflict and the December Raids in North Vietnam. The screenplay is loosely based on the crimes of serial killer Richard Speck, who murdered eight nursing students in Chicago, Illinois in 1966.
Nilaavinte Naattil is a 1986 Malayalam film directed by Vijay Menon starring Prem Nazir, Seema, Bharath Gopi, Shaila Shanker, Lalu Alex and M. G. Soman. The movie deals with the feelings of a young girl who is alone in a big lonely house at night and is left with no other option than being seduced into sex by a stranger.
The When a Stranger Calls franchise consists of American psychological-thriller installments, including the original 1979 theatrical release, its television movie sequel, and its 2006 theatrical remake, and also the 1977 short film The Sitter, which started it all. The plot centers around a teenage high school student who works as a successful babysitter, who one night is harassed with disturbing phone calls from an unknown man while she is caring for an isolated home. As she continues through the night, the calls become more threatening and she urgently seeks the help of local law enforcement, the location of the assailant is revealed to be closer than she would like; forcing the young woman to fight for her life.
References
- ↑ Rockoff, Adam. Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986, retrieved June 29, 2016.
