Alot of slasher films grabbed the same types of fans as this one. Let's review some of these films shall we?
 

 

Apart from all the movies there was also a late night TV series which ran from 1988-90 by Lorimar / New Line Telepictures and was a cult favourite to teenagers back then. Find out more by clicking the image on what the series was all about.

Dark comedy was really starting to be involved with horror flicks during the late 80's and Freddy Krueger was one of the original jokesters before doing his victims away. This influenced other writers to create a Frweddy Kruege r type of killer into their flicks. Do find out about these characters and what movie's they're from.


 
 
Texas Chainsaw Massacre . 1974
Oh yes! This was the film that introduced the slasher craze. Although it is not like any of the Nightmare films it gained the same cult following. As of this day the film is still intense and shocking. A group of young travellers go on a cruise in a van and they pick up a strange hitchhiker who slits one of the travellers arm and then smears blood on their van when the hitchhiker is booted out and then the travellers are low on gas. They stop at a gas station but the owner there says he doesn't have any. They go to an abandoned house which was the grandparetns of two siblings that are with the others that are cruising around. One of the travellers named Kirk and his girlfriend Pam spots a farm and go there to see if they can borrow some gas. No one answers the door when Kirk knocks and goes inside the house and sees alot of bizarre stuff in the house. He is killed by an obese maniac wearing a mask made of people's skin by the name of Leatherface. Leahterface then puts Pam on a hook while he butchers her boyfriend with a chainsaw. One by one the others go to the farmhouse and gets killed. Only one survivor is left by the name of Sally Hardesty. She is tied up and sent to the farm as there is a demented family living there including the hitchhiker and the gas station owner. Dinner is served and guess what the meal is!? A great scary flick which became a cult classic and directed by Tobe Hooper who did the same for Poltergeist. Followed by a sequel and three remakes.
 


Black Christmas. 1974
This was the next one a couple months after TCM and filmed in Canada and what an excellent Christmas movie as people tried to ban this one due to it's controversy.
The story sets at a girls sorority house as everyone is having a Christmas party but they are receiving numerous obscene phone calls from a maniac telling cryptic stories about abortion and the beating of a child.
One of the sorority sisters named Jessica Bradford wants an abortion who is pregnant and her boyfriend Peter Smythe who lives by a nearby sorority doesn't want her to and doesn't react at all well to her decision.
The killer who made the prank calls also lives up in the attic of the girls sorority house as he comes down and kills some of the residents and stores their bodies in his attic.
The girls go away for the holidays leaving Jessica and a few others at the house alone as she continues to get these obscene phone calls wondering if Peter is responsible for these calls.
A great film to watch every year close to the holidays just like Halloween is good to watch on Hallows Eve each year.
It's very scary and bone chilling with the phone calls and not knowing who this killer is and sadly a sequel never arose but again the sequel would've probably been disappointing so it's good to have a movie like this to keep you in suspense never figuring out who this killer is and why he is doing the things he did.
Shortly later another horror film arose titled When a Stranger Calls which had similar elements to this one.
 


Halloween . 1978
This is one of the best horror flicks around and quickly became a cult classic! It has a creepy house like the Thompson's house and has similar values. A disturbed boy named Michael Myers kills his sister Judith on Halloween night in 1963 at a local town called Haddonfield in Illinois. He is taken away to a sanitarium. Years later he realises he has a sister named Laurie who was adopted as his other family members are supposedly dead and Michael wants to make sure the Myers vein is extinct. He escapes from the sanitarium and returns to Haddonfield to track down his sister and is more powerful than ever. Michael's caretaker Dr. Loomis tries hunting Michael down as he spots a truck with costumes and the corpse of a driver. Michael is dressed up in a jumpsuit and a Captain Kirk mask. On Halloween night Laurie is babysitting and Michael is watching the house she is babysitting in. Michael also kills her friends one by one that are in the area and then prepares to go for Laurie next. Dr. Loomis comes to the rescue and shoots Michael but Michael is still well alive. Followed by many sequels including one named H20 which was a direct sequel to part 2.
 


Friday the 13th . 1980
This was the film that won the same fans as the Nightmare flicks. Although the stories are different they still have the same slashing moments. A camp known as Camp Crystal Lake reopens after 20 years of silence because of an unsolved murder on two counsellors that worked there. The new counsellors and owner start rebuilding the place for the kids the next day. One of the camp's cook Annie is missing who is dead after being slit in the throat when she accepted a ride by the killer when she was hitchhiking. Then in less than 24 hours the killer enters the camp and watches the counsellors at their work and play. Then they are put away one by one including the owner until there is only one counsellor left and it is a classic battle between the killer and counsellor. Numerous sequels arised including a Freddy Vs. Jason.
 


Prom Night . 1980
A neat slasher flick. It starts out as a bunch of kids play a game in an abadoned school house and a little girl is accidentally killed during the game but they all keep her death a secret but the kids never realised that someone spied on them and saw them do it. Ten years later the same kids are anticipating the senior Prom and the night of their life. However, that shadow from the tress - the one who saw their deed - has chosen this night to seek revenge as he makes creepy phone calls to each and one of them. It is going to be a Prom no one will forget. A cross between Carrie and Halloween and probably inspired the 90's film's Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Lots of Disco dancing. However, the sequel had no affiliation with this one and was alot like A Nightmare On Elm Street of a 1957 Prom queen named Mary Lou Maloney that was accidentally burned into flames by her jilted boyfriend Bill and comes back 30 years later as Bill is the new principal and his son is about to attend the prom with a girl named Vicki Carpenter who is possessed by Mary Lou after opening a trunk in the school's basement. Also two more sequels were made after this.
 


The Burning. 1981
This film was very much a Friday the 13th clone. A group of beleagured employees of a Canadian summer camp plan a revenge-prank for the camp's caretaker, a cruel man named Cropsy. An accident occurs during the prank, and Cropsy is burned alive in his bungalow, barely surviving the incident. Five years later, the disfigured Cropsy is released from the hospital burn ward and heads back towards the camp where it all started. Then a nearby camp is set to open up and Cropsy is watching them. One of the counsellors at the camp was one of the beleagured employees and one by one Cropsy slaughters the campers and counsellors with a pair of giant clippers.
 


My Bloody Valentine . 1981
This one borrows in the tradition of Halloween, Friday the 13th and the Nightmare films of a small town called Valentine Bluffs when a man and a woman are together in a coal mine. While the woman tried to make out with the guy he grabs her and impales her on his pickax, killing her. The villagers are excited about their first Valentine's day dance in twenty years but the mayor opens a chocolate box with a threatening note and a human heart stuffed inside of it. A local bartender at their local bar called The Cage warns people that their town is cursed on Valentine's day as he tells that the last dance there twenty years ago when seven miners were working underground. Two supervisors had already finished their work, but anxious to go the party, they left before the other five were safely out. They also failed to check the methane gas levels. Because of this oversight, a lantern that one of the five men was holding caused a huge explosion and the miners were buried alive. For six weeks, rescuers tried to find survivors, but they could only reach one, Harry Warden. They found him eating the severed arm of one of his co-workers. Harry went insane after the accident and spent the next year in a mental hospital. After he was released, he killed the two supervisors with a pickax and cut out their hearts. He then stuffed them into heart-shaped candy boxes and left them at that year's Valentine's dance with a warning that the town should never again hold a party on the 14th of February. The story goes that every year on that day, he comes back to town to kill anyone who does not heed his threat. The people laugh at his story and carry on with the party and then the murders start with the victims being slayed by a pick axe through the heart then the killer puts their hearts in chocolate boxes with more deadly notes. A creepy type film but there were no sequels with this one. Too bad.
 


Slumber Party Massacre . 1982
An intentionally trashy flick that tried to borrow a bit from Halloween with lots of skin. A group of girls decide to have a slumber party after school on a Friday night as they discuss their favourite things. Then they encounter two boy pranksters that decide to join in. However, they ignore the warnings on the radio that a maniac named Russ Thorn escaped from a mental hospital and is in their neighborhood with a power drill. Russ decides to crash the party by doing most of them in. A neighbor who goes to the same school named valerie Bates drops by with her younger sister Courtney as she figures that something unusual is happening there. Both of them surivive that dreadful night and the same with the girl who lives there named Trish as they kill Russ Thorn in the end. But did I tell you there's a sequel that they tried to make a clone to A Nightmare On Elm Street? Yes there is! Courtney is all grown up and in senior highschool plus she has an all girl rock band. She is the only sane survivor from that horrible night she encountered 5 years ago at Trish's house as Trish and Valerie are in a mental hospital. Courtney, her band and their boyfriends all spend the weekend at Courtney's relatives condo. Courtney has nightmares that Russ Thorn is back and killing her friends and her sister warning her. Eventually her nightmares come true as Russ returns reincarnated as a ghost of a 50's greaser rock star with a guitar and a drill attached to the end of it. He chases them through the neighborhood there slaughtering her friends one by one. He behaves like Freddy Krueger along with his killings. The film is very graphic and gory as well as pointless.
 


Sleepaway Camp . 1983
This was considered to be a bad movie. Yes it had leaky holes in it and was at times uneven but it became a cult classic! The story centers around a father and two children at a lake. A horrible accident occurs as a boat runs over a father and one of the kids and the other stays at a caretakers house which is the child's aunt. The child named Angela and her cousin Ricky go off to camp 8 years later and Angela doesn't say a word. Kids start picking on Angela but die of horrible deaths because of their tormenting. The owner covers it all up saying they're horrible accidents but the bodycount keeps piling up. Then they find out the killer is Angela but that's not all they found out about this disturbed child. Then 5 years later a sequel was made and used dark humour to it like the Nightmare sequels. Angela returns from a mental hospital and becomes camp counsellor at a nearby camp. She slaughters naughty kids in a Freddy Krueger like fashion and tells the camp owners she had to send the person hom for not obeying the rules. Then there's a part 3 as Angela returns to the same camp after slaying just about everyone in part 2. She is disguised as a teenager she killed with a garbage truck and the camp is renamed with a new group of owners. Is is about the rich and the poor having an experiment in sharing. They are divided into three groups and Angela does them away one by one using the same types of slayings as in part 2. Also a new SC movie will be out which will be a direct sequel to the first one.
 


Silent Night Deadly Night . 1984
First came Michael Myer's, then Jason Voorhees, next Freddy Krueger and now... Santa??? A young boy named Billy Chapman and his baby brother travels home with his parents in Utah on Christmas Eve and stop by to visit his insane grandfather in a mental institution and when Billy is in a room alone with his grandfather he tells Billy that Santa punishes naughty kids. Then when the family leaves, they are stopped by a criminal in a Santa suit and Billy watches his parents killed by the thief. He spends his youth in an orphanage with his brother, staying quietly to his self, but his mind is further bent by an ironhanded and abusive Mother Superior who poison's his mind about sexual fantasies and fornication is bad and deserves to be punished. Years later, he finally gets a job at a local store, where he finally snaps when he is required to wear a Santa suit. He then goes on a killing spree in the neighborhood hacking away bullies, fornicators or anyone else who he thinks is being naughty that leads him slowly back to the orphanage. A film that tried to carry on the slasher tradition like Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street which sparked controversy during it's theatrical released as locals tried to have it banned but failed to do so and became a cult classic. After part 3 the sequels after that were totally different stories.
 


Slaughterhouse . 1987
A film gory in it's time and a very cult teenage slasher flick which has similar Krueger type elements to it about a disturbed slaughterhouse owner named Lester Bacon is forced to shut down his business and find a new property but he discovers that is mentally retarded son named Buddy whom is a powerful obese man has killed a couple of teenage trespassers with his meatcleaver that was given for his Birthday for messing with his hogs and their corses are hung on hooks at the slaughterhouse which gives him an idea for him to do away the businessmen and head sheriff responsible for his bankruptcy. But suddenly some other teenagers decides to hang out at the slaughterhouse for enjoyment after a local pig out in their county as their electricity went out due to a thunderstorm. Lester and Buddy really lose it as these teenagers are getting hacked as well. Lester uses Freddy Krueger jokes with the corpses and was well done for what it was plus it earned a quick theatrical release. The flick was somewhat a parody on Texas Chainsaw Massacre besides the Krueger elements used in the flick.


Cheerleader Camp . 1987
Alison follows her friends to a summer camp for cheerleaders. But she is having bad nightmares. Her boyfriend has followed her to the camp but he seems to be more interested in the other girls, girls who sooner or later are found brutally murdered. Alison starts to believe that she has a split-personality who kills them. A really bad comedy horror film with a terrible plot, badly directed (The director moved on to direct pornography by the way what a surprise) and a bad budget and lots of blood & gore and uninspired!


Child's Play . 1988
Chucky was a psychotic killer the police have been after and he is running away from them. He breaks into a toy store one night and hides from the police but he is wounded from a gun shot. However, he uses a voodoo spell and puts his soul into a "Good Guys" doll. The police thinks that Chucky is dead. The next day a mother buys a "Good Guy Doll" for his son's birthday. Unfortunately she buys the doll that Chucky's soul is in. While her son is out playing with his doll Chucky ends up killing people using alot of profanity and jokes. He even kills the boy's babysitter. It was a terrific flick and very clever too with many scares as Chucky does the odd Krueger joke but is extremely foul mouthed while doing all this too. Followed by many sequels.


9-7-6 Evil . 1988
This film was a cross between three flicks. Carrie, The Exorcist and of course A Nightmare On Elm Street. This story all has to do with a shy nerd named Hoax whom is new at a school and is constantly being picked on by bullies and abused by his religious fanatical mother (Similar to Carrie). He calls a toll call 976-EVIL which was a number his tough cousin Spike called but never knew Spike got into some dangerous moments. Hoax seeks revenge on his tormentors and slowly turns into a demonic killer using lots of Krueger humour. Of course this would be a Krueger type flick cause he directed it himself.


Shocker . 1989
Wes Craven tried to invent another type of Elm Street film and arose with this one. However, this film was a complete flop and sequels never arised from this one. The story goes like this. A college student named Jonathan Parker (Peter Berg) who also is playing football and is going steady with a beautiful girl (Camille Cooper). Suddenly he has a nasty concussion at the football field. Then he has a nightmare about his foster family being slaughtered by a maniac named Horace Pinker (Mitch Pileggi). However the dream turns out real later on followed by another one as he finds his whereabouts so the police can track him down. Then he is put to a death sentence. However Horace used black magic to enable him to utilise electricity to allow his spirit to travel through electrical currents and to possess any body he wishes. Jonathan must now fight an evil force that has become even stronger, as those around him grow weary of his nighttime visions and proceed to fall victim to Pinker's bloodthirsty ghost. Horace uses alot of Krueger type jokes in this film but this film was nothing but a cheap clone.


Brainscan . 1994
This was almost like a Nightmare film as the killer named Trickster resembled Krueger but the film wasn't well exposed as during it's theatrical run in 1994 horror films were dying. A lonely teenage horror-movie fan discovers a mysterious computer game that uses hypnosis to custom-tailor the game into the most terrifying experience imaginable. He saw the ad in a Fangoria magazine and orders it. When he emerges from the hypnotic trance he meets the rvil Trickster and is horrified to find evidence that the brutal murder depicted in the game actually happened -- and he's the killer. There's one scene where a guy's foot is cut off which was supposed to be fiction but it turns out real. There is also a scene where Trickster eats the teenage kid. Good special effects in this flick.


Scream . 1996
This was the flick that brought back the horror craze and was done by Wes Craven. Craven proves he's a genius when it comes to horror flicks and this is his best one yet! It's takes a look at 70's & 80's slasher films like Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th and so forth. There's even a scene of a school janitor dressed in a Freddy Krueger outfit. It's both frightening and funny. It's about a guy in a ghostface mask killing people with a blade and gutting them open to show their insides but beforehand, they call the people on their cell phone to ask them their favourite scary movie and how they'd like to die that night. A troubled highschool girl named Sydney is the main victim as she tries to find out who murdered her parents. Followed by two more sequels. I'd consider this film the Halloween of the 90's!