A Chronology of 80's Slashers
by lastseconds | created - 18 Sep 2011 | updated - 19 Sep 2011 | PublicOmitting the obvious landmarks of the genre from the period (Friday 13th, for example), this list is a compilation of the films that were made in -- or around the time of -- the 1980/1981 slasher 'boom' that were directly influenced by Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween and Friday 13th (as well as the Italian Giallo thrillers), which in turn were influenced by Michael Powell's Peeping Tom and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
This list should not be seen as indicative of quality; some of these films are of a shockingly poor standard. Instead it is simply a chronological list of films that adhered, for the most part, to the genre conventions established by the films that preceded them.
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1. Prom Night (1980)
R | 92 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At a high-school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.
Director: Paul Lynch | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Stevens, Anne-Marie Martin
Votes: 20,889 | Gross: $14.80M
2. April Fool's Day (1986)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery
Nine college students staying at a friend's remote island mansion begin to fall victim to an unseen murderer over the April Fool's Day weekend, but nothing is as it seems.
Director: Fred Walton | Stars: Deborah Foreman, Griffin O'Neal, Clayton Rohner, Jay Baker
Votes: 18,352 | Gross: $12.95M
3. The House on Sorority Row (1982)
R | 91 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
After a seemingly innocent prank goes horribly wrong, a group of sorority sisters are stalked and murdered one by one in their sorority house while throwing a party to celebrate their graduation.
Director: Mark Rosman | Stars: Kate McNeil, Eileen Davidson, Janis Ward, Robin Meloy
Votes: 9,951 | Gross: $1.29M
4. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
R | 84 min | Horror
Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.
Director: Robert Hiltzik | Stars: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet
Votes: 37,990 | Gross: $11.00M
5. Terror Train (1980)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Three years after a prank went terribly awry, the six college students responsible are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year's Eve party aboard a moving train.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, David Copperfield
Votes: 13,831
6. Graduation Day (1981)
R | 96 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A masked killer begins murdering students on the school track team after a track runner dies upon completion of a 30 second 200-meter race.
Director: Herb Freed | Stars: Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, E. Danny Murphy, E.J. Peaker
Votes: 4,872 | Gross: $23.89M
7. Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
At the snobby Crawford Academy, Virginia's group of friends start to go missing years after horrible events that happened to her as a child around her birthday.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker
Votes: 11,209
8. The Prowler (1981)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small California town, bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual graduation dance.
Director: Joseph Zito | Stars: Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney, Farley Granger
Votes: 12,978
9. My Bloody Valentine (1981)
R | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A decades-old folk tale surrounding a deranged murderer killing those who celebrate Valentine's Day turns out to be true to legend when a group defies the killer's order and people start turning up dead.
Director: George Mihalka | Stars: Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, Keith Knight
Votes: 25,068 | Gross: $5.67M
10. The Burning (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.
Director: Tony Maylam | Stars: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua
Votes: 22,243
11. The Funhouse (1981)
R | 96 min | Horror
Four teenagers visit a local carnival for a night of innocent amusement, but soon discover that nothing there is innocent or amusing.
Director: Tobe Hooper | Stars: Elizabeth Berridge, Shawn Carson, Jeanne Austin, Jack McDermott
Votes: 16,259 | Gross: $7.89M
12. Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
R | 79 min | Horror, Thriller
Little Billy witnesses his parents getting killed by Santa after being warned by his senile grandpa that Santa punishes those who are naughty. Now Billy is 18 and out of the orphanage, and he has just become Santa himself.
Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr. | Stars: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson
Votes: 18,791 | Gross: $2.49M
13. Splatter University (1984)
R | 78 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A sociology instructor finds her new teaching duties at a private college interrupted by the presence of a killer mental hospital patient.
Director: Richard W. Haines | Stars: Forbes Riley, Ric Randig, Dick Biel, Kathy LaCommare
Votes: 1,945
14. New Year's Evil (1980)
R | 85 min | Horror, Thriller
During a New Year's Eve celebration, a Los Angeles disc jockey receives a phone call saying that when New Year's strikes in each time zone, someone will be murdered - and she will be the last one.
Director: Emmett Alston | Stars: Roz Kelly, Kip Niven, Chris Wallace, Grant Cramer
Votes: 3,835
15. Don't Go in the Woods (1981)
R | 82 min | Horror, Thriller
Four friends camping in the woods inadvertently stumble upon the domain of a maniacal killer.
Director: James Bryan | Stars: Nick Cleland, Mary Gail Artz, James P. Hayden, Angie Brown
Votes: 3,492
16. Final Exam (1981)
R | 89 min | Horror, Thriller
A psycho killer shows up on college campus to slash up pretty co-eds and dumb jocks.
Director: Jimmy Huston | Stars: Cecile Bagdadi, Joel S. Rice, Ralph Brown, DeAnna Robbins
Votes: 4,613
17. Madman (1981)
R | 88 min | Horror, Thriller
A legendary psychopathic murderer stalks a summer camp.
Director: Joe Giannone | Stars: Gaylen Ross, Tony Nunziata, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones
Votes: 6,719
18. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
R | 77 min | Horror
A female high school student's slumber party turns into a bloodbath, as a newly escaped psychotic serial killer wielding a power drill prowls her neighborhood.
Director: Amy Holden Jones | Stars: Michele Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villella, Debra De Liso
Votes: 17,866
19. Sweet Sixteen (1983)
R | 90 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
Teenager Melissa moves into a small town filled with racial prejudice and bullying, and each time she meets up with one of the boys in town, they end up murdered - but who is the killer?
Director: Jim Sotos | Stars: Bo Hopkins, Susan Strasberg, Patrick Macnee, Don Stroud
Votes: 2,374
20. The Initiation (1984)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An amnesiac sorority member who has been plagued by a recurring nightmare is stalked alongside other coeds by a killer in a deserted department store where they are completing a hazing ritual.
Directors: Larry Stewart, Peter Crane | Stars: Vera Miles, Clu Gulager, Daphne Zuniga, James Read
Votes: 4,473
21. Maniac (1980)
18+ | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A psychopathic man goes on a killing and mutilation spree in New York City.
Director: William Lustig | Stars: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Abigail Clayton, Kelly Piper
Votes: 20,180
22. Just Before Dawn (1981)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Five young people venture into the backwoods of Oregon to claim a property, and find themselves being stalked by a hulking, machete-wielding psychopath.
Director: Jeff Lieberman | Stars: George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry
Votes: 7,124
23. A Blade in the Dark (1983)
Unrated | 108 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A killer stalks a composer staying at a posh Tuscany villa while writing the score to a horror film which has an incriminating clue to the killer's identity.
Director: Lamberto Bava | Stars: Andrea Occhipinti, Anny Papa, Fabiola Toledo, Michele Soavi
Votes: 4,008
24. The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Four college students are stalked by an unknown assailant while staying on campus over the Christmas holidays to help clear out a dormitory which is to be demolished.
Directors: Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow | Stars: Laurie Lapinski, Stephen Sachs, David Snow, Pamela Holland
Votes: 2,461
25. Hell Night (1981)
R | 101 min | Horror, Thriller
Four college pledges are forced to spend the night in a deserted old mansion, where they are stalked by the monstrous survivor of a family massacre years earlier.
Director: Tom DeSimone | Stars: Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton, Kevin Brophy
Votes: 8,750
26. Curtains (1983)
R | 89 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Six young actresses auditioning for a movie role at a remote mansion are targeted by a mysterious masked murderer.
Director: Richard Ciupka | Stars: John Vernon, Samantha Eggar, Linda Thorson, Anne Ditchburn
Votes: 5,720
27. Alone in the Dark (1982)
R | 92 min | Horror, Thriller
A few dangerous and delusional mental patients break out of a mental asylum during a power blackout, and lay siege to their new doctor's house, who, they believe, killed their previous doctor.
Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence, Martin Landau, Dwight Schultz
Votes: 6,987
28. Humongous (1982)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Romance
"Humongous" tells the tale of when the monstrous offspring of a violent criminal grow up in seclusion on a remote island. Then year later, a boat-full of teens become shipwrecked on the island, unaware of what is lurking in the woods.
Director: Paul Lynch | Stars: Janet Julian, David Wysocki, John Wildman, Janit Baldwin
Votes: 2,182
29. Bloody Moon (1981)
Not Rated | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Girls are killed at a language-school in Spain.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Olivia Pascal, Christoph Moosbrugger, Nadja Gerganoff, Jasmin Losensky
Votes: 2,783
30. Slaughter High (1986)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Eight people are invited to their alma mater for their 10-year reunion, where a fellow former student, disfigured from a prank gone wrong, is out to seek revenge.
Directors: George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, Peter Mackenzie Litten | Stars: Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore, Carmine Iannaccone, Donna Yeager
Votes: 6,995
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