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Don't Go In the House 1979 / The legacy of abuse

Yet another early slasher that’s a Psycho clone, albeit a well-made and intriguing one.
Think if Norman Bates had a flamethrower instead of a butcher knife.

Donny (Dan Grimaldi) was abused by his domineering mother as a child, the psychotic biddy would hold his arm over an open flame (for being “evil”) causing a obsession with fire and one hell of a mommy complex. When the mother dies,…

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The Meateater 1979 / You’re not even safe sitting in the movie theatre.

Horror films play into people's fears, and especially slashers try to make the viewer feel the most basic situations are deadly. It's not safe to swim, going into rural areas is a big mistake, and college is a death trap, and let's not get started on the horrors of babysitting.
The Meateater (also known as Phantom of the Theatre, a much better title) makes it unsafe…

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Savage Weekend 1979 A film from the past that looks forward to the future

Most people think that Halloween (1978) was the first slasher film with a masked maniac stalking people, but Savage Weekend features a killer wearing a fright mask stalking a group of people in upstate New York, and was filmed in 1976, although not released until 1979.
This slightly better-than-average “regional” slasher is a cash-in on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with elements of Straw Dogs and…

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Silent Scream / What goes on behind closed doors?

I’m including Silent Scream on this slasher list even though it could be considered a “proto slasher”. Most consider Black Christmas (1974) to be the first slasher film, but Halloween was the film that kicked off the “slasher boom” of the 80s-90s.

While Silent Scream was released after Halloween, it was not made to capitalize on its success; the film began production in 1977. However, most of that footage was…