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Horror is a subject that divides an audience; some love it, while to others it's something that falls into the same category as pornography. Within the many sub categories of horror, one specific category causes more offence than any other, the slasher movie.

The slasher movies legacy began all the way back in 1960 with the work of acclaimed director Alfred Hitchcock, the movie... Psycho. On a hot summers day Marion Crane makes off from her workplace with a heavy stash of cash, in search of retreat she finds herself in The Bates Motel, where she falls foul of a vicious killer.

While the entry level to the slasher movie it's probably best to regard Psycho as a very basic slasher, there is no great abundance of deaths as followed in future slasher offerings. One thing Psycho did however was blazed its way into the history books as one of the most notorious horror movies of all time; despite its killing, Psycho features no blood whatsoever.

The slasher movie picked up speed in 1964 in Italy, director Mario Bava told a terrific tale of a masked killer stalking models in a high profile fashion house in the movie Blood And Black Lace. The movie not only reasonably sits in the category of slasher, but also falls into another genre, the Giallo movie. Six years later the most important entry in the slasher movie history appears again an Italian movie by Mario Bava, this movie was Bay Of Blood (Twitch Of The Death Nerve). Bay Of Blood was an inspiration on the American breed of slasher movie, with notorious horror directors John Carpenter, Tom Savini, and Wes Craven all acknowledging its incredible influence. Bay Of Blood follows a group of despicable individuals as they turn to the most extreme methods in order to inherit the bay of the movie's title.

In 1972 a little known director by the name of Wes Craven teamed up with producer Sean C. Cunningham to make the movie Last House On The Left, a movie that shocks audiences even today. The premise of Cravens movie takes shape on the 17th birthday of Mari Collingwood, Mari and her friend Phyllis head off from her rural location to the city to see a popular rock band of the day. A quest for some weed leads the friend to Junior, a young man turned into a drug addict by his own father. Junior is part of a gang of thugs and the girls are soon in their lair, where over a period of time they are raped and assaulted by all members (except Junior) before being murdered, but this is only where the story begins. Last House On The Left

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