10 Exact Moments That Changed The Horror Movie Genre Forever
6. Black Christmas -
The slasher subgenre is certainly one that splits opinion amongst film fans. Some love nothing more than seeing some hapless disposable teens stalked by a sinister figure, whilst others see slashers as generic, formulaic and the prime example of what is wrong with the horror genre.
Regardless of your stance on this particular corner of the horror world, the roots of the slasher go back to Bob Clark’s original 1974 Black Christmas and John Carpenter’s 1978 Halloween picture.
Halloween and Michael Myers may have popularised the slasher and caused a slew of imitators to rear their heads, but if there was no Black Christmas then there wouldn’t have even been a Halloween.
Black Christmas established the fundamentals that would be seen in a multitude of future films over the decades, with a mysterious and sinister figure targeting a group of young females. Pinpointing one moment that single-handedly changed the horror world? It would have to be the shocking twist ending that revealed the picture’s killer was still at large and ready to stalk another day.