10 Heart Stopping Horror Movie Chase Scenes You Can't Forget

1980's Prom Night was an early entry in a slew of Canadian-made slasher and horror films that were made fast and cheap in the wake of Halloween's success.

The film tells the tale of four youngsters who accidentally cause the death of a young girl whilst playing in an unsafe building. Six years later, the guilty teenagers are hunted down by an axe-wielding killer as they party during their high school prom.

Prom Night is a relatively tame entry into the expanding catalogue of slasher cinema. The film spends most of its time playing as a whodunit, as the teens are picked off one-by-one with very little on-screen violence or even much of a fuss. Until we reach the turn of group leader and queen bitch Wendy, that is.

Going against the conventions of horror and slasher cinema, this centrepiece chase is not given to the film's final girl. Instead, we are treated to a character we've absolutely loved to hate up until this point, fleeing for her life through the high school halls. A ridiculously clever spin on what is expected, this leaves the viewer feeling somewhat conflicted as we've thoroughly disliked the character thus far, but actress Anne-Marie Martin sells her stark terror so well that one can't help but will her to keep running.

This sequence is also visually stunning, with the killer often silhouetted by neon lights, and Wendy's sparkling red dress constantly standing out in the darkness. Here, Wendy shows such willingness to survive and fight back that one can't help but tense up when we see a shot of a black-gloved hand or stalking feet nearby.

Although this ice queen's eventual death is off-screen, several wet sound effects assure us it was not a pleasant way to go, and you can't help but feel a little sad for the character you've spent the whole movie disliking.