10 Incredible Female Horror Directors You May Not Have Heard Of

Amy Holden Jones' 1982 cult classic The Slumber Party Massacre is regarded by many horror film buffs today as a crucial piece of eighties camp cinema. Massacre follows the members of a girl's high school basketball team enjoying their slumber party until a masked serial killer invades the home armed with a power drill.

Initially written as a slasher parody by feminist writer Rita Mae Brown, the film retains much of it's intended humor as it leans into the campy and comedic tropes of the genre. The Final Girl trope holds true in the film, with one not-so-subtle symbolic gesture made with the phallic drill at its conclusion. Jones directed Massacre in only one weekend with a shoestring budget, thus creating one of the first independent films.

While Jones did not go on to make many films, she forged a long and successful screenwriting career.