10 Most Underrated 80s Horror Movies

One of the rarer older movies that turns the slasher genre on its head and stands as a feminist comment (at least for the time), The Slumber Party Massacre takes advantage of being one of scant few 80s horrors directed by a woman, Amy Holden Jones. Up against giants like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, and Halloween, it's been easy for this title to slip between the cracks amidst all the knife-wielding maniacs we get so much of on screen - but throw a power drill in there and we're invested all over again.

The Slumber Party Massacre gets pretty literal with its title, the three words describing the plot as succinctly as the film plays out. What makes this film underrated, however, despite this simple premise, is how easily it's been dismissed as a rote slasher clone over the years for its subscription to all the normal beats that HAVE to be hit in these types of movie.

Slumber Party Massacre offers up all the usual thrills and spills, yes, but does so with a quiet undercurrent of rebellion in its imagery of women. We get fleshed out female characters, and a revelry in its satirical take on the male gaze that defines 'slasher' as a concept. It's understated as much as it is underrated, and deserves all the more love for it.