10 Movies You Wrongly Thought Were Innovators

While Halloween wasn’t the first slasher movie – we have Psycho to thank for that – it was the movie that made the genre popular. It also became one of the biggest independent movies of all time, so shortly after a tidal wave of copycat’s flooded cinemas. They were typically named after events or holidays including Friday The 13th, My Bloody Valentine and April Fool’s Day.

Halloween is often seen as the originator of this trend, though there was a seasonal slasher a few years before Michael Myers turned up. Black Christmas finds some college girls threatened by mysterious calls, and not realising there’s a killer hiding in the house. It’s a fantastic thriller, and while it bears some similarities to Halloween – some POV shots from the killer’s perspective, a faceless murderer etc – they both stand on their own merits.

The Black Christmas remake also came out before the Halloween remake; not that anyone cares about either of them.