Editing Slasher film (section)

===1980===
The election of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States drew in a new age of conservatism that ushered concern of rising violence on film.<ref name="Clayton-2015"/>{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}} The slasher film, at the height of its commercial power, also became the center of a political and cultural maelstrom. [[Sean S. Cunningham]]'s sleeper hit ''[[Friday the 13th (1980 film)|Friday the 13th]]'' was the year's most commercially successful slasher film, grossing more than $59.7&nbsp;million and selling nearly 15&nbsp;million tickets in North America.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Friday the 13th (1980) |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=friday13th.htm |website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> Despite a financial success, distributor [[Paramount Pictures]] was criticized for "lowering" itself to release a violent exploitation film, with [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] famously despising the film.<ref>[https://siskelebert.org/?p=6650 Extreme Violence Directed at Women, 1980 - Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews]</ref> Siskel, in his ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' review, revealed the identity and fate of the film's killer in an attempt to hurt its box office, and provided the address of the chairman of Paramount Pictures for viewers to complain.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fridaythe13thfranchise.com/2012/06/gene-siskels-original-friday-13th-mini.html |title=Gene Siskel's Original Friday The 13th Mini Review For The Chicago Tribune|access-date=June 15, 2014}}</ref> The [[Motion Picture Association of America|MPAA]] was criticized for allowing ''Friday the 13th'' an R rating, but its violence would inspire gorier films to follow, as it set a new bar for acceptable levels of on-screen violence. The criticisms that began with ''Friday the 13th'' would lead to the genre's eventual decline in subsequent years.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|pages=89–90}}

The small-budget thrillers ''[[Silent Scream (1979 film)|Silent Scream]]'' and ''[[Prom Night (1980 film)|Prom Night]]'' were box office hits with 3.2 and 5.5&nbsp;million admissions, respectively.{{sfn|Nowell|2011|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}} Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the independent ''Prom Night'', as well studio films ''[[Terror Train]]'' and ''[[The Fog]]'' to earn her "scream queen" title.<ref name="Grant-2009" /> [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]'s the ''Halloween''-clone ''[[He Knows You're Alone]]'' sold nearly 2&nbsp;million tickets, though [[Paramount Pictures]] [[John Huston]]-directed ''[[Phobia (1980 film)|Phobia]]'' only sold an estimated 22,000 tickets.{{sfn|Nowell|2011|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}} Two high-profile slasher-thrillers were met with protest, [[William Friedkin]]'s ''[[Cruising (film)|Cruising]]'' and [[Gordon Willis]]' ''[[Windows (film)|Windows]]'', both of which equate homosexuality with [[psychosis]]. ''Cruising'' drew protests from gay rights groups, and though it pre-dates the [[AIDS pandemic|AIDS crisis]], the film's portrayal of the gay community fueled subsequent backlash once the virus became an epidemic.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}}<ref>{{Cite web |author=Chelsea McCracken|date=April 14, 2017 |title=The Controversy of CRUISING |website=Cinematheque |url=http://cinema.wisc.edu/blog/2017/04/14/controversy-cruising |access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref>

Low budget exploitative films ''[[New Year's Evil (film)|New Year's Evil]]'', ''[[Don't Go in the House]]'' and ''[[Don't Answer the Phone!]]'' were called-out for [[misogyny]] that dwelled on the suffering of females exclusively.<ref name="Clover-1987" /> Acclaimed filmmaker [[Brian De Palma]]'s ''Psycho''-homage ''[[Dressed to Kill (1980 film)|Dressed to Kill]]'' drew a wave of protest from the [[National Organization for Women]] (NOW), who picketed the film's screening on the University of Iowa campus.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|pages=87–88, 93}} The year's most controversial slasher was [[William Lustig]]'s ''[[Maniac (1980 film)|Maniac]]'', about a schizophrenic serial killer in New York. ''Maniac'' was maligned by critics. [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' said that watching the film was like "watching someone else throw up."<ref>{{Cite news|title=HOMICIDAL MANIAC|last=Canby|first=Vincent |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 31, 1981 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/31/movies/homicidal-maniac.html|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> Lustig released the film unrated on American screens, sidestepping the [[MPAA]] to still sell 2.2&nbsp;million tickets at the box office.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|p=100}}{{sfn|Nowell|2011|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}}

Alfred Hitchcock's ''Psycho''<nowiki/>'s influence was felt two decades later in ''[[Cries in the Night]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://crypticrock.com/whats-in-the-basement-funeral-home-30-years-later/ |title=What's In The Basement – Funeral Home 30 Years Later|website=Cryptic Rock|access-date=May 14, 2018|author=Jon Wamsley|date=December 9, 2015}}</ref> and [[The Unseen (1980 film)|''The Unseen'']].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56713|title=The Unseen (1981) |website=AFI Catalog|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> [[Joe D'Amato]]'s gruesome Italian horror film ''[[Antropophagus]]'' and the Australian slasher ''[[Nightmares (1980 film)|Nightmares]]'' showed that the genre was spreading internationally.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|pages=86–100}}