Editing Slasher film (section)

===Early film influences===
[[File:The-Spiral-Staircase.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Dorothy McGuire]] in ''[[The Spiral Staircase (1946 film)|The Spiral Staircase]]'' (1946)]]
[[George Archainbaud]]'s ''[[Thirteen Women]]'' (1932) tells the story of a [[Fraternities and sororities|sorority]] whose former members are set against one another by a vengeful peer who crosses out their yearbook photos, a device used in subsequent films ''[[Prom Night (1980 film)|Prom Night]]'' (1980) and ''[[Graduation Day (film)|Graduation Day]]'' (1981).<ref>{{Cite news |title=Thirteen Women (1932): The Slasher that Started it All |url=http://www.horrorhomeroom.com/thirteen-women/|author=Dawn Keetley |date=August 12, 2016|work=Horror Homeroom |access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> Early examples include a maniac seeking revenge in ''[[The Terror (1928 film)|The Terror]]'' (1928), based on the play by [[Edgar Wallace]].

[[B movie|B-movie]] mogul [[Val Lewton]] produced ''[[The Leopard Man]]'' (1943), about a murderer framing his crimes against women on an escaped show [[leopard]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/448|title=The Leopard Man|website=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> [[Basil Rathbone]]'s ''[[The Scarlet Claw]]'' (1944) sees [[Sherlock Holmes]] investigate murders committed with a five-pronged garden weeder that the killer would raise in the air and bring down on the victim repeatedly, an [[Film editing|editing technique]] that became familiar in the genre.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}} [[Robert Siodmak]]'s ''[[The Spiral Staircase (1946 film)|The Spiral Staircase]]'' (1946), based on [[Ethel White]]'s novel ''Some Must Watch'', stars [[Ethel Barrymore]] as a sympathetic woman trying to survive black-gloved killers. ''The Spiral Staircase'' also features an early use of [[jump scare]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Spiral Staircase (1946) |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/345408/the-spiral-staircase#articles-reviews |website=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref>

British writer [[Agatha Christie]]'s particularly influential 1939 novel ''[[Ten Little Indians (novel)|Ten Little Indians]]'' (adapted in 1945 as ''[[And Then There Were None (1945 film)|And Then There Were None]]''), centers on a group of people with secret pasts who are killed one-by-one on an isolated island. Each of the murders mirrors a verse from a [[Ten Little Indians|nursery rhyme]], merging the themes of childhood innocence and vengeful murder.<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Birth and Evolution of the Slasher Film |url=https://classicfilmhaven.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/the-birth-and-evolution-of-the-slasher-film/ |date=November 1, 2013|work=Classic Film Haven|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.horrorhomeroom.com/and-then-there-were-none-agatha-christie-revival/|title=And Then There Were None: The Agatha Christie Revival |author=Dawn Keetley|date=July 11, 2016|work=Horror Homeroom |access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|pages=23–25}} ''[[House of Wax (1953 film)|House of Wax]]'' (1953), ''[[The Bad Seed (1956 film)|The Bad Seed]]'' (1956), ''[[Screaming Mimi (film)|Screaming Mimi]]'' (1958), ''[[Jack the Ripper (1959 film)|Jack the Ripper]]'' (1959), and ''[[Cover Girl Killer]]'' (1959) all incorporated Christie's literary themes.{{sfn|Kerswell|2012|pages=25–28}}