10 Italian Horror Movies That Inspired American Slashers

Italian horror in the 60s and 70s had a huge influence on American slashers in the 80s, but what were the most influential Italian horror films?

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Most horror fans look toward ’60s films like Psycho and Peeping Tom as predecessors to the slasher subgenre that really took off in the ’80s. However, this jump completely overlooks the contributions made by Italian directors during both the ’60s and ’70s.

From Giallo films to exploitation movies to psychological thrillers, these influential Italian flicks contain many of the tropes that went on to define slashers. There’s the masked assailant. There are brutal kill scenes. There are the moody, atmospheric settings. These stylized features did just as much to shape the trajectory of ’80s slashers as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Black Christmas.

10 Torso (1973)

Sergio Martino’s Torso may be the first slasher movie, as it predates Black Christmas by a year. It contains many elements that define slashers: scenes from the obscured assailant’s point-of-view, partying co-eds, and a final girl.

In the film, a masked and gloved man goes on a rampage through an Italian college town. Audiences gain entry into the murderer’s psyche while the bodies pile up. As it goes with many slashers, though, Martino distorts and vilifies mental health struggles in order to give his killer motivation.

9 A Bay Of Blood (1971)

Director Mario Bava remains one of the most influential horror directors, and A Bay of Blood attests to Bava’s ability to transform some of the most violent sequences imaginable into painterly, evocative works of art. In this film, carnage ensues when a large group of friends and relatives go after each other in order to acquire the inheritance of a wealthy heiress.

Many subsequent slasher directors modeled their films after the kill scenes in A Bay of Blood, which are especially gruesome. The film is also known for its large body count, another staple of slashers like Scream or Friday the 13th.

8 Slaughter Hotel (1971)

As its title implies, a massacre is underway in Slaughter Hotel. Set in a sanitorium for wealthy women, Slaughter Hotel is another proto-slasher that conflates mental health struggles, sexuality, and violence in order to disturb and frighten audiences.

A masked perpetrator with a large blade stalks the hallways of the sanitorium in the film, set upon ending the lives of as many patients as possible. The grand reveal of the killer’s identity at the end has been repeated in subsequent genre fare time and time again.

7 Black Belly Of The Tarantula (1971)

Black Belly of the Tarantula combines proto-slasher aesthetics with a police procedural murder mystery narrative. Inspector Tellini is investigating a series of heinous crimes involving female victims, crimes occurring on the bustling streets of Rome.

The murderer is using a poison needle to paralyze his victims before attacking them, leaving the disillusioned Tellini appalled by the state of the world. The true terror of what’s unraveling on-screen is undercut by the polished, orchestrated way the kill scenes were shot.

6 The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970)

Dario Argento’s The Bird With The Crystal Plumage inspired films like Black Belly of the Tarantula. This groundbreaking film muddles the distinction between victim and perpetrator, as well as the distinction between audience and actor.

There’s a voyeuristic undercurrent that moves through Argento’s film, as it follows an American writer in Rome named Sam Dalmas who witnesses a terrible attack in an art gallery one evening. Unable to intervene because he’s stuck between revolving glass doors, Sam decides to investigate the crime, putting himself on the killer’s radar.

5 Eyeball (1975)

Far from the best Italian horror film of all time, Eyeball receives mention in the annals of slasher movie history because it applies a consequential trope to its plot: the killer’s trademark approach or pattern. Otherwise, Eyeball is a trashy Giallo about a mysterious serial murderer who targets American tourists in Spain.

In this film, the assailant commemorates his atrocities by keeping one eye from each of his victims. The killer, much like Freddy Kreuger or Michael Myers, also dons a signature look: a bright red raincoat.

4 The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh (1971)

Sergio Martino’s first bonafide Giallo film stars French-born Italian actor Edwige Fenech as a woman caught up with three men. One is her distant husband, another is her lover Neal, and a third is a sadistic mysterious figure sending her bizarre blackmail letters.

The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Wardh foreshadows the slasher with its emphasis on style over substance. The film’s visual storytelling is far more important than any character development, plot continuity, or emotional resilience — making it a total European popcorn thriller.

3 The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

One of Mario Bava’s early feature films, The Girl Who Knew Too Much delves into exhibitionism and voyeurism by centering itself around a tourist who witnesses a murder while visiting Rome. Since there is no body found, local police don’t believe the woman until more murders begin to transpire.

As it goes with many slashers, audiences become complicit in the action unfolding onscreen by refusing to turn their eyes away. The Girl Who Knew Too Much might very well be the first Giallo, as it amplifies suspense, mystery, and the kind of pulp crime fiction that would define the Italian features that follow it.

2 The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave (1971)

Slasher directors often trace their villains’ desire to kill others back to a traumatic event. This trope features prominently in The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave, a Giallo feature with gothic horror trappings.

A wealthy aristocrat, unable to recover from the death of his red-headed wife Evelyn, begins to prey upon women who look just like her. Once he lures them to his decaying, elaborate estate, the widower unleashes his fury onto the innocent women.

1 Blood And Black Lace (1964)

Another seminal Mario Bava feature, Blood and Black Lace presented audiences with vital modern horror archetypes long before they became standard features of the genre. Merging high fashion and murder, the film centers around a masked murderer terrorizing models in Rome.

It turns out the killer is after a diary detailing the various indiscretions acted out by a particular modeling house in the city. This textbook early Giallo has been copied too many times to count.

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