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Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock
Seminal slasher film that breaks box office records and lays out the conventions for the genre.A harbinger of an uncertain future, on the cusp between the conservatism of the 1950s and the sexual revolution and hippy era of the 1960s. -
Release of the oral contraceptive
1960 The first oral contraceptive, Enovid, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as contraception. -
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The Slasher Genre
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Roe vs Wade
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction. -
Black Christmas, by Bob Clark
With an ambiguous ending (is the killer still in the house? Does the final girl, Jess, survive the night?) that becomes a feature of the genre. Notable for Jess telling her boyfriend that she's going to have an abortion, and insisting that the decision is hers to make. -
Halloween by John Carpenter
The quintessential slasher. Hugely influential, it set the conventions for the genre, spawned multiple sequels and gave us the iconic and enduring psychological monster, Michael Myers.