The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - Amy Holden Jones

​Far more incisive about being female in a patriarchal society than some give it credit for, Amy Holden Jones' Slumber Party Massacre employs the slasher film archetype to wonderfully illustrate the social construct in which femininity is largely perceived as a passive object malleable to male utility.  Outside of the more explicit symbolism - the killer's use of a drill, an object that is utilized as a penetrating device - The Slumber Party Massacre features an implicit understanding of the male gaze that it exhibits far more subtly over the course of its narrative framework.  The perverse gaze of the teenage male libido is often juxtaposed against that of our predatory non-mask wearing antagonist, forming a link between more overt types of suppression and those which are more normalized and embedded into our patriarchal society.  The noise male neighbor being overzealous, despite his seemingly innocent intentions, he himself is an invader of feminine spaces through his actions which rarely come with any form of welcoming or consent.  The Slumber Party Massacre as far as a slasher film goes is effective, clever, and provides ample opportunities for those who just want a fun horror film, yet subtextually the film is so much more.