Claim: A Nightmare on Elm Street is a motion picture.

Slasher films are a subgenre of horror films , typically involving a violent psychopath stalking and murdering several people , usually with bladed tools . Although the term `` slasher '' is sometimes used informally as a generic term for any horror movie involving murder , analysts of the genre cite an established set of characteristics which set these films apart from other horror subgenres , such as splatter films and psychological horror films .   Some critics cite Alfred Hitchcock 's Psycho -LRB- 1960 -RRB- as an early influential `` slasher '' film , and most agree that the genre 's peak occurred in American films released during the 1970s and 1980s . Classic slasher films include Tobe Hooper 's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre -LRB- 1974 -RRB- , John Carpenter 's Halloween -LRB- 1978 -RRB- , Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham 's Friday the 13th -LRB- 1980 -RRB- , Wes Craven 's A Nightmare on Elm Street -LRB- 1984 -RRB- , and Don Mancini and Tom Holland 's Child 's Play -LRB- 1988 -RRB- . Wes Craven 's satirical film Scream -LRB- 1996 -RRB- renewed public interest in the genre , and several of the original slasher franchises were revived or rebooted in the years following the release of Scream .   Many films in the slasher genre continue to attract cult followings .