5. Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)

Mario Bava is credited as an innovator of all things horror and like he did with the giallo in The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and while he technically laid out the foundation for the slasher film with Blood and Black Lace back in 1964, Twitch of the Death Nerve is truly the pioneering film of the genre. In the mid-sixties, Bava’s sumptuous expressionism turned from macabre period dramas to more gory fare; a transition that might sound like a digression but Bava maintained his exquisite palette and unique form of expressionism even while people were being butchered in the most inventive ways.

Whatever title you decide on (always a fun side note in Italian horror) between Carnage, Bay of Blood, Bloodbath and Last House of the Left Part II (despite predating its namesake a few years), why mess with Twitch of the Death Nerve? As is the case with most eminent genre films, Twitch of the Death Nerve is one of those movies that influence can be seen all over the slasher genre, namely the earlier Friday the 13th entries where Sean Cunningham readily admits to borrowing from Bava's many inventive death sequences. If you’re a horror, fan, gorehound, or appreciate original cinema, then there’s something to admire in Bava’s aesthetic touch.