Psychoanalysis: Maybe a knife is just a knife?

[Make Them Die Slowly]

I picked this up today which may be of interest: "Blood Money:A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle" by Richard Nowell. The blurb on the back states:

"Scholars have consistently applied psychoanalytic models to the representations of gender in early slasher films in order to claim that these were formulaic, excessively violent exploitation films, fashioned to satisfy the misogynist fantasies of teenage boys. However by examining the commercial logic, strategies and objectives of the American and Canadian independents that produced the films...the filmmakers actually went to extraordinary lengths to make early slashers attractive to female youth, to minimise displays of violence, gore and suffering and to invite comparisons to a wide range of post-classical Hollywood's biggest hits including 'Love Story' and Saturday Night Fever'".