Sledgehammer is a 1983 independent slasher film written and directed by David A. Prior. The film tells the story of a young boy who murdered his mother and her lover with a sledgehammer. Ten years after the murder and the child's mysterious disappearance, a group of teens stay in the house for a weekend when they are terrorized by the ghost of the little boy. Sledgehammer was one of the earliest horror films to be shot-on-video, though not the first, a distinction claimed by Boardinghouse which was released one year earlier. However, while Boardinghouse received a limited theatrical release, Sledgehammer was originally released direct-to-video. It has retained a cult following, and was re-released on DVD in 2011 by Intervision, a sub-label of cult film distributor Severin Films.