Slashers

REVIEW – Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Published on: 18th January, 2010

By the time the Friday the 13th franchise had reached its sixth instalment it had long ceased being scary. Having successfully killed off its infamous antagonist, Jason Voorhees, at the end of fourth movie (which had labelled itself as The Final Chapter), the money-hungry producers had decided to bring the series back from the dead [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – The Boogeyman

Published on: 15th January, 2010

Whilst Friday the 13th was the catalyst that was responsible for the slasher boom of the early 1980s, many of the filmmakers that were first to jump on the bandwagon were more influenced by John Carpenter’s classic Halloween, which had been a major success two years earlier. One such movie to draw inspiration from it [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – The Slumber Party Massacre

Published on: 13th January, 2010

The slasher genre was always referred to as somewhat of a boys’ club. Films full of naked female flesh and an absence of male nudity, killers with phallic weapons, all catering to their teenage audience which was predominantly consisting of young boys. Critics would also pull the slasher to pieces due to its [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – The Toolbox Murders

Published on: 10th January, 2010

There are few films that capture the retro sleaze of the 1970s exploitation flick quite like Dennis Donnelly’s The Toolbox Murders. Starring ageing veteran Cameron Mitchell, previously known for his turn in Mario Bava’s 1964 giallo Sei donne per l’assassino (Blood and Black Lace), the movie became a fixture in grindhouse theatres before falling [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – Slaughter High

Published on: 4th January, 2010

Whilst the slasher genre has often been ridiculed and criticized for its lack of sophistication, subtlety or worth, most filmmakers had made some kind of attempt to prove them wrong. But whilst some had tried to emulate the more stylish directors like John Carpenter or Tobe Hooper, others had taken the Troma approach of [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – Final Exam

Published on: 4th January, 2010

As a rule there were two prototype slashers that filmmakers during the early 1980s tried to model their own movies from: Halloween and Friday the 13th. The gorier would be closer in tone to the latter, with the likes of The Burning and Madman even copying the summer camp setting. Others, such as [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

Published on: 28th December, 2009

The argument against sequels more often than not is that they are pointless. Often rehashing the same formula and characters (or carbon copies) and simply recycling them to be used again, very few are worthy successors to their often superior predecessors. Two films in particular come to mind when this accusation eventually turns [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – The Prowler

Published on: 25th December, 2009

Before directing arguably the bleakest of the Friday the 13th movies (The Final Chapter), Joseph Zito had been responsible for one of the most gory and entertaining slasher flicks of the early 1980s. Released at a time when the cycle was at its most profitable, The Prowler gave fans of the genre exactly what [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – Psycho II

Published on: 24th December, 2009

It has become commonplace now that if a movie does big business (or even above-average) at the box office then a sequel is almost guaranteed. And whilst there is always some element of financial risk, both critics and fans are usually prepared to write the follow-up off as a cash-in. With just a few exceptions [...]

Share on Facebook

REVIEW – Unhinged

Published on: 20th December, 2009

The problem with ‘video nasties’ is that very few of them live up to their reputation. By far one of the greatest offenders was Don Gronquist’s 1982 atrocity Unhinged, which managed to make the acting talents on display in a Herschell Gordon Lewis picture seem impressive. Whilst many independent features of the era [...]

Share on Facebook

Next Page »