Halloween 2008: Slasher Films 101 - Cutting Classics
Bloody-Disgusting.com Picks from Tim Anderson
John Carpenter’s seminal classic sparked the decades-long obsession with Slasher films. Directly responsible for innumerable imitators, inferior sequels and one outright remake, Michael Myers stands tall and carries a sharp knife in his quest to slaughter the residents of sleepy Haddonfield, Illinois Myers’ boogeyman may not be the first slasher but no one better-embodies the faceless nightmare that haunts promiscuous cinematic teenagers to this very day.
When you think about a Slasher Film, most imagine the killer to be an unstoppable force of nature, a supernatural entity of evil with only one goal—kill ‘em all. Frank Zito is not that guy. A slasher film at its bloody, beating, heart, Maniac is a disturbing guttural journey into the world of Zito, a man, but also a monster. Maniac also ranks high on the list because it bucks conventions when its most disturbing death scene does not involve a knife or machete but a shocking shotgun blast that saturates the screen in an orgy of blood—all courtesy of Special Effects guru Tom Savini.
Released in 1960, the same year as Director Michael Powell’s serial killer film Peeping Tom, this classic set the stage for the bloodbaths that would follow. In the pantheon of Slasher Film lore, Norman Bates was one of the first to wield the knife.
Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982)
As a series, Friday the 13th stands as the most successful offspring of the Michael Myers revolution. But even though the once and future camp killer Jason Voorhees appeared in the first two films, Part 3 is the one where he donned his indelible hockey mask for the very first time, no doubt sparking hundreds of thousands of incredibly cheap and easy Halloween costumes in the process.
Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve) (1972)
Italian genre maestro Mario Bava’s 1971 film is the standard by which all other Slasher Films can be measured. It set up the rural location and the fantastic kill sequences better than any other film before it. Eagle-eyed genre fans will quickly point out that Friday the 13th Part 2 lifts one of it’s most talked about deaths nearly shot-for-shot from this landmark production. Bava’s profound influence with this film and so many others can be felt in almost every facet of modern horror cinema. Viva Mario!
Mario Bava wasn’t the only Italian to get into the gore. Maverick filmmaker Lucio Fulci’s maniacal Manhattan-based opus is probably the bloodiest, and most certainly the nihilistic slasher film ever committed to celluloid. The movie was so notoriously graphic at the time of its release in 1982 that the British film censors actually had all prints of the film escorted to the airport and deported!
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
If a peaceful night’s sleep is the closest we come to death
in our everyday lives consider the terror we would face if we went to bed one
night knowing we’d never wake up—Wes Craven’s greatest cinematic creation sums
that fear up in one sentence. “Never
sleep again”.
Before Filmmaker Bob Clark made December 25th a little bit
nostalgic and a lot repetitive with his holiday staple A Christmas Story, he
was making our winter wonderland infinitely bloodier in this original silent
night/deadly night flick. Rumor has it
that Clark and Director John Carpenter once discussed doing a follow-up film
set on Halloween. Hmm… I wonder how that
would have turned out?
Inarguably the greatest collection of future Hollywood talent ever assembled in upstate New York to film a Friday the 13th rip-off! The Burning was created by future Miramax honchos Harvey and Bob Weinstein and featured appearances by Jason Alexander, Fisher Stevens and Holly Hunter. And to think…you all thought Kevin Bacon’s bit in Friday the 13th was slumming it.
By 1981, the Slasher craze was in full swing, and like Norman Bates said “we all go a little mad sometimes”. That rational is the only thing that could explain the casting of Melissa Sue Anderson (Little House on the Prairie) and Glenn Ford (Superman) in this Canadian production that was directed by Oscar nominee J. Lee Thompson (The Guns o Navarone). Probably more famous than it should be for it’s bizarre casting, the film does feature a notable exception to the standard slasher rules with its ending.
It’s debatable if the devolution of Wes Craven’s Freddy Kruger is completely responsible for the ruin of Slasher Film in the late 80’s and early 90’s. But one thing is certain, with the help of writer Kevin Williamson and a cast of fresh faced TV stars, Craven is almost single-handedly responsible for jump starting the genre back to life with this self-referential slash-fest. Good enough to put itself and both its sequels over the 100 million dollar mark at the domestic box office. Unstoppable serial killer? I think so.
More impressive special effects work by Tom Savini can be seen in this brilliant little post-Maniac horror film about a WWII veteran who returns home to find his girlfriend has left him. He summarily kills her and her new boyfriend at the Graduation Dance. 35-years later the school decides to have the dance again. Guess what happens?
Speaking of proms…With her appearances in Halloween, Terror Train, The Fog and this film, Jamie Lee Curtis succeeded her mother (Psycho star Janet Leigh) as the best set of lungs in horrordom—earning her the original title of “Scream Queen”. Even though she was nearly 22 at the time and looked nothing like a high school girl, Prom Night is probably best remembered as another Jamie Lee vehicle about another unlucky girl who loses a lot of friends over the course of 90-minutes. This one also spawned a series of sequels including the far superior Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then what does that make satire? Leslie Vernon lives in a world where Freddy, Jason and Michael Myers are actual inhabitants—anti-heroes of the highest order—and Leslie Vernon wants to be just like them. In Scott Glosserman’s razor sharp mocumentary we watch our budding serial killer prepare for his ultimate coming out party all the while totally deconstructing what makes a Slasher Film tick.
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)
Looking for a laundry list of the greatest, goriest and most shockingly disturbing Slasher Films, look no further than this documentary based on the absolutely must-own book by Adam Rockoff. This is Slasher Film 101…and you better not sleep through this class or you might wake up with Nancy down in the boiler room!
wolverine costume on October 18, 2010 at 06:50 PM
The new york ripper was an absolutely terrible movie! Really, really horrific, and I don't mean that in a good way, I promise you. Avoid it!