“Come on. Let’s do it on the table.” He Knows You’re Alone (1980) is a straight-forward slasher that tries really, really hard to be Halloween. So hard that everything from the set pieces to the steady-walking killer seem pulled from Carpenter’s classic. Don’t automatically label He Knows You’re Alone as a copycat hack. Directed by […]
Just in time for Halloween, Dan Padavona released Treman Mills, a slasher horror novelette in the spirit of vintage slasher and proto-slasher movies such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Maniac. “Like many others, I grew up with the Universal monsters before graduating to the Hammer films,” said Padavona. “Everything changed the first time I saw […]
“I think we just picked up Dracula.” Horror fans consider Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) one of the most horrific movies to splatter across a movie screen. Critics tend to take a negative view, calling Texas Chainsaw Massacre a depraved, valueless monstrosity, a movie which never should have seen the light of day. […]
“Helen, we killed a man and ruined the lives of everyone he knew.” After Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) made it cool and hip for young actors to star in slasher movies, Williamson teamed up with director Jim Gillespie to bring the world I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), a movie […]
“When you’re stoned, Charles Manson is a terrific guy.” – The Funhouse I dare you to come up with a better setting for a slasher horror movie than the inside of a funhouse after the carnival shuts down for the night. I double-dare you. Throw in direction by the man who brought the world The […]
“The Mountain don’t read.” You watched Halloween, Deliverance, and Friday the 13th. You probably think you know your 1970s and 1980s horror movies, don’t you? But have you ever seen Just Before Dawn (1980)? If you missed Just Before Dawn, you aren’t alone. Director Jeff Lieberman’s low budget masterpiece is a lost gem, a movie […]
“Go ahead. The dark ride’s waiting.” The post-Scream (1996) era was typified by watered-down, self-aware horror and torture movies. Then director Craig Singer brought Dark Ride 2006 to the screen, and horror was transported back to 1980 for 94 gory minutes. It is impossible not to draw comparisons between Dark Ride and Tobe Hooper’s Funhouse (1981). […]
My initial reaction to Adam Green’s slasher homage, Hatchet (2006), was confusion. The highly anticipated horror release was promoted as a return to 1980s horror, and I was not the only fan breathlessly waiting to see what Green would deliver. Hatchet is hardly straight horror. The comedy angle is hit very hard throughout, but don’t […]
In 1978, John Carpenter released an independent horror movie titled Halloween. Stylish, creepy, and original, Halloween terrorized audiences and packed movie theaters for several months, the popularity fueled largely by word of mouth. Halloween became one of the most successful independent movies ever released, and the slasher era was born. Riding the coattails of John […]
By 1999, self-awareness films inundated the slasher sub-genre, beginning with the clever SCREAM (Wes Craven, 1996), and continuing with several less inspirational knock offs post-1996. While such self-awareness provided a moment of fun for long time slasher movie fans, few movies have shown a willingness to return to the roots and spirit of the sub-genre. […]