I’m the kind of horror fan who goes the extra mile to find something I haven’t seen yet. I love the obscure, the rare and the unreleased. To say I collect horror films would be putting it lightly. More accurately speaking, I stop at NOTHING to get what I’m after. Money, travel and uncertainty can’t stand in the way of this fan. A perfect example is my recent hunt for the 1987 SOV flick “Doll Killer”. Read more »
Last time we presented a retrospective celebrating 30 years of Scalps, a shocking slasher that would differentiate itself from the pack with its Native-American supernatural elements. This time around, we speak to the director himself. Read on as Fred Olen Ray peels away the layers of the 1983 production. Read more »
In 1983 a sleazy little slasher film hit screens titled Scalps. It’s the story of a group of college students who set out for the desert in (illegal) search of Indian artifacts. However, they awaken a vengeful Indian spirit who possesses and attacks them one-by-one causing a supernatural, gruesome bloodbath. Read more »
With a remake now in pre-production it became necessary to review the original for those not yet acquainted with this elegant masterpiece. Originally intended for late night television, this little gem found wider success at midnight showings, double features and various budget VHS and DVD releases. Read more »
I had a plan. T’was a fine plan – watch Silent Night Deadly Night parts 1-5 over the Christmas holidays. How hard could that be? They even had numbers on them so I wouldn’t lose my way. Except it didn’t exactly go to plan… in fact, it went out the door before I even started. Here’s where I went wrong, but at the same time right. Read more »
Joe Spinell cannot die. Yet he has been dead for almost fourteen years. The sweaty, pock-marked Maniac is a beloved figure in retro slasher history, but he did several movies that were essentially variations of the same figure. We’ve been blessed with Spinell popping up every few years in another long lost lumbering, muttering role. Read more »
In the mid 80′s when the VHS boom was taking off, SOV horror titles started popping up on the shelves. With the cheaper accessibility to VCR’s came cheaper home camcorders, nearly anyone who “shot” a feature length horror film in the 80′s could have it pieced together and distributed. Read more »
Studio tampering is a time (dis)honored tradition in the slasher genre. Horror House, A.K.A. The Haunted House of Horror, a forgotten little British chiller, is an early example of a studio destroying a film by radically changing storylines with unnecessary reshoots made without the director’s input. Read more »
Parties play a major role in many slasher films. Sometimes the party sets off the killer (My Bloody Valentine, The Prowler) and sometimes people pick the wrong place to have a good time (Killer Party, Hell Night, House on Sorority Row). We’ll start with the best ones and work our way down. Read more »
This is a difficult one. Along with The Last House on the Left (1972), this is one of those unpleasant 70’s rape-revenge flicks that makes its audience feel dirty for watching a woman being brutalized, and then for cheering her (or her surrogates) on as she seeks revenge. Read more »