Retro Slashers

Movies are a collaborative medium, but if you had to place just one face to THE NAIL GUN MASSACRE (1985) – everyone’s favorite 80′s nail gun slasher film (by default!) – it’d be writer/producer/director Terry Lofton. Terry took some time during the 20th Anniversary to answer all our nitpicky questions, for which we’re grateful.

Jim Harper has written a book about the slasher genre entitled LEGACY OF BLOOD: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO SLASHER MOVIES, released in the UK in 2004. The blurb reads: The “slasher” movie is the bloodiest incarnation of the modern horror film, tainted by criticisms of misogyny, yet remaining-on and off-a box-office draw for 30 years. [...]

Few outside the slasher fanbase remember 1980′s To All A Goodnight. Even those inside will cite a hamhanded plot, slackjaw-inducing character actions, and an unconvincing yet excitable spray of oatmeal gore from an airplane propellor – but like many slashers from the era, like it or hate it, pointing out its misgivings is half the [...]

For those unawheres, we transcribed & posted the screenplay for SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 a few Xmas’s ago and still keep a copy on the server for all to enjoy.

One’s appreciation of the VHS format and to a lesser extent, slashers – is truly tested when you have to physically carry one third your body weight in them across state lines. Let me lay this shit right out – I dig DVD. I dig what it’s done for bringing retro slashers into the impressionable [...]

Vinny Durand (Joe Spinell) is a taxi driver with an unhealthy obsession (is there any other kind?) for actress Jana Bates (Caroline Munro). He wants her for a movie he’s making. Of course, like a pre-cursor to 70% of horror fans you meet on the internet, he has no actual plan in place to make [...]

Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO can be considered prime among the progenitors of the slasher genre. Many talk about its impact on the film world, but few pay attention to the second, third and forth chapters which each brought something unique to the compellingly tragic story of Norman Bates. Enter director Robert Galluzzo who has spent the [...]

Writers & Directors get all the credit and blame for films, but the role of the editor is vastly underappreciated. Especially when it comes to retro slashers and retro horror. Due to the efforts of people like editor Jim Markovic (Dr. Butcher MD) and producer Sam Sherman (Raiders of The Living Dead), many films deemed [...]

Longed for titles like The Burning are finally in general DVD release and The Mutilator, Final Exam, Nightmare and more are safely in the hands of Code Red for the future, but here are the five most valuable retro slashers that need a digital release. Note, cheap company versions that are just video dubs do [...]

Silent Night, Deadly Night was a mean spirited little entry in the slasher canon that carried more notoriety on its shoulders than it was worth. Not to say it’s a bad slasher – it does manage some moments that get under your skin – like the suddenly non-comatose grandfather and the nighttime family assault that [...]