Retro Slashers

Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. “Blood Feast is like a Walt Whitman poem – it’s no good, but it’s the first of its type”. – Blood Feast director Hershell Gordon Lewis Blood Feast is a joy. The world’s first splatter film delivers the goods [...]

A kid in the 70’s, I grew up like a Monster Kid was supposed to. I began with the Universal horror classics like Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy, and then graduated to Hammer Horror, Godzilla movies, etc. Support was provided by The Monster Times, Famous Monsters and all the Warren horror magazines, as well as [...]

Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. ALICE, SWEET ALICE (1976) Proto-Slashers frequently contain more plot and depth of character than later straight up classic slashers. A case in point is Alfred Sole’s killer-on-the-loose feature “Alice, Sweet Alice” (a.k.a. “Communion”, a.k.a. “Holy Terror”). Set in 1960′s [...]

Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1945)

Proto-Slashers: Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. REPULSION (1965) Roman Polanski’s first English-language film, Repulsion is a bonafide, certified Retro Slashers classic, and one of the greatest horror movies ever made. It stars Catherine Deneuve as Carol, a repressed young beautician, sharing an apartment with [...]

Somebody wants to claim a pregnant woman’s baby for her own. To make matters worse, the baby is still in his mother’s womb. We’ve all heard shocking news reports (and a few urban legends) about childless women attempting to steal other women’s unborn babies using car keys and other unimaginable surgical instruments. Apparently so have [...]

Growing up as a horror fan in Canada during the 70’s and 80’s was a double-edged sword. Yes, we produced a lot of horror flicks during that period, but at the time most of them seemed like half-baked attempts to rip-off American successes. And to a Canadian teen in the 70’s and 80’s, if the [...]

Proto-Slashers: Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies.

Proto-Slashers: Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. The House That Screamed (1969) Someone is killing the students at a private girls school. Sounds like the premise for any one of countless 80′s slasher flicks, but in this case it’s the plot of the 1969 proto-slasher, [...]

Proto-Slashers: Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. Homicidal (1961) I love William Castle movies… The Tingler, The House on Haunted Hill, Mr. Sardonicus, Macabre, I Saw What You Did, 13 Ghosts, The Night Walker, Straight-Jacket. I mean, what’s not to love? Castle made movies that [...]