Retro Slashers

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.

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.

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.

Makes its audience feel dirty for watching a woman being brutalized, and then for cheering her (or her surrogates) on as she seeks revenge.

Since its initial release in 1983, Sleepaway Camp has developed a cult reputation, in part due to the film’s final reel twist, and in part due to its lead, Felissa Rose.

Mirage was a rather late entry into both the “car killer” and slasher realm, and it definitely reflects both roadster and stalker elements.

Before John Badham became the iconic director behind Saturday Night Fever (1977) and War Games (1982), he cut his teeth on the small screen. Badham worked mostly in episodic television and Isn’t it Shocking? was his 2nd made for TV movie, released in 1973 (his first film No Place to Run aired the year before).

During the heyday of slashers in the early 1980’s, countries around the world were eager to cash in on the boom. International production companies did everything within their power (and budget) to disguise their film’s country of origin, sometimes actually doing the extra paperwork, hopping on a plane, and shooting on location in the good [...]

If I am ever able to go back in time to 1975, the first place I’m heading to is Filthy McNasty’s. Yes, I am. It is quite possibly the coolest and creepiest club I have ever seen. This is where the swingers of 70s Los Angeles meet and greet, and… uh… well, you know. The [...]

Camp Motion Pictures new release The Basement includes Video Violence and Video Violence 2, two sov slashers I love more than I should.  Having both films on one disc is great since tracking down the films on vhs is a damn difficult task.  The first Video Violence, which tells the story of a video store owner who discovers his customers are producing snuff films, is really [...]