Unmasked: The True Life Story of the World’s Most Prolific, Cinematic Killer is one of the most amazing autobiographies I have ever read. Kane Hodder grabs the reader by the throat and drags them through his personal heaven (growing up on an island in the South Pacific, becoming a slasher icon) and hell (brutal beatings from [...]
Retro Slashers
Unearthing Forgotten Horror
The Basement (1989) Big-Box Review Part 2: Video Violence
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 [...]
Viva VHS: Jack’s Back (1988)
With its twins, dead prostitutes and copious dream sequences, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Jack’s Back is a lost Brian De Palma movie. In fact, it was written and directed by Rowdy Herrington, who – although probably best-known for the 1989 Patrick Swayzefest, Road House – specializes in hard-edged thrillers like Striking Distance (1993), [...]
The Basement (1989) Big Box Review Part 1: The Movie
Camp Motion Pictures’ Retro 80′s Horror Collection Big Box doesn’t just have a long name, but a long list of contents – so much we had to split this review into two. The centerpiece of the set is Tim O’Rawe’s The Basement, a never-before-released 1989 horror anthology. You hear “never-released” a lot, applied to movies that never made the [...]
Viva VHS: Satan’s Blade (1984)
Satan’s Blade starts off with a bang, literally. A couple of bad girls rob a bank, kill the tellers after a little sexual humiliation, and run to a cabin in the hills. Ruth (Meg Greene) double crosses her partner but only after she’s talked the poor girl into taking off her clothes. When Ruth tries to [...]
Giallo Month: My Dear Killer (1972)
Italians would use the term “giallo” to describe any mystery or thriller story, particularly those tales in the tradition of Agatha Christie, whose novels were originally published in the yellow-backed format that gave the genre its name. In fact, it’s only amongst us film fans that “giallo” has come to refer exclusively to the particular brand of [...]
Giallo Month: Eyeball (1975)
Through the month of August you’re going to be reading about Giallo (plural Gialli) here at Retro Slashers. For those unfamiliar with the genre, Giallo is the European cousin to, and a major influence on, our beloved North American Slasher flick. The word Giallo means yellow in Italian, and is a reference to the nickname [...]
Slasher-Hybrids & Urban Legends: Aids Mary
The Legend: A traveling business man meets a beautiful blond in a night club and invites her to his room for an evening of carnal delights. When the man awakes the next morning he discovers his overnight companion has vanished but left a message, “Welcome to the Wonderful World of Aids”, written in lipstick on the [...]
Slasher-Hybrid Month: 10 To Midnight (1983)
With their potential high return on low investment, slasher movies became the must-make sub-genre on every studio’s production slate in the early 80’s. It was only a matter of time before studios began hedging their bets, injecting slasher tropes into other film styles. In 1983, The Canon Group released its slasher-infused 10 to Midnight, a Charles [...]
Small Screen Slashers: Fantasies (1982)
Soap Operas and horror movies have a lot more in common than one would think. Both have rabid and loyal fanbases, chock-full of completists who either have to see every movie or every episode of their favorite genre. As we all know, many actors such as Eileen Davidson (House on Sorority Row, Young and the [...]