Retro Slashers

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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.

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.

The Centerfold Girls is a grimy and grim precursor to 80’s slashers like Maniac and Don’t Answer the Phone; it’s also a prime example of 70’s Grindhouse filmmaking. With its dark take on that 70’s standard, the Battle of the Sexes, an argument can easily be made for this as a feminist horror film.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Proto-Slashers: Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. Hands of the Ripper (1971) Suppose an infamous serial killer had a baby daughter who witnessed her father murder her mother. Years later, the memory of the event buried, the daughter commits a series of murders herself. That’s [...]