Retro Slashers

Chopping Mall Theme – Chuck Cirino

Holy hannah, will you take a look at this? Right now? Maniac (1980) scores a new poster in celebration of its return theatrical run via Grindhouse Releasing and Blue Underground. Sure, there was nothing wrong at all with the original legs-knife-scalp poster – in fact it was everything right about early 80’s grimy slashers. Even that denim [...]

It won’t be available in supermarkets! Intruder is finally going to receive the justice it deserves, via Synapse. Note: Pictured is an uncut DVD from Denmark, which Synapse will obviously trump in quality and content, but we challenge them to match or better this cover art. Now onto the goodness…

A quiet halloween for me. I’ve been sick all week, and as a result of carving my first ever jack-o-lantern way too early in the month, it has rotted and sunken in on itself, causing it to look a little like Abe Vigoda if his face imploded. So that’s two points against an enjoyable halloween. [...]

My sometimes collaborator but always friend Dustin over at Retro Horror Remix recently released Halloween Treat 2 though the internet’s version of VCD, the torrent.

Every Halloween on Retro Slashers I mention Gary Graver’s Trick Or Treat (1982). A movie deeply underloved, even by the slasher crowds that hold Don’t Go In The Woods Alone and The Prey up as pinnacles of retro-slasherdom. Last year’s gratuitous mention warranted some speckled comments killing the movie criticism and worse – indifference.

As we approach All Hallows Eve I’m struck by the annual feeling that Halloween: Season Of The Witch is the most “Halloweenish” of the whole series. It always bothered me on one level at least – it’s a holdover from the ‘robot duplicate takeover’ plots from the 70’s that by the early 80’s was mostly [...]

Intruder (1989) is a personal favorite of mine for use of isolated locale and inventive killscenes. I reviewed Wizard’s Director’s Cut a few years back and often go back to it for it’s blue collar charms. I’ve often wondered what a real supermarket/grocery store clerk thought of the movie, so don’t you know I was [...]

Here’s the teaser to Terror At Black Tree Forest, a movie I have the producer credit on. Dustin Ferguson wrote and directed it. He edited Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor for me, so this ended up sort of a fun trade-off. Dustin crafted a really tight indie throwback to The Forest and Don’t Go In [...]

As per usual, critical information on the Code Red company and release schedule are nowhere to be found on their official blog, instead buried in a multi-year flame war over at Horror DVDs.
“I am ending the company in summer 2011.” stated President Bill Norton while battling detractors.