Retro Slashers

2003′s The Toolbox Murders showed Tobe Hooper at the top of his form. He wrestled a semi-obscure piece of 70s filth to the ground and rebuilt it in his own image, with the aid of equally unhinged writers Adam Gierasch & Jace Anderson, unchaining arguably his best film since Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. The film [...]

Before we get down to why we’re here, let’s take a moment to discuss remakes in general. The prevailing knee-jerk sentiment among many fans is that remakes are the work of the devil. And why not; the simple fact is, most remakes tend to be inferior, if not outright destructive to the beloved film that [...]

Ahh, where to begin? I suppose a little background is in order before we dive into the autopsy. Back in the 80s, at the height of the black and white indy comics boom, a handful of publishers had established themselves as the premier purveyors of the form. This included Dark Horse (making a splash with [...]

A documentary recently came to my attention that simply blew my mind, and I assumed might many of you as well, but I held off on reporting it, because I was sure–sure–someone else would get to it, probably right as I was typing mine up. It just seemed like such a given! Well, some days [...]

You got a purty mouth…. A remake of Tobe Hooper’s underrated 1981 monster/slasher hybrid The Funhouse has been bandied about for a couple of years now, so it’s ‘upcoming’ status isn’t really news. However, only recently the project seems to be gaining traction. Remake-mongers Strike Entertainment (production arm of Universal), who previously hit gold with [...]

Some of you may no doubt recall a remake of Terror Train was announced by Lionsgate a ways back, set to star the lovely former A-list darling Thora Birch. Imaginatively rechristened Train, the project strangely morphed into a knockoff of Hostel 2, and was relegated to the shelf, where it remains to this day. 100% [...]

Slashers, by and large, are creatures of the cinema. And cinema breeds many things…trends, fads, new genres and subgenres…but beyond all else, cinema breeds fans. Fanboys….nerds. Cinema breeds nerds, lets not mince words. Hey, I’m a nerd, and I’m damned proud of it. And as many of you already know, nerds do more than just [...]

Many of you may be familiar with the White Wolf role playing franchise, World Of Darkness. Primarily known for Vampire: The Masquerade, the series has grown to include other classic horror archetypes such as werewolves, mummies, ghosts, changelings, and even those mortals who would dare to hunt them. Now, the World Of Darkness is opening [...]

Fangoria got some exclusive pics of what FX maestro Gary Tunnicliffe would do if he got the chance to encore on the revamped Pinhead makeup for the upcoming reboot of Hellraiser (to be helmed by The Martyrs director Pascal Laugier). While it’s definitely an interesting article, I have to say I don’t like his take [...]

Eerie sightings began occurring at horror cons over the past year….Paul Ehlers – the one, the only, Madman Marz – began turning up with his superbly crafted fantasy knives, and a very interesting sign in tow…. The warm, viking-like Ehlers began proclaiming that he was eager to launch a sequel/reboot to his beloved retro slasher [...]

Well, it’s about damned time. I’ve been waiting for a book like this my whole life. Coming soon (it’s available for pre-order, but a release date hasn’t been set in stone) from Fantagraphics is Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of he VHS Box Vol.1, a lavishly illustrated tome dedicated to seedy VHS box art from [...]

Fans of horror gaming will recognize the name Clock Tower, a series of video games that are to retro slashers what Resident Evil is to classic zombies. Essentially a cross between Argento’s Susperia & Phenomena, with elements of Friday The 13th & The Burning thrown in for good measure. At it’s core, the series revolves [...]

Within the last year or so, rumblings of a remake of the Weinsteins’ 1981 slasher classic The Burning began to surface, coinciding with both the original film’s release on dvd, and the box office success of the revamped Halloween (also from the Weinsteins). All has been quiet for the time being, but on the eve [...]

It was revealed recently that a sequel to 2007′s retro slasher homage Hatchet is nearing production. While writer/director Adam Green is currently busy toiling on his third feature Frozen, he hopes to find time to unleash Victor Crowley’s return later in the year. The fine lads at Dread Central tracked Green down for comment, and [...]