Retro Slashers

Horror-loving librarian and blogmaster of Anchorwoman In Peril!(http://anchorwomaninperil.blogspot.com) and My First Dictionary (http://myfirstdictionary.blogspot.com)

This first article in a new series focusing on great slasher-movie chase scenes looks at 1979’s The Demon, a not-so-hot horror flick with a hotter-than-hot climax. Prepare for disappearing dressing gowns, gratuitous nudity, and the most ingenious use of a showerhead and some bubble bath since MacGyver accidentally wedged himself in his shower cubicle while [...]

Get a load of that title… Did you ever hear anything that sounded more like a slasher movie? Unfortunately, Terror Stalks the Class Reunion isn’t a lost slasher – for a start, there’s no slashing – but, while part of me is writing this review to stop others repeating my mistake, it’s also worth pointing [...]

Slasher fans in the UK are in for a rare treat next week when Channel 4 screens Friday the 13th Part III in 3D as part of its seven-day 3D season. Special specs in an unusual blue-and-orange colour combo are available free of charge from Sainsbury’s supermarkets, so grab a pair (or a pair of [...]

You have to hand it to Amsterdamned – it’s got one hell of a gimmick. By 1988, the slasher genre had given us killers who hid their faces behind hockey masks, gasmasks, clown masks, William Shatner masks, owl masks, pillow cases, chunks of stitched-together human skin… It was only a matter of time before one [...]

Feeling blue? Seeing red? Hate colour metaphors? Don’t despair… slasher movies can help! Psychologists have long recognized the healing power of feel-good movies in treating all kinds of mental woes, from bouts of minor depression to fits of cheerleader-murdering rage, so just imagine the effect a good slasher movie can have. Cinematically speaking, the humble [...]

  I never thought I’d live long enough to see a remake of Aenigma – Lucio Fulci’s blending of Carrie and Patrick, which featured killer snails and death by Tom Cruise poster. But that’s essentially what the recent British horror Red Mist (known as Freakdog in the US) is… albeit one that’s short on molluscs [...]

A knife-wielding cross-dresser… A killer who sports razor claws and a fedora… A sack-headed maniac prowling a deserted tourist spot… The murderous glare of a mysterious eyeball… These vintage villains from the 1920s to the 1950s prove that trends in slashing are as cyclical as fashion…

America leads the way when it comes to releasing slasher movies on DVD, with lesser-known gems like Sweet Sixteen and Final Exam finding their way onto feature-packed special editions, and companies like Shriek Show, Code Red and Blue Underground bringing even greater obscurities kicking and screaming into the digital age. But slasher fans continue to [...]

Time for us to delve deeper into the mysterious world of mysterious slasher mysteries, with two classic cases from the Vaults of the Unknown. Last time, readers were kind enough to share their opinions and extra information concerning the conundrums featured, and I encourage you to do so again if you think you know something [...]

Life is full of tantalizing mysteries… How did they build the Pyramids? What are UFOs? Is there an afterlife? And how did Lipstick Jungle get a second season? Okay, some of those are perhaps not quite so tantalizing, but I’m ignoring them all anyway in order to concentrate on some of horror history’s most intriguing [...]