Retro Slashers

From the mid-1960’s through the mid-1980’s, Italy was the hot spot for gialli. In fact, it’s the birthplace of this brand of thriller, beginning with Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much in 1963. Though he’s not as widely praised as his fellow countrymen Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and Mario Bava when it comes [...]

When is a mask not a mask? When you aren’t actually wearing one but still no one can tell who – or what – you really are. In the Stepfather trilogy, it’s when a man appears on the face of things to be a loving father, but beneath the facade turns out to be a [...]

TV reporter Jane (Lauren Tewes from The Love Boat) suspects her neighbor Stanley Herbert (King Frat‘s John DiSanti) is the serial killer/rapist terrorizing Miami.  Instead of going to the police with her suspicions, Jane decides to stalk Stanley.  She breaks into his apartment, steals a shoe, and harrasses Stanley with menacing phone calls.  Jane is so busy playing Nancy Drew that [...]

Call me creepy, but films about obsessed fans that predate the semi-new celebrity stalking trend fascinate me. They can be outrageously over the top, such as The Eyes of Laura Mars, or they can be low-budget sleazefests like The Last Horror Film, or they can fall somewhere in between, which is where The Fan lingers. Considered trashy [...]

The Hills Have Eyes Part 2 started life on a bad foot and has had a troubled reputation ever since. Wes Craven claims he was desperate for money when he wrote and directed this follow up to his family vs. cannibal mutants horror classic. The film languished without a distributor for years until A Nightmare [...]

I was thinking about saving Memorial Valley Massacre for “Vegetarian Killers in Loincloths with Bad Teeth” month, but since I’m not sure that dream will ever come true I thought it worked well for Unmasked Month. I have always wanted to watch Massacre, but held off mostly because I knew it was not going to [...]

I love this movie’s attitude. Released in 1979 and made by filmmaker Abel (Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant, The Addiction) Ferrara, The Driller Killer wears its punk rock heart on its sleeve right from its opening frames (see below). Ferrera (credited as Jimmy Laine) is Reno Miller, a talented New York artist who can’t seem to [...]

Crimes of Passion, a combination of the slasher and erotic thriller genres, is a crazy, sexy trip down skid row with China Blue (Kathleen Turner), the best whore in town.  China Blue becomes the object of desire for Bobby (John Laughlin), a sexually frustrated married man, and Rev. Peter Shayne (Anthony Perkins), a deranged street preacher.  The [...]

The Disciples of Rambo face off against the Brotherhood of Jason in this hybrid slasher from the mid 1980s. The film opens with a fierce paintball battle between the Zero Boys and a gang comprised of hunchbacks, snake handlers, cowboys, and nazis. After vanquishing their foes and claiming Kelli Maroney as a prize, the Zero [...]

During the clever (and inexpensive) opening credit sequence we learn about a once booming Colorado gold mining town that closed off its vein after 27 miners were trapped and ultimately killed. Flash forward 93 years to the mine being reopened. A young miner, Roger (Jeff Harlan) invites his lady, Jessica (Anne-Marie Martin) and her friend, [...]