Of all the film
genres the “Slasher Movie” is often viewed (especially by
mainstream critics) as one of the most disposable sub-genres of
Horror, their critics viewing them often as nothing but fuel for the
next would be serial killer while despising the genre’s focus and
general embracement of gratuitous death scenes often served with a
side dish equally gratuitous nudity. However those able to look past
the often disposable nature of these films with their often
shoestring budgets and ropey plotting but then this is after all the
genre which gave us the strong female heroine or as is better known
here “The Final Girl”.
While many would
view Slasher movies as being a product of the late 70’s and 80’s
horror scene following the release of John Carpenter’s now
legendary “Halloween” which inturn gave us the now iconic masked
madman Michael Myers whose serial killer club would soon be joined by
the likes of Jason from “Friday the 13th” and the killer doll
Chucky from “Child’s Play” aswell as a mixed bag of one shot
creations being churned out to cash in on the success of Carpenter’s
film but the blood soaked roots of the genre can really be traced
back further still to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” which with
Norman Bates who when broken down into his basic character components
can be easily compared to one of his more modern counterparts as sex
and his own sexual frustrations seemingly provide the trigger for his
own murders, while he also dons a disguise to carry out his murder
and his is devoted love for his mother really any different than
Jason and his own love for his mother’s severed head?
Go further back
still into the history of horror still and you will only continue to
find examples of the genre such as Maurice Tourneur’s “The
Lunatics” from 1912, itself a silent film adaptation of the Grand
Guignol play which in the United States lead to the public outcry
over films of this nature which paved the way for the introduction of
the Hays code in 1930. In the lead up to the release of “Psycho”
further examples of the genres tropes such as jump scares, the black
gloved killer so synonymous with the Italian Giallo films and shots
from the Killer’s POV can be found in films such as the 1953
version of “House of Wax”, “The Bad Seed” and “Cover Girl
Killer”. Alongside the release of Hitchcock’s “Psycho” 1960
also saw the release of Michael Powell’s “Peeping Tom” which
shot from the killer’s POV making the audience questioning their
role in the violence unfolding on the screen, while later providing
the inspiration for the likes of “Man Bites Dog” and “Maniac”
(2012).
In the wake of these
two films the slasher genre would slowly begin to take form as later
films all added elements to the mixing pot starting with William
Castle’s “Psycho” cash in “Homicidal” which in typical
Castle fashion he sold with the gimmick of a “Fright break” which
allowed movie goers to get a refund if they were too scared to stay
for the climax though it would come at the cost of being made to
stand in “Cowards Corner” until everyone had left before being
given their refund. The intrest in serial killers though would
roll on with the likes of Dementia 13, Berserk and Night Must Fall
which also drew inspiration from the violent Itallian thrillers of
the giallo genre. The craze soon also being picked up by the
legendary Hammer Studios who contributed their own twist on the
burgeoning genre with the likes of Hysteria, Nightmare and Maniac.
With the Giallo
films proving such a massive draw for the European market, both
Britian and the United States especially began to look at ways they
could also cash in with their own versions, throwing out the old well
worn plot devices as they made way for the crazed maniac which
required only the most basic of motives to justify their bloody
rampages with Robert Fuest’s low budget shocker “And Soon The
Darkness” (1970) bringing the horror out of the darkness and into
the daylight though it would be a year later that the template for
the slasher movie in particular the babysitter in peril was
established with “Fright” which saw Susan George’s babysitter
being terrorised by the child’s father who in true campfire
tradition has just escaped from a mental institution.
This new breed of
thriller shared the love of sex and violence that was so synonymous
with the Giallo movies while removing the police procedural element
as these films soon entered into competition with each other to
provide bigger and better shocks and kills. One of the key figures of
these early films was the English director Pete Walker who advertised
his film “Frightmare” with its own negative reviews to sell more
tickets as his film making philosophy revolved making headlines with
the controversy of his films which he saw translating into larger box
office revenues. Meanwhile in the states controversy also followed
their own productions though perhaps with a dash more hysteria to
them as “Blood and Lace” was dubbed the “sickest PG-rated movie
ever made! By the “Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film” while Marc
B. Ray’s “Scream Bloody Murder” proudly advertised its label of
“Gore-nography”.
By 1974 despite the
release of both the notorious “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and
“Black Christmas” these early slasher movies had overall become
too familiar with their themes and ideas to audiences and attendance
numbers began to severely dip until 1978 and the release of John
Carpenter’s “Halloween” ushering in with it a period cited by
many as being the Golden Age of Slasher films which was only further
fuelled by the huge success of Sean S. Cunningham’s “Friday the
13th” which in their wake saw a slew of imitators and general
rip-off’s being produced so that by 1984 over 100 slasher films had
been released. The appeal of these films for the studio being that
they where cheap to make and only needed an semi attractive cast to
play fodder for your movie’s slasher especially as these films
started to become more about the kill and its build up than the
actual plot. Surprisingly it was a model which worked leading film
makers to exploit the formula further and further as they churned out
films featuring higher body counts, more nudity and most key ever
more inventive ways in which to kill off their disposable cast
members.
As we enter the 80’s
in an attempt to freshen up the genre we saw the first of the
Supernatural slashers as Ulli Lommel who’d previously directed the
acclaimed “The Tenderness of Wolves” unleashed “The Boogeyman”
which four years after its release like so many slasher films from
this era found itself on the Non-prosecuted list of the Video Nasties
act until it was finally released missing 44 seconds in 1992 before
finally being re-released uncut in 2000. Now these slashers wern’t
just crazed lunatics but potentially of another realm altogether
paving the way for the first film in Wes Craven’s now legendary
“Nightmare On Elm Street” franchise and also arguably meaning
that despite dying in “Friday the 13th Part 4” Jason
could still come back as a Zombie from parts 6 onwards.
The Bubble would
finally burst in 1984 as the slashers moved to VHS as the audiences
showed little interest in watching these movies in the theatre,
meaning that films would often be given brief theatrical runs if at
all. VHS provided these films with their audience still as they where
hunted out by those still eager to get their gore soaked kicks, while
some film makers such as David A. Prior even shot their films on tape
with Prior’s “Sledgehammer” being the first of these
questionable experiements, the poor quality of the film stock often
matching the quality of the film being produced.
The final nail in
coffin of this golden era of slashers would come via “Silent Night,
Deadly Night” which see the mentally unstable Billy suffering a
mental break and going on a bloody rampage dressed in a Santa suit.
The film was heavily protested by many who saw its iconic poster of
an axe welding Santa going down a chimney and assumed it was a movie
about a killer Santa and led to the film being pulled out of cinemas
a week into its release. A year earlier though the genre had suffered
its most devastating attack as moral panic lead by campaigning
politicians, and religious groups while the tabloids where only more
than happy to add further fuel to the fire by posting scandalous
headlines as they called to “Ban this sick filth”. In total 39
films would be banned under the Obscene Publications Act which meant
that many of these films wouldn’t be released until after 2001
while many would have to wait until much later to finally be released
uncut while a few select titles such as “Forest of Fear” and
“Gestapo’s Last Orgy” still remain banned in the UK.
By the late 80’s
the slasher movie had all but become an international affair as
Italian and Mexican studios attempted to replicate the films which
the films which had been so popular in the first half of the 80’s
many replicating themes or ideas such as the Mexican “Hell’s
Trap” which felt like a throw back to “The Prowler” or the
Swedish “Blood Tracks” which played like “The Hills Have Eyes”.
The established franchises meanwhile began to collapse under their
creaking foundations with “Jason Takes Manhattan” the 8
th
film in the series proving such a flop that the rights to the series
where sold to New Line Cinema, whose saw its own long running
franchise “A Nightmare On Elm Street” failing to make half with
it’s fifth film than the previous two films had made, while the
genre’s grandfather Michael Myers came out worst still with the
dire “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers”. All three
franchises would attempt a final stab at reviving their franchises
only to all fail thanks to lack of intrest from the audiences who’d
once hankered to see the next instalment.
While the end of the
80’s might have seemed to have also marked the end of the genre it
was instead merely dormant as Bernard Rose unleashed “Candyman”
in 1992 based on the short story by Clive Barker and more keyly gave
the world its first black slasher icon. While it may have gone on to
spawn two lesser sequels it wouldn’t be until the release of
“Scream” in 1996. Prior to directing “Scream” Wes Craven had
played around with the idea of a Meta horror with his unintentional
reboot of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise with “New
Nightmare”. Scream though arrived feeling like a much needed breath
of fresh air for the genre as it not only introduced the now iconic
Ghostface killer but also self acknowledged with a knowing wink the
tropes of the genres with its horror movie loving killers. While the
sequel managed to recapture some of the magic of the original, it was
clear the series was running on fumes by “Scream 3” especially
when Jamie Kennedy’s Randy (posthumously) is laying out the rules
for a part 3 which you have to wonder if there are actually any rules
for a horror film past its first sequel other than perhaps find a way
to set the film in Space or Hawaii. Unsurprisingly “Scream” would
prove to be the film which launched numerous imitators such as Urban
Legend, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Valentine many of these
films landing with mixed results as none seemed to be able to
recreate whatever it was that made Scream seem so fiercely original
despite its origins coming from the pen of self-confessed Slasher
obsessive Kevin Williamson who much like his creation also failed to
reach the same heights again.
At the same time
that the studios where rushing to put out their own slasher
creations, this sudden revived intrest in the genre also saw the
studios wanting to roll the dice once more on their established
franchises as Michael Myers came back for “Halloween H20: 20 Years
Later” in a sequel which ignored everything after the first film in
a half baked attempt to reboot the series which even brought Jamie
Lee Curtis back to reprise her role as Laurie Strode now stuggling to
deal with the events of that eventful night. Michael of course would
not be the only boogyman to return as Chucky also made a return with
a new bride in tow in “Bride of Chucky” which following “Child’s
Play 3” being cited as the influence for the murder of Jamie Bulger
it had not only seen the film being unofficially banned but also
served to kill the series despite continuing to maintain a cult
following who were unsurprisingly over joyed to see the return of
their favourite killer doll. Most exciting of these comebacks of
course was Jason as “Friday the 13th” rolled out a staggering
10
th entry which saw Jason finally being sent to space and
shortly afterwards facing off against Freddy Kruger in “Freddy Vs.
Jason” giving the fans finally the grudge match they’d long
hampered for, even if the version they got was slightly hampered by
Kane Hodder (the fans Jason) not being brought back to play Jason.
The most surprising
entry of this period though is the “Final Destination” in which
Death himself is the killer and while it might shun the usual rules
of what qualifies someone to be a victim, it soon established an easy
to replicate template in which a group survive a horrible accident
(plane crash, motorway pile up, Roller coaster crash etc) only to
find themselves being stalked by death who seems to have a fixation
with killing in only the most elaborate ways possible, often
delightfully teasing out the kill for maximum effect, let alone
posing the question of how you beat the slasher when its death
itself?
By the 2002 interest
in slasher films had faded once again and with studios not wanting to
take a risk it would seem on original horror films especially as a
loose remake of Tobe Hooper’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” turned
into the surprise hit of the year as it grossed over $100 million
while opening the floodgates to a host of remakes which would follow
in its wake as House of Wax, My Bloody Valentine and Black Christmas
all got the remake treatment but for decent one we got like Alexandre
Aja’s brutal “The Hills have Eyes” we usually got another three
duff ones such as Gus Van Sant’s baffling shot for shot remake of
“Psycho” while as the key titles titles began to dry up the more
grotesque and shocking titles such as “Last House On The Left”
and “I Spit On Your Grave” also getting the remake treatment they
really didn’t need.
While it might seem
that the genre ends in a slurry pit of half baked remakes, there are
still directors out there attempting to capture the magic of the
slasher’s golden age as can be seen with the likes of Adam Green’s
“Hatchet” trilogy while the shame being removed off the DTV
market meant that it has become a new home for numerous indie and low
budget slashers, while ensuring that the “Wrong Turn” series has
managed to somehow churn out five sequels. So while the films might
not once receive the kind of grand release they might have seen in
the golden age, they are still there for those willing to venture
into the darker recesses of their streaming services.
Starting Point –
Five Slasher Movie Essentials
For this selection
I’ve opted to avoid the obvious and well known additions to the
genre such as Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th
and Scream and instead opted to highlight five lesser known but still
equally essentially additions to the genre worth hunting down.
The Burning – One
of the few slasher movies to be banned as video nasty it wouldn’t
get released until 1992 and even then it wasn’t until 2001 it was
finally released uncut. This film also not only marked the first
movie to be produced by the Weinstein’s but also one of the most
graphic and brutal kill scenes which has yet to be beaten by any
other film in the genre as our burned and mentally unhinged killer
Cropsy gets very creative with his weapon of choice….a pair of
garden shears.
Slumber Party
Massacre - Despite the setup of a slumber party being invaded by a
power drill welding murderer, the film has the distinction of being
the only feminist slasher movie, despite the film being originally
written by Rita Mae Brown as a parody of the slasher genre though
thanks to the script being reworked into a serious film, it ends up
creating a wonderfully unique experience which would go on to spawn
two further sequels
Terror Train –
featuring another killer seeking revenge for having a prank played on
his years earlier, here the killer is revealed almost straight away
as the tormented nerd Kenny boards the train where a fraternity are
throwing a costume party. The perfect setup of course for Kenny to
don a number of ever more random costumes to commit his murder,
making it less about who the killer is but what costume he’s going
to wear next.
Stage Fright – A
slasher is usually best known by the outfit they don to commit their
killing, be it a hockey mask or just a plain old sack which only
makes the killers costume here possibly one of the most random as he
dons a giant owl head to do his killing which makes this film no
doubt standout more from the numerous slashers off this era, but the
giant own head really adds something to watching the killer weld a
chainsaw or stick someone with a pick-ax.
Behind the Mask: The
Rise of Leslie Vernon – Embracing the same mockumentary style of
“Man Bites Dog” as a documentary film crew follow an aspiring
slasher / serial killer as he prepares for his next big night of
murder and mayhem. Interesting for being set in a world where the
likes of Freddy and Jason actually exist, the film takes great fun
poking fun at the genre tropes with a wonderfully dark sense of
humour which makes it so easy to see why this has become such a cult
favourite.
