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Night Screams (1987)
Uber Cheesy Slasher Fest
By the late 80s, slashers were past the peak of gracing theaters with their ill-fated characters and their cliché murder scenes, only giving slasher fans Friday the 13th sequels, and direct-to-video terrors. Every now and then, something new would come around, such as Evil Laugh, Slaughter High, Doom Asylum, and this. Night Screams is a pretty typical cheesy slasher romp with enormous trends of big curly perms, catchy pop music, numerous red herrings, and fake looking death scenes.
David (Joe Manno), a hunky high school football player, is throwing a party for his friends at his mansion while his parents are out of town. His shy girlfriend, Joni (Megan Wyss), is looked down upon by David's friends, who would prefer David to be with someone else. The only person who likes Joni is Lisa (Jeanette Allyson Caldwell; one of the few characters that are actually likable), whom defends Joni whenever someone is rude to her. During the night, David is horrified to realize that he can't find the pills that help his hyperactivity, making him short tempered and easily angered. What David and the rest of his friends don't know is that two maniacs who escaped from an asylum, Snake (John Hines) and Johnny (Troy Mays), broke into his house and are hiding in the basement (Why does this strangely remind me of The Majorettes?). Also, they don't realize that someone is beginning to kill them off one by one. Could it be the two maniacs? Could it be David? Or could it be someone else...? (I bet you can already guess who the killer is!)
The movie, while not completely original, does try to stray from most slashers, taking on the sub-plot of the two escaped lunatics to help out the killer add to the body count. The identity of the killer, while obvious and cliché, is interesting in that they have a motive that is understandable and actually makes sense. Another interesting thing about the movie is that part of the film is made up of two other movies, Graduation Day (1981), and a softcore porn shown towards the end. The movie's climax, which consists entirely of characters walking around in the dark and one character strangely disappearing, is pretty unimpressive and muddled. We see three characters outside, fighting, then one of those characters is stabbed. Next we see one of the two surviving characters back inside the house without giving any explanation as to what happened to the OTHER survivor.
The movie overall is pretty bad. There are a couple of interesting deaths (such as a character having their face grilled, a character being poisoned in a sauna by toxic fumes), some characters that are pretty likable (Lisa, Joni, and D.B.) and a twist ending that is cliché but pretty well executed (it would've worked better had it have been a little bit less ambiguous). The movie tries it's best at being different and unique, and while it fails, it does give a good effort considering the budget and the bad acting.
Mil gritos tiene la noche (1982)
One of the most horrifying things I've ever seen... But not in a good way
Pieces is definitely not the best movie around. Horrid acting, misogynistic, sleazy, unnecessarily gruesome, and all-in-all just a bit too much for this horror lover. Seeing as how this is supposed to be a Video Nasty (or at least I think it's supposed to be), I was expecting tons of gore, but I think this movie just pushed it a bit too far. The murder scenes in this aren't only gory, but they are highly mean spirited and cruel.
In 1942, a little boy kills his mother after she catches him playing with a pornographic puzzle. About 40 years later (39? 40? 41? 42? I've seen this film listed as being made in several different years), the little boy, now a grown man, begins killing young co-eds at a college campus with a chainsaw, making a patchwork out of their dismembered limbs to re-create the puzzle. It is up to Det. Lt. Bracken (Christopher George), tennis star Mary Riggs (Lynda Day George), and a slutty male student, Kendall (Ian Sera), to figure out the identity of the mysterious assailant.
To be honest, I think the only two things redeeming this movie from one star would be the mystery to the killer's identity, and a hilarious scene where Lynda Day George has a speech about the killer being a 'bastard'. The scene is hilarious, and definitely the epitome of B-movie acting. The rest of the movie is so bad, that it's kind of depressing. The murders are very realistic, but are done in such an matter so unflattering to the actresses, that it puts a bad taste in your mouth. For example, there is a scene where an unfortunate topless co-ed is chased through a locker room, cornered in a stall, wets her pants, and is slowly bisected at the waist. The other murder scenes, while not in the same amount of bad taste, are still very vile and cruel.
Other than the abhorrent murder scenes, the movie is basically a typical B-movie college slasher. Tons of bad acting, tons of sleaze, tons of violence, all types of typical bad slasher movie antics. The movie could easily be described as a Spanish version of Blood Cult (1985).
Fatal Pulse (1988)
Not very good...
Since my taste in movies are slasher movies, I tend to enjoy movies that are typically described as bad by others. I'm used to seeing through bad acting, bad directing, bad writing, and maybe even a predictable plot line. However, one thing that I don't see through in these types of movies is misogyny. I can't stand slasher films that target women exclusively (or in this case, only) as murder victims. Films like New York Ripper (1982) or Blood Cult (1985) along with a couple other slasher films have a high case of sexism against women, and this movie is no exception.
After a fight with her boyfriend, Jeff (Ken Roberts), a young woman named Stephanie (Kitty) is murdered by a mysterious assailant in her sorority house. Jeff then teams up with his ex-girlfriend, Lisa (Michelle McCormick), to find the killer. However, several more sorority sisters are being murdered in horrifying ways, and once Lisa finds herself alone with the killer, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues through the basement of the sorority house. Will Lisa make it out alive, or will she be the killer's next victim?
The movie is definitely towards the bottom on a ranking of slasher films, this being because of it's misogyny, it's bad acting, and it's horrible plot development. There isn't much going for the movie. I think the only positives would be the mystery of the killer, and Lisa, who makes a fairly likable heroine. There are some horribly mean spirited and EXTREMELY sexist murder scenes, such as a sweet innocent young sorority sister being tied up to a bed post, having her shirt ripped off, and being slowly electrocuted. Also, there is some random character named Mark who seems to pop up every once in a while (accompanied by a 'boing' sound effect!) to supposedly add randomness and humor to the scene, but it only makes the scene worse.
Overall, this film I do not recommend. It is violent, mean spirited, cheesy, misogynistic, and overall bad.
Blood Sisters (1987)
Weird Combination of a Slasher and a Ghost Story
College and sorority slashers have never been very popular. With movies like Girls Nite Out and The Initiation (both from 1984), sorority slashers tend to be less liked when compared to the movies that inspire them (Psycho, Halloween, Friday the 13th, etc.) with the exceptions of Black Christmas and The House on Sorority Row (and even then, The House of Sorority Row isn't even really THAT good). Not surprisingly, this movie isn't very good either. I would personally place it below The Dorm that Dripped Blood and above Splatter University.
It's 1974, a little boy tries to talk a little girl into getting naked for him, which she refuses and calls him a pervert. He then runs home, which happens to be a brothel where several (Extremely unattractive) hookers and their johns roam around in the bedrooms. The little boy comes into one room to find his mother with her john, to which he reacts by blasting them both dead with a shotgun. Thirteen years later, a woman named Linda (played by the somewhat pretty but bad acting Amy Brentano) is taking the new pledges for her sorority to the now empty brothel for a scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt in the empty house is to test their maturity and courage, so if they finish the scavenger hunt without chickening out they can be part of the sorority. Once night falls the girls begin seeing apparitions of the dead hookers, and eventually the girls begin getting killed one by one...
The movie, while having a fairly interesting plot line, falls flat on it's face from the HORRIBLE acting, the poorly drawn out characters, and a very downbeat ending. While the ending is something unexpected and very different from typical slasher endings, it ends up being a mean spirited rip-off of the ending to Unhinged (1982). The actual characters, while badly written and badly acted, are actually pretty likable (especially our two final girls, Linda and Alice) so in the end, I wanted to scream "RUN!!!! RUUUNNNN!!!!!!" to the characters who ended up not surviving.
One of the only positives to this movie is the directing. Roberta Findlay (probably one of the very few female horror directors I know of) adds some very well done, if not breath taking, atmosphere into the movie by doing some things like shots of the autumn sky during the main title sequence, showing ghosts in the reflection of mirrors, and even some Argento style lighting during some of the murder scenes.
Overall, the movie isn't very good. Badly acted, badly written, and a terrible ending. As a slasher, the movie isn't great, and as a movie in general, it's pretty damn bad. Even Roberta Findlay admitted that she made the movie for a quick way to get money. I think the best time to watch this movie would definitely have to be a movie night with a bunch of drunk friends. Other than that, I would probably not recommend this.
To All a Goodnight (1980)
A Fun Little B-Movie Slasher from Krug
David Hess, infamous for his terrifying character Krug from The Last House on the Left (1972), has gone from playing the rapist in a film, to making a film of his own. Unsurprisingly, the movie he made was a poorly acted, poorly lit, and violence filled slasher film. However, the film is definitely a favorite of mine. Despite how admittedly terrible the film is, it's B-Movie charm makes it worth watching.
At the Calvin Finishing school, several young coeds enjoy their winter break at their sorority house. They have drugged their house mother and snuck their boyfriends into the house to have a little fun. But little do they know, a murderer dressed as Santa Claus is in the house with them, ready to invade their little party. After a night of party, sex, alcohol, and murder, one of the sorority girls, Nancy (Jennifer Runyon) stumbles upon a dead body, making her, and the rest of the group, aware that they are in for one hell of a night.
Like, I said before, this movie is doubtlessly a bad one, yet still I hold this movie close to my heart for several reasons. One of those reasons is the shocking twist at the end, where we find out the identity of the mysterious killer. Another reason is a FANTASTIC chase scene between the killer and Nancy (Who is cute and likable as the final girl), which is fast-paced and exciting to watch. The acting is not really very good, but it's not really TERRIBLE. Jennifer Runyon is really the only person who is truly worth mentioning in this movie, especially since she's probably the only person involved in the movie that ended up in other movies afterwards.
Overall, the movie is definitely something slasher lovers would enjoy. The movie is strange, funny, dark, (somewhat) creepy, gory, fast-paced, and overall just a fun movie to watch. I would recommend it for those boring nights alone when all you have is a beer, a bag of Doritos, a TV, and a VCR.
Disconnected (1984)
It Had Some Potential
Disconnected is quite a strange movie. It is half slasher film, a quarter crime thriller, and a quarter art film. It is, surprisingly, quite unpredictable, and even a little bit shocking at times. Unfortunately, the movie is brought down drastically by a low budget, making the film sleazy and unrealistic. The film itself kind of brings this feeling of "What the hell just happened?" at the end of each scene, not because of twists in the plot, but because the film is confusing.
After coming home from work one day, Alicia (the beautiful, yet sadly unknown Frances Raines) finds an old man at her apartment, wanting to use the telephone. She lets him use her phone while she leaves the room to make some tea. When she comes back, the man is gone. She begins to receive obscene phone calls, which consist of a loud, electronic voice screaming at her. Meanwhile, Alicia begins dating a man named Franklin (Mark Walter) after her twin sister, Barbara Ann (Also played by Frances Raines), steals her boyfriend, Mike (Carl Koch). Little does Alicia know that Franklin is a serial killer who kills women after he sleeps with them...
Made in 1983 (A golden age for slasher films), Disconnected is probably one of the rarest and most original slasher made for it's time. However, like mentioned before, the budget is so small that the film is basically a porn film without all the sex (Even though there is a ton of T&A in the film). Despite the low budget, the acting is actually not that bad for such a bad movie. Frances Raines is pretty good in her role as a damsel in distress, especially towards the end of the movie, which leads to her nearly having a breakdown from the phone calls. One of the things I didn't entirely like about the movie is why there are scenes that consist of the director of the film (Gorman Bechard) and a policeman who is trying to solve the case (Ben Page). There really isn't much explanation as to what these scenes are completely about. The policeman usually talks more about himself than the actual case, and ends up just disappearing from the film entirely towards the end.
Overall, the idea the writers had wasn't a bad idea at all, the plot isn't bad at all. The actual movie, however, was bad. The budget, the confusing scenes, the music, and the strange artsy scenes made the film bad.
I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale (1973)
Fantastic Movie!
I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carne (or Torso) (1973) is definitely not a Disney movie! It is disturbing, violent, scary, and is dripping with eroticism! At the same time the movie is mysterious, interesting, and enjoyable. The characters are likable and well-drawn out, the locations are fascinating and beautiful, and the plot is original for it's time. The movie must've had some inspiration to Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13h (1980) because it's just too good of a coincidence if not.
A psychosexual maniac is strangling coeds with a black and red scarf in Perugia. After their friend Carol (Conchita Airoldi) is murdered, Jane (Suzy Kendall), Daniela (Tina Aumont), Ursula (Carla Brait), and Katia (Angela Covello) leave town to Daniela's uncle's villa for the week, but little do they know, the killer is coming with them...
The movie, to me, has always seemed like the Italian version of Black Christmas (1974) but without the phone calls and the sub-plot of the leading lady being pregnant. This movie is basically a slasher film with all of the Italian charm of a giallo. It has tons of sleaze, beautiful scenery, beautiful women, and some actually really decent acting from Suzy Kendall and Tina Aumont, who are splendid in their roles as the heroines. Some stand-out scenes are a chase scene between the killer and Conchita Aitoldi in the woods in the middle of a foggy morning, along with an extended cat-and-mouse stalking scene between the killer and Suzy Kendall throughout the house which includes a terrifying moment in which Suzy hides as she is forced to listen to the killer dismembering her friends' corpses. The movie, overall, should be seen as a classic to me. It is the perfect collaboration of giallo and slasher. Imagine what would happen if you combined Blood and Black Lace (1964) and Blood Cult (1985), and then added the suspense and shock of Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971). This would be the result. Definitely recommended for any horror lover.
Suspiria (1977)
Deserves to be considered a classic
Dario Argento is an absolute genius. He makes wonderful horror and mystery movies. Such movies as The Bird with Crystal Plumage, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, and Deep Red are simply art on film. This film is certainly no exception, this time it strays from a giallo and steps towards a more surreal, supernatural feel.
The movie is about a pretty young woman named Suzy Banion (played wonderfully by Jessica Harper) who is going from New York to a luxury dance academy in Germany. Upon arriving at the academy, she sees a woman named Pat Hingle (Eva Axén) escaping from the academy in a panic. That night, Pat is brutally dispatched upon arriving at her apartment building. The next day, Suzy meets the directors of the academy, Miss Tanner (Alida Valli) and Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett) along with a beautiful yet jumpy young lady named Sara (Stefania Casini). Sara warns Suzy that Pat was one of her friends in the academy and that Pat ran away because she believed the academy was being run by witches, ultimately leading to her death. Sara begins to become more aware of the strange things happening at the school, such as footsteps outside of her room and a strange hoarse yawning that echoes throughout the academy. Sara continues to tell Suzy about the mysteries going on around the academy until she to is murdered. It is then up to Suzy to conquer the evil force that's running the academy before she is the next victim.
The surreal and sometimes day-dreamy quality of the film seems like you are watching someone's nightmare on your television. Scenes like a conversation between Sara and Suzy in a mosaic pool and Pat's twisted death scene gives the feeling of something that an artist would paint while hallucinating from a drug. The red and blue colored filters that show up during shadowy and dark scenes make the film feel like it's being watched through the eyes of the monster tormenting our heroine. Some standout scenes would be not only Pat's scene, but also a scene in which Sara is chased into a room full of razor wire and then killed with a gleaming straight razor, along with the twisted climax in which Suzy comes face-to-face with a clear view of the terror that haunts the academy. Once the movie is at it's end you feel like you have witnessed the same terror that Suzy has seen, along with the feeling of relief that comes from Suzy escaping the academy during a rain storm. This movie is one of the only movies that I will ever truly need to see on Blu-Ray or HD because the surreal and colorful movie must be seen in all possible beauty and crisp view possible. It deserves to have a place on the Top 250 (Not unlike Halloween, Silent Night Bloody Night or Black Christmas) and it deserves to be recognized as a classic.
The Slayer (1982)
Quite a Nightmare
Before Wes Craven came up with the classic dream slasher movie Nightmare on Elm Street, there was the lesser known The Slayer directed by J.S. Cardone. I have to admit, this movie is actually a pretty good build up to Wes Craven's movie, unfortunately that's all this movie. It's simply a build up to another movie. While this movie having a more surreal and less cheesy atmosphere as Nightmare on Elm Street, it is also disadvantaged with a less competent director and of course, the inevitable low budget.
The story is about an artist named Kay (Sarah Kendall) who is plagued with horrifying nightmares of being killed by a ghoulish being called The Slayer. As an attempt to relax and unwind from everyday life, she decides to go on a vacation with her husband, along with her brother and his wife to a beach house on a little remote island. Little did Kay expect, the demonic Slayer that lingered in her artwork and her dreams are more than ready to face off with her and the others one by one.
I seriously didn't expect much out of this movie when I first heard of it (for some reason, there are less than three damn stars for this movie on here!) but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. While I was expecting the average gory slasher film, this movie is actually a really scary movie and relies more on atmosphere and the characters than the blood (despite some fairly gory murder scenes). While the murders are an important role in the film, the actual scenes themselves are disturbing and even a little bit downbeat due to some of the characters being admittedly likable. While the movie alternates between reality and nightmares, you begin to wonder which is which as the film closes into a neat little downbeat ending in which we truly see an extremely scary vision of the monster that is terrorizing Kay. This ending is topped off with a creepy little circular epilogue that could've easily started an entire franchise for the movie but ended up being an open ending all on it's own.
Halloween (2007)
The Destruction of a Classic
John Carpenter's Halloween is the Citizen Kane of horror movies. Everybody who watches movies already knows that. So, what Rob Zombie did was take the original movie, added a bogus back story, made the characters more stereotypical and obnoxious, added nearly twenty death scenes of characters that had nothing to do with the plot in the first place, and flavored the entire plot with a redneck subplot. Did I like the idea of Halloween being remade? Of course not, but did I think it had some potential? I certainly did. Honestly, this was the first movie I saw that had been directed by Rob Zombie and since I knew Halloween was the perfect slasher movie I had thought that there was no possible way it could've gotten screwed up. When I went to the theater to see the movie, I turned out to be wrong as hell.
While the original movie starts out with a five minute prologue of little Michael Myers killing his sister, this movie expands the prologue into a twenty minute back story about how trashy and terrible Michael's childhood is which gives him his motive. After this gratuitously long back story scene, we are finally introduced to the film's heroine, Laurie Strode. Now, in the original Halloween Laurie is a shy, bookish, and alert girl but in the remake Laurie acts a lot trashier and vulgar in which she does things like fingering bagels, making pedophile jokes, and picking on the kids she babysits. The scenes of Michael stalking Laurie aren't exactly bad, some of them being genuinely suspenseful. So night comes and after about thirty murder scenes of characters that don't really matter to the story anyways, Michael comes after Laurie. Admittedly, the chase scenes between Laurie and Michael are actually pretty strong and even kind of scary to an extent. While the confrontation between Laurie and Michael is a little bit shorter and more to-the-point in the original, the remake takes the conflict between Laurie and Michael and makes it more of a cat-and-mouse game where Michael hunts through Haddonfield searching for his sister. The ending is pretty much the same, with an exception of Laurie going into a screaming fit that would rival the demented laughing of Sally Hardesty in Texas Chainsaw Massacre after she 'kills' Michael.
Honestly, this movie is worthless until the ending comes around. Scout-Taylor Compton is fine as Laurie, but the way her character was drawn out and written out was dreadful. The acting is top notch to be quite honest, but I would much rather watch a movie with an original plot with bad acting than watch a 're-imagining' with good acting. I would never say this is the worst Halloween movie ever made, this movie is nearly as abysmal as Halloween: Resurrection or the sequel following this movie. Honestly, this remake could've been great had it been directed better without the white trash back story and the badly developed characters. The original had much more mystique and class with likable characters and a better build up. This one had an unsuccessful back story, unlikable characters, and a build up formulated of an asshole redneck picking on his stepson.
Blood Frenzy (1987)
This was a SOV movie?
Wow, 'shot on video' and 'great movie'. Those are two terms I never thought belonged in a sentence together. While shot on video horror movies are considered borderline porno, this movie rises out of that pit consisting of movies like Blood Cult (1985) and Video Violence (1987).
The movie starts with a little girl playing with a jack-in-the-box. Her alcoholic father comes into the room and starts verbally abusing her. She inches away from him when he starts getting angrier. Conveniently, she stumbles upon a sharp garden tool which she uses to gouge out her father's throat. We are then introduced to a psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Shelley (Wendy McDonald) and some of her mental patients. Her patients don't really seem crazy, just a little out of it such as a blonde nymphomaniac named Cassie (Lisa Savage), a middle aged alcoholic named Crawford (John Clark), a jumpy Vietnam veteran named Rick (Tony Montero), an asshole of a repressed homosexual named Dave (Hank Garrett), a young haptephobic girl named Jean (Monica Silveria), and a bipolar lesbian named Dory (Lisa Loring). Dr. Shelley and her group of wackos are going off into the middle of the desert for absolute seclusion because it would be a good place for 'confrontational therapy.' The group of patients immediately turn on each other, which eventually leads to them being murdered one by one.
I must say I'm surprised to think this movie is a shot on video film because this feels a lot more like an old TV movie with a hell of a lot more violence. The movie has lingering references to The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), along with an opening identical to Pieces (1984). The twists to the story are actually pretty good to catch a viewer off guard, along with the gruesome murders that have enough blood to impress a Fulci fan. The acting is pretty fair, it's no award winner but certainly not bad as the abysmal Sledgehammer (1983). Some of the characters are pretty likable, such as the heroine psychiatrist, the bipolar lesbian, the middle aged alcoholic, the young haptephobic, and especially the blonde nymphomaniac. The other two characters were made to seem harsh or at least made to seem like red herring. The entire plot line is pretty original when compared to the usual 'the-killer-is-the-brother' twist. The movie overall is quite nice and deserves a good look or two.
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
A Memorable Standout for Camp Slasher Movies
Okay, I'm not sure how to sum this one up. I would like to call this movie a forest slasher such as The Prey (1984), Don't Go in the Woods (1980), Just Before Dawn (1980), or The Forest (1982) but since this movie barely even takes place in the forest, I would consider it more in the Friday the 13th (1980) or The Burning (1981) field. This movie is pretty much Friday the 13th with more creative death scenes, more plot holes, younger characters, less of a budget, and a shocking twist ending.
The movie starts out with a man and his two children, Peter and Angela. The family is playing around in a lake but end up in a boating accident caused by some young water skiers. The accident kills the father and Peter. Eight years later, Angela (the survivor of the boating accident) has moved in with her aunt Martha and her cousin Ricky. Angela and Ricky are going to a summer camp for a few weeks but once they get there, Angela is regularly tormented by the mean counselors and kids at the camp. The kids and counselors that pick on Angela, specifically rude ass counselor named Meg and a bitchy girl named Judy, start getting killed off. This unfolds into a twisted climax fueled by creepy, homosexual subtext and driven by a deep, dark, secret.
This movie is pretty messed up when compared to other slashers, but this isn't necessarily in a bad way. The characters are mainly the kids at camp which makes it more disturbing to watch when thinking of the standard body count this film includes. The deaths are actually very unique, such as a man (presumably) dying after being scalded with a vat a boiling water, a young girl being impaled on curling tongs (nobody can really explain how the curling iron kills her...), a young man is locked in a bathroom stall with a hornets' nest, etc. To be completely honest, I found myself rooting for the killer because the victims were extremely mean. I'm not saying it's right for somebody to kill somebody else because they're bullies, but I was happy when some of them died. The ending isn't really an ending to be fair. It's more like an enormous plot twist that ends right in the middle of the climax. That doesn't make the abrupt ending less amazing, in fact that just makes it more interesting because it makes you ask yourself what's next. All in all, the movie is quite a nice little horror opus. It gives gritty atmosphere, good suspense and shock, and a big curve ball of an ending.
La casa dalle finestre che ridono (1976)
A Mysterious and Original Type of Giallo
While Psycho, Twitch of the Death Nerve, and Black Christmas were regarded as the first movies to formulate the slasher sub-genre, this movie deserves some recognition as one of the first movies to combine slasher and Giallo elements. A very creepy and mysterious movie, The House with Laughing Windows has undertones that simulate Dario Argento's masterpiece Suspiria along with tortuous scenes that may remind one of Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The film also contributes an original shock ending that would inspire later slasher films with good twist endings, specifically Sleepaway Camp and Unhinged.
The film opens to a violent opening credit sequence that consists of a man roped up to a ceiling, being stabbed to death as we hear some very unsettling whispered chanting and ranting by the killer. We are then introduced to the film's protagonist named Stefano, a young restorer who is traveling to a remote island village to restore an old fresco depicting the slaughter of St. Sebastian in an old church. After being kicked out of his apartment, he is forced to live in an old mansion that was previously owned by the evil sisters of the man who painted the fresco. Stefano eventually falls in love with a beautiful young teacher named Francesca while numerous people who live in the village are murdered.
This movie is what most slasher movies should be more like. Before Halloween set the staples in, this movie had the perfect plot layout. With the likable hero and heroine, the artistic murders, the bizarre locations, and the shock downbeat ending, this movie had some wonderful elements that later added to the horror genre. While the two main characters make a cute couple, all you want is to see them survive while the plot takes the most disturbing twists I've ever seen. No joke, I honestly think the ending to this movie is as disturbing as the twist ending to Sleepaway Camp. Even to people who aren't familiar with the horror genre, this movie is a huge recommendation.
Satan's Blade (1984)
A Good Twist on the Slasher Sub-genre
As a slasher fan, surely I'm going to give this a good review. Since most of my favorite horror movies come from this type of sub-genre, I thought this was going to be pretty nice and I suppose it is. I had expected low budget, dreadful acting, and the usual slasher plot line.
The movie starts with two lesbians robbing a bank, in which the robbers are later murdered after returning to their cabin. We are then introduced to a duo of policemen along with a group of cute young women and two married couples. The group of young women and the couples are on their way to a snowbound cabin for a vacation. Unsurpringly, they start getting killed off. After nearly all of them are killed off, the plot throws a huge supernatural twist at you that ends the movie off in a surprisingly downbeat ending.
I have to admit, to me this movie had an ending that had a twist equivalently as shocking to the machete scene in Unhinged. The movie title itself is kind of a spoiler, but I had never really taken the title that seriously. I thought "Satan's Blade" just meant it was some nutty psychopath waving a knife in his victims faces, but this movie took it a step further than just the usual slasher movie killer. It's a zero budget movie, but it actually had a really good idea lined up. If it had a little bit more budget, more reasonable acting, and perhaps better dialogue, this movie could be considered a classic.
Unhinged (1982)
Slow Build Up with a WTF Ending
For a movie that was banned and labeled a 'Video Nasty' Unhinged is not very explicit when it comes to violence. For that matter, it's not even very slasher-ish but otherwise I seem to have a strange liking for it.
The plot is pretty simple, it follows three pretty college girls on the way to a concert. While taking a route through backwoods their car ends up in a ditch. The girls end up in a mansion owned by a crazy old invalid woman (Virginia Settle) and her spinster daughter (Janet Penner). Not surprisingly, the mansion is conveniently located in the middle of a very isolated set of forest. One of the girls (Sara Ansley) decides to go get help but ends up slashed to death by a maniac with a scythe. Meanwhile, one of the other girls (Laurel Munson) seems to be observing some strange things about the old spinster and her mother while the other remaining girl (Barbara Lusch) is axed to death while sleeping. Eventually a disturbing climax erupts once the final girl discovers a horrible family secret that sends her running for her life from the mansion but little does she know her escape will not come easily.
This movie is so underrated that it's almost disgusting. Yes, the acting is not good but there actually is some decent acting from a few of the characters such as the spinster daughter (Janet Penner), a neighborhood handyman who tries to warn one of the girls about the murders (John Morrison), and even the final girl (Laurel Munson) did seem sincerely scared towards the end of the movie. The movie is a little slow but that was probably the point, since the movie only has four murders the movie needs a few scenes to build up the rest of the movie. There are actually some very scary and even disturbing scenes in the film such as a few scenes of the final girl looking around the house in the dark, a scene where one of the girls is trapped in a shed lined with dismembered corpses, a speedy chase scene throughout the mansion and the extremely disturbing ending that includes a shocking machete murder and the killer ranting while hacking at their victim. There are many references of other good horror movies in the plot such as Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Three on a Meathook, Black Christmas with an ending that is very similar to The House with Laughing Windows. The movie is not horrible, but by no means a classic. Nonetheless, it is worth a viewing or at least the ending is worth a viewing.
Curtains (1983)
A classy slasher film with a scary killer
This film is very tricky. You want to call it a slasher film because of it's murders, it's creepy killer, it's isolated environment but it is actually hard to call it a slasher since it has much more back story and mystery to it.
The movie is mainly about a group of young, pretty actresses who want to star in a movie called Audra. The group of women go to this audition at the director's house. After about one night of the girls getting to know each other, the competition is starting to kill off some of the girls. The sub plot consists of the actress who was originally going to star in the movie (Samantha Eggar) escaping a mental institute after the director (John Vernon) leaves her there after she asks to be committed to research her character's role as an unhinged woman. The murders don't really pick up until Samantha comes to the house to get her role in the movie back.
There are many disturbing and atmospheric elements in this movie such as the presence of a really ugly doll, several creepy props found in a prop cellar, and the killer's grotesque appearance. Also at the same time there are some cliché elements to the movie such as the use of a final girl, two very well directed chase scenes, and a red herring that turns out to be useless. Two things I love out of this entire movie are the chase scenes. You have a scary hag killer with a sickle chasing Lesleh Donaldson in figure skates on a frozen river (in broad daylight!) and then at the end you have the killer chasing the final girl Sandee Currie in a large prop cellar with hallways lined with mannequins, costumes, fake weapons, and dead bodies. My favorite character would have to be Patti (Lynne Griffin... you know, the girl in Black Christmas that had the plastic bag over her head the whole movie). The entire movie you really want her to survive because she's very likable and very funny, which luckily she manages to not be killed by the crazy killer but I won't spoil the ending.
In conclusion, this movie is a nice little horror story that manages to rely more on atmosphere and suspense instead of violence and nudity throughout the movie. The acting is pretty good, the dialogue isn't bad, and the scary scenes are artistic and very well drawn out.
Al filo del hacha (1988)
Quite Underrated for such a Low Budget Movie
Edge of the Axe has a lot of basic slasher elements. Plenty of murders by somebody in a creepy mask, a couple chase scenes, and a cute leading lady. So what is it about this movie that makes it so underrated? Well unlike most slasher films the acting is actually not too grotesquely bad (at least the two main characters are okay actors), the murders are actually pretty shocking because they happen at times you don't expect like a woman being murdered in a car wash during broad daylight, the killer is a HUGE surprise and you never see it coming (in which the ending to this movie is pretty similar to the ending in The Dorm that Dripped Blood, Cheerleader Camp, and even somewhat like Unhinged). The plot is pretty simple and generic. Somebody is whacking off locals in a small suburban town and nobody has any idea who the killer is. The main suspect in the crime is a guy named Gerald, who meanwhile is having a relationship with a cute blonde girl named Lilly. Lilly and Gerald do a little investigating of their own to find out who the killer is while more people are getting killed off. And the more people get killed, the more red herrings come along. So after a while the killer starts to target Lilly and Gerald.
One of the best things about the murder scenes is that they have really good cat-and-mouse scenes that add suspense and make you wonder if the person being chased might actually survive or not. Another thing is that even though the killer resembles Michael Myers they're creepy because the person being murdered does know who it is before they're killed (like a woman saying "Oh, it's you" before the killer puts on the mask and kills her) Another thing about this movie is that it ends very abruptly. That might not seem like a positive thing but the movie ends RIGHT when you realize who the killer is. And the way you find out they're the killer is in a very strange subtle way which consists of them making a demented smile at the camera as the final shot of the film. So basically if you really like slasher movies get this. It's tricky, it's kind of unusual compared to other slashers, it's a pretty good slasher movie.
American Nightmare (1983)
Very underrated Canadian mystery/slasher
American Nightmare is a very unusual movie. It's not like your usual slasher where it's some guy in a mask killing a bunch of high school kids. But the movie plays out kind of like a slasher. This is sort of a cross over between a slasher and a mystery. A young girl goes missing and her older brother starts looking for her but the only people who can help him are a group of strippers (who are shallowly thought of as degenerates) who shared an apartment with her. The strippers start to get picked off one by one until the older brother, a girl named Louise, and a whole lot of red herrings are left standing.
For such a low budget movie, American Nightmare is actually really good. I would even say it tops the more popular B-movies from this time such as Hell Night and maybe even Terror Train. The acting in this movie isn't too bad, I think the only person who is really that bad would be the killer when their identity is revealed. Another thing is that American Nightmare is pretty scary. The murders are pretty violent and suspenseful, and the creepiest part is some people you think are going to survive end up being murdered. There are two really good chase scenes in the middle and the end of the film between Louise and the killer between an apartment complex and a huge office building. For anybody who enjoys a slasher movie, a horror, or simply just a mystery this is obviously a huge recommendation.