[2] Herschell Gordon Lewis earned the title ‘godfather of gore’ because of this film, the first widely distributed movie to feature excessive blood and bodily mutilation. Its novelty with young drive-in audiences was so strong, that it allowed Lewis to write and direct dozens more of such movies for the next ten years. In this first bloodbath, Mal Arnold plays a peculiar grocery store owner …
[5] Jason Voorhees is back, and this time he’s stabbing in three dimensions. For the third installment of the Friday the 13th franchise, Paramount Pictures added the gimmick of 3D to attract young horror fans. But even if you don’t watch it in 3D, all the pitchforks, arrows, yo-yos, and eyeballs that pop toward the camera lens still have their cheesy charm. The story’s not …
[6] I like all the Scream movies, and I’m happy to say that trend continues with this fifth entry in the franchise. Not that the fuel tank isn’t getting low. While the original movie marries an inspired script with tight direction and terrific casting, the sequels have largely skated by on the merits of charismatic stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette. They were …
[6] The body count continues at Camp Crystal Lake, as a new batch of teenaged camp counselors gather at a neighboring campsite and learn about the legend of Jason Voorhees — the little boy who drowned in the lake when counselors were too busy having sex to notice him. We know right away, courtesy of killer point-of-view shots, that someone’s watching and planning to kill. …
[7] Producer/director Sean S. Cunningham admits Friday the 13th was a post-Halloween cash grab, but slasher fans decided there was plenty of room in the world for more than one killer franchise. All Cunningham needed was a great title that lent itself to recurring significance, and a compelling core piece of mythology — that a little boy drowned at Camp Crystal Lake when the teenaged …
[7] Michael Powell (The Red Shoes) directs this British giallo flick about a photographer whose ghastly hobby is stalking young women and filming their expressions as he murders them. You could say that Peeping Tom is an early slasher film, the genre that would beget Michael Myers, Fred Krueger, and Jason Voorhees. But it’s actually a much more psychological endeavor — and more impactful for …
[5] A masked killer stalks four teenagers at the prom, six years after they accidentally killed a fellow classmate. Prom Night is part of the slasher boom of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as the sister of the killed classmate. Leslie Nielsen also appears as her father. Neither of their talents are put to especially good use here, though. The …
[7] Freddy’s franchise continues with this installment directed by Stephen Hopkins (The Ghost and the Darkness, Predator 2). Alice (returning player Lisa Wilcox) is pregnant, and Freddy (Robert Englund) finds a way to kill again through her unborn baby’s dreams. To stop him this time, Alice and her dwindling number of friends must free the spirit of Freddy’s birth mother so she can help put …
[6] Director/co-writer Alexandre Aja hit the horror scene with this taut, gory French thriller about a young woman staying with a classmate’s family when a home invader attacks. The invader murders the friend’s parents and little brother, then kidnaps the friend. Our young heroine pursues them and eventually confronts the villain… and that’s when High Tension pulls some M. Night Shyamalan-style shenanigans. I love that …
[7] Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) returns for more murderous mayhem in this entry directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Goodnight). First, he dispatches of the three remaining characters from The Dream Warriors, including returning character Kristen (Tuesday Knight, played by Patricia Arquette in the last film). But before Kristen dies, she passes on her supernatural gifts to a new girl, Alice …
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