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Hell of a Summer: More Laughs then Screams
Right off the bat, Hell of a Summer is enjoyable even if it doesn’t live up to its slasher influences. Ultimately framed around the allure of nostalgia and the fear of moving forward in life, the movie falls a little flat on the overall plot and theming, even as the characters and comedy shine through.…
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Fear Street Prom Queen: Why Bother?
Fear Street: Prom Queen is not a good movie. I hate writing reviews like this for most movies. However, when a high-profile studio delivers such a charmless, low-effort production, the best I can do is warn people. Also, it’s a criminal waste of the usually amazing Lilli Taylor. For that, it deserves all the hate…
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Prom Night 1980: A Mixed Bag of Other Movies
Prom Night is one of the “childhood pranks and/or bullying results in a lot of murders” kind of slashers. It’s also Jamie Lee Curtis’ third horror movie, between The Fog and Terror Train. Her involvement in the film secured the funding needed and helped propel the slasher to cult classic. Prom Night got a couple of sequels in 1987 and 1990,…
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I Know What You Did Last Summer: Pretty People in Peril.
I feel a certain sense of loyalty to I Know What You Did Last Summer; after all, much of it was filmed in my current home state. While there are quite a few horror movies that filmed scenes in the area—some of those locations I’ve visited already—I Know What You Did Last Summer takes place in a…
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Jason and Friday the 13th: Loving the Imperfect
Friday the 13th is my favorite slasher franchise. It’s the perfect combination of homemade horror and nostalgia. For reasons I can’t fully remember, Freddy was my older brother’s favorite movie monster. Since I’m the little sister, I had to pick a different killer. 10-year-old me went with Jason. A choice I’ve stuck with for over 30 years.…
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April Fool’s Day: The Slasher That Isn’t
On paper, April Fool’s Day seems like a fantastic idea. It’s an early deconstruction of the slasher genre inspired by Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. While the murders and motivation may be different, the movie does focus on a group trapped on an island only accessible by ferry. Where it falls apart is in the final moments…
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Halloween: Evil Never Dies
There are thirteen movies in the Halloween franchise. An impressive feat for any IP, but even more so for one that started with a budget of $300,000. The first movie went on to make $70 million on release, and so much more in merch and licensing since then. Halloween became not just a hit, but a cultural phenomenon. Micheal…
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Black Christmas: Establishing the Slasher Template
Another strong contender for “first” slasher, 1974’s Black Christmas gets credit for many of the tropes that the golden age of slashers was best known for. The cynical use of a holiday, archetypal young women in danger, and well-used killer POV shots; while novel at the time, these quickly became standard. There is one major standard that I’m…
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The Slumber Party Massacre: Happy Women’s History Month
Intended and written as a parody of slasher movies by Rita Mae Brown, The Slumber Party Massacre director Amy Holden Jones made the brilliant decision to film the movie as seriously as possible. The result is a campy, and at times hilarious, take on the genre filtered through the eyes of underrepresented demographic: women. Specifically, well-written women.…
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A Bay of Blood: Bava at His Best.
There is a lot of debate over the “first” slasher, and A Bay of Blood gets brought into the discussion for good reason. Packed full of moody, tense atmosphere, brutal kills, and plot twists, it’s one of Bava’s more controversial films. Critics were put off by the excessive gore and weak plot, especially when compared to his…