Top ten slashers of the 70's and 80's.

Maybe you've seen some of the Platinum Dune remakes of classic slasher films and want to see the originals. Perhaps you remember being scared to death as a kid of Jason and Michael from TV commercials and schoolyard talk, but never got to see the actual films. Maybe you've seen a few of the films and want MORE. Whatever the reason you've come, welcome to slasher school. I have a full course load for you.

This actually isn't just the top ten slasher films: I've got prerequisites for you and even some extra credit. You're going to get twenty-seven films for the price of ten! Do you feel lucky, or just sick?

 Like any class of this type. These are my recommendations, if you are a slasher fan and disagree, please write some alternate credit choices down in the comments.

The slasher genre seed was planted in 1960 with Peeping Tom and Psycho.
It was lovingly watered with gore in 1963, with Blood Feast.
The genre was given form by the Italian giallos from the 60's and 70's, starting with 1965's Blood and Black Lace.
In 1974, Black Christmas sprouted and the first slasher as we recognize them today, was recognized.
Shortly afterwards, in 1978, Halloween was released as the artistic prototype by which all other slasher films would be judged.

Grading.
When I watch a slasher, I'm looking for these factors, mostly in this order:
Pacing, story, lighting, music, how cool is the killer, frequency of kills, quality of kills, camerawork, nudity, production, acting.

My notes reflect the film's inclusion onto their respective list. For a quick summary of the film, look at my big chronology list of slasher films HERE (and if you have any films to add to that list, please do let me know down in the comments of this post.) 

Prerequisites
Ezra Pound said there are Innovators, Masters, and Imitators. These films are from the first two categories. Your prerequisite assignment is to rush out and see the staples of the genre:

1. Halloween (1978): The king of the genre. A Masterpiece.
2. - 5. Friday the 13th parts 1 - 4 (1980 and on): Jason's days as a human. Masterpieces of the genre.
6. Black Christmas (1974): It started here. An Innovator.
7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): See how the slasher genre can stretch. An Innovator. 

General Ed
I recommend watching these in this order. This is a real mix of films to get your brain coated with all the possibilities within the genre.

1. The Burning (1981) - My favorite slasher. I would say a Masterpiece. I wrote about it HERE.
2. The Hills Have Eyes (1977) - A fine imitation of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Fun.
3. Maniac (1980) - Downtrodden, dark, and grimy. The sleazier side of the genre. Considered a Masterpiece by many.
4. Prom Night (1980) - An excellent example of the genre. Covers all the tropes.
5. My Bloody Valentine (1981) - Could almost be a mainstream movie if not for all the murdering.
6. The Creeper (Rituals) (1977) - Made before the genre was fully formed. Survivalist horror.
7. The Prowler (1981) - Great example of the genre. Simple story. Great effects.
8. Hospital Massacre (X-Ray) (1982) - Surreal with offbeat humor.
9. Cheerleader Camp (1988) - Another good solid staple.
10. Intruder (1989) - Low budget, but with a lot of style. Clearly made with a love of the genre.

All right, so you made it. You have a good foundation for what's out there. You've seen a few films from the Urban Slasher sub-genre and a few from the Rural Slasher sub-genre. You've seen examples from Tier 1 with larger budgets and from Tier 3 with no budget. You've seen grimy, slick, and about as humorous as I'd let you stray. You've seen a few films before the genre had it's rules, a few that followed the rules perfectly, and a few that broke the rules. You should have a good sense as to what tropes and sub-genres you're interested in.

Electives
Here are are ten more tasty morsels for your eyeballs and earholes. These are all good films and you could add the many and varied Halloween and Friday the 13th sequels to this list.

1. Alone in the Dark (1982) - Spooky and helpless and scary with A-grade actors.

2. Edge of the Axe (1988) - A small town love story in the midst of a slasher film.

3. The Toolbox Murders (1978) - No story, no characters, just killing.

4. Don't Go in the Woods (1982) - Bottom of the barrel. WAY ahead of the time in terms of camerawork. The awful dubbing makes it hard to watch.

5. Sleepaway Camp (1983) - Kills are so creative that the product suffers. Fun film. Most would rank this higher. Amazing ending.

6. The House on Sorority Row (1983) - Good solid film.

7. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - Good solid film.

8. Pieces (1982) - Just test the waters on the Italian productions. If you like the slightly off way of storytelling, you may want to dive into the Italian Giallos.

9. Madman (1982) - Fun, rural slasher.

10. Eyes of a Stranger (1981) - Rear Window retold as a slasher. Good stuff.

You've done it. You have earned the right to call yourself a slasher film fan. I don't know what kind of sick achievement that is, but you've filled your head with a lot of wonderful garbage.

For an advanced degree, you'll need to see most of the films on my list of Slasher Films of the 70's and 80's. You'll want to watch them multiple times; establish a position on the Freddy's and Chucky's as whether or not the should be on the list; you'll want to dip your toe into giallos to see what that is all about; and most of all, you'll want to develop your own criteria, and make your own list and slap it down in the Comment section.

 
(Posters courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.)
Below is Mondo's poster for The Burning. Stunning.

Daily poster: Dawn of the Dead.

Dawn of the Dead.
Happy 4-20!

When some people think of 4-20 they think of happy things, like getting lobster eye stoned. Some people think of horrible things like the Columbine massacre or Hitler's birthday. Me? I think of Dawn of the Dead.

The film opened on April 20, 1979 in the United States. It had opened eight months earlier on September 2, 1978 in Italy, under the name Zombies. The Italian version of the film is ten minutes shorter and has a few different music cues.

Dawn of the Dead (hereafter, DoD) is my favorite zombie film. It barely makes the helicopter blade to the top of the head over Night of the Living Dead. The remake of Dawn of the Dead is my third favorite. Tom Savini did the makeup effects on DoD and wrote about it in his masterpiece of non-fiction, Grande Illusions. Like all of the films in that book, I read about DoD, studied the makeup effects, and knew just about every act of violence, well before I was able to see the film. When I was old enough to see it, I was gleefully gutted. The film is a masterpiece of horror cinema.
The story follows two employees of a local Philadelphia television station and two Philadelphia SWAT cops in their effort to survive a zombie apocalypse. The group finds a newfangled indoor shopping mall and sets up camp inside. They do pretty well securing the location until a group of chaos injected bikers screw up everything.

The first third of the film sets a dark tone. Humanity can beat this if we would only stop screwing around and focus on the issue. Some heavy things happen, but the first act ends with some light.
The second act adds kindling and is uncomfortably light in tone. The group of four are making a go of it all. They are managing to keep control of their surroundings. The kindling catches fire.
In the last act, however, humanity catches up with the group's good intentions. Moments of impetuousness turn disastrous, infighting, cockiness, and greed take a boot and stomp out the fire. The end of the film burns like a match in the wind.

Director, George Romero's style is finely clunky. The 70's color palettes and realistic design add a foreign sort of feel. The film is not a slick Hollywood production, the costumes and sets feel real. They probably were. The film also has those 1970's independent film moments of randomness that create a realistic, chaotic mood. Dialog overlaps. Characters sometimes do things that are seemingly random or sudden. They don't talk about everything before they do it. A goofy smile, an explosive emotion (both positive and negative,) unexpected choices. All these elements make DoD endlessly re-watchable and fresh.

And the mall. There's just something about having run over a whole mall, that appeals to the kid in a person. Being where you're not supposed to be, when you're not supposed to be there. When I'm feeling dark, the lighter scenes in DoD almost bother me. But, the teenage thoughts of having a mall of zombies to hack up in relative safety brings me back and makes me feel warm and cozy.
It may sound sick and a bit too timely, but taking over a zombie infested mall with my friends and a bunch of guns is my Thomas Kincaide painting.

There are a million little anecdotes about the film: The brightness of Savini's blood recipe; the alternate ending; the actual screams of a zombie victim when the zombie actor bit too far on a makeup appliance; how they shot the film at night while the mall was open during the day; Italian director Dario Argento sequestered Romero away in Italy, while Romero wrote the script; the kid zombies in the film do not shamble. They RUN!; the film was released in the U.S unrated as the MPAA had given it an X. These anecdotes are interesting, but superfluous. The DVD sets all have "making of" features and endless amounts of extra material, but like Night of the Living Dead, the films stand on their own. Looking behind the curtain doesn't necessarily add value.

"When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." Good times.

Daily poster: Knightriders.

 

Knightriders.
"I'm not trying to be a hero! I'm fighting the dragon!"
I love this trailer.


Poster courtesy of Wrong Side of the Art.