It is with extreme sadness that we report the passing of David F. Friedman at the age of 87. Friedman had his hands in all kinds of exploitation movies through the sixties and seventies and beyond, but it was his work on the grand low budget slashers he did in the 60s that really made him a hero to the horror world. Continue reading
My Bloody Valentine Week here at Retro Slashers has provided in-depth exploration of the 1981 classic: second-guessing the villain’s identity, filling your head with trivia, waxing nostalgic, contrasting the remake, and going brokeback with the boys of Valentine Bluffs. That’s a lot of love. If you’ve watched the movie for the umpteenth time and realized “it doesn’t get much better than this”, here are two additional titles that show the really red side of romance. Continue reading
Blue Collar is hot.
It’s also so 70s and 80s. Let’s face it, when was the last time you saw men who looked like men working jobs that people really had? Yeah, it’s sad, ain’t it? My Bloody Valentine would be a good film by any standards of filmmaking, but the fact that it truly captures the hard working everyman, struggling adults caught up in a horrible situation, creates that much more of an impact when the bloodshed hits the fan. Continue reading
The production for Michael A. Simpson’s back-to-back Sleepaway Camp sequels, Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland, would take place over a six-week period at Lakewood Studios in Atlanta and Camp Younts near Waco in Georgia, although the last day of filming would see the crew relocate to downtown Atlanta for the opening sequence of Sleepaway Camp III. Continue reading
Remakes by their very definition are derivative. No matter how much a filmmaker injects new themes and ideas into a movie, the very fact that it is a recycled concept means that there will be various plot points and set pieces that resemble its predecessor, much like with a sequel. But it is how that material is handled in a new and exciting way that dictates just how effective a remake can be. Continue reading
My Bloody Valentine was released on February 13, 1981, just as the slasher sub-genre was gaining substantial momentum. Halloween had started the trend proper, and Friday the 13th had solidified it as a moneymaker. Every studio wanted a slasher flick on its release schedule, and special interest groups were beginning to protest them everywhere. Continue reading
Get your geek on with the aid of Retro Slashers’ time-coded trivia track – the perfect accompaniment to your next viewing of the original My Bloody Valentine. Spoilers ahead, obviously, and please make sure you’re watching the extended cut or the times won’t match up! Continue reading
‘Should we then ban the News at Ten?’ asked an article in The Times as the furore surrounding the video nasties increased to ridiculous proportions. It was an interesting point; if the parliament and tabloids were so concerned about upsetting or corrupting the public with scenes of sex or violence, there was nothing as shocking as the stories reported by the news on a day-to-day basis. On June 30th 1983, a list of fifty-two titles were published that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had considered ‘nasty.’ Continue reading
***WARNING*** HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD***
If you’ve never seen My Bloody Valentine then you might want to skip this post. If you’ve seen My Bloody Valentine more times than you can count (like me), then this post will offer up a way to view the film in a very different light. If you decide to re-watch My Bloody Valentine after reading this post, make sure it’s the uncut, letter-boxed edition released by Lionsgate. Some of the clues mentioned here are missing from the full screen version. Continue reading
Whilst they no doubt launched her career and horror fans may still consider them amongst the best work that she has done, when Jamie Lee Curtis first entered the movie industry with a string of low budget slasher films critics were less-than-enthusiastic about her performances, whilst Curtis herself expressed frustration at having to play the same role over and over again. Continue reading
