Great Slasher Mysteries Vol. 2

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Ross Horsley
Time for us to delve deeper into the mysterious world of mysterious slasher mysteries, with two classic cases from the Vaults of the Unknown. Last time, readers were kind enough to share their opinions and extra information concerning the conundrums featured, and I encourage you to do so again if you think you know something we don’t. Similarly, reader “the2ndsuitor” posed a riddle of his own involving a cast member from My Bloody Valentine. If anyone feels they can answer it without stumbling into a libel case, please feel free!
Oh, and a warning to the less-seasoned slasher fans: proceed with caution. This volume is pretty heavy on the old spoilers…
CASE #3: The Mystery of the Enigmatic Eye

blackchristmaseye1
At least until the release of the 2006 remake, the backstory of “Billy”, the killer in Bob Clark’s 1974 slasher Black Christmas, was one of the most ambiguous ever created. In fact, since the redux is a standalone (and, most would agree, inferior) film, it’s fair to say that, in the sinister world of Clark’s original, Billy was never really identified at all – and he was certainly never killed. All we find out is his name, the name of a previous victim (Agnes, who may have been his little sister) and the fact that Billy is still alive at the end of the story, hiding in the attic to continue his taunting phone calls and, presumably, killing spree.
That’s mystery enough, you might think… but no! Before his tragic death in 2007, Bob Clark mentioned that he couldn’t actually remember who “played” Billy in the film’s most memorable and disturbing image: that shot of the killer’s staring eye peering through the door at final girl Jess. Someone out there owns that enigmatic eyeball but, until they come forward, Billy remains one of the most mysterious figures in slasher history.
CASE #4: The April Fool’s Ambiguity

aprilcut01

Before you continue with this particular mystery, start by taking out your DVD of April Fool’s Day. Now, you have two options… If it’s the remake, throw it in the nearest bin. If it’s the Paramount release of the original, turn it over and take a look at the pictures on the back. You’ll notice that one prominently featured image shows the character of Skip apparently dead – which is a little odd if you think about it, considering he survives the film.

Well, he survives in the version that Paramount actually released, anyway. The original cut had an entire third act that was filmed but completely deleted before the movie hit theatres, resulting in the current love-it-or-hate-it ending we all know and love (or hate). If you want to read the original ending in its entirety, you can do so right here at Retro Slashers, thanks to a full transcription of the final section of the tie-in novelization. Or, if you’re more of a synopsis-type person, try reading the section in Lost Scenes.

Now the only remaining mystery is: why did that picture turn up on the DVD sleeve in the first place?

Posted in Features | 7 Comments

SLASHER LEGEND – Tom Savini

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Christian Sellers

One of the names most associated with the slasher genre is not director or even an actor, but a makeup artist. Tom Savini became synonymous with gory splatter effects in the early 1980’s after his groundbreaking work on the likes of Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 turned him into a star in his own right. Savini eventually made his way in front of the camera after semi-retiring from the FX industry and instead concentrating on his acting career. Much of his work became the target of the ‘video nasty’ witch-hunt in the UK and his FX have been under the censor’s knife more than any other. Having raised the bar on what was possible to show on screen, he has also become a horror icon and an inspiration to a generation of special effects artists. Continue reading →

Posted in Features | Tagged | 5 Comments

SLASHER LEGEND – John Carpenter

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Christian Sellers

With Halloween 2 set for release later this year, Retro Slashers looks back on the life and career of the man responsible for the original classic,
JOHN CARPENTER. Continue reading →

Posted in Features | Tagged | 6 Comments

The Dark: a lost slasher hiding in a novelization

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Thomas Ellison

thedark

Back in the late 1970’s Tobe Hooper was set to direct a film titled The Mutilator, a simple tale concerning either the adventures of a zombie slasher or an escaped mongoloid, depending on which Hollywood Urban Legend you read.  Hooper only lasted a day behind the camera and was replaced by Bud Cardos.  The script by Stanford Whitmore remained the same until producers saw the box office returns for Star Wars and decided a Sci-Fi film would make more money than a slasher.  So The Mutilator became The Dark and the zombie slasher/escaped mongoloid killer became an alien with the ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes.

Fortunately for slasher fans, the 1978 novelization of The Dark was written before the drastic changes to the film occurred.  The main cast of characters are the same as the film but the killer is  Harmon Quade,  an ex-sailor who developed a taste for human flesh and was lynched for his crimes in 1878.  One hundred years later, Quade comes back to town with his trusty scimitar.  He strikes every night, decapitating his victims before munching on their still warm bodies.

Journeyman writer Richard Deming, using his Max Franklin pseudonym for The Dark, excels in developing the approaching darkness into a malignant threat.  The actions and paranoia of minor characters faced with the looming nightfall creates a level of tension and atmosphere not found in the film.  The main characters in the novel, however, are rather cartoonish and come across as bad 70’s cliches.  You’ve got Roy Warner, the tough loner ready to go Death Wish all over the monster who killed his daughter.  You’ve got the tough feminist reporter ready to prove she doesn’t need no stinking man to make it in the world.  You’ve got the tough Dirty Harry style cop who likes to shoot suspects first and ask questions later.  You’ve got the tough old psychic who develops a link with the killer.  The only cliches missing are the tough biker and tough kung-fu master.

Another problem plaguing the novel is Deming doesn’t answer all of the questions the reader has by the end of the novel.  We never really learn who Quade was in life, how he came back from the dead, how he found a scimitar, or where he was hiding between  1878 and 1978.  A blind man appears at every killing but his true identity is never revealed.  It’s obvious he’s involved in the killings somehow but his origin is left up to the imagination of the reader.

The novelization of The Dark, only 187 pages,  offers slasher fans a glimpse at what might have been a decent slasher film if Hooper hadn’t self destructed and the producers hadn’t radically changed the story.  It isn’t difficult to imagine Harmon Quade as an early version of zombie Jason Vorhees especially when you read Quade’s physical description.  8 pages of photos are included in the novel.  Some of the photos are nothing more than publicity shots but a few show scenes that aren’t included in the book.

Posted in Library | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Prey: Part One – The Influence

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Amanda By Night

I’ve been wanting to do a little tribute to The Prey, one of the more underrated slashers, but as you may have noticed (or not!), I’m only on RS sporadically (something I truly regret), which means Prey week is looking like it might not happen. So instead, I thought I’d do my posts in piecemeal.

Today, I will present an interesting influence The Prey had on Wrong Turn:

The Prey:

vlcsnap-1084789

I have always loved this odd camera shot featuring the back of this victim-to-be’s head. Moments away from terror and death, there’s something so strangely weird about this shot that compliments the surreal setting.

Wrong Turn:

vlcsnap-1083154

Same hair, same camera shot. Co-inky-dink?

More:
Part Two
Part Three

Posted in Features | Tagged | 4 Comments

It’s A Shock Festival In Your Living Room

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Dusk

shockfestivalbook

Rue Morgue’s Best Fiction Book of 2008, SHOCK FESTIVAL, is getting a DVD adaptation (of sorts). Fangoria recently posted an insightful Interview With Author Stephen Romano which outlines plans for the disc. Continue reading →

Posted in Features | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Now Showing: The Last House On The Left (2009)

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Dusk

lasthouseredux

The second LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT movie (third, if you rightly count THE VIRGIN SPRING as the first) is now in theaters across the ol’ USA. Worldwide release dates vary (I sure won’t be getting here it down under in anytime soon). Continue reading →

Posted in Features | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Proto-Slashers #3: Fright – 1971

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Dave Stewart

f6v2q9t_large1

Proto-Slashers: Looking at the flicks that paved the way for Halloween and the heyday of slasher movies. Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged | Comments Off on Proto-Slashers #3: Fright – 1971

Bloody Moon (1981)

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Thomas Ellison

bloodymoon

During my reckless teenage years I developed an addiction to Jess Franco flicks. My favorite Franco flick, other than those made with Klaus Kinski, is Bloody Moon. Severin recently released Bloody Moon on dvd so now I’m finally able to see Jess Franco’s only slasher uncut. And boy does the blood flow now. Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Great Slasher Mysteries Vol. 1

Posted on March 7, 2009 by Ross Horsley

Life is full of tantalizing mysteries… How did they build the Pyramids? What are UFOs? Is there an afterlife? And how did Lipstick Jungle get a second season? Okay, some of those are perhaps not quite so tantalizing, but I’m ignoring them all anyway in order to concentrate on some of horror history’s most intriguing unsolved mysteries… Well, they wouldn’t be mysteries if they had been solved, would they? Let’s kick off with a classic conundrum from the Friday the 13th series…

CASE #1: The Rat Piddle Riddle

bedpee1

We all know what happens every time you find an apparently safe hiding place whilst on the run from a deranged killer… Yes, a snake, tarantula or other creepy creature of some description will appear from nowhere and proceed to crawl all over your face. This will force you, not only to stifle your cries of terror at being chased by a killer in the first place, but also to keep a stiff upper lip (quite literally) in the face (again, quite literally) of something else almost equally unpleasant.

In the case of Friday the 13th Part 2, it’s poor final girl Ginny who comes face-to-face with a stinking, suspense-inducing rat whilst hiding from Jason Voorhies under a bed. But Ginny’s hide-and-don’t-shriek moment is famous for another reason – the combined shock of a sack-headed Jason and a smelly rodent causes her to have a little accident, and said accident is shown dribbling out from under the bed, forming a puddle of pure shame on the pinewood flooring…

OR IS IT?! Director Steve Miner has since claimed it was the rat with the bladder problem, forcing legions of slasher fans to question the identity of the mysterious pisser – and possibly their own sanity. It’s true: Ginny doesn’t seem to have the tell-tale wet-patch we all remember from school when she stands up. But it’s also true that the pee-pee comes from the bottom of the bed, when the rat is up at the other end gnawing at Ginny’s head (well, potentially). But who knows? Maybe rats are able to cover a surprising distance with their lavatorial antics. I wouldn’t put it past them. Only one thing seems certain, however: we may never be certain who really did the business in Friday the 13th Part 2.

CASE #2: The Puzzle of the Absent Author

nosanctuary

While Stephen King can’t write a note to the milkman without TV networks queuing up to turn it into a miniseries, it seems that some other genre specialists are lagging behind in the movie adaptation stakes. But while some of these, such as Jack Ketchum, have started seeing interest from the studios in recent years, one genuine giant of the horror literature field has yet to have a single movie based on one of his books.

Richard Laymon’s clever yet streamlined narratives read almost like ready-made slasher movie scripts: there’s the pre-Haute Tension home-invasion horrors of 1993’s Endless Night; backwoods slasher books like No Sanctuary (2001); and even a campsite massacre with sorority house flashbacks in the shape of 1992’s Blood Games. But none have yet made the leap from page to screen… Well, actually, there is one borderline case – a low-budget take on In the Night (1994) that Laymon himself was apparently impressed by, but which has yet to see a release and doesn’t even have an entry on the Internet Movie Database. So what’s the deal? Is the estate of the sadly now deceased author sitting on all the rights? Are Laymon’s tales of terror simply too nasty to film? Or is it simply a case of no one having the guts to take a stab at it?

Posted in Features | 7 Comments