Retro Slashers

Retro Slashers’ dear friend Joseph Henson of the Bodycount Continues board (which is temporarily down) has created a niftly little blog called 80s Slasher Cup as a place to vote for your favorite slashers.

This is how it works kids, every day Joe picks 2 movies and pits them up agains each other. Their survival is based on our votes. When all is said and done, we will have the definitive list of the best slashers. We did this once over at TBC and it was one of the highpoints of my life. I know, I have a boring life, but you know, it’s the little things.

Anyway, stop on by, vote and post comments and let the good times roll!

I first caught The Unnamable on USA’s Saturday Nightmares at a ripe age when horror movies were leaving quite the impression on me. To say that this movie became a huge influence would be an understatement. It introduced me to not only a great film but also to the work of H.P. Lovecraft, who I was unfamiliar with at the time. Gimme a break – I grew up in Vegas. Culture for that town is EFX Alive

The Unnamable definitely took some liberties with Lovecraft’s short story of the same name, but does create an eerie gothic setting and unsettling atmosphere which would be perfectly at home with the author. Mark Kinsey Stephenson is Randolph Carter, nerd extraordinaire, and a well versed scholar on the local condemned house, which is supposedly cursed with an unnamable evil (He also goes to… you guessed it… Miskatonic University). It takes about two seconds for one of Randolph’s friends to challenge the story and off he goes to spend the night in the house.

Guess who never returns?

Undaunted, Randolph and his good friend Howard (Charles Klausmeyer) decide to investigate. This works out kind of well because not only has Howard’s big crush, Wendy (the voluptuous Laura Albert) gone to house on a date, but she brought along her friend Tanya (Alexandra Durrell) who has a big crush on Howard! Gee, how will it all work out? It’s not going to matter because once the unnamable creature gets a taste for human flesh, it becomes more about surviving than getting laid (good priorities!).

The Unnamable is an extremely charming film with Klausmeyer and Stephenson putting in good work in the lead roles. I particularly liked Klausmeyer who reminded me just a touch of Andrew McCarthy circa Pretty in Pink… But I digress…

The effects in this film are tremendous, especially the creature itself which is a nasty she-beast. It’s a strikingly beautiful creation and saved for the last bit of film, proving that less is more when it comes to traditional scare tactics.

The Unnamable got a sequel, aptly title the Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter and although not quite as good as the original, it does keep a little of the atmosphere and brings back the two excellent leads.

This time, Randolph and Howard head back to the house with Professor Warren (John Rhys-Davis) to retrieve the creature (for research purposes of course). After a bit of mayhem, they manage to separate the spirit of the cursed girl inside monster, Alyda Winthrop (Maria Ford), but the creature is hell bent on getting her back and follows them to Miskatonic U, doing a bit of damage along the way.

Released 5 years apart, the sequel picks up right after the original ended without missing a beat. The humor is upgraded and horror tends to take a backseat, but it’s still a fun rollercoaster ride of man vs. monster. Maria Ford is pretty good as Alyda and Julie Strain fills out the creature’s costume and then some!
 
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’ve always been enamored with both of these films. The two actors are just so captivating and fun to watch. Shot on an extremely low budget, I think that director Jean-Paul Ouellette (who made both films) makes the most of what he has available. Neither film shirks on gore but most importantly it remains an engaging monster romp that pleases beyond what a lot of major studios were bringing to the table. OK, so I have a soft spot for USA’s Saturday Nightmares and I have an even softer spot for guys who look like Andrew McCarthy, but I can’t be the only one out there, right?

Right?

Anyone?

Piece of trivia: Klausmeyer and Stephenson would team up again in 2000 as writers for the Lifetime friendly movie Someone is Watching, starring Stefanie Powers and Margot Kidder!!!

Some things I learned in Texas:

Texas Grub = Awesomeness
Austinites are good people
You can drink beer in the theaters

Well, you can at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema anyway. And check it: Every Thursday this month, they have something called Terror Thursdays

Tonight’s flick: The Boogens

Oh. My. God.

I’m not sure this is a regular thing or if it’s only for the month of Halloween, but do check out their Website

Also, here in Los Angeles The New Beverly Cinema is having a cool fundraiser this weekend and check out the movies they are playing this Saturday, the 18th:

House on Sorority Row
Creepers (aka Phenomena – this is the US Theatrical Cut)
Zombi
The Power
… and more!!!

And the rest of the month looks awesome too. Check out their schedule.

They don’t ‘officially’ allow you to drink at this theater, but they do actually encourage you bring your own forty (and have even raffled them off from time to time).

Drunks who love horror. What more could you ask for?

This is the first in a series of articles highlighting the folks that made the golden age of slashers so great.  Future articles will deal with actors, directors, and make-up wizards.  I thought it best to start off by saluting the much maligned people that helped make slasher films so profitable at the box-office, the audience.

If you were a slasher fan during the late 70’s, early 80’s it helped to have a thick skin.  N.O.W. not only protested outside theaters showing slashers, they also slandered the fans on the nightly news.  Roger Ebert couldn’t write a review for a slasher without telling his readers about the “vicarious sex criminals” (I Spit on Your Grave) in the audience or bemoaning the party atmosphere and large crowds in the theater during showings of Prom Night and Friday the 13th part II.   What Ebert never realized is the party atmosphere is what made viewing slashers in a theater so much fun.  Those early slasher crowds were made up of different races, social classes, and ages but they could all come together and enjoy a good scary movie when the lights went down and the curtains opened.   The critics and other intelligentsia could only look at the slasher audience as a dangerous unwashed mob that worshipped death at a bloody cinematic alter.

There were many different types of people in a slasher audience. The best audiences had several banshees, a few yellers, and at least one human spring.  The banshees were usually college girls that screamed at the slightest false scare and really howled when the action got intense.  I suspect these girls behaved in such a manner so their dates would hold them a little closer.   The yellers shouted advice to the characters on screen, as if the actors could actually hear them and would deviate from the script because Tony Ray in the third row told them not to drop the knife or not to go up those dark stairs.  The human spring is my all time favorite audience member.  You can actaully see these folks sink lower and lower into their seats as the suspense on screen builds.  When the scare finally hits, they spring at least two or three feet into the air.  The human spring is fun to watch but can cause serious injury if they don’t land in their seat. 

The slasher audience has never really died out.  They will still turn out in droves for special occasions.  My last encounter with a slasher audience was Freddy vs Jason.  The party atmosphere made the whole experience feel like a reunion of old friends.  It was like Father Time had reversed the hands of time.  I was a little kid again gazing at the screen with awe and wonder while two anti-heroes made a bloody mess out of the cast.