16 March 2010

EDGE OF THE AXE
(1988,US/Spain)
[reviews by Luisito Joaquín González Martín]

    A series of violent axe murders plague the previously serene Paddock County. Meanwhile a group of young people fall in love and party as the terror mounts around them. The police are baffled and the authorities want the murders covered up, but as more body parts hit the floor they can no longer ignore that there's a homicidal maniac on the loose ...

    A late entry in the 1980s slasher stakes, this was an American and Spanish co-production with a smattering of faces familiar to anyone who has seen more than a handful of 1970s Euro Horror.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 16 March 2010)

THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE
(1971,Italy)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    A rich playboy goes loony-tunes after his beautiful, flame-haired wife dies during childbirth after putting it about all over town. Unable to get his revenge on her, he brings back red heads to his castle and kills them. However, he is soon being tormented by his dead wife, or is he?

    About as twisty and turny as the giallo gets. Ostensibly set in England, there's no hiding that Italian madness shining through. Psychedelic and ultimately bloody.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 16 March 2010)

MEATCLEAVER MASSACRE
(1975,US)
[reviews by Amanda By Night]

    A spurned student gathers some friends to attack his professor and his family, which leaves them all dead apart from the professor who ends up in a coma. Bad luck for the attackers, the professor exacts his terrible revenge from his hospital bed ....

    An early supernatural proto-slasher this features Christopher Lee definitely slumming it in an otherwise unrelated intro ahead of his gig as the angry one in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Still, it's not without its charms.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 11 February 2010)

FLOWER WITH THE PETALS OF STEEL
(1973,Italy)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    A suave doctor in Rome accidentally kills his lover, when she becomes impaled on a sharp artwork - or does she? The girl's half-sister - and lesbian lover, not to mention ex-lover of the good doctor - decides to try and find out what's happened. However, not all is what it seems ...

    As Carroll Baker's giallo swan song, this is surprisingly obscure. Undeservedly so. It's nothing new - certainly for the then fading genre - but its curious mix of realism and lesbian scuba sex is certainly head-turning.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 11 February 2010)

TIMECRIMES
(2007,Spain)
[reviews by Joseph Henson]

    A man finds a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour, after he is attacked by a masked man bearing scissors. He then finds things are even more complicated as he tries to avoid confronting himself; and becomes more exasperated as things go wrong faster than he can put them right ...

    A highly innovative thriller that borrows from the giallo and stalker in the woods genre that is likely to intrigue as many as it dumbfounds.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 24 January 2010)

DEVIL TIMES FIVE
(1974,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    Five cute kids are involved in a van crash in a remote snowy resort. Except they have more than Mousetrap on their minds; they want to find people to play with - and they have deadly games in mind ...

    This should be an absolute mess. The director was fired after producing just 40 minutes of useable footage. But, it actually transcends the bad movie it undoubtedly is and has moments of sheer perversity and unadulterated 1970s weirdness.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 24 January 2010)

A QUIET PLACE TO KILL
(1970,US)
[reviews by Erik Threlfall]

    A financially ruined racing car driver (an unlikely bit of casting for Caroll Baker) is tempted into a plot to murder her ex-husband by his new wife. As these plots often do go wrong in gialli, they do here - with the new wife accidentally killed instead. Then the divorced couple must try to cover up her death ...

    Before Umberto Lenzi turned into a peddler of much epic trash he made respectable giallo thrillers such as this. Not the best, but certainly not the worst the genre has to offer.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 15 December 2009)

SPINE
(1986,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    A beardy-weirdy in a pink shirt terrorises nurses. He has a grudge against someone called Linda (maybe she was his stylist?). Police are inept and the cast even more so ...

    This is sadomasochistic soft-core porn masquerading as a slasher film. Not much of interest here unless you like counting bad hairstyles as a hobby. One for completists only.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 15 December 2009)

THE TOOLBOX MURDERS
(1978,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    Sadistic murders rock an apartment complex, as women fall prey to a ski masked killer equipped with an array of murder implements. A teenage girl is kidnapped, the police are baffled, and there's a tap dripping in apartment 13 ...

    Who knew a film with a veritable toolbox of murders could be quite so dull? Apart from a cavalcade of atrocities in its opening 15 minutes it never quite escapes from its subsequent TV'esque rut.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 16 July 2009)

PSYCHO II
(1983,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    Norman Bates is back and he's sane. Or is he? Released from the asylum he returns to the Bates' Motel only to find it full of sin and vice. Perhaps unsurprisingly, brutal murders start afresh, but who is behind the mayhem ...

    The Grandpappy of the slasher movie gets an unlikely sequel. What's even more unlikely is that it's pretty good; mixing classic thrills with the best of early 80s slasher hi-jinx.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 16 July 2009)

WINDOWS
(1980,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    A young woman is attacked in her apartment by a knife-wielding man, who forces her to moan into a tape recorder. Her neighbour tries to comfort her, but it turns out that she is actually behind the attack and has developed an unhealthy obsession. An obsession that she will go to any lengths to pursue ...

    Pretty much buried since its short theatrical release, WINDOWS appears to link lesbianism with homicidal tendencies. Inaccurate, brimming with bad taste and sadly very dull.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 31 May 2009)

COLD PREY 2: RESSURECTION
(2008,Norway)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    The lone survivor from the first film struggles back to civilisation. She is taken to the local hospital to recover, but she is joined by the bodies of her dead friends and the mad killer. Only, the killer isn't dead, and soon he's cutting the nursing staff down to size ...

    Someone should show Rob Zombie this film. If you were going to remake HALLOWEEN II this is how it should be done.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 31 May 2009)

DEAD IN 3 DAYS
(2009,Austria)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    In time honoured tradition, a group of teens are hiding a deep, dark secret. Just after their graduation, they are hunted one-by-one by someone who first texts them that they will be dead in 3 days ...

    It's one big cliche, but despite - or perhaps because - it's actually pretty fun. And the Austrian landscape gives a nice twist to the backdrop of this teen slasher.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 28 March 2009)

THE DEVIL WITH SEVEN FACES
(1971,Italy)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    A young woman is stalked through the streets of Amsterdam. Two hunky men come to her rescue, but still the unwanted attention continues. Could it be something to do with her twin sister and a diamond heist?

    One of the many gialli that Carroll Baker and George Hilton made in the early 70s. Although this veers more in the direction of traditional thriller, it still has a modicum of giallo magic.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 28 March 2009)

FRIDAY THE 13TH
(2009,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    Jason Voorhees is back! Or is this his debut? Remake or reimagining? Jewel or turd? More horny campers check into Crystal lake and just as many check out - permanently

    Well, it's finally here. It can't possibly be as bad as Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN. Can it?

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 February 2009)

THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN
(1976,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell]

    Young couples are being targeted by a psychotic killer, with a bag on his head, in this period slasher set just after WW2. The police are baffled, but the killer keeps on offing necking couples. Based on real events.

    An important proto-slasher, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN suffers an even pace and veering haphazardly between horror and humour. Still, that trombone murder is a doozy!

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 February 2009)

    The family of a high school girl are butchered by a teacher obsessed with his student. A few years later she and her friends are getting ready for their prom night. Only, the killer is back in town and out to finish what he started ...

   Worse than abysmal, this is a dull, anemic pitiful excuse for a slasher remake. Take out all the good things from the original and fill it with morose, self-centered teens is not a recipe for thrills.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 February 2009)

MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D
(2009,US)
[reviews by J Kerswell and Joseph Henson]

    A young man returns to his hometown ten years after the Valentine's night massacre that saw 22 people loose their lives. Rather than being welcomed with open arms, he finds himself under suspicion as the murders start again. Could it be that Harry Warden has returned to continue his bloody revenge?

    Here it is! The 3D remake of one of the best early 80s slasher flicks. Does it cut the mustard?

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 17January 2009)

    Savage razor killings are rocky the genteel 'English' countryside. A suave private detective is hired by an MP to investigate an old associate. However, he and the MP's glamorous daughter are drawn into a web of murder and intrigue circling a Soho strip club ...

   The first Krimi on the site. It's interesting to see how the thriller morphed into the slasher film, and these German films based on the Edgar Wallace films form an important link in the chain.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 17 January 2009)

HOMICIDAL
(1961,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    A beautiful woman mysteriously offers to marry the bell hop at a city hotel, but after they get married she slashes to death the justice of the peace. Who is the homicidal bride? And will she kill again?

    William Castle made his name with fun-filled gimmicks (here it's a countdown to terror). Here he gives us a twist on PSYCHO that ups the graphic violence and hints at what was to come in slasher cinema.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 20 December 2008)

DEADLY LESSONS
(1983,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    Soon after a new girl arrives at an exclusive girls boarding school one of her class mates turns up dead. Then another hits the floor, and the students and teachers can't help but wonder who will be next?

    This ultra rare little TV slasher may be pretty bloodless (and nudity free), but it does offer some subgenre thrills.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 23 November 2008)

    Someone is making like Jack the Ripper by slashing up ladies of the night in 70's Soho. The police suspect an injured acrobat played by Paul Naschy, and he fights to clear his name after his wife becomes the latest victim ...

   Despite the salacious subject matter, this Spanish giallo is a curiously flat affair. Still, there's enough knife play and Euro lunacy for it to be worth taking a look.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 23 November 2008)

BLOOD FRENZY
(1987,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    A therapist thinks it's a great idea to take a group of her dysfunctional patients out into the desert for some confrontational therapy. Perhaps not such a great idea as soon someone finds a more deadly way to cure the group's ills - permanently ...

    No substance and you'll have forgotten it before the end of the credits, but this is a surprisingly enjoyably gory and cheesy late 80s slice of mayhem.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 23 November 2008)

HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS
(1989,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    Michael Myers is back (again). After making like Rip Van Winkle, he returns to Haddonfield to settle some scores and hunt down his niece. Only, presumably he didn't count on her developing a psychic link and that mad old dog Loomis being hell bent on getting him back in therapy ...

    By this late in the day the franchise is looking a little dog-eared (they couldn't even be bothered to make it look Autumnal), but there's a few jolts to make it worth a look.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 19 October 2008)

    A wheelchair bound woman is tormented by someone dressed as a priest carrying a bloodied doll. Meanwhile, someone is slaughtering the local vicars. Has she been driven insane by being attacked by a priest as a child, or is someone else behind the murders?

   This late-in-the-day American set giallo provides nothing new, but it does sport some eye-popping 80s fashions, some bloody shenanigans and a wonderfully over-the-top finale.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 19 October 2008)

DISCONNECTED
(1983,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    A young woman starts receiving strange calls after an old man she took pity on vanishes from her apartment. At the same time, the local police are investigating a series of brutal slasher murders that have been terrorising the neighbourhood ...

    Almost arthouse in its approach this is a one-of-a-kind slasher movie. Sadly that's the end of the good news, despite being occasionally arresting it fluffs the classic slasher action.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 19 October 2008)

STRAIGHT JACKET
(1982,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    A young housewife and recovering alcoholic has flashbacks (or is that flashforwards?) of a gory axe murder after she moves into a new house with her husband. She soon finds out that there was, indeed, a murder there a year before, but the killer may not have finished their gruesome handy work ...

    A mish-mash of high camp and bad movie nirvana with bouts of sheer tedium.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 August 2008)

CHILD'S PLAY
(1988,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    During his last gasps, a vicious killer transfers his soul to a Good Guy doll with some voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Chucky - the cursed doll - finds a home with a young boy and his divorced Mom. Only, soon Chucky is bored of being a mere plaything and sets out to gets revenge on those who done him wrong ...

    An entertaining spin on the old killer doll schtick, which at the very least lifted the slasher movie out of straight-to-video-hell for a little while.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 August 2008)

    What happens when you put a bevy of luscious lovelies, horny middle-aged men, and a psycho killer on a remote island? Lots of talk of 70s free lovin' and some proto slasher action that's what!

   The late, great Claudia Jennings is one of the girls-in-hotpants-in-peril in this entertaining throwback to the days of sex on the beach, pina coladas, chest wigs and flashing blades.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 August 2008)

MURDER LOVES KILLERS TOO
(2008,US)
[review by J Kerswell]

    In time-honoured tradition, a car load of teens head into the woods for a weekend of fun and loving in a remote mountain lodge. Only there's an unexpected guest, who's as handy with the housework as he is with the butcher's knife ...

    What starts off as a classic slasher movie setup takes some unexpected twists and turns, but still manages to satisfy as a subgenre entry.

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 13 August 2008)

YOU WILL DIE AT MIDNIGHT
(1986,Italy)
[review by J Kerswell]

    The murder of a detective's wife seemingly kick starts another killing spree that may be linked to the long dead serial murderer dubbed the Midnight Killer. A criminal psychologist is convinced he is back from the grave, and soon her pretty female students start falling to the flashing blade ...

    Very entertaining giallo from Lamberto Bava, that borrows from the American slasher and contains a lip smacking showdown between an electric whisk and a butcher's knife!

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 16 July 2008)

    Adam plays a Dungeons & Dragons'esque role playing game with his pals, only there's an added complication that Adam is suffering from a Medieval curse that means what happens in the game he must carry out in real life. Even if it means murder ...

   One of the strangest - and worst - slasher flicks to come out in the slasher movie's golden age. You won't believe your eyes - and when you do you'll want to gouge them out!

Click on the film's title to read the full review (if you dare!)

(Added: 16 July 2008)