Slasher Hall of Fame Part II

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I said I'd post a couple of sentences on A movie, which I didn't have time for. I've seen all the movies bit do NOT have time for reviews. I have a VERY heavy workload and intense stress so I cannot add more pressure. It's probably best to just remove me from the HoF.

Also, I'm also not receiving mentions. Please just use @ and my usename or the tag won't work.

You only have to review 9 films...


Psycho II
Terrifier
Scream
I know What you did last Summer
Slaughter High
Inside
Peeping Tom
Prowler
Black Christmas


Why don't write a little something on your two nominated films and then maybe in the next eight weeks you can find the time to write those other seven paragraphs.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Scream






An iconic film in the horror genre that has inspired countless imitators. Scream is a great flick and probably the one I've seen the most out of the bunch. I'd say it still holds up today, poking fun at the genre, while embracing it. The less said about the sequels the better (I really liked 4 though).

The mask is another iconic aspect of the movie. It's become a Halloween tradition to see at least one kid sporting it on the streets, probably without having ever seen the movie too!!!
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Psycho II




I was really surprised that this film was as good and thoughtful as it was considering it's a sequel so many years after the original, which is considered a classic by many. I didn't know what to expect, but this film becomes more of a character study than a horror movie. Bates is back home, he is "sane" now. But is he? He keeps hearing his mother again and a strange new woman has entered his life. Is she there for honest reasons, or something more?

Psycho II has a lot of scenes of Bates looking at knives...just pondering what to do with it. The audience is in suspense just watching him look at the blade. It's fun going back to the locations from the previous film. Now we get to see everything in colour. The entire time I kept thinking this actress looks like Jennifer Tilly...then I find out it's her sister...well duh.

The ending with the shovel to the head of his real mother was a bit too much for me and falls into a goofy category that is simply there to set up more films. Up until that point, this movie was a thoughtful look inside the mind of a character trying his best to move on from his horrible past. This is a sequel that is better than it should be and one that many people will obviously overlook.





The Prowler (1981), the Prowler is a movie that starts strong and then tappers off as it progresses. The idea behind the film is that a killer is stalking a party on the anniversary of a killing. Tom Savini does a great job with the FX you've got a great scene with a knife to the back of the head that just sounds so good. But the film loses me a bit with the reveal and the design of the killer...the mask just kinda sucks. The pacing is also a little off with this one.



One of the things I really enjoyed about the film was it's use of space. You get the sense that the prowler is moving around this party. Some slashers you get a feeling of teleportation but I didn't have that with Prowler.





Slaughter High(1986) Marty is a classmate who on his birthday is horrificly bullied and scarred for life by a gang of bullies. Years later the bullies return to the High School for a reunion where Marty goes on to pick them off one by one.


I love this movie, the accents are horrible the kids are all in their 30's and the film is incredibly disjointed. But the film has a great atmosphere, the kills are creative the FX work is really well done for the era and several of the scenes are classic.


One of the things that I really enjoyed was how many of the kills were foreshadowed and yet still they were creative. Like a Nightmare on Elmstreet film several characters died were done away with based both on what they liked and how their actions effected Marty.



Inside (2007)

I really like this one. It's simple, well cast and bloody. There's not much by way of plot but it's still tense, and Béatrice Dalle is amazing.

It holds up well with time, too.



Let the night air cool you off
Inside (2007)

Before seeing it, I wasn't convinced it was a slasher. I was wrong. We got a mystery on who the killer is, I mean, not who they are, but who they are.... I mean.. we see the killer, but we aren't supposed to know who the killer is. I mean, it's pretty obvious who the killer is. Whatever though, because this movie is tight. It's brutal. It's got a great setting. The design of the house works well for this type of film, with the location of the stairway, hallway, bathroom, and bedroom are tightly squeezed and are made to feel impossible to get through. The gore is all pretty well done too, with the exception of the part where some eyes are missing. I also like the baby-time shots too. A nice touch.

Also, I really like the weapons our killer uses. Scissors and knitting needles. Cool stuff. Mortal Kombat should get her as a DLC character.









Psycho II (1983) is one of the best slasher sequels of all time. Released 23 years after the original Norman has been released. He returns home to put his life back together. The film does a number of things most slashers don't do, to start off with it really invests it's time and energy into a mystery. Anthony Perkins is given an opportunity to act (as a man with a difficult grasp on sanity) and I felt like he did a phenomenal job. The film also uses cinematography and an actual score which completely elevates it. Meg Tilly is also very good as the lead female in that she feels natural in the role, it's no surprise she ended up with Oscar nomination two years later.



I'll add some flair to my posts next week (and add more posts) as it'll be slightly less hectic at work than it has been.
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I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)



You know watching this film you could have sworn Harvey Weinstein produced this because man did it look like a bunch Harvey's girls were in this. But no it turns out this wasn't a #Metoo film (for now). Jennifer Love Hewitt dead eyes her way through this slasher while Freddie Prinze Jr emotes like the sad sack we always knew he was. It should surprise anyone that Ryan Phillippe, and Sarah Michelle Gellar steal the show, Phillippe with his Boston douchery (he should have been roid raging) and SMG's chase sequence really was the height of the film. I still didn't care about the killer and I hated the fact that it was "boston" yet the accents were all over the place.


This film also reminded me of a number of things I missed from the nineties...things like crane and helicopter shots, full soundtracks of pop hits, cameos of possible killers (hello Anne Heche). But I didn't care for the killer reveal and this film has some of the worst physics I think I've seen in a horror film.





Peeping Tom (1960) well it's certainly a good looking film. Something seems to happen with older film makers we they reach the end of their careers they want to get a little kinky and much like Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut or Hitchcock's Frenzy this Michael Powell's sexiest film. I wasn't that crazy about this one, the killings felt pretentious and contrived...why the girls can't get away from a guy trying to murder them with a giant camera with a stick on the end seems a bit silly. I also was not a big fan of Mark as a lead he was just too distant and weird for me. But I did enjoy the cinematography I just wish the rest of the film came together for me.





Scream (1996) -One of the great things about revisiting a classic after watching a bunch of slashers is seeing what a great film does well. In Scream you get a series of scenes that most slashers don't factor in, you get the police department scene, the calling kids in to question them scene. Having an actual time frame does wonders for the story. The soundtrack is also top notch playing older songs and newer ones (something I know what you did last summer could have learned from). Campell and Cox's chemistry is also powerful as each scene is pure fire.





The Terrifier is a film of unfortunate imbalance. I can understand why this film was chosen, the clown is great clearly inspired by Lon Chaney, The film also does a great job with makeup which is where I think the creators really excelled in. But the thing has three huge problems which are mostly based on budget.

1. The cast is 90% the same age which means the director cast his friends from likely the same acting class.

2. The film mostly takes place in a warehouse and the lighting never really varies. The film has a very basic digital look and most of the horror scenes lose out on a degree of suspense because of it. We are forced as the viewer to know that the filmmaker only had this one setting and the feel the budgetary restraints.

3. The score is particularly bad, playing throughout the entire film it feels almost disconnected from what is happening on screen.

My hope is when they make the sequel they can pull an Evil Dead II and improve upon the films shortcomings the next one won't feel so much like a student film.



Scream (1996)

There's nothing I can say about this movie that hasn't already been said a hundred times. I remember seeing it in the theatres when it came out and feeling nervous going back to my car. It holds up pretty well upon repeated viewings, and I've always thought that mask quite creepy. Good, fun movie.



I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

I wasn't much a fan of this movie when it came out. I felt the need to rewatch it, just to see if I still felt the same way...and I do. I don't really find much to like about it. I don't mind the lack of likeable characters as that's never been something I care about. I've been known to like antagonists. There was just nothing in this film to really hold my attention. No gore, no story to write home about, no bite, predictable, and over acting without the charm of unskilled labours of love. It was just...there.

I liked the Type O Negative cover of Summer Breeze in the beginning.



The trick is not minding
Had I joined this site earlier, I’d have gladly joined in on this. Maybe the next one that comes up.
The HOF that you guys do are great because it gives me a chance to see films I might normally never have considered.



Had I joined this site earlier, I’d have gladly joined in on this. Maybe the next one that comes up.
The HOF that you guys do are great because it gives me a chance to see films I might normally never have considered.

You want to watch the noms and vote?


This is sort of dying



The trick is not minding
Had I joined this site earlier, I’d have gladly joined in on this. Maybe the next one that comes up.
The HOF that you guys do are great because it gives me a chance to see films I might normally never have considered.

You want to watch the noms and vote?


This is sort of dying
I wish I could, but I’m doing the comedy one at the moment, and I don’t know if I could juggle both quite yet, considering how many films are involved in both. Sorry 🙁