‘Everyone has nightmares about the ugliest way to die.’

Don’t Go in the Woods – also known as Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone! - is a 1980 (released 1981) American slasher film directed by James Bryan from a screenplay by Garth Eliassen. The film was shot on a budget of $20,000 in the summer of 1980 in outdoor locations in Utah in order to save money on the film’s lighting.

It is one of the infamous video nasties that was banned in the UK in the moral panic of the 1980s. It was finally re-released uncut, with a BBFC 15 rating (!), in 2007.

Plot teaser:

As something kills a hysterical woman, and a bird watcher, four friends – Peter, Joanne, Ingrid and Craig – trek through the wilderness. A tourist is thrown over a waterfall – landing near some oblivious frolickers – and his mother is wounded, and dragged away.

The four backpackers set up camp for the night, and elsewhere a pair of honeymooners are attacked in their van and murdered. The next day, the two couples continue their hike, while an artist is stabbed to death, and her young daughter is taken.

Two more campers are butchered, and while off on his own, Peter witnesses a fisherman be murdered by the killer, a spear-wielding wild man adorned in furs and rags. Peter rushes off to warn his friends, who the maniac gets to first, spearing Craig, and sending Joanne fleeing into the woods. Peter finds Ingrid, and after the two stumble upon the wild man’s cabin, they accidentally attack another hiker, thinking he was the savage. The killer finishes off the hiker, and wounds Ingrid, but she and Peter escape, and eventually reach civilisation, and alert the authorities to the backwoods psychopath…

Buy Don’t Go in the Woods on Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray + DVD from Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Aside from one nasty bit with a bear trap and a sequence toward the end that faintly — and accidentally, believe me — recalls The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in its slow, dread-saturated buildup, director James Bryan’s splatter film is an incoherent mess. An endless parade of victims keeps the fake blood squirting, but the murder sequences are so poorly staged that it’s usually impossible to tell precisely what’s happening. The most frightening thing about this alleged horror film, aside from its bad synthesizer soundtrack, is its pacing. Murder sequences are clumped together throughout the film, leaving a lot of flab in between.” Bryan Pop, DVD Verdict

“Much of the dialogue is priceless – a doctor saying of one of the escapees to the sheriff: “There’s a lot of pressure under that kind of stress and he might… he might become irrational!” The scriptwriter should have won some kind of surrealist award, or been shot – or both! The gore is cheap but plentiful (enough to get it banned in the UK, an accolade it still possess after so many years) and there is always the slightly satisfying feeling that you will (probably) never see anything as awful again.” Hysteria Lives

Buy Don’t Go in the Woods on 88 Films Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

” …a lively, ramshackle horror picture with a devil-may-care approach to story construction, and lots of grisly deaths. The story … may lack originality, but it plays the slasher horror game to the hilt and proved to be Bryan’s most visible and commercially successful picture.” Stephen Thrower, Nightmare USA

Buy Nightmare USA book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

” …fat women huffing up hillsides, nerdy birdwatchers, roller-skating disco-bunnies and swinging couples, all accompanied by perhaps the most grating score of all time (by H. Kingsley Thurber). At the gore is plentiful – if extremely hokey.” J.A. Kerswell, Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut

Buy Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast:

• Jack McClelland as Peter
• Mary Gail Artz as Ingrid
• James P. Hayden as Craig
• Angie Brown as Joanne
• Ken Carter as Sheriff
• David Barth as Deputy Benson
• Larry Roupe as Store Owner
• Amy Martell as Artist’s Child
• Tom Drury as Maniac
• Laura Trefts as Doctor Maggie

Choice dialogue:

Craig: [tying Joanne in a sleeping bag] “Now I’ve got you, bitch! Let’s hear you say uncle! Say uncle! Say it, bag of bitch! Say it! Say it, bag of bitch! Say it! Say uncle!”

International titles:

Filo mortal – Argentina

The Forest 2 – Australia (video title)

Perigo na Floresta – Brazil

Le tueur de la forêt – France

Nie chodz do lasu – Poland

Não Vás à Floresta… Sozinha! – Portugal

No vayas al bosque… sola – Spain

Ausflug in das Grauen – West Germany

Wikipedia | IMDb

Blood Slaughter Massacre is a 2013 slasher horror movie edited and directed by Manny Serrano (Zombie Hunters: City of the Dead) from a screenplay co-written with Louie Cortes (The Attack of the Brain People).

The film stars Matt W. Cody, Mike Roche, Byron M. Howard. Carmela Hayslett, Melissa Roth, Darlene Heller, Danielle Lenore, Bradley Creanzo, David Garelik.

Plot teaser:

“Ten years ago, the sleepy suburb of Havenwood was plagued by a string of unsolved murders by a masked maniac remembered only as The Ripper. Now a new series of killings has begun, and teenagers are turning up dead everywhere. But can The Ripper be stopped this time around?”

In the US, the film will be available on DVD via Wild Eye Releasing April 21, 2015. Extras include:

Audio commentary by director/co-writer/editor Manny Serrano, producer/AD/FX creator Lindsay Serrano and co-writer/cinematographer Louie Cortes
• Over 12 minutes of deleted scenes
• Extended scenes
• Behind-the-scenes featurette
• VHS rip of the Blood Slaughter Massacre promo tape, containing the three faux trailers the film is based upon
• “Demons of the Night” music video by Midnight Flashback, with footage from the film
• The Ripper action figure toy commercial, starring Johnny Dickie of Slaughter Tales

IMDb | Facebook | Mass Grave Pictures

‘New York has a new problem.’

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is a 1989 slasher horror film written and directed by Rob Hedden and starring Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves and Kane Hodder.

It is the eighth film in the Friday the 13th film series, and deals with Jason Voorhees stalking a group of high school graduates on a ship en route to, and later in, New York City. It was the last film in the series to be distributed by Paramount Pictures in the United States until 2009. The film grossed $14.3 million at the domestic box office, making it the second lowest-grossing film in the series.

Plot teaser:

A year after Tina Shepard’s deceased dad chained Jason to the bottom of Camp Crystal Lake, two graduating high school students are aboard on a houseboat. Jim tells his girlfriend Suzy the legend of Jason Voorhees; the supernatural while aboard undead psychopathic killer before playing a prank on her with a hockey mask and a fake knife. The boat sails over some underwater cables, which electrify Jason’s corpse and cause his resurrection. He sneaks on board and stabs Jim with a harpoon barb before impaling Suzy.

The next morning, the SS Lazarus is ready to set sail, bound for New York City with a graduating high school class, chaperoned by biology teacher Charles McCulloch and English teacher Colleen Van Deusen. Jason sneaks on board and kills rock star wannabe J.J. with her guitar before hiding in the bowels of the ship.

That night, after a boxing match, a young boxer who lost to champion Julius Gaw is killed when Jason slams a sauna rock into his abdomen while Rennie, searching for her dog Toby, discovers prom queen Tamara and Eva doing drugs. McCulloch nearly catches them moments later and Tamara pushes Rennie overboard, suspecting she narced them out. She then uses video student Wayne to record McCulloch in a compromising situation with her, but rejects Wayne’s advances afterward. Tamara is killed by Jason when she goes to take a shower.

Rennie begins seeing visions of a young Jason throughout the ship, but the others ignore the deckhand’s warnings that Jason is aboard. After more killings, the ship finally reaches New York City…

Buy Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

‘ … Jason Takes Manhattan is competent and professionally made, but in a TV-movie way. There is no tension and the shocks are all well telegraphed. Harry Manfredini’s score is replaced by nondescript synthesizer chords and bland rock songs from unknown bands. Fans of the series are likely to be highly disappointed although its good to see Kane Hodder donning the mask once again.’ Jim Harper, Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies

‘The whole appeal of putting Jason in a metropolitan city was that it was something different for him – I’m not sure why people seem to forget that a ship was a new environment as well. This gave him many new implements to use (sauna rock! guitar! antenna!), a wealth of victims (Jason gets one of his highest on-screen kills counts in this one – and his 2nd biggest overall after Jason X, since a ship full of anonymous students is sunk), and a welcome change of scenery…’ Horror Movie a Day

‘Perhaps the series nadir … took a fun idea – putting Jason Vorhees in New York City (the joke being that he fits in) – and had it scuppered by budgetary limitations; most of the film takes place on the boat journey there.’ Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut

Buy Teenage Wasteland at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Buy Crystal Lake Memories on Blu-ray + DVD combo from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast:

• Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees
• Jensen Daggett as Rennie Wickham
• Scott Reeves as Sean Robertson
• Barbara Bingham as Colleen Van Deusen
• Peter Mark Richman as Charles McCulloch
• Martin Cummins as Wayne Webber
• Gordon Currie as Miles Wolfe
• V. C. Dupree as Julius Gaw
• Kelly Hu as Eva Watanabe
• Saffron Henderson as J.J. Jarrett
• Sharlene Martin as Tamara Mason
• Alek Diakun as Deck hand
• Warren Munson as Admiral Robertson
• Tiffany Paulsen as Suzie Donaldson
• Amber Pawlick as young Rennie Wickham

Buy Making Friday the 13th: The Legend of Camp Blood from Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Animated gif courtesy of Beware The Horror Blog

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood is a 1988 slasher horror film directed by John Carl Buechler (Troll; Cellar Dweller; Ghoulies III) from a screenplay by Manuel Fidello and Daryl Haney.

It is the seventh instalment in the original Friday the 13th series and the start of the Kane Hodder era in which he repeated the role of Jason Vorhees three more times. The other leads are Lar Park Lincoln, Kevin Blair, Susan Blu, Terry Kiser (The Offspring).

Plot teaser:

Shortly after the events of the previous film, seven-year old Tina Sheppard witnesses her father abusing her mother, and runs out onto the lake in a boat. When her father tries to retrieve and apologise to her, Tina’s latent telekinetic powers awaken and she accidentally collapses the dock on him, causing him to drown.

Ten years later, Tina and her mother return to the lake at the request of her doctor Dr. Crews in order to face her fear and trauma over the death of her father. Crews tries to incite Tina to use her telekinetic powers through constant persuasion and manipulation, though under the guise of psychiatric care, he plans to exploit Tina’s gifts. After a particularly disturbing confrontation, Tina runs out to the docks and believes she senses her father’s presence in the lake. She uses her powers to resurrect him, but instead accidentally frees Jason Voorhees from his imprisonment…

Reviews:

‘The New Blood certainly moves briskly from one violent set piece to the next; as a result of Buechler’s emphasis on narrative momentum, however, the underlying themes, such as they are, never have an opportunity to breathe. With the victims made even more generic than usual this time around, the result is more or less the kind of slasher film the series’s many detractors accuse films in the genre of being as a whole: an empty-headed slaughterfest, with a bit of negligible human interest to offset the nihilism.’ Kenji Fujishima, Slant Magazine

‘Although the role of Jason isn’t exactly Shakespeare, Hodder turns in a great performance as the hulking, heavy breathing zombie killer.John Carl Buechler’s special effects are great, even though they were heavily edited by the MPAA. Hodder and the special effects are the main reasons to watch the film, since the rest of the cast sleepwalk through their parts and the dialogue is frighteningly dumb.’ Jim Harper, Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies

‘The makeup design this time around is absolutely stunning, and shows an attention to detail that has hitherto been completely absent from any aspect of the Friday the 13th series. Jason really does look like he’s spent a good ten years rotting at the bottom of a lake. His clothes are little more than soggy rags, his skin is greenish and slimed with putrescence, and his bones are visible wherever they lie close to the surface— his ribs, spine, kneecaps, and shoulder blades. It’s when his mask comes off during the final clash between him and Tina that the makeup team’s workmanship really comes to the fore, though.’ 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

Buy Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection on Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Censorship:

Several explicit scenes of gore were cut in order to avoid an X rating, including: Maddy’s death, who originally had a sickle jammed through her neck; Ben’s death, which showed Jason crushing his head into a bloody pulp; Kate’s death, which showed Jason ramming her in the eye with a party horn; the original VHS and DVD versions only show a full view of Jason as he aims towards her face, but quickly cuts to another scene before revealing the blood and gore gushing from her eye; we see Eddie’s head hit the floor; a shot of Russell’s face splitting open with a large blood spurt; Dan’s original death had Jason ripping out his guts; Amanda Shepard’s death originally showed Jason stabbing her from behind, with the resulting blade going through her chest and subsequent blood hitting Dr. Crews;

Dr. Crews’s death showed Jason’s tree-trimming saw violently cutting into his stomach, sending a fountain of blood and guts in the air; Melissa’s original death had Jason cleaving her head in half with an axe with a close-up of her eyes still wriggling in their sockets. The boxed set DVD release of all of the films and the single deluxe edition have all these scenes available as deleted scenes in rough work print footage, however the deluxe edition features more additional footage than the boxed set.

Buy Deluxe Edition DVD from Amazon.com

Ghanian hand drawn poster

Cast:

• Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees
• Lar Park Lincoln as Tina Shepard
• Kevin Spirtas as Nick
• Susan Blu as Amanda Shepard
• Terry Kiser as Dr. Crews
• Susan Jennifer Sullivan as Melissa
• Elizabeth Kaitan as Robin
• William Butler as Michael
• Staci Greason as Jane
• Jon Renfield as David
• Jeff Bennett as Eddie
• Heidi Kozak as Sandra
• Diana Barrows as Maddy

Body Count:

Documentary:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The screams you hear may be your own!’

The Demon – also known as Midnight Caller - is a 1979 South African slasher film co-produced, written and directed by Percival Rubens (Survival Zone; Sweet Murder). It stars Cameron Mitchell, Jennifer Holmes (Raw Force), Craig Gardner and Zoli Marki.

The Demon was released direct to video in the USA on March 1st 1981 by Thorn EMI. On April 28, 1983, the film made its US television debut through Gold Key Entertainment. It was released in the USA by S.J. Interntational Pictures in 1985 under the title Midnight Caller. The film has since become public domain, and has been released on DVD several times.

Plot teaser:

Fourteen year-old Emily Parker (Ashleigh Sendin) is kidnapped from her rural home and murdered by a faceless, heavy-breathing maniac. Later, the maniac hitchhikes to the city with a gregarious truck driver (John Parsonson). The maniac kills the truck driver, steals his cash, and takes up residence at a hotel in Johannesburg’s Doornfontein neighborhood.

Two months later, Emily’s parents — frustrated by the failure of law enforcement officials to either locate Emily — enlist in the help of Bill Carson (Cameron Mitchell), a retired Colonel in the U.S. Marines who now works as a freelance psychic detective. Joan Parker (Moira Winslow), the distraught mother, needs to know whether Emily is alive or dead — but the angry Mr. Parker (Peter J. Elliot) is preoccupied with bloody revenge, and aggressively implores Col. Carson to find the man responsible. Carson gravely intones that the entity they seek is “an aberration of the species. Something hallucinating evil” — and warns the Parkers that it would be best if they didn’t find him!

Meanwhile — for reasons left unclear — the maniac decides to fixate on a young, American pre-school teacher named Mary Jones (Jennifer Holmes), who shares a bungalow in Johannesburg’s Saxonwold neighborhood with her 18 year-old cousin, Jo (Zoli Marki). Mary first sees the elusive maniac lurking outside her classroom — disappearing and re-appearing in the fog — and later, spying on her at the mall.

When not stalking Mary, the maniac holes up in his hotel room — doing push-ups, growling, and tearing up girly magazines. He also prowls Johannesburg’s Hillbrow district at night, attacking various women…

Buy The Demon on DVD from Amazon.com

Reviews:

‘There’s minimal gore due the fact that the nutjob’s method of murder is to put a bag over the head of each victim and asphyxiate them. We can’t escape the scriptwriting shipwreck of the character development parts, which are snooze-inducing, and they seem to have let Cameron Mitchell loose on the quaaludes before he turned up on set. Does this make The Demon a total waste of space? Well funnily enough, no. We may be somewhere off Halloween with what we have here, but there’s enough in the extremely cute actress, remorseless assailant and idea that a place in the world exists called Boobs Disco to have kept me engaged.’ Luisito Joaquín González, A Slash Above…

‘ …The Demon seems like two movies with different plot lines spliced together. In any case, the film was clearly influenced by Halloween with its ambiguous killer whose face is hidden and who wears a brown leather jacket and gloves with razors on them. There’s at least one unexpected development in the movie, but most of it is over-familiar. That’s too bad, because The Demon isn’t badly directed and has some good scenes, although the ending is a mite dragged out.’ Great Old Movies

‘There is absolutely no plot structure in this film. There is no explanation about the demon, who he is, what he does, and why he does it. He just terrorizes a town and kills people that cross his path. The Parkers are a poorly structured family and things are just cut off to the point that there is no explanation whatsoever, especially the way it ends.’ Caponomics

Cast:

• Cameron Mitchell as Col. Bill Carson
• Jennifer Holmes as Mary Jones
• Craig Gardner as Dean Turner
• Zoli Marki as Jo
• Peter J. Elliot as Mr. Parker
• Moira Winsow as Joan Parker
• Mark Tanous as Bobby
• George Korelin as Dr. Stuart
• Vera Blacker as Mrs. Stuart
• John Parsonson as The Truck Driver

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Not everyone is whom they seem. Not even you.’

TEN is a 2014 horror thriller film directed by Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. It stars Jade Sylvan, Molly Carlisle, Molly Devon, Karin Webb, Kerri Lynch, Leah Principe, Rachel Leah Blumenthal, Susannah Plaster, Porcelain Dalya and Sophia Cacciola.

Funding for the movie was partially raised through a successful Kickstarter campaign. It had its world premiere on March 30, 2014 at the Boston Underground Film Festival and will be distributed in North America by BrinkVision on DVD in April 2015.

Reviews:

‘ …up to something a little different, looking to subvert audience expectations…and while TEN contains the scenario’s requisite blood and nudity, it veers off in directions you likely won’t see coming, both in narrative terms and in the way it explores questions of female identity.’ Michael Gingold, Fangoria

Buy TEN on DVD from Amazon.com

‘ …deeper still, the movie takes on a political and sociological stance, examining stereotypes, identity, and also the subtext and themes behind story lines.’  Lauren Shiro, Curve

‘ …imagine Scream crossed with The Usual Suspects…The art comes with meticulously framed shots full of color, the enjoyment with puzzling out the crazy plot twists.’ Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald

Cast:

• Jade Sylvan as the renegade
• Molly Carlisle as the zealot
• Molly Devon as the real-estate investor
• Karin Webb as the medium
• Kerri Lynch as the actress
• Leah Principe as the model
• Rachel Leah Blumenthal as the historian
• Susannah Plaster as the doctor
• Porcelain Dalya as the co-ed
• Sophia Cacciola as the folk singer

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘… no-one ever returns from this phantom town of terror!’

Scream – also known as The Outing – is a 1980 slasher horror movie written, directed and co-produced by Byron Quisenberry. It stars Pepper Martin, Hank Worden, John Ethan Wayne (John Wayne’s son), Ann Bronston, Julie Marine and Woody Strode (Kingdom of the Spiders).

The film, which had the working title Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker, was released on 1st January 1981 by Cal-Com. In the US, it was issued on VHS by Vestron Video. Media Blasters released a DVD of the film in 2010 under its Shriek Show label. The release included a widescreen transfer, an audio commentary by Byron Quisenberry, a TV spot, and a theatrical trailer. Code Red also distributed the film on DVD, as a double feature with The Barn of the Naked Dead.

Plot teaser:

A group of twelve friends on a river camping trip decide to spend the night in an old ghost town. Unfortunately, an unseen killer begins to dispatch them one by one. On the first night at the stroke of midnight, three of the group are killed in rapid succession. Allen is found hung; his friends Rod and John both hacked by a cleaver. In the morning, the nine survivors try to leave, but find their three rubber rafts slashed apart by someone (or something) forcing them to spend another night at the ghost town…

Reviews:

‘ …Scream was just too slow for even my forgiving tastes. If the action between the downtime was even remotely interesting, I’d find reasons to praise the film. But again, the film’s major flaw is its attempts to be mysterious. What/who is the phantom thing at the end? What is the meaning of the clock and statues at the beginning? What is the meaning behind the painting? Precious time…perhaps a minute to two minutes… is spent lingering on these images. Surely they mean something? Maybe? Maybe not.’ Oh, the Horror!

‘More often than not, we see a weapon or other implement hanging on a wall, we see an unseen hand begin to remove it, and then we see a dead body — that’s it. The bloody weapon might get hung back up. We might see some smoke in the darkness. We might see a long-distance shot of the corpse. And then again, we might not see any of that. One thing we definitely don’t see much of, though, is the person actually getting killed. There’s next to no gore on display here, just as there’s no T&A to make things at least dimly interesting, either.’ Trash Film Guru

‘Unfortunately, this low-budget bore is a stultifying exercise in tedium … one of the first slasher movies to have a supernatural angle, and one of the only slashers not to have any female victims.’ J.A. Kerswell, Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut

Buy Teenage Wasteland at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

‘If you actually can get through the seemingly-endless scenic and nighttime shots (of which there are many), you may find yourself bouncing on the couch in a laughter fit. One character stares out a window for what seems like hours (the camera pans outside and spends about 3 minutes of screen time fading from one outdoor shot to another) only to finally turn towards the camera and state that he needs a beer.’ Retro Slashers

‘ …with the pacing of a snail, this follows uninteresting, never-developed hikers to a deserted Western town where a killer strikes with a hatchet and an ax. Minimal gore scenes and hardly any explanation about the killer is given … One long series of dull panning shots with people who act contrary to human nature.’ John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy Creature Features from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

‘So where does Scream go wrong? Minus those 10 minutes of creepiness, the entire film is a bore and a chore to sit through. All the kills happen off camera and when you have films like Friday the 13th and company showing explicit gore, this film seems very underwhelming.The acting is mediocre to okay. The only stand out performer is veteran actor Woody Strode who has a rather awkward dialog sequence that attempts to explain the plot.’ The Cinema Sideshow

‘It’s frequently too dark and is very slow going. The director was a stuntman.’ Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

Choice dialogue:

“Stop! Please stop, haven’t we had enough pain?”

Filming locations:

Lake Piru, California

Wikipedia | Thanks to The Cinema Sideshow for some images

‘Someone out there is watching you… Don’t unlock your door.’

Deadly Intruder – aka The Deadly Intruder - is a 1985 US horror thriller film scored and directed by John McCauley from a screenplay by actor Tony Crupi (who appears as a drifter and was also in Joel M. Reed’s Blood Bath). It also stars Molly Cheek (Stepmonster), Danny Bonaduce, Daniel Greene, David Schroeder and Stuart Whitman (The Monster Club; Vultures).

 Plot teaser:

A mental patient breaks out of a sanitarium and heads for a small town named Midvale looking for the love of his life. The disturbed individual is obsessively jealous, slaying anyone whom he fears may be endangering his relationship with his potential girlfriend. But there is also a creepy drifter hanging around. After a number of vicious killings, the escaped lunatic and the obsessive drifter confront each other…

Reviews:

‘The murders, which are mostly crowded into the first half of the picture … aren’t very bloody, and there are next to no Special Makeup Effects to be seen unless they were hiding somewhere in the gloomy photography; but they’re kind of mean-spirited, like when the friendly and trusting garage mechanic is slowly crushed under the car he’s working on! There’s also a guy stabbed in the eye with a screwdriver, a lady whose face is pushed into a running car engine and a sink drowning featuring a loose nightgown; and, in what may or may not have been intended as some sort of meta-reference, Danny Partridge gets his head rammed through a TV screen!’ Ha ha, it’s Burl!

‘A strictly okay slasher that wears its Halloween influence on its sleeve, but manages to break away from the formula somewhat. Danny Bonaduce is in this. He gets his head smashed into a television. Subsequently, he’s electrocuted and dies. Fuck yeah. That’s possibly the sole reason to see this for many. The kills are a little varied, but bloodless.’ Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

‘Unimpressive psycho-killer flick… Most of the violence is kept off screen by director John McCauley.’ John Stanley, Creature Features

Choice dialogue:

“You know cooking without garlic is like making love without foreplay.”

International titles:

Murhaaja saapuu öisin - Finland
Der Tödliche Feind – West Germany

Wikipedia | IMDb

A Friday the 13th coffee table, complete with undead hockey-mask wearing slasher Jason Vorhees in chains embedded in the middle, has been created by Australian company Slaughter FX and can be purchased for a mere $800.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers also known as Nightmare Vacation II is a 1988 horror-comedy film and a sequel to the movie Sleepaway Camp, directed by Michael A. Simpson from a screenplay by Fritz Gordon. It stars Pamela Springsteen, Renée Estevez, and Tony Higgins.

The film was released in theatrically on August 26, 1988 before being issued on VHS in the US by Nelson Entertainment two months later. The film has been released twice on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment; first in 2002 as a single DVD, as well as in the Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit. Scream Factory are releasing the film and its sequel, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland on Blu-ray disc on June 9th, 2015

Buy on Blu-ray from Amazon.com

Plot teaser:

T.C., the head counsellor at Camp Rolling Hills, is at a campfire with the male campers. Also there is Phoebe, who has sneaked away from her cabin to be with the boys. As Phoebe tells the story about the killings of the previous film at Camp Arawak, her head counsellor Angela appears and forces her to go back to the cabin. After the pair get into an argument, Phoebe becomes lost, only to be attacked by Angela who hits her over the head with a log before cutting her tongue out. The next day, the campers question Angela on the whereabouts of Phoebe, however she tells them she had to be sent home due to bad behaviour…

Reviews:

‘Chock full of black humor and gruesomely twisted deaths, this film has twins getting barbequed and a girl being drowned in an overflowing leech-filled outhouse amid Angela’s wacky and off-the-wall murder quips. Homage is paid to past slasher movies and crappy 80s hair metal in Sleepaway Camp 2, the definite wildcard of the Sleepaway Camp series.’ Ronnie Angel, Best Horror Movies

‘ …a fun and campy comedy slasher with cool death sequences, a fantastic 80s soundtrack, a hilariously good Pamela Springsteen, fun characters and some witty dark humor. Not a movie I would consider ‘great’ by any means as some is left to be desired, like the non-effective ending but it does offer exactly what it promises and then some…’ Ferdi Akkulak, Slasher Studios

‘At its core Sleepaway Camp 2 is still just a daft ’80s slasher with a short running time (a whisker under 80 minutes), a variety of deaths and plenty of horny teen-pleasing nudity.’ That Was a Bit Mental

Cast:

• Pamela Springsteen as Angela Johnson / Angela Baker
• Renée Estevez as Molly Nagle
• Tony Higgins as Sean (credited as Anthony Higgins)
• Valerie Hartman as Ally Burgess
• Brian Patrick Clarke as T.C.
• Walter Gotell as Uncle John
• Susan Marie Snyder as Mare
• Terry Hobbs as Rob Darrinco
• Kendall Bean as Demi
• Julie Murphy as Lea
• Carol Chambers as Brooke Shote
• Amy Fields as Jodi Shote
• Benji Wilhoite as Anthony
• Walter Franks III as Judd
• Justin Nowell as Charlie
• Heather Binion as Phoebe
• Jason Ehrlich as Emilio
• Carol Martin Vines as Diane
• Tricia Grant as Girl Sent Home
• Jill Jane Clements as Woman in Truck

Wikipedia | IMDb

Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland also known as Nightmare Vacation III is a 1989 US slasher horror film and the second sequel to Sleepaway Camp written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson.

The film stars Pamela Springsteen (Sleepaway Camp II), Tracy Griffith, Michael J. Pollard (American Gothic; Night Visitor; 1989: Heartstopper), Mark Oliver (Dance of the Dead; The Crazies), Haynes Brooke and Sandra Dorsey (1976: Grizzly; 2004 TV: Frankenstein).

Sleepaway Camp III was released on VHS in the United States by Nelson Entertainment on December 15, 1989. The film has been released twice on DVD in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment; first in 2002 as a single DVD, as well as in the Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit. Scream Factory are releasing the film and Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers on Blu-ray disc on June 9th, 2015.

Buy on Shout Factory Blu-ray from Amazon.com

Plot teaser:

Maria (Kashina Kessler) is heading to camp. However, she is chased into an alleyway by a large truck, driven by serial killer Angela Baker (Pamela Springsteen), before being run over. Angela disposes of the body in a trash compactor, before posing as Maria and boarding the bus to Camp New Horizon, which was once Camp Rolling Hills where Angela massacred campers the year before…

Reviews:

‘A returning Pamela Springsteen tries her darndest despite a limiting script, but the majority of the acting is sadly woeful. Much like its predecessor, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland is notable for featuring a female killer who we follow from the very beginning, which results in a lack of suspense but a fairly enjoyable time. The sense of fun that Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers possesses is absent…’ Flickering Myth

‘Watch Sleepaway Camp II first. If you enjoyed it and you want more of the same, then you know what to do. If it wasn’t your mug of joe, stay away from the third film because there’s nothing new here (other than the odd racist jibe) that will change your mind.’ That Was a Bit Mental

‘The plot was actually quite clever, bringing rich and poor together to try and create a harmonious atmosphere between them. Ultimately it doesn’t work and the owners aren’t the nice people they portray themselves to be. But as we all know ‘Angela’ will sort everything out. The death scenes are highly original and it features a high body count to keep you entertained…’ SomewhatNerdy.com

‘If you’re looking for a plot or even coherent ideas then you’re going to be disappointed, but anyone who enjoys comic films about mass murder should have fun. There are also topless scenes and several references to other films. It’s not as deliberately weird as the first Sleepaway Camp, but it could have been a lot worse.’ Jim Harper, Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies

Buy Legacy of Blood from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: The Unofficial Sleepaway Camp Site

The Final Girls is a 2015 American horror comedy film, directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and written by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller. It stars Taissa Farmiga, Malin Åkerman, Alexander Ludwig, Thomas Middleditch, Alia Shawkat, Nina Dobrev, Chloe Bridges and Adam DeVine.

Plot teaser:

Max (Farmiga), a high school senior, is mysteriously transported with her friends into a 1980s horror film that starred Max’s mother (Åkerman), a celebrated scream queen. Trapped inside the movie, Max finds herself reunited with her mom, who she lost in real life. Together with Max’s friends, they must fend off the camp counsellors’ raging hormones, battle a deranged machete-wielding killer, and find a way to escape the movie and make it back home…

Reviews:

‘An amusingly meta horror-thriller, The Final Girls finds a group of modern youths trapped in a cheesy ’80s slasher movie — one whose conventions they’re well aware of, but whose body count they’re also susceptible to joining. Though not quite as inspired or consistent as the similarly self-mocking likes of The Cabin in the Woods, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, or the first two Scream pics, this is good fun that should delight genre fans.’ Dennis Harvey, Variety

‘The Final Girls boils down to being a strange cross between The Cabin in the Woods, Friday the 13th and Last Action Hero, and it’s an equation that adds up to a ridiculous and fun flick that’s a blast to watch with an enthusiastic audience … An R-rating would have been nice to make the homage more complete, there are certain moments that drag, but ultimately its great execution of a high-concept script that should appeal to all genre fans.’ Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

‘Even though The Final Girls never pushes for scares, it’s still a dream movie for horror fans because of the ripe exploitation, brilliant riffage off of everyone’s favorite slasher flicks, and the clever remastering of so many old-school production values. Think of it like VH1’s “I Love The 80s” for horror fans.’ Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

Cast:

• Taissa Farmiga as Max Cartwright
• Malin Åkerman as Amanda Cartwright / Nancy
• Alexander Ludwig as Chris
• Nina Dobrev as Vicki
• Adam DeVine as Kurt
• Thomas Middleditch as Duncan
• Chloe Bridges as Paula
• Alia Shawkat as Gertie
• Angela Trimbur as Tina
• Tory N. Thompson as Blake
• Dan B. Norris as Billy Murphy

Wikipedia | IMDb

Scream is an upcoming American horror TV series created by Jill Blotevogel that is due to air on MTV on June 30, 2015. The series is a television adaptation of the slasher film series of the same name and is being produced by Wes Craven, Tony DiSanto, Liz Gateley, Marianne Maddalena and Cathy Konrad.

The first episode, ‘Red Roses’, was written by show creator Jill Blotevogel and Wes Craven is rumoured to be directing.

Plot teaser:

What starts as a YouTube video going viral, soon leads to problems for the teenagers of Lakewood and serves as the catalyst for a murder that opens up a window to the town’s troubled past…

Cast:

Bella Thorne as Nina Patterson
Willa Fitzgerald as Emma Duvall
Bex Taylor-Klaus as Aubrey Jensen
Amadeus Serafini as Kieran Wilcox
John Karna as Noah Foster
Connor Weil as Will Belmont
Carlson Young as Brooke Maddox
Dale Heidenreich as Nick Foster

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘It’s a cold, cruel world – but Jackson can hack it!’

Unmasked: Part 25 – aka The Hand of Death and Jackson’s Back – is a 1988 British comedy horror film directed by Anders Palm (Deadline; Murder Blues) from a screenplay by Mark Cutforth.

The film stars Gregory Cox, Fiona Evans, Edward Brayshaw, Debbie Lee London, Kim Fenton, Anna Conrich, Robin Welch, Christian Brando, Annabel Yuresha, Adrian Hough, Helen Rochelle.

Reviews:

Mark Cutforth’s script alternates between breathtakingly banal, insulting to women, or pompously affected, whilst Anders Palm’s direction is perfunctory at best. Unmasked: Part 25 is another British failed attempt at spoofing horror tropes in the vein of The Comic, Funny Man and (much later) Stitches. The supposedly ‘outrageous’ mockery of S&M and sex play toys is just obvious and dull. “Punish me!” Yes, this excuse for a film certainly did.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

“Unmasked: Part 25 satisfies the requirements of a standard slasher film, offering up enough gore and nudity to please any fan of the genre, while adding a smirking, character-driven sense of humor that would seem to make to make it ideal for rediscovery for modern audiences. It’s got all of the charms of the ‘80s slasher era with a unique (and, despite what one would expect, consistent) tone, solid performances and genuinely clever ideas.’ Daily Grindhouse

‘There are strong hints this is actually Jason from the Friday the 13th movies, except here he’s been given a voice, just skirting close enough to parody to get away with the references, and it appears Jackson would rather be quoting Byron than going about his executions, but the lure of the machete proves too much to resist. This leads to ridiculous scenes where he’ll discuss his existential angst with the victims before doing them in, amusing enough, but the serious bits did suggest a lack of focus.’ Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

‘A criminally obscure send-up of 80s slashers that remarkably marries sincere romantic sentiment with copious amounts of outrageous splatter without ever letting its parodic conceit wear thin, thanks in large part to the exceedingly earnestness of the production. Director Anders Palm soaks Mark Cutforth’s witty script in a pervasively gritty atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to the immediate silliness of the premise.’ The Royal

Choice dialogue:

“Turning into one of Thatcher’s little mechanicals, you are.”

“Please don’t kill me, I’ll do anything you want. I’ll make love to you, would you like that? I’ll give you a blow job.”

IMDb

‘Where the student body is going to pieces.’

Slaughter High is a 1986 American/British independent slasher film written and directed by George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten. It closely follows the tropes of many other slasher films of the period and is mostly notable for the casting of Caroline Munro in the lead female role and the distinctive jester’s mask worn by the killer.

In an American high school populated by the usual jocks, hot girls and outcasts, Marty Rantzen (Simon Scudamore, misspelled on the credits with an extra ‘d’ – sloppy!) is most firmly the latter, the atypical, bespectacled nerd, good at complicated sums, not so good on basic human interaction. Come April Fool’s Day, Marty can’t believe his luck as he is lured by school sex siren, Carol (Munro) into the girls’ locker room for a baptism of shower-based sex. Alas, this is not the case and whilst disrobed and expectant in the shower, the curtain is pulled to reveal the school jokers armed with video recording equipment and a fire extinguisher to put a dampener on Marty’s dreams and his dignity down the toilet (which is literally where he’s heading, face down, thanks to his tormentors dangling him in).

He is ‘rescued’ by the arrival of the military instructor-like sports coach (played by Marc Smith, best known for his voice acting, of note his redubbing on Dario Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet, and Deep Red) who does little to sympathise with Marty but does insist all the boys responsible report for detention that afternoon. Cleaned up, Marty is given a joint by arch bully Skip (Carmine Iannaccone) as an apology, though it is in fact laced with something less desirable. Sometime later, when Marty is diligently conducting solo chemistry experiments, he tries the joint and immediately rushes to the nearest public convenience to vomit. In his absence, Skip (even shirking detention, the rotter) enters the lab and rigs the experiment to blow up in Marty’s face. This does indeed have the desired effect but in the mayhem of the detonation, Marty knocks a jar of acid over himself, the net result being a half destroyed school and a hideously disfigured and broken nerd.

Some years later (anywhere between five and ten), Marty has disappeared from public life, doomed to a lonely existence as a scarred, damaged and apparently insane man. Meanwhile, his school ‘friends’ are enjoying their reunion, which happens to be on April Fool’s Day. Deciding to revisit their now closed school, though the corridors are still roamed by the old janitor, whose portrayal sets the racial equality movement back several decades. As the kids get down to drinking, smoking, snorting high jinks, the janitor is lifted off the ground by a jester-masked figure (actually played by co-director Ezra) and impaled on a coat hook. So begins a one-by-one slaying of the gang in occasionally inventive ways (intestinal explosion by tampered-with beer is a highlight) in a school which for reasons which are unclear, houses both a bath and a bed. The jester figure is, of course, Marty, eager to exact his revenge, though he leaves his beloved Carol until the end…

Slaughter High is a prime example of the problems which can arise from trans-Atlantic co-productions. Supposedly set in an American school, all the locations are obviousluy leafy Britain, the population of students and staff also British but tasked with adopting US accents, lest the idea of a film not set in America be an insult to the masses. The accents aren’t awful but are all underpinned by the hopelessly forced insistence that in no way is the wool being pulled over everyone’s eyes. Despite the fact that an actual school was used for the filming (remarkably, it did indeed have a bath in situ), the film feels very cramped and is largely shot in only a smattering of locations, again giving the impression that something is being kept from us.

The April Fool’s Day setting does leave the audience with that ‘one last gag’ feeling always looming on the horizon, though this could have been even more lumbering, the title having to be changed from April Fool’s Day to Slaughter High due to a genuinely unfortunate timing issue with the better-known film of that title just pipping it to the release post. Some prints retain this original title and have the replacement hastily tagged on as an apparent afterthought – Vestron’s Japanese release not even bothering with the afterthought. There is a certain irony of the film revolving around a date that so fuels the plot, time and continuity being haphazard throughout, from the eye-narrowing anniversary reunion timing to the incredulity-testing age of the students – Caroline Munro clocking in at 36 years-old at the time of filming and many of her co-stars well into their 20’s at least.

Dugdale and Ezra combined again on the curious if ultimately beige Living Doll (1990) with only the latter evidently staying in the industry, though with little in the way of breakout hits. Co-director Litten had slightly more lasting influence, his special effects creature work seen in Rawhead Rex and more significantly culturally as the co-creator of the non-more-80’s Max Headroom. Caroline Munro is sadly miscast, still radiant but a sore thumb as a school girl and barely more believable as an airhead actress who is just about savvy enough to avoid the casting couch of leering movie producer, Manny (played by actual film producer Dick Randall of Don’t Open Till Christmas and Pieces frame; never one to miss a trick, a poster for Pieces hangs behind him in his office). Munro appeared in the film off the back of The Last Horror Show, before 1987’s Faceless and Howl of the Devil signalled her all but withdrawal from the genre for some time.

Scudamore is far more serviceable in his role, a believable nerd whose character is let down by innate dumbness, belying his academic genius. Given a large school as his lair, it is weakly and unrealistically dressed, leaving him to bookend the film as Ezra, rather meanly, does the jester-masked stomping around. Sadly, aged only 28, Scudamore took his own life shortly after filming through a drugs overdose.

With a masked killer, illegal substances, lithe teens and variable morals, it is fitting that the score is composed and performed by Harry Manfredini, a huge nod to the film’s primary influence, Friday 13th. Manfredini is one of the luckiest of composers for horror films, his career largely pivoting on his work on the 1980 slasher classic, a score which, in truth, consists of piled-high stingers, pilfered exaggerated strings and the oft-repeated killer’s theme and little else of interest. Here he is rumbled somewhat, a clearly more meagre budget revealing his work to be perfunctory at best, at worst cringe-worthy tripe.

Somehow, despite all this, Slaughter High is strangely rewarding viewing. Perhaps it’s the carefree, glitch-ridden production values; perhaps it’s the contact threat of Munro relieving herself of her flouncy, voluminous dress suit (she doesn’t, instead the main nudity is, surprisingly, male and full-frontal). It’s possibly the fact that it sticks to the slasher rulebook so rigidly, the viewer can put in the least effort imaginable to watch… although the ending will jolt even the most heavy-lidded audience out of its slumber with its ridiculousness.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Choice dialogue:

Stella: Talk dirty, Frank! Talk dirty!

Frank: Um… tits.

Stella: DIRTY dirty!

Frank: Um… fuck. Ah, tits. Screw.

Girl House is a 2014 Canadian slasher film directed by Trevor Matthews from a screenplay by Nick Gordon. It stars Ali Cobrin and Slaine.

Plot teaser:

Kylie Atkins, a college student in need of money, joins an X-rated reality web series produced by Gary Preston. Though Preston assures her that the website and house are safe, she comes under attack by a deranged fan known by Loverboy, his internet username…

Reviews:

“Director Trevor Matthews, working from a script written by Nick Gordon, presents an up-to-date version of the slasher with a fabulous killer working amongst a houseful of insanely beautiful women. (Did we mention they’re scantily clad?) Sign us up! Girl House is a lot of fun.” Dread Central

“Girl House isn’t even close to being high art and won’t be winning any awards for originality — or any awards, period — but it’s waywardly entertaining and well-made for what it is.” The Artful Critic 

“While films like Cam2Cam and Lucky Bastard have walked the same sick techno-horror path, Girlhouse jumps ahead of the pack by delivering a bone-crunching finale once the actual horror elements are thrust into motion. It’s still a rough-around-the-edges erotic thriller, but Girlhouse is nice enough to apologise for a sloppy first act by hunkering down and finishing the job like a damn professional – moneyshot and all.” We Got This Covered

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘Disco isn’t dead, but you just might be’

Discopath (in French: Discopathe) is a 2013 Canadian film directed by Renaud Gauthier, and starring Jérémie Earp-Lavergne, Sandrine Bisson, and Ivan Freud.

Plot teaser:

Set in the mid-1970s, Discopath is a slasher about Duane Lewis, a man who transforms into a crazed serial killer whenever he catches the relentless rhythm of disco! As Duane flees New York, desperate to escape the disco craze, his murderous tendencies explode again in a whirlwind of bloody violence and groovy beats…

Buy Discopath on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“The gore effects are excessive and over the top, but the film as a whole is never as shower-inducingly off putting as the movies Gauthier is trying to emulate. It’s a love letter to the kind of trash cinema young cinephiles in the VHS era often grew up with, with sharp, consistently funny writing and a game cast who aren’t afraid to come across as goofy. It’s a great bit of fun.” Dork Shelf

“In spite of its flaws, Discopath still manages to be an extremely cool little movie. It is impossible for me not to like with its irresistible nostalgic genre charm aping the early 80’s golden age of the slasher sub-genre with much genuine love for it rather than coming off as something just faux lacking the authenticity that some so called love letters do with no passion for the material.” Cinematic Shocks

“Perhaps writer-director Renaud Gauthier – who clearly has a lot of affection for his inspiration – could have sacrificed some of the super-styled slo-mo sequences in favour of characterisation. Or story. Or intentional humour. Or anything to distinguish his production beyond the flares and hair and boring gore.” Rock n Reel

Wikipedia | IMDb

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‘Every girl is frightened before here wedding night. But this time…there’s good reason!’

He Knows You’re Alone – aka Blood Wedding – is a 1980 American slasher film directed by Armand Mastroianni (The Killing Hour; The Supernaturals; Cameron’s Closet) from a screenplay by Scott Parker. It stars Caitlin O’Heaney, Don Scardino and Paul Gleason. It also features Tom Hanks in his feature film debut.

Plot teaser:

A reluctant bride-to-be is stalked by a serial killer who only kills brides and the people around them. While her friends are killed one by one, a cop whose bride had been killed years before tries to hunt him down before it is too late. Meanwhile, the bride has to figure out if it is all in her imagination or not, aided by her ex-boyfriend…

According to director Armand Mastroianni and writer Scott Parker, the film had numerous working titles throughout the production. Among them were Blood Wedding, Shriek, and The Uninvited. It was MGM/UA that finally attached He Knows You’re Alone to the film after it tested well with audiences.

The shooting of the film was completed in a mere fourteen days, and the entire production process from writing to final cut of the film was done in four months.

Buy He Knows You’re Alone on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“This is a fun flick in a kitschy sort of way. It’s not overtly bloody, not particularly scary, but it gets the job done. Back in the day, it probably thrilled audiences. These days, we the audience are so jaded and have been so inundated with slasher and slasher-like flicks, that this one may seem more like slasher-lite to us.” The Horror Club

“It’s pretty slow and forgettable despite a decent story structure and a game cast. Still, it’s worth a watch if you’re into slashers – especially ones that were made during its most successful era and not discussed often.” Full Moon Reviews

“I searched really hard to find anything of merit in this movie at all; some glimpse of an idea which may have inspired later slasher flicks, some unique set piece which wasn’t seen before and hasn’t been seen since. Sadly, He Knows You’re Alone stands as the perfect lesson on how not to make a slasher movie.” Horror Talk

Wikipedia | IMDb

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Rabies (Hebrew: כלבת‎, Kalevet) is a 2010 Israeli film written and directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. It stars Lior Ashkenazi, Ania Bukstein, Danny Geva and Yael Grobglas. It is the first Israeli horror film and was shown at the UK’s Frightfest and the Tribeca Film Festival in the USA.

Plot teaser:

A brother and sister who run away from home find sanctuary in a deserted nature reserve. When the sister falls into the trap of a psychopathic killer, the brother sets out on a race against time to find help. In a twist of fate the rescue of the sister becomes inadvertently intertwined with the lives of a group of young tennis players, a ranger and his dog, as well as a team of policemen…

Buy Rabies on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Fortunately, Rabies represents more than a glorified footnote in an international encyclopedia of obscure horror. A whole lot more, actually. In fact, it’s the most fun I’ve had with a horror flick all year… and this is a genre that often feels piped into my system continuously, IV-style.” Slant

“Rabies is a confident, interesting thriller; a very well-directed, intriguing spin on a deeply derivative premise. Situations mount and the characters do unspeakable things – sometimes due to mistaken identity, through malice, or by way of plain, character driven revelations.” Eye For Film

“Rabies’ subversion of the usual body count discourse is admirable to a point, but it mostly just feels like one of those neat concepts whose execution is sometimes lacking because the film doesn’t do anything else remarkably well. Though it’s briskly paced and has a few good shocks, Rabies only adds up to a fairly decent movie.” Oh, the Horror!

Wikipedia | IMDb

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Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th is a 2000 American direct-to-video parody film directed by John Blanchard. The film stars Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Tom Arnold, Coolio and Shirley Jones.

Several mid and late ’90s teen horror films are parodied, as are the slasher films of the ’70s and ’80s, including the Scream films, Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), as well as other non horror films and television series. Although there are many different films parodied, the film follows the plot of Scream (1996) closely. It is often compared to Scary Movie, a commercially successful spoof from the same year, which had as a working title “Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween”.

Plot teaser:

While in her house alone dimwitted teenager Harvey “Screw” McAlister (Aimee Graham) is attacked by “The Killer”. While being chased, Screw accidentally runs into a bug zapper and her face gets electrocuted. The killer, feeling disappointed that he was not the cause of her death, lights up a cigarette, leading to the melting of his Jason Voorhees mask into a Scream mask. The next day, new kid Dawson Deery (Harley Cross) signs up at Bulimia Falls High School, meeting up with a new group of friends including Boner (Danny Strong), Slab (Simon Rex), Barbara (Julie Benz) and Martina (Majandra Delfino), to whom Dawson takes a liking, though he is not sure if she is a lesbian. While the group discusses the death of Screw, they remain certain they are safe in school, not noticing the chaos that surrounds them, including a nuclear bomb being built and the killer attempting to murder a student…

Reviews:

“The movie’s most telling scene comes when, after the ‘rules of parody’ lecture, the characters decide to watch Airplane!. It is by far the smartest move made by any character in this movie, and exactly what you should do, as opposed to renting Shriek, if you desire a funny, well-made parody.” Larry Getlen, AMC

“Imagine the lamest joke you’ve ever heard and then stretch it out to around an hour and fifteen minutes, and you’ll have a vague conception of how excruciating it was to sit through this miserable flick.” Reel Film Reviews

“It spends most of its time referencing non-horror movies like: Wizard of Oz, Something About Mary, Reservoir Dogs, Baywatch or Home Alone. And when it does reference horror movies like Child’s Play, Psycho (what a lame bit!), NOES, IKWYDLS, Friday the 13th or Scream, it just winks at them, never really setting up a full gag … It takes more than throwing movie references into a film to make it funny. It takes endearing characters, comic timing and good jokes. This movie has none of those things.” Arrow in the Head, Joblo.com

Choice dialogue:

“Look, this is lame. Let’s get outta here…”

Cast:

• Julie Benz as Barbara Primesuspect
• Harley Cross as Dawson Deery
• Majandra Delfino as Martina Martinez
• Simon Rex as Slab O’Beef
• Danny Strong as Boner
• Coolio as Principal Interest or the Administrator-Formerly-Known-As-Principal
• Aimee Graham as Screw Frombehind
• Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Hagitha Utslay
• Tom Arnold as Doughy Primesuspect
• Shirley Jones as Nurse Kevorkian
• Rose Marie as Mrs. Tingle
• David Herman as Mr. Lowelle
• Mink Stole as Madame La Tourneau

Wikipedia | IMDb