The Mammoth Book of Slasher Movies (Mammoth Books)

by Peter Normanton

  The self-taught independent filmmaker Doris Wishman was 67 years old when she became aware of the trend for slasher movies and looked to producing her own entry to the genre. She had made a reputation in the early 1960s with eight nudist films, of which her science fiction nudist Nude on the Moon (1961) remains the most famous. Often referred to as the female Ed Wood she moved on to sexploitation movies in the mid-sixties and filmed A Night to Dismember in 1979. Its release was delayed until 1983 due to a catastrophe at Movielab, where the film was sent for processing. With thirty-four minutes of the original footage having been destroyed, Doris attempted to reassemble the film using a noire styled narration from Tim O’Malley, the detective assigned to investigate the murders. His words were a vain effort to explain the proceedings, which had become hopelessly confused due to entire sequences having gone missing; hence the puzzling introductory three minutes. Although she had very little funding at her disposal, Doris wasn’t averse to throwing in the gore; a dummy was seen to fall before a machete, an eyeball was gouged and we got to see a mutilated body in the freezer. The effects were cheap, the storyline almost impossible to follow and the acting wouldn’t have made it to the village hall theatrical society, but this obscurity made it to video in 1989 and finally to DVD in 2001.

  IN THE LEAFY suburb of Elm Street, Springwood, Ohio, Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) can’t escape the nightmares that plague her sleeping hours. Night after night, she cowers in a darkened boiler room, stalked by a hideously disfigured phantasm whose fingers on his right hand have been shaped into razor-sharp knives. On this night, she falls into his clutches and he seizes the opportunity to tear into her clothes. She awakens screaming and finds her nightdress has been ripped, just as it had in her dream. The following day she discovers her friends are haunted by the same torment. That night Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) and her boyfriend Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) spend the night with Tina, in the hope it will ease her anxiety. When Tina’s boyfriend Rod Lane (Nick Corri) turns up, he escorts his young girlfriend to her mother’s bedroom, where they are soon entwined in one another’s arms. When she falls asleep, Tina is once again beset by the nightmare, only this time she is captured by the killer. Her struggle awakens Rod, who watches aghast as blood pours from his girlfriend’s body, which is repeatedly lacerated by invisible knives. In a scene that continues to disturb, the unseen entity forces her up the wall and onto the ceiling, from where she drops to her death. Rod is the only person on the scene and understandably finds himself accused of her murder.

  Nancy’s nightmares begin to take on an increasingly violent edge. From the confinement of his cell, Rod tells of what happened that night and reveals he too is a victim of these unsettling dreams. Although she finds it impossible to explain why, Nancy is convinced that the slasher in her dreams is responsible for Tina’s death. Unable to stay awake she falls into a fitful sleep and sees the mystery figure entering Rod’s cell. It is only later she learns the teenager was found in there, hanging from the rafters. To everyone except Nancy, it looks as if Rod has taken his own life and now she is roused from the torment of her dreamworld, clinging to the killer’s shabby hat.

  Her mother now begins to disclose a dark secret from her past. The owner of the hat, we learn, was a miscreant by the name of Fred Krueger (Robert Englund). He took the lives of over twenty children more than ten years ago. As punishment, the parents of his victims burned him alive in the same secluded boiler room visited in the teenagers’ nightmares. Once she has finished her tale, Nancy’s mother holds Krueger’s razor-like glove aloft, soothing her daughter by insisting he can’t hurt anyone anymore. Nancy, with her boyfriend Glen, sets out to put an end to Krueger’s schemes, for they know they may never sleep safely again. Glen soon becomes drowsy; as he falls into unconsciousness he is dragged down into his bed and then his body is discharged as a mass of blood and guts. Nancy, however, has succeeded in drawing Krueger from his world; he now stands in the reality of her room. After setting the child murderer on fire, she locks him in the basement, only to find, all too soon, he has broken free. His fiery treads lead to her mother’s bedroom where Nancy and her father catch the unstoppable Krueger smothering her mother in flames. Her body is severely burned and her charred remains are seen to wither away. Nancy finally destroys Krueger by turning her back on him, thus rendering him powerless. As she leaves the horrors of her mother’s bedroom, she prays those who have fallen to his evil machinations can be returned to life.

  The following morning in an epilogue that was producer Bob Shea’s idea rather than Craven’s, Nancy’s prayers are answered, as she is driven to school with Glen and her friends. However, just when you think everything is hunky dory Krueger appears: he’s not finished yet. He puts his foot on the gas and drives away with the screaming Nancy, her mother being dragged through the door window by his bladed hand.

  By 1984, the golden age of the slasher was almost at an end, with much of the recent crop of entries amounting to little more than worn out cliché. Inspired by reports of people dying in their sleep, Wes Craven delivered this unexpected and highly original take on what had become tired narrative, combining a fastidious plot with crucial fright-filled shenanigans and true to the slasher ilk made imaginative use of a plethora of gut-wrenching gore effects. He had pitched the idea to several studios, including The Walt Disney Company and Paramount Pictures, but each in turn rejected his concept for quite different reasons. Finally, New Line Cinema agreed to take on the film, which marked a diversification in their approach, having up until then acted solely as a film distributor.

  The diabolical Fred Krueger, who revelled in an unwholesome mix of murder and mirth, proved to be one of the most memorable villains in cinematic horror. His comedic dialogue would never lessen the terror of his cruel intent, although this in due course was watered down as the sequels ensued and Fred became Freddy. Under Craven’s careful direction the audience grew to like these suburban teenagers, as they had with Carpenter’s cast from Halloween, a bonding which had been largely absent from so many slasher movies of the last few years. Among the endearing cast was a young Johnny Depp, who behind the scenes was very shy and unsure of himself and in this his first role gave only the slightest impression of the talent that would one day follow. The story focused on Depp and his friends rather than the ominous presence of Kreuger; this was their story, not his. The inevitable expansion of the franchise would bring Freddie Kreuger to centre stage, but this would regrettably detract from the true menace in his depraved make up.

  Dreams were very much in vogue in 1984 with Paramount having already released Dreamscape and the slasher craze had previously been tormented by Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981), The Slayer (1982) and Blood Song (1982). However, in his use of the murky shots to engender the impression of dream, Craven broke the rules. He went on to interpose the same technique as his characters awoke, distorting the boundaries between reality and their nightmare world. In this reinterpretation, this was no longer only a dream. The recurrent theme of teenage sexual promiscuity, however, was again invoked, with the perpetrators’ falling before the slasher’s blade; their loss of innocence was summarily followed by an end to their life.

  The film was an almost instant commercial success, making a return on its entire budget during its first week of opening. Eager to reap the rewards there then came, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and the remake A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).

  LUCRATIVE ENTREPRENEUR JOHN Stone (Bill Rogers) receives a parcel, within which he finds two heart-shaped bottles of brandy bequeathed by his recently deceased relative, Baron Khron of Moldavia. The Baron he learns was a descendant of Count Dracula. A note accompanying the parcel insists that Stone toast the deceased Baron; in another six months, he wil
l receive further instructions. As the months go by Stone’s wife Helene (Elizabeth Wilkinson) becomes increasingly concerned with a series of subtle changes to his disposition. He is now unusually cold and takes to sleeping during the day and working through the night; furthermore his appearance has also endured a strange transformation. The brandy, which Stone has enjoyed these few months past, has been prepared from the blood of the fabled count; he has now assumed the ancient calling of his family birthright.

  Six months later, the vampire Stone receives word to come to London, charging him to lay claim to the estate at Carfax in Purfleet. Reports abound of the murders of Philip Harker, Dr Wayne Seward, and Lord Gold, each horribly staked through the heart. Dr Howard Helsing (Otto Schlessinger) is certain he will be next, for he knows Stone is mercilessly avenging Dracula’s slaughter. He enlists the aid of Helene’s former boyfriend Hank. Fearing Stone will turn his wife into a vampire, Hank willingly joins forces with Helsing. Stone, however, has already learned Helsing has taken Helene into his confidence; using his vampiric powers he throws her into a hypnotic trance, convincing her that Helsing is intent on his murder. Before he departs, he places his wife under his control and then savours a portion of her blood. When later taken in for questioning he escapes to suckle on his wife’s neck for a second time. Now in an even deeper trance, Helene drives away, with Hank, Helsing and a detective in pursuit. They follow her to an abandoned mansion, where Stone is finally trapped, and as the sun rises over the horizon they stake him through the heart.

  Also known by the name The Secret of Dr Alucard, Herschell G. Lewis’s feature was a marked departure from his previous efforts. While considerably longer in running time to the “Blood Trilogy”, by comparison it was somewhat slower paced and offered significantly less in the way of gore. However, it was a worthy attempt to create a horror movie as opposed to the exploitative sensationalism upon which he had built his reputation in the wake of Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking Psycho (1960). Bill Rogers and William Kerwin turned in some reasonably decent performances, which afforded their roles the kind of authority that had been absent from Lewis’s previous efforts. As with many films of the period, A Taste of Blood was marred by its night-for-day shots, with the backdrop to the London docklands resembling the Miami skyline.

  FROM THE HIGHLY prolific Joe D’Amato (born Aristide Massaccesi), and originally entitled Rosso Sangue, Absurd has also gone by the name Anthropophagous 2. As with so many of the exploitation features of this era, this unofficial sequel has nothing to do with the gory excess of Anthropophagous, which had seen release only a year before. To add to the confusion, this piece of deranged Italian splatter has subsequently been entitled Horrible and The Grim Reaper 2.

  In a nameless American town, actually shot in Italy, a bedraggled stranger (George Eastman) frantically tries to escape a chasing priest (Edmund Purdom). In his desperate attempt to scale a tall gate, he loses his balance and as he falls is disembowelled by the protruding railings. As he reels away, his torn intestines are revealed with an abundance of blood spilling from his body; surely he is about to die. Nursing these near fatal wounds, he is rushed to the hospital, where the doctors stare in disbelief, amazed at his seemingly impossible powers of recuperation. When the priest arrives, he is taken to one side by the investigating police detective, Sergeant Engleman (Charles Borromel). The priest warns the detective that the man in surgery, Mikos Stenopolis, is a homicidal lunatic transformed by a biochemical experiment to be nigh on indestructible. The only way to kill him, the priest explains, is to “destroy the cerebral mass”. After the shock of seeing him bolt upright on the operating table, the unspeaking madman escapes. His menacing presence accentuates the sense of dread in the moments before he drives a surgical screwdriver directly through the cranium of a young nurse and then ploughs an industrial band saw into the head of an orderly, with graphically bloody results. As the psychotic Mikos takes to the darkened streets, the blood inevitably begins to flow.

  While attacking a motorcyclist he is struck by a hit-and-run driver, which turns out to be a Dr Bennett and his wife, who have left their two children at home with their babysitter. Their daughter Katia is confined to bed, paralyzed by a severe spinal problem, while her fearful younger brother can’t shake the thought that the “Bogeyman” is out to get him. When Mikos forces his way into the family home, he traces the babysitter, severely batters her, runs her head into a lighted oven and then slowly burns it. As with Anthropophagous, D’Amato had the camera dwell at length on these scenes, bolstering his standing with the gore-mongers, while enraging the censors.

  Now assuming the role of the elder sibling, Katia sends her brother for help then struggles from her bed ready to defend herself. D’Amato then delivers the unexpected; in a close up shot, he has Katia take a set of drawing compasses and repeatedly stab Mikos in the eyes. Now blinded, the infuriated killer staggers through the house trying to seize hold of his crippled assailant. This suspense-filled scene provides a fitting climax as the disabled Katia writhes to avoid the thrashing killer, before decapitating him and destroying “the cerebral mass”.

  D’Amato had been eager to emulate and then improve on the success of his previous film Anthropophagous: The Beast, and from the opening frames of his new film went straight for the jugular as he hurled an entire catalogue of graphic outrage at his expectant audience. While hopelessly limited by the constraints of an inadequate budget, he was still able to deliver the American-styled slasher, with script writer George Eatman, whose real name was Luigi Montefiori, engaging just enough narrative to allow the psychopath to stray between a series of set pieces as he killed off a predominantly youthful supporting cast. On its release, Absurd was heavily criticized for its similarities to John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), particularly the staging of the babysitter and the children placed in her care who became imperilled by a hushed and almost indestructible killer. It was, however, far more bloodthirsty than Halloween, which led to it being included on the Director of Public Prosecution’s list of video nasties in November 1983, and was one of thirty-nine titles to be successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act of 1959 during 1984. This video version had been released with two minutes and twenty-three seconds of edits in the August of 1983. A quarter of a century later it was issued in its original form in France, now entitled Horrible, but it is yet to be resubmitted for release to the BBFC.

  IN THE DORMITORY of an exclusive girls’ boarding school located in New England, Kathy (Milijana Zirojevic) busily readies herself for a date, surrounded by a dubious gathering of friends and posters of those desirable heartthrobs of the day, Sylvester Stallone and Tom Cruise. Hours later while parked at a secluded spot with gym teacher Fred Vernon, she enjoys the heat of some back seat fervour, unaware her leering schoolmates can see everything that is going on. When Kathy realizes she has been set up, she takes off in floods of tears, only to be knocked down by an oncoming car. Lying comatose in a hospital bed, she begins to exact her revenge. A new girl has just arrived at the school, Eva Gordon (Lara Naszinsky); she’s the kind of girl who likes to be popular with the boys and very soon will become Kathy’s unwitting pawn. Having been given Kathy’s old room, Eva falls under the comatose girl’s vengeful grasp. With Eva now firmly in her control, Kathy embarks on her course of grim retribution by killing her smug gym teacher. Then she prepares for her tormentors, the girls who put in her hospital, hunting them down one by one like lambs to the slaughter. Fulci is typically creative with the death by snails sequence, where one of the girls, in a series of close-up shots, is literally smothered as she lies in her bed; a decapitation ensues with numerous gratuitous stabbings and a strange dreamlike sex scene, which takes a rather grisly turn.

  While the cinematography has been highly praised, this remains one of Lucio Fulci’s less known films and for many fails to live up to the bloodthirsty genius he so wilfully splattered across the silver screen only a few years before. Aenigma was completed as the craze for Italian horror
movies was drawing to an end, and by comparison to those more renowned features is appreciably reserved in its glee for blood and guts. Instead, Fulci attempted to create his own version of Suspiria (1977), choosing to develop a stylized atmosphere of menace in the closeted world of the boarding school dormitory. The framework for the film bears similarities to the slasher of the preceding years rather than Italian splatter, at a time when the genre bordered on mediocrity. As with his previous works, there are inconsistencies in the narrative, the maid’s glowing eyes are never explained and the relationship with Eva’s doctor proves an unsatisfying subplot. Aspects of the Carrie (1976) storyline are also in evidence, as the humiliated teenager metes out her cruel reprisal, but in this instance, this would not become Fulci’s saviour.