Oh, Marty.

Slaughter High is one of those titles that slipped through the cracks when I was devouring horror movies in the eighties. It's actually surprising I'd never seen it, considering that slashers were my bread and butter back then. When Final Girl announced it was October's Film Club selection, it seemed like the perfect time to fill in that blank.

Many years after science geek Marty Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore) was maimed in a April Fools prank gone wrong, his tormentors are called back to their old high school for a reunion. Only, Marty is there waiting for them and looking for revenge.

Holy shit, where do I start with this movie? It can't possibly be taken seriously, but it's not full on camp like what you would get from, say Troma. Slaughter High is just one of those movies that you have to laugh at and hope the filmmakers were in on the joke. I think at some point, they must have just decided to throw reality out the window. I mean, the setup is absurd. Carol (Caroline Munro) is supposed to be Marty's classmate, but looks old enough to be his teacher.

I failed a grade. Or twenty.

After all the tragic shenanigans, when they come back to the school for their reunion, they of course all look exactly the same. Slaughter High does have some creative kills, even if they are at times implausible. The character's actions are also hilarious. Two characters decide to knock boots in a conveniently placed bed and another decides to wash off her friend's blood by going off by herself, stripping naked and soaking in a disused bathtub. This is just after a few of their number have been brutally murdered before their eyes, I might add.

I'm gonna wash that blood right outta my hair!

So, every slasher must have a costume, right? Well, Marty's is a court jester mask that has bells that jingle loudly. But, only when it's convenient, like when he's not sneaking up on someone. Or is it just when the foley forgot to add in the sound effect? Speaking of sound, they did manage to snag Harry Manfredini, but the score sounds like stuff swept up from Friday The 13th's cutting room floor. And the sound cues might just be lifted straight from said series. It seems like something he may have done on a Sunday afternoon after losing a bet the night before.

They were out of hockey masks.

On the other hand, I did get to hear someone use the phrase “the pits”. That took me back. That along with the killer beer, acid baths and open drainage pits, but maybe I've said too much about my misspent youth. I digress. It is cool that it ends during daylight hours, but perplexes when the remaining heads think that they'll be safe past noon because that's when April Fools Day ends. That's a new one. Try that time limit bullshit on Jason or Michael and see how well that ends for you.

You can sort of pinpoint where Slaughter High lies on the scale of slashers. It is right in the group that came AFTER the ones that were cashing in on Friday The 13th, which itself was cashing in on Halloween. Basically, what I'm saying is it's low on the totem pole and it shows. It's a copy of a copy of a copy. However, try not to take it too seriously – and why would you really? - and it is at least a watchable curiosity.

Don't Kill The Messenger XXXIII

Hello all. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Here's the latest batch of items from this week.

On Composition.

A piece of music that has always stayed with me since childhood, is Jonathan Elias' score for the Stephen King movie adaptation of Children Of The Corn. It was why I was instantly reminded of it, when Mark Morton of Examiner.com emailed me a link to a recent interview with Elias. In it, Morton asks him about working on the score for the recent television remake.

Morton: How was it to go back to the well to revisit the music? Did you want to start fresh or just freshen up what you had previously done?

Elias: I was hired with the understanding that they wanted to freshen it up – to use the old themes but in a fresh light. The producer/director Donald [Borchers] is an old friend of mine. He was actually the producer of the first one. So it was understood what I was walking in to. And part of the fun was that I got to have my daughter involved, singing on the score. She is one of the Children of the Corn choir singers.

For the rest of the interview, click here.

Forbes Does Argento.

The Argento staple Suspiria played the Alamo Ritz last Sunday, and renowned artist Alan Forbes created an original 18 x 24" for the occasion. Check it out below. Only 115 were printed, so if this strikes your fancy, start searching now.

Man Goes Into Water...

If there is anything on this planet that immediately puts fear into my heart, it is sharks. Watching the film Open Water in 2004 was one of my most terrifying experiences in a theatre. Well, it looks director Andrew Traucki of the 2007 killer croc flick Black Water is back with a similar venture entitled The Reef. Oh boy, why do people go out there when they KNOW there are these death machines just lying in wait? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against sharks. I find them incredibly fascinating, but I'm quite content to let them have the oceans. Anyone who wants to go out there, you're on your own. Anyhoo, for more info on The Reef, go to the website, here.

So Close...

Dave Parker’s new film The Hills Run Red recently dropped on DVD after a successful festival run and is the subject of this installment of On The Shelf.


A small film crew head into the Virginian backwoods to film a documentary about a lost horror film called The Hills Run Red. Fantasy quickly turns into reality when they run across Babyface, the brutal killer of the film in question.

Now, I knew going in that The Hills Run Red was by the guys behind 2000’s The Dead Hate The Living, so I was expecting a large helping of self-reference. And while this is a great deal more skillful than his previous effort, there’s still a lot of eye rolling to be had. There was so much potential here and at times, it was fresh and unique. Unfortunately, for every clever subversion, there was something absurd. The opening credits were engaging enough, recalling the cringe-inducing scene from Doug Buck’s short Cutting Moments. I also really liked the look the hulking killer Babyface with his doll facemask and bright red coat.


Fans of actress Sophie Monk will be glad to hear that we see a LOT of her in this movie and Bill Sadler shows up as the reclusive auteur behind the lost film, basically chews up every scene he’s in. The Hills Run Red runs out of steam in its third act though, falling into a ridiculousness that I just couldn’t abide as a viewer. I thought the ending was also literally laughable, well the pre-credits finale anyway, as the end-end was a trifle more disturbing. The setup is a lot like the excellent Carpenter Masters Of Horror episode Cigarette Burns. Both stories involve searching for a lost film that has become legend for the effect it had on its small number of people who saw it. This is the part that really resonates with me as an esoteric film fan. With modern technology having everything at your fingertips, the thrill of the hunt is all but gone. There was nothing like tracking down hard-to-find VHS titles like Cannibal Holocaust or Microwave Massacre back in the golden age of home video. Every horror fan of that era had a The Hills Run Red/Le Fin Absolue du Monde equivalent they were endlessly seeking out.


You know what I think my problem with The Hills Run Red was? Instead of all this film-about-a-film meandering, I wish that Parker had gone the House Of The Devil route and just MADE the lost seventies horror flick in the movie, as the trailer and the bits that you see were when I was most interested.

As far as slashers go, you could do a lot worse, but just be aware that this movie swings back and forth from good to not-so-good like a metronome set to Presto.

Boxtober Continues!

October is chugging along here, and I'm currently working on a bunch of stuff for the week of Halloween. For now though, enjoy this latest crop of covers.

Bump In The Night.

A movie that has been in the pipeline for a long time is Paranormal Activity. It made a splash at last year's Slamdance and then lay dormant for a while. Then, after a successful couple of screenings last month, its hype machine began chugging vigorously. There was such an apparent demand for this movie that Paramount said that if it got one million online votes, they would give Paranormal Activity a wide release. Well...

This is quite an unprecedented occurrence. I'm not sure how I feel about this as common practice, but the fact remains that this movie got released where it may not have otherwise. Perhaps we would have been seen other deserved titles in theatres like Trick 'r Treat and All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, if similar practices had been employed.


When Katie (Katie Featherston) insists that she is being haunted, her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat) sets up a camera in their house to capture any unexplained phenomenon.

So, all the hype aside, is Paranormal Activity the fear fest that the ads imply? For the most part, I would say yes. There is a lot of creepy shit in this movie, some of which is quite original. The movie finds a really clever way to subvert the usual haunted house movie query 'Why don't you just leave?' Easy comparisons can be made to this and The Blair Witch Project, as they share several things in common. The production is minuscule, the cinema verité style is the same and both involve a series of encounters over a period of time. They both have an impending sense of dread throughout and have the progression of each night that approaches, you know things are going to get worse. As a film, Paranormal Activity is very rudimentary. It does not have the intricacies of a Blair Witch myth to forward the story, so what you are dealing with is basically the skeleton of a plot in between the scare set pieces. It is filmmaking in its most basic form and I think it works because the performances are genuine. The two leads are fairly green and considering a good deal of the material was likely improvised, I thought they did a fine job. It didn't feel like the movie had a lot of filler, but I looked up the running time and was amazed to see it was ninety-nine minutes.

Obviously, Paranormal Activity is the type of movie that is going to hit everyone in a different way. There were people in the theatre that sounded like they were going to have a heart attack, and then there were the jackasses that couldn't help but throw out sarcastic comments. I think the only glaring negative for me was the ending. It's pretty hokey and not a good way to finish the experience. Coming up with a decent conclusion after so much build-up is a tall task I know, but someone must have spit balled an better idea than what ended up onscreen. Lastly, I have a question out there for the ladies. When would it be kosher for the guy to bolt in that relationship? I can understand him wanting to be the protector and take care of business, but when do you eventually say, 'Eff it, there are plenty of other chicks out there that don't live with otherworldly beings'?

Fans of the Blair Witch Project should definitely seek this one out because – though not as complete a tale – it hits a lot of the same notes. It has an everyman accessibility that is sure to have you at least hesitating to turn out the lights out at bedtime.

Don't Kill The Messenger XXXII

Here's what I got this week.

Game With A Name.

Trick 'r Treat finally got released on video this week, which strangely coincided with the new episode of the Totally Rad Show featuring TrT director Michael Dougherty. TRS is a podcast on the Rev3 network that I watch religiously and Dougherty hung out with the TRS guys and played the old horror board game Nightmare. Check out the video below. If you want to skip right to it, it is at the 15:00 mark. You can also download the episode, by going here.



Join Us.

I got a trailer sent to me this week for a new indie from called The Duty Of Living. Directed by Brandon Hunt, it seems to be a take on the zombie genre, that I haven't seen before. See it below.

Joe's In The UK.

There was a new segment of Body Count this week on AOTS. Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2) gives us his picks from this year's FrightFest in the UK.



Timecrimes is a great pick although I'm not sure why Joe describes it as a horror flick involving a serial killer. I will seek out this Hills Run Red movie though, as its setup and visual style look like it might be fun.

Party Like Its 1989.

Last night were some good times. Eyesore Cinema been having a sale on "collectible" VHS tapes over the last few weeks, and DirtyRobot has been picking up some gems. Only problem was that he didn't actually own a VCR anymore. Well, I rectified that situation by bringing over one of my spares and we revelled in the wondrous tech from days gone by.

Hopefully, this is the first of many of these little parties.