This week marks three years since we began principal photography on our very first slasher feature, DON’T GO TO THE REUNION. For our bloody anniversary present, we want to share the gory love with you. All week long, purchase DON’T GO TO THE REUNION or DISMEMBERING CHRISTMAS on DVD and you’ll receive a FREE signed DISMEMBERING CHRISTMAS poster with your order. Remember, these are region free dvds with exclusive extras you won’t find anywhere else and you must purchase through the link below to receive your free poster.

Killer Extras:
* Audio Commentary with the filmmakers
* Trailer
* Blooper Reel
* “Class of 2004” Yearbook
* Slasher Studios short films (Teddy, Popularity Killer, Blood Brothers)

Killer Extras:
Audio commentary with Actor/Director Austin Bosley
Audio commentary with Writer/Producer Kevin Sommerfield
Bloopers
Fly on the Set: Making Of Dismembering Christmas
Theatrical Trailer
Teaser Trailer

A man and his girlfriend are invited to a dinner party by his ex-wife and her new husband after she disappeared following the death of their son. Also invited are mutual friends from the exes past. As the night goes on, things start out innocent enough, but the man starts to suspect that something is not right about his ex-wife and the new man in her life. It isn’t long before he feels himself start to unravel and question what’s going on around him.

This slow-burn horror/thriller is the latest indie film to really keep my attention. Following the ranks of The Witch, The Invitation takes on a different disguise in making you feel uneasy about what you are seeing. While it certainly isn’t as disturbing, it definitely makes you question yourself as much as the lead is. The group of characters is quite large, when this happened, I found myself thinking that some of the characters may end up being underdeveloped. I was definitely wrong. Each character is very well-developed enough to where you get a strong sense of who they are. And besides the obvious ones, all of the invited guests are likable, which I was also surprised about. I will say that there were certain characters I did want more of, but that’s only because I liked them that much.

For a moment this hardly feels like a horror/thriller, it seems like an innocent get together amongst old friends, but then the rug is just pulled out from underneath you and things suddenly change. I’m not saying it’s super suspenseful, but it is very much on the edge of your seat where you are so engaged and you have no idea how this will all escalate. As I said above, you are also questioning your own sanity as to what you think is real. This is because the film is shown through the point of view of our lead and it perfectly captures how he’s viewing things and we can see why he’s viewing it at that, but we get thrown curveballs that can leave us out in the dark. It’s very rare that I see a film that keeps me as engrossed or questioning what’s going on, and this is definitely one of those films.

As for the cast, each cast members does very well with their parts, but most especially our lead male Logan Marshall-Green as Will. For the reasons stated above, he does a tremendous job as a man questioning not only everyone at the party, but also himself. There are moments of amazing subtlety in his performance and moments where he freaks out and comes off as very realistic, and it’s really easy to feel for him and put yourself in his shoes and just get on his level. Also worth noting is Tammy Blanchard as Will’s ex-wife Enid. She’s another one who does a great job of using subtlety in her performance. There’s just so much in her performance and how she carries herself throughout the movie that makes you question whether she’s trustworthy, or if she is as innocent as she appears. And of course there is John Carroll Lynch who does a great job in his role as the creepy man who appears at the party to where you don’t keep your eyes off him because he comes off as that sketchy.

The Invitation is a solid horror/thriller that keeps you engrossed all the way through with the likable set of characters, a story that keeps you guessing, the escalation of suspense, and just the self-questioning throughout until the intense climax.

–Cody Landman

Our killer sale is almost over, slasher friends. Score a Dismembering Christmas shirt for just $10 (regularly $20) or score a Slasher Studios DVD for just $10 (regularly $15) as well. It’s the gory good time that lasts all season long. Don’t delay, both sales end at midnight!

We are clearing out the very last of our limited edition Dismembering Christmas shirts with a huge blow out sale. From now until March 31st, all t-shirts are currently only $10 instead of the regular price of $20. We have limited quantities and limited sizes so make sure to get one while you still can. Please note: This is only while supplies last. Show off your slasher pride today!

Another extremely delayed review by yours truly. Two weeks ago I watched The Return of the Living Dead (1985) for the very first time. This was just a random movie I picked out of my collection to watch, with a little help of the “Randomizer” feature on the MOVIST app. This movie is directed by Dan O’Bannon (writer of ‘Alien’). The cast includes: Clu Gulager (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge), James Karen (Wall Street), Don Calfa (Weekend at Bernie’s), Thom Mathews (Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI), Beverly Randolph (Freaks of Nature), John Philbin (Point Break), Miguel Núñez (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), Brian Peck (X2), Linnea Quigley (Night of the Demons) and Mark Venturini (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning).

The Return of the Living Dead has been labeled by many as the best (zombie) horror comedy of all-time, so of course I had high expectations. I ended up really liking this movie, but I wasn’t exactly crazy about it like some are. I’ll start off with the positives. It’s a fun watch with loads of clever humor that made me laugh instantly. The acting performances are good, but I was especially impressed by Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, Linnea Quigley (gained so much respect for her and I can’t wait to see her in more horror pictures!) and Miguel Núñez. The characters are interesting, but some are better developed than others. The soundtrack is fantastic and suits perfectly with the theme of the movie. The zombies looked absolutely outstanding and Tarman has to be the scariest and funniest looking zombie creature you’ll ever see. At first sight he looks scary as hell, but his actions feel comical because you won’t take it seriously. The Return of the Living Dead is much more a spoof/comedy than a straightforward horror/comedy. The script and dialogue are super 80’s and I must add that this movie had a strong first act. Having that said, there are some negative aspects that need to be mentioned.

The second act of the movie is extremely slow and messes up the strong pace from the first act. Scenes that drag on for long to the point where it feels repetitive. The ending is stupid and feels rushed. It’s a shame when you only know about the fates of the zombies and not about what happened to the main characters you were rooting for to survive. Such a weird note to end a movie with. The story got wrapped up in the most ridiculous way. The Return of the Living Dead is still a hilarious and at times thrilling (zombie) horror/comedy from the mid 80’s with many redeeming qualities. It’s far from perfect, but it’s definitely one you have to see at least once in your life. I’m more than interested in viewing the first two sequels after having seen the original for the first time.

–Ferdi Akkulak

A group of friends go away on a camping trip in the woods and stay in a remote cabin. The locals immediately weird the group out but also warning them that people who have gone into the woods have gotten ill. Brushing off their advice, the friends continue on. Things start out fine, but when a stranger appears with a flesh-eating virus, it isn’t long before the friends start catching it themselves.

This remake of the Eli Roth film (from way back in 2002), is based off of the exact same script. No joke. Everything plays out exactly the same way except for a few circumstantial changes, the last scene, and an unnecessary scene in the credits. Oh and Officer Winston is now a female who resembles a porn star and is pretty much a lesbian. In general this is just a very piss poor movie altogether. The acting is purely awful, with the actors clearly trying way too hard to “act”. Along with this, the characters have zero substance or any particular qualities that make them unique. Thus resulting in us not caring about them at all. It’s not even that they’re unlikable. (except for maybe Bert, who is just straight up annoying), it’s just that there is nothing to them worth caring about.

On top of this, there is zero tension or suspense, there is an attempt to do this with the music, but it is so laughably cheesy. The gore effects range from awful to mediocre, some of the prosthetics involved are so damn obvious it seems like they weren’t even trying. The one thing I will give this is that it was decently-filmed. So in this respect it’s clear where a lot of the money went towards with this film. It also takes itself way too seriously, whereas the original perfectly captured the terror while adding some good dark comedy.

Not only is this one of the worst horror films I’ve seen in my life, but it is hands down the worst remake I’ve seen. Horrible acting, poorly-written characters, bad music, and extremely cheap effects makes you wonder just what the hell they were thinking remaking such a good cult classic. Most remakes at least try to be better than its predecessor, but this doesn’t try at all. If anything this is more of a cheap fan remake that is best left unseen.

–Cody Landman

First off I want to apologize for the extreme delay of this review. Two weeks ago I watched the Dutch horror/slasher “Sneekweek (2016)” in theaters with my sister. I was anticipating the release of this movie for a long time. Mainly because Dutch slashers are a rarity these days and only a handful of them are being made every decade. The trailer for Sneekweek looked promising and exciting, but at the same time it felt like I had just seen the entire movie. With no high expectations I went on to see it and I have to say that it was SO MUCH better than I expected! As it turns out the trailer didn’t reveal many important plot points and the fate of some characters. It’s I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Scream in the best possible way and that results in an awesome whodunit.

The cast is super good looking and the actors do the best they can with the material they’re given. The standouts to me were: Carolien Spoor, Jord Knotter, Holly Brood, Marly van der Velden, Sanne Langelaar, David Lucieer and Jelle De Jong. I love how bad-ass the characters were, to the point where they had to fight hard for survival. The kills were graphic and surprisingly innovative. The murder weapons that were used in the movie are really inventive. Sneekweek has a running time close to 2 hours – which is a little longer than usual for slashers, but you can clearly see that it worked as a mood setter and I honestly wasn’t bored for a second throughout the movie. This movie features quite some winks and homages to Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer and it’s evident that the director is very passionate about the genre. This movie scores high on the laughs and scares. The murder mystery is well crafted and at some point every character could’ve been the killer. The soundtrack is stylish and features lots of popular songs. The camerawork and cinematography in this movie are nothing but superb. The final act is exciting and satisfying at the same time and that’s when the shit literally hits the fan with the twists and turns. This movie doesn’t hold back on the (male) nudity, which is always a good thing with these type of movies.

Most critics panned Sneekweek and I was expecting nothing more than a campy guilty pleasure, but I was in awe by how much I ended up loving it! Is it perfect? No. Does it require a lot of thinking? No. Did I have a fun time while watching it? HELL YES! It easily became my favorite Dutch slasher and I suggest every horror/slasher fan to seek it out give it a view, but be sure to keep your expectations low. Hope to see it in theaters one more time before I purchase the Blu-ray. I could watch it over and over again. A future classic!

–Ferdi Akkulak

In most slasher films there is always that moment in the end when the killer and their motive is revealed. From there comes a very lengthy, dialogue-filled scene between the killer and the final victim. As an audience we sit and wait for them to shut up and get on to the big fight between our final girl/guy and the killer. But then there are also times when you ask yourself why after almost 90 minutes, the killer finally has the main target in their clutches, and instead of finally killing them, they talk their ear off, giving the victim the chance to escape. This leads me to the question of whether Scream actually got it right in its discussion of motives. Was Billy right when he said it’s a lot scarier when there isn’t a motive? Or do the “incidental” motives that Randy speaks of earlier in the film something that adds to it? Keep in mind that films mentioned here are not necessarily bad, this is purely on the topic of motives.

Throughout the history of slasher films, there have been numerous ones that do have a motive and some that don’t. With Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Happy Birthday To Me, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, Scream, etc. These films all had killers who had a particular motive for why they are on this killing spree. More often than not, the motive for killers in slashers are always due to revenge. This fact in itself makes motives very tiring and adds nothing new. Even Halloween, which initially had no motive for Michael’s killings, changed in the sequels and gave Michael a motivation to kill, even though to the series’ credit, the motive here was different. I believe that this motive is used most often is because it helps incorporate the twist of who the killer is. And granted sometimes it works, I’m not going to lie, I didn’t see the identity of the killer in Urban Legend coming at all, same with a lot of the reveals in Scream. They were most definitely shocking, but they were all seeking revenge in some form. When there isn’t the revenge motive, there is also the motives that are just plain stupid. Examples being Urban Legends: Final Cut, Sorority Row (even though I loved this one), Bloody Homecoming where the killer wants to take credit for another person’s film project, the killer is doing it “for his girlfriend”, or the much older gym coach wants revenge for the death of the student she was screwing (yes, it’s revenge but it is still stupid). With all of this said, motives can make or break the final act, or even slow it down.

If there isn’t a motive to the killer, we just have a straight-up psychopath. Such psychopaths are mentioned in Scream like Norman Bates, no clear cut motive here because he was just a psycho, or Hannibal Lecter, no real motive here either. As mentioned above, the original Halloween didn’t have a motive for Michael Myers, he simply returned home and began stalking these young women. Black Christmas is also a perfect example with Billy murdering the unsuspecting sorority sisters for no real reason. Even the delightfully bad Slumber Party Massacre featured a killer who had no motive for his killings. Some could say that even Jason in the Friday the 13th sequels had no real motive after murdering Alice in the opening of 2. The idea of a psychopath stalking people and murdering them is chilling and makes you very wary and wanting to lock up your house. But does this also leave the viewer wanting more? I have no doubt in my mind that there are people who will get pissy if a killer doesn’t have a motive and they think “that’s it”? Or maybe it could just seem repetitive for some. Even as I wrote those examples, it was semi-amusing that I was writing the same thing for each title. They’re just a psychopath.

Now of course this is all going to depend on the viewer and what they prefer to see in a slasher film and what effects them. But looking at the bigger picture, the question remains, is it scarier or more appealing to have a motive and the killer is someone they know, or scarier to have a person unknown to them stalking and killing people around them? Both can also have their flaws, but is there a concrete and agreeable answer as to which is much more terrifying?

–Cody Landman

On Saturday night I watched The Final Girls (2015) for the very first time. This movie was never released in theaters where I live and I had to wait a little under three months until it was finally available on DVD and Blu-ray format. In those three months I’ve heard many great praises from the horror community and by the looks of the amazing trailer I wouldn’t have expected anything else.

The Final Girls is directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson (A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas). The cast includes: Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story), Malin Ã…kerman (Watchmen), Adam DeVine (Workaholics), Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley), Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Alexander Ludwig (The Hunger Games), Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), Angela Trimbur (Halloween II) and Chloe Bridges (The Carrie Diaries). I have finally seen The Final Girls and I absolutely loved every second of this masterpiece. Easily one of the best horror comedies I’ve ever seen in my life. It turned a smile on my face and it even had me on the verge of shedding a tear in some scenes. It is innovative and altogether nothing short of excellent. The acting performances are very solid and the standouts were without a doubt: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Ã…kerman, Thomas Middleditch, Nina Dobrev and Angela Trimbur. Especially the chemistry between mother and daughter (Farmiga and Ã…kerman, respectively) was really strong and believable. The script is brilliant and features many winks to cheesy dialogue of horror movies from the 80’s. Totally quotable! The direction from Todd Strauss-Schulson is superb, as he really manages to capture a perfect camp setting without trying too hard. The cinematography is gorgeous and the soundtrack is outstanding. The song “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes has been stuck inside my head ever since I’ve heard it in this movie. I’m definitely planning to purchase the Soundtrack CD. The Final Girls features many iconic moments, the characters are relatable and the visuals look stunning. The picture quality on the Blu-ray looks fantastic.

My main complaint with this movie is the lack of blood, gore and nudity. The PG-13 rating could’ve easily been an R rating. I feel like it’s a missed opportunity, but a bigger audience can be reached with a PG-13 rating and I think the makers were having the exact same idea. The Final Girls is a near perfect horror/comedy with a heart in the right place. I highly recommend it to everyone! Destined to become a cult classic, it’s only just a matter of time. The ending makes room for a sequel, which we’ll hopefully get one day. I fully support that idea.

–Ferdi Akkulak