Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Let’s Get Drunk and Watch “Leprechaun”!

Slasher Studios*Horror
"Leprechaun and Little People Fetishes Centerfold, May 1994"

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day and what does that mean in the horror world? Of course you know what it means. It means watch the only horror movie in the world dedicated to the holiday of the Irish and drinking green beer. Let’s watch us some “Leprechaun”! Oh the joys of “Leprechaun”. The basic plot? A really nasty leprechaun is robbed of his gold and forced to lie trapped in a crate for ten years thanks to a magical four-leaf clover. When the Leprechaun is awaken from his slumber, he makes a vow to kill everybody who stands in his way of his recovering his gold. Sound promising? I’d say your luck just ran out. In for a bad b-movie with a lot of charm and not a lot of brains? Well…your luck might be a little bit better.

"Lucky Charms, My Ass!"

“Leprechaun” is the sort of movie I might expect to see from someone who decided that there simply MUST be a St. Patrick’s Day horror movie. The movie does have one good thing going for it, though, a young Jennifer Aniston who is actually quite charming as our lead and ultimate “Final Girl”. Tory is a spoiled young girl from L.A. forced to spend the summer with her father and friends in an all but condemned house in North Dakota. The very same house the mean, old Leprechaun has been staying! Do you think there will be chaos? Yes. Do you think any of our major characters will die? Nope. Good…glad to see that we are all on the same page here.

"You think this is bad? You haven't seen Love Happens yet!"

Ugh…what movie was I talking about again? Oh yeah, “Leprechaun”. Seriously, is this movie over yet? There is a slight bit of blood and gore, but the leprechaun spends more time trying to be funny (his “jokes” make Freddy Krueger seem like Woody Allen on his best) than providing us with satisfying deaths. Far too many ridiculous sight gags are played, insulting the intelligence of even the youngest of viewers, and the climax (“FUCK YOU LUCKY CHARMS”) is too inane for words. In the world of horror movies, Leprechaun is typical B-rated horror….nothing more and nothing less. If you are in the mood for a dumb horror movie about a dumb leprechaun doing dumb things…well, you don’t do any better than this. And, with five increasingly awful sequels, the filmmakers have shown us that you can do worse…much worse!

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Slasher Studios Loses Sleep with Writer/Director Justin Russell

Slasher Studios*Slasher Studios Podcast

On this week’s episode of Slasher Studios, Kevin Sommerfield and Steve Goltz will be talking to writer and director of the slasher homage “The Sleeper”: Justin Russell. Russell will share his tricks of the trade, the secrets of working in the independent horror genre, and the slasher flicks that changed his life forever. Join us Sunday March 18th at 10PM central for an interview that will be worth losing sleep over.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/slasherstudios/2012/03/19/slasher-studios-loses-sleep-with-director-justin-russell

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Horror Director of the Week: Eli Roth

Slasher Studios*Horror Director of the Week

Roth was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Dr. Sheldon Roth, a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, and Cora Roth, a painter. His grandparents emigrated from Austria, Russia, and Poland; Roth was raised Jewish.

Roth began shooting films at the age of eight after watching Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979). He made over 50 short films with his brothers Adam and Gabe before graduating at Newton South High School and attending film school (the Tisch School of the Arts) at New York University, from which he graduated in 1994. By the age of 20, and while still a student at NYU, Roth ran the office of producer Frederick Zollo, eventually leaving to devote himself to writing full-time. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1994 at NYU.

In 1995, a year after graduating from NYU, Roth cowrote Cabin Fever with his roommate and friend from NYU, Randy Pearlstein. Roth based the premise of the script on his own encounter with a skin infection he contracted while training horses at a farm in Selfoss, Iceland, in 1991. Much of the script was written while Roth was working as a production assistant in 1996 for Howard Stern’s movie Private Parts.

Cabin Fever was made in 2001 on a budget of $1.5 million raised from private investors. Roth sold the film to Lionsgate at the 2002 Toronto Film Festival for $3.5 million, the biggest sale of the festival that year. The film was released in 2003 and was Lionsgate’s highest grossing film of the year, earning $22 million at the U.S. box office and $35 million worldwide. Lionsgate used the theatrical success of Cabin Fever to raise the money to purchase Artisan Entertainment. Lionsgate stock rose from $1.98 a share at the time Cabin Fever was purchased at the Toronto Film Festival to nearly $6 a share after Cabin Fever was released theatrically. The film made Roth a new star in the horror genre. In his 2004 Premiere Magazine interview for Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino called Cabin Fever his favorite new film and Roth “the future of horror.”

Roth’s second feature film, Hostel, was made in 2005 on a budget of a little more than $4 million. It opened to No. 1 at the box office in January 2006, taking in $20 million over its opening weekend. It went on to gross $80 million worldwide in box office, and more than $180 million worldwide on DVD. In April 2006 on Eli Roth’s birthday, Hostel opened on DVD at No. 1.[citation needed] The movie plot is said to take place in Slovakia, however, all the exteriors were shot in the Czech Republic. The story line is naively simple – three friends are lured to visit a hostel in which they think their sexual fantasies will come true. Instead, they drop into the clutches of an international syndicate offering a first-hand torturing and killing experience to the sadistic pleasure of rich tourists. The film was voted the No. 1 scariest movie moment on the Bravo TV special 30 Even Scarier Movie Moments. Empire Magazine readers voted Hostel the Best Horror Film of 2007.

Roth reportedly turned down numerous studio directing jobs to make Hostel. He took a directing salary of only $10,000 on Hostel in order to keep the budget as low as possible so there would be no limitations on the violence. In January 2006, film critic David Edelstein in New York Magazine credited Roth with creating the horror sub-genre ‘torture porn,’ or ‘gorno,’ using excessive violence to excite audiences like a sexual act.

In 2007, Roth directed the faux trailer segment Thanksgiving for Grindhouse in addition to appearing in Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino’s segment of the film. Roth and cowriter Jeff Rendell won a 2007 Spike TV Scream Award for best “screamplay” for their writing in Grindhouse, sharing the honor with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright. Roth also provided the narration for the faux trailer. Rumors have it that Roth will be directing a feature-film version of Thanksgiving to be released in 2013.

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John Carpenter Goes Crazy: “The Ward” Review

Slasher StudiosJohn Carpenter's The Ward

Nearly 40-years into his career John Carpenter comes out with The Ward his first feature film since Ghosts of Mars back in 2001. In-between the two films he directed Cigarette Burns & Pro-Life for the Masters of Horror, but now Carpenter returns to feature films and going into the movie I was a bit concerned. In general most filmmakers don’t make the transition from one era to another and while I’ve seen every Carpenter film with the exception of his TV movie Elvis, I haven’t hated any of his films. The 90s his films did lack compared to those of the 70s and 80s, but they were still enjoyable even if they weren’t classics. Don’t go into The Ward expecting anything like Halloween or the Fog; if you take the movie for what it is, you might find yourself enjoying the movie even if it does have its problems.

John Carpenter has stated he’s only out for a payday now and while he dislikes the Halloween sequels he likes when they’re made since he gets paid for it. It’s quite a shame Carpenter has put the dollar above his artistic vision since he is a true pioneer in the world of filmmaking and has been ripped more times than I can count. He was even offered H20, but turned it down due to not being offered enough money and The Ward is clearly a paycheck movie, but there are still enough of Carpenter’s techniques on display to keep The Ward an entertaining movie.

The screenplay by Michael & Shawn Rasmussen was kind of weak as the plot is rather weak and plays out more like a slasher flick; the reason behind the haunting isn’t explained until an hour in and it almost seems as if it was added in as an afterthought. The characters weren’t very developed at all as we really don’t know much about them at all however they are entertaining and that’s the saving grace to the script. Despite these problems I wouldn’t say The Ward was poorly written, but it just doesn’t have a real structure and like I said plays out like the run of the mill slasher flick with a killer and its victims. My biggest gripe is the twist at the end, which I cannot get into since I don’t wanna spoil the movie, but it’s really a major letdown and I just hate twists for the sake of it and this really had me letdown.

After nearly a decade John Carpenter returns to some mixed results; the pacing of the film is actually fairly good despite the lack of plot and Carpenter does manage to make something out of nothing and seeing as the movie is only about 88-minutes it doesn’t take long for the action to kick in. There are some slight pacing problems at times, but that has more to do with the weak story than Carpenter’s direction, but Carpenter doesn’t fully take advantage of his setting either. Like the script playing out like a slasher film, Carpenter’s direction is very slasher movie like filled with jump scares and while it’s a letdown to see Carpenter go down that road it’s still mostly effective.

Horror filmmakers are the ones that seem to lose it the most from one generation to the next, but John Carpenter shows he’s still more than capable of making a solid movie. Like I said don’t go in expecting anything as suspense and tension filled as Halloween, but for a filmmaker nearly 40-years into his career The Ward turns out far better than I could have ever expected. Carpenter does provide some decent suspense and perhaps a decent scare or two and while, he does rely more on jump scares everything is staged well enough to make this a fun ride. The Ward isn’t gonna go down as one of Carpenter’s best films, but I actually mostly enjoyed it.

Overall The Ward may not go down as one of Carpenter’s best films, but it’s still entertaining enough to be a worthy film in his career; despite the problems the movie had I mostly enjoyed it. The performances were strong and score by Mark Kilian was pretty good, but would have been better if Carpenter composed it like he’s done for most of his films. As I stated don’t go in expecting anything like Halloween, but if you sit back and take the movie for what it is you might find yourself enjoying it despite the pointless twist at the end.

-Dave Kaye (Last House Reviews)

To buy from Amazon: John Carpenter’s the Ward

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When the Lights Go Out the Terror Begins: “Alone in the Dark” Review

Slasher StudiosAlone in the Dark

Back in my golden days of being a video store clerk, I saw this movie in the horror isle everyday, looking back at me. I knew nothing about it, who was in it, who directed it, anything. I always passed it up to take something else home for the night. What a fool I was. This movie is an 80’s classic, and comes off a little more professional than many of my favorites from that era. It undoubtedly has been paid reverence to by many films along the years (The Attic Expeditions and William Butler’s Madhouse) that reside within the slasher and insane psychopath territory of horror. This one gets right to the punch, never taking itself too seriously, yet never going quite over the top. How the hell did I miss this gem?

The story is very simple; Doctor Dan (Dwight Schultz) relocates with his family and arrives at his new job at a mental institution and meets headmaster, Doctor Bain (Donald Pleasence-Halloween, Escape From New York), a liberal of sorts whom has peculiar methods of handling the patients. There are no locks to keep these patients (or Voyagers, so called in the film) from breaking out. Confinement is advanced, with the use of electronic doors and windows. Let us strongly hope this town never has a blackout.

Later on, Dan’s sister arrives (looking like she just stepped off the set of a B-52s video) to stay a bit and spend time with the family. One thing leads to another, and she is ends up going with Dan and his wife to see new wave band, The Sick Fucks. Oh yeah, remember that blackout everyone should be hoping to never happen??? D’oh! Slasher madness ensues.

As if the blackout and the breakout of four mental patients from the hospital is not enough, a town riot eventualizes and births theft, beating and even murder. And God forbid the four escapee’s have a motive. They are looking for Doctor Dan, whom they think has murdered their past doctor that he replaced; and they will go to excessive lengths to exact some payback.

The performances of the patients are made very enjoyable from wonderful actors. Byron (Martin Landau-Ed Wood) and Ronald (Erland van Lidth) work like a wrestling tag team using a two-on-one ass kicking method against their opponents. Byron sets up the victim with vicious and demented religious rambling, while Ronald pulls out a finishing movie (such as a back breaker, in one scene) to ensure final annihilation. This tag team expertise is used more than once in the film, and it really gets more entertaining with each victim.

Landau is the one to watch here, in all honesty. His appearance is truly frightening, and the wild things he screams out sets the fear in stone. Erland van Lidth also gives a great performance, especially in consideration how uncomfortable his character is. The movie only hints at his pedophiliac desires, rightfully so; the hints are enough to induce a creepy feeling running down the viewer’s spine.

Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance- Jess Franco’s Marquis De Sade’s Justine) is the more refined leader of the pack. His appetite is still wet for blood, however, being a war torn veteran convinced by himself that crazy patients aren’t crazy; they’re just on vacation.

There has always been something about Donald Pleasance that makes even the worst of his characters charming. As Doctor Bain, captivation is apprehended by just how unbalanced he is, perhaps just as much as his patients/Voyagers are. Nearly every scene he is viewed with either his peace pipe dangling from his lips, or in his hand waiting to be packed and smoked up for real world escape. This performance is highly intriguing from a late and great genre favorite.

The movie is slightly hindered by a twist that could have been more involving, had it not been executed so bluntly. It centers on a forth mental patient that escapes and goes Unseen for a large half of the film (until the story drops in an element of Dan’s sister being arrested at a nuclear plant protest). First off, when this character is introduced, his face is hardly shown, but it is obvious he is favoring an injury on his forehead. When he reappears after the protest, he suggests that a cop had hit him. This whole subplot is just excessively conclusive; but it could have been largely affected with a more delicate approach.

Another thing to look out for is Renato Serio’s score, which bares strong resemblance to past slashers, as well as some apparent respect to Goblin; though, on a more generic level in both instances. Even that being the case, the music builds tension for energetic moments, and the opening theme is a keeper!

There is not really a gore element, as the film works more off efficiency with its jolt and jump scares. A lot of the fear comes out of nowhere, or from somewhere other than you expect it to (recalling the moment in a bedroom with a baby-sitter and her boyfriend). This should not deter you away, though; I am still in bewilderment as to why I never watched this in the past.

Ultimately, Alone in the Dark is an underrated 80’s classic. Any strong fan of the Horror genre as a whole should give it at least one viewing. I found it to be a pleasant surprise that came quite a bit before many films I enjoy that have an illusive similarity to it. Director, Jack Sholder went on to direct many works, including another underrated favorite of mine, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. However, this is definitely a different kind of film altogether.

-Eric King (RobocopsSadSide)

To buy: Alone in the Dark

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Angela’s Back and Badder than Ever: “Sleepaway Camp 2” Review

Slasher StudiosSleepaway Camp 2

So yeah, this is quite a bit different from the first Sleepaway film. Instead of Felissa Rose, we got Bruce’s sister, Pam, in the role of Angela. We got a camp full of kids named after Brat Pack actors. We got mullets galore, dudes with short shorts, boob shot after boob shot, marijuana, and more. The production is bad, the acting is badder and I wouldn’t have it any other fucking way. The terribleness is what makes Sleepaway Camp II so goddamned epic, almost as enjoyable as its predecessor.

Seriously, if someone were to ask me if Sleepaway Camp II is any good, I would just spit out “Oh, I’m a happy camper, I love to drink and fuck! And if you pay me money, on my titties you can suck!” And if that didn’t answer their question, I would punch them in the fucking face. Not really, but I would be disappointed if that rhyme wasn’t a selling point.

The murderous events from the first film are used as a campfire story in the beginning of part II, a ruse to make kids shit their skivvies. Very much like campfire scenes in many a Friday the 13th film, or any other camp film. There isn’t a whole lot of story to Unhappy Campers. Generally, if you fuck up mildly, Angela will give you another chance; if you fuck up again, Angela is gonna fuck you up. Shit, that’s all the story I need. Only thing I could really ask for is a scene of two people spinning around all giggly while flirting… SHIT! We get that, too!

Tons of nifty POV shots and some low cam work on Angela’s legs, lurking through the woods looking for naughty kids doing shit they aint supposed to be doing. There’s a couple of genuinely creepy moments toward the finale, such as an overhead view of the empty girls cabin, accompanied by Angela rockin’ Kumbaya on her acoustic. The ending chase scene is epic, going back and forth from POV to side view shots of Angela pursuing our final girl. Dig it. But what takes the cake is a montage that showcases all the deaths in blue screen tint, with Angela’s “Happy Camper” song slowed down to the tone of a low, guttural demon fart. It’s fucking epic.

Do I really need to talk about acting? Is anybody out there really concerned with solid performances in a Sleepaway Camp movie? For what it’s worth, Pam Springsteen makes Angela all her own. She can go from a “Happy Camper” jam session to fucking someone’s day up in the blink of an eye! It’s almost a whole different character, but whatevs, works for me. As far as everyone else; Brian Patrick Clark plays camp counselor TC, and his hair steals the fucking show every time he’s/it’s on screen. Valerie Hartman’s bod makes all the right moves, Renee Estevez as Molly pulls off the cute innocent “emo before people knew what the fuck emo was” shit with ease, Tony Higgins has the heartthrob element on point as Sean, and the late Walter Gotell changes his accent every five minutes as Uncle John. Oh, and damn, we can’t forget Carol Chambers and Amy Fields as Brooke and Jodi, the Shit sisters. They’re basically stoned and drunk the whole time, which is why I love ’em!

In a slasher sequel, I expect the gore factor to be amped the fuck up. Bill Johnson (The Walking Dead, Eight Legged Freaks) has some cool stuff going on here, but it’s sadly kinda tame, overall. I wanted brains, blood and bodily fluids slapping me in the goddamn face. Just didn’t turn out that way. There are some bad ass moments, like a log to the side of the head, a death by being shoved in a shitter and a straight fucking awesome decap scene, but I wanted more. When Angela is going to kill someone with a battery drill, I need to see that shit, not just a bit of blood splatting all about. Oh well.

As far as the soundtrack goes, they had me at the opening scene with Anvil. If I had hair I would be swinging that shit full throttle through most of this movie.

Ultimately, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers is a big WIN as a sequel. I applaud director Michael A. Simpson and writer Fritz Gordon for not attempting a rehash. Let’s face it, you can’t top the ending of the original, and this is well realized here. A campy horror film at a camp… works for me.

-Eric King (RobocopsSadSide)

To buy the Sleepaway Camp box set: Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit

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Surviving High School is Killer: “Cutting Class” Review

Slasher StudiosCutting Class

William Carson, a wealthy district attorney decides to take a hunting trip, leaving his lovely daughter Paula (Jill Schoelen ) alone at home. Before going he leaves her with some rules, such as no boys in the house, no partying, and no cutting class. Well, while out hunting, Mr. Carson takes an arrow to the chest and is left for dead by an unknown assailant. Before you know it, teachers and students from Paula’s school start turning up missing and some, dead. Could it be the redneck pot smoking custodian, the perverted principal (the excellent Roddy McDowell) who loves catching ass shots, Paula’s no brain jock boyfriend, Dwight (Brad Pitt), or an old friend of Dwight’s who just recently got out of the hospital for being, *dramatic pause* fucked in the head? This sometimes funny on purpose, sometimes unintentional 80’s horror romp actually had me guessing till the end!

It is an assumption of mine that director Rospo Pallenberg’s main goal was showing many an angle, many a long pause of the lead heroines butt while filming Cutting Class. Not to mention the teasing side nude shots that I have a love/hate relationship with. And what better an actress to perform these tasks than Jill Schoelen? Not the greatest actress, not the worst, but pretty nice to look at. The director pretty much flaunts her here. You could easily play a drinking game to Cutting Class where everyone has to take a shot when Jill Schoelen bends over, and you would be wasted when this flick is through. There’s even one scene where her art teacher has the whole class drawing her while she’s modeling in a body suit, either bent over or standing on her tippy toes trying to grab an apple from a significantly tall male. Did they really have a class like this in high school? If so, how did I miss it? I won’t even go into the gymnasium scenes, but let’s just say they are amazing.

The movie is filled to the brim with dialog so bad that it’s epic –i.e. one scene where the custodian tells Paula and Dwight that he’s “the custodian of their fucking destiny”! This moment alone demands multiple playback. The acting is downright awful. Brad Pitt must be proud. Sadly, Roddy McDowall only has a few scenes in the flick and the most of them are him drooling at Schoelen, like every other male character in the movie.

Not a huge gore level, but some interesting kill scenes. My favorite is the gym teacher getting impaled by a flag while doing body flops on the school trampoline. The aftermath of a cheerleader (who removes her panties before the basketball game) and her boyfriend being murdered under the grandstand is pretty messy. A neat little off screen death with a teacher being melted in a kiln takes place, also.

There’s also a fairly enjoyable tool duel at the end with obvious stunt doubles a-blazin’.

It’s said that Brad Pitt and Jill Schoelen were engaged after starring in the movie together, but split up shortly afterward. Donovan Leitch from The Blob ’88 also stars.

Not great, but not bad late 80’s horror comedy smoke n’ joke flick.

-Eric King (RobocopsSadSide)

To buy from Amazon: Cutting Class (Unrated Version)

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Slasher Studios Top 5 Favorite Horror Characters We Love to Hate

Slasher Studios*Slasher Studios Podcast

On this week’s episode of Slasher Studios Webcast we went over our favorite unlikable horror characters. Whether it be the jock, the bitch, the asshole, or all of the above…these are characters that we LOVE to hate.

Click on the link to listen to an archive of the show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/slasherstudios/2012/03/12/slasher-studios-favorite-unlikable-horror-characters

Ally-Sleepaway Camp 2
Ally is the blonde bitch at camp who is oh so popular with the boys. She talks crap, puts out and is not a fan of Angela, who she insists is a lesbian. Angela gets the best of this condescending camper as Ally is plunged into a full outhouse and drowns in the one disgusting death.

Cindy-Sleepaway Camp 3
She’s racists and feisty and thinks she is better than all the other kids at camp. She’s mean spirited and although we love her politically incorrect lines, Cindy deserves every painful moment that Angela inflicts on her. The best part about this character is that she doesn’t look at all like the mean girl she is. She has the girl-next-door look and it comes as a surprise when we are let in to see who she really is.

Melissa-Friday the 13th Part 7
This blonde girl loves her pearls and loves making trouble for poor little Tina. “Is this the way they wear their jackets back at the mental hospital?” She definitely gets what is coming to her as Jason SLAMS his axe into her face.

Jessica-Sorority Row
Jessica is the bitchy sorority sister of Theta Pi who is too attractive for her own good. Audiences love to hate this character because of her mean ways and cruel demeanor, but we here at Slasher Studios think she was just about perfect in every way. Lasting well into the end of the film, Jessica cold easily have lived and come back for a sequel as we loved this unlikable character.

Glazer-The Burning
He’s the dumb bully that really has not one redeeming quality, but is able to serve as the comedic relief as he lusts toward the young Sally. The cruel ways of this cocky jock and one-pump-chump meets an equally cruel death from the very underated Cropsy.


Trey-Freddy Vs. Jason
Almost as self centered as Freddy and Jason are mean. Trey, a beer drinking, chain wearing pretty boy, meets him doom as Jason impales him over and over again in the back with his classic machete before bending him (and the bed) in half in one very memorable death.

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