Horror Homage Art Featuring Adam Rabalais

Slasher Studios*Horror

Creating an homage poster isn’t always easy. There are a lot of things that must perfectly fall into place in order to create that perfect poster that is both representative of the original movie as well as new and fresh. Today at Slasher Studios we would love to introduce to you Adam Rabalais and his horror poster art. Below are a couple of examples of the incredible graphic artistry that goes into each and every one of this amazing posters. If you like what you see, click on the link below and make sure to order your poster today.

To order:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/adamrabalais?ref=pr_shop_more

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Slasher Studios Webcast: Favorite Unlikable Horror Characters

Slasher Studios*Slasher Studios Podcast

Join Slasher Studios creators Kevin Sommerfield and Steve Goltz this Sunday at 10PM as they discuss the world of slasher Films on the Slasher Studios Webcast. On this week’s episode the duo will be going over their favorite unlikable horror characters. Whether it be the jock, the bitch, the asshole, or all of the above…these are characters that we LOVED to hate.

Click on the link to listen in live or to check out an archive of a past show:

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

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Horror Director of the Week: Wes Craven

Slasher Studios*Horror Director of the Week

Wes Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Caroline and Paul Craven. He had a strict Baptist upbringing. Craven earned an undergraduate degree in English and Psychology from Wheaton College in Illinois, and a masters degree in Philosophy and Writing from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to landing his first job in the film industry as a sound editor for a post-production company in New York City, Craven briefly taught English at Westminster College and was a humanities professor at Clarkson College of Technology in Potsdam, New York. He left the academic world for the more lucrative role of pornographic film director. In the documentary Inside Deep Throat, Craven says on camera he made “many X-rated films” under pseudonyms, learning his directing craft. While his role in Deep Throat is undisclosed, most of his early known work involved writing, film editing or both. In 1972 Wes Craven directed his first feature film The Last House on the Left.

Craven’s works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. A Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, dealt with the consequences of dreams in real life. New Nightmare “brushes against” (but does not quite break) the fourth wall by having actress Heather Langenkamp play herself as she is haunted by the villain of the film in which she once starred. At one point in the film, we see on Wes Craven’s word processor a script he has written, which includes the exact conversation he just had with Heather – as if the script was being written as the action unfolded. The Serpent and the Rainbow portrays a man who cannot distinguish between nightmarish visions and reality. In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This concept was emphasized in the sequels, as copycat stalkers reenact the events of a new film about the Woodsboro killings occurring in Scream. Scream included a scene mentioning the well-known Richard Gere urban legend. Craven stated in interviews that he received calls from agents telling him that if he left that scene in, he would never work again.

He directed has since directed ever film in the “Scream” series, the most popular slasher series in the history of film. Although his two latest films, “Scream 4” and “My Soul to Take”, were both considered box office disappointments, it is never wise to count out Craven. The seasoned director has proved for four decades now just what horror movie audiences want and how to deliver it to them.

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Scream Queen of the Week: Jill Schoelen

Slasher Studios*Scream Queen of the Week

Today we would like to do a tribute to one of our favorite husky-voiced “scream queen” heroine of the 1980s: Jill Schoelen. Born and raised in Burbank, she studied at the Acting for Life Theatre in Burbank and started off on TV as a teen in the Fame-influenced TV pilot called Best of Times starring the up-and-coming Nicolas Cage and Crispin Glover. She gained in experience with a number of innocuous films geared mostly toward the young, including D.C. Cab (1983), Thunder Alley (1985) and Hot Moves (1984). The dark-eyed, black-haired pretty with the trademark bangs wouldn’t find her horror niche until hooking up with Wes Craven and his TV movie Chiller (1985). From there she scored big with the cult shocker The Stepfather (1987) wherein she played the resourceful stepdaughter terrorized by the lecherous, meek-appearing Terry O’Quinn as the title monster.

The sleeper hit put Jill on the map with a seemingly solid future, continuing on with The Phantom of the Opera (1989), this time keeping company opposite Freddy Krueger inhabiter Robert Englund as her deranged pursuer. After Opera, Schoelen appeared in The Curse II:The Bite (1989), Cutting Class (1989) and the underrated Popcorn (1991). Although these films weren’t very successful, she did land the lead in the TV movie sequel When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) which reviles the original in terror. After Calls Back, Schoelen disappeared from Hollywood to focus on raising a family. The slasher world was down one terrific scream queen.

Today we honor you Jill Schoelen as our Slasher Studios Scream Queen of the Week. So let us all pop some popcorn and put in our copies of The Stepfather to pay tribute to a Slasher Queen that never really received the acclaim she deserved.

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Dario Argento’s Phenomena (Creepers) Sure to Make Your Skin Crawl

Slasher Studios*Horror

When it comes to the films of Dario Argento most will cite either Deep Red or Suspiria as his best film and every so often Tenebre will be listed, but there are quite a few very much in the minority that rate Phenomena from 1985 as his best film and while I can’t agree on this being his best film it is however an excellent film and despite the cult status I also find it a little underrated. Phenomena is Argento’s strangest film as it’s part dark fairy tale, part supernatural and part Giallo and the mixture of these elements should really sink the film, but instead it enhances the movie and makes it one of the if not the most original horror film of the 80s.

At the time of the release of Phenomena Dario Argento was going through his metal phase that sort of replaced the scores in his films. While he still worked with Claudio Simonetti, the soundtrack was also made up of metal music, which Argento would again use in Demons released the same year as Phenomena, which he produced and was directed by Lamberto Bava and in 1987 Argento would direct Opera and produce Demons 2 again directed by Bava and both films would have plenty of metal music. I think the music in Argento’s flicks have played a big part of their success and at first I really disliked the metal music at least in Phenomena and Opera, but I’ve actually warmed up to it a bit and while I prefer the score by Simonetti and metal does make for an interesting mix and with Phenomena it actually adds to the weirdness of the film and works in a strange way even if some of the suspense is lost.

To say the plot for Phenomena is weird is a major under statement; Jennifer Corvino (Connelly) is the daughter of a famous actor and while her father is busy she’s sent to a Swiss boarding school, which is the site for a slew of unsolved murders; Jennifer has a strange connection with insects and with the help of insects, Jennifer sets out to solve the vicious unsolved murders.

The screenplay by Dario Argento & Franco Ferrini is quite interesting and while the script does suffer at times the overall weirdness of the script however keeps it interesting; the characters are pretty much the typical featured in Argento’s movies; they lack depth and don’t really impact the story. Jennifer however is one of Argento’s more interesting characters. While she isn’t the most developed character we’ve ever come across she is interesting and likeable and one of Argento’s more sympathetic characters. Some of the dialogue for the other teen characters comes across as a bit odd, Argento & Ferrini fair a lot better with Jennifer.

Phenomena is well plotted and mostly coherent; Argento & Ferrini take the basic Giallo elements and mix in the supernatural and twisted fairy tale and the final act seems to owe a little bit to Friday the 13th and this might sound like a disaster waiting to happen, but Argento & Ferrini actually make these ideas work mostly well. The script does feature a few of the flaws I personally find with some of Argento’s scripts, but in general the script works due to the totally off beat nature.

As director Dario Argento delivers a mostly well-paced movie, but at 110-mintues Phenomena can run a little overly long, but the strangeness of the movie helps keep things moving a solid pace. The isolated setting helps Argento create an eerie feel and while this isn’t Argento’s most suspenseful flick it still works due to the setting. Like I brought up earlier with the use of metal music can slightly hinder the suspense at times, but the music also keeps in with the total offbeat nature of the movie. Dario Argento may not hit the highs of some of his past movies, but he’s able to hit all the right notes with Phenomena and crafts one of the most original horror movies of the 80s and this movie just further cements Argento’s great legacy in the horror genre.

This is one of Jennifer Connelly’s first films and apparently she’s made some negative comments about the movie, which is a shame. Phenomena may not be an Oscar worthy movie, but it’s still an excellent movie and too bad Connelly doesn’t feel the same as many of the fans of the movie. Donald Pleasence also appears in the film and gives a solid and fun performance.

Phenomena truly is a fascinating movie and while I wouldn’t rate this in my top 5 Argento movies it’s really an entertaining and fun flick that is just off the wall on the weirdness factor. A lot of the plot points can easily sink a movie, but Argento being the great craftsman he is totally makes this work.

-Dave Kaye (Last Road Reviews)

To order from Amazon: Phenomena (Special Edition)

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Slasher Death Scenes We Love: “The Burning”, “My Bloody Valentine”, “Pieces”

Slasher Studios*Slasher Death Scenes We Love

Here are three favorite slasher death scenes submitted by the Jeffrey Lee and Michael Lang. Keep those favorite deaths coming at the Slasher Studios Facebook Page. Submit your favorite slasher movie death scenes and why they love them so much and we will feature them here!

Jeffrey Lee-“The Burning”

One of my favorite death scenes in a slasher movie is the raft massacre in The Burning. Tom Savini is THE maestro of special effects! His work is so brilliant that it becomes a character in the movie that he’s working on. In this scene there are 5 over-the-top deaths in 30 seconds! It’s in your face, super gory, and makes no apologies. This scene proved Cropsy to be one of the most brutal killing machines in slasher history!

Michael Lang-“My Bloody Valentine”

Also the the FX were great, the lighting was perfect, it look soo real, The sounds were just unsettling, great story and plot was perfect soo this is my favorite slasher movie death.

Jeffrey Lee-“Pieces” (1983)
Topless chick pisses her pants and then is cut in half with a chain saw. ’nuff said.

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Slasher Death Scenes We Love: “I Know…”, “Scream 4”, and “My Super Psycho Sweet 16”

Slasher Studios*Slasher Death Scenes We Love

Looks like we have some more slasher deaths for you horror fans. Here are three more favorite slasher death scenes submitted by Kevin, Brian, and Cory. Keep those favorite deaths coming at the Slasher Studios Facebook Page. Submit your favorite slasher movie death scenes and why they love them so much and we will feature them here!

Reece Glen Donnell-“I Know What You Did Last Summer”
My favourite slasher death comes from 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer and it is the untimely death of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s lovely Helen Shivers. For me this is the ultimate in slasher death scenes because of the eight minute long chase sequence that precedes it. The character puts up one hell of a good fight for her life and has the audience rooting for her until help is only feet away, but in typically cruel slasher style it’s too late. As an audience member I was willing Helen to survive more and more as the scene went on and could’ve cried when the slicker clad villain appeared behind her….I think purely because I wanted the character to survive SO badly and the fact she didn’t after such an epic struggle, is the reason the scene has stayed with me.

Cody Landman-“Scream 4”
My favorite slasher death is Olivia Morris in Scream 4. I love this death because of not only the bruality of her death but everything that leads up to it. Kirby and Jill talking to Olivia next door over speaker phone. Kirby getting the phone call from Ghostface and having a one-on-one with him. Eventually saying he’s in the closet. With Olivia still on the line Kirby opens Jill’s closet to find…nothing. Ghostface saying he didn’t say he was in Jill’s closet. Ghostface then pops out of Olivia’s closet. Olivia gets tossed around dressers, walls, etc. Receives multiple stab wounds and face smashed in a window. All in front of Jill and Kirby and ultimately guts Olivia in front of them too.

Sean Hogan Wells-“My Super Psycho Sweet 16”
Oh god, my favorite slasher death scene. Such a hard decision, but the first thing that popped into my mind was Chloe’s death in My Super Psycho Sweet 16. Definitely the most brutal of the film, this scene caught my attention as soon as Charlie appeared out of the fog and beat her with the extinguisher. These scene wasn’t taken to the extremes with the gore factor because it is made-for-TV, but I found it to be enough to call itself a good scene, and the slight suspense of Chloe calling for Skye had me a bit intimidated by what was going to happen to that poor girl.

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Slasher Death Scenes We Love: “The Prowler”, “Nightmare 4”, and “Scream 2”

Slasher Studios*Slasher Death Scenes We Love

Wow! You guys are good! Just a few minutes we announced that we were asking for your favorite slasher deaths. Within minutes, we had five deaths selected. These are the first three favorite slasher death scenes submitted by Kevin, Brian, and Cory. Keep those favorite deaths coming at the Slasher Studios Facebook Page. Submit your favorite slasher movie death scenes and why they love them so much and we will feature them here!

Kevin T. Smith-“The Prowler”
Fav Slasher Movie Death – While I have a ton of favorite fatalities that are a part of the Slasher sub-genre, this one key death sequence from THE PROWLER is one of my tall time fav’s! Tom Savini’s clear misdirection, brutality, & payoff makes this for one hard-to-outdo slasher death scene. & on top of that, the eyes being sucked back & revealing the white of the eyes as the blade slides back out the of the head not only makes this for one very good awe inspiring death but Tom Savini a TRUE showman!

Cory Allen-“A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master”

I don’t really know which is my favorite death scene from a slasher film, so I randomly picked this one from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Debbie’s death by getting turned into a cockroach.This death scene has some great special effects and “I want your Hands(on me) by Sinead O’ Connor” is playing in the background. Also Alice and Dan are put into a time warp thing where they are doing the same thing over and over again. Freddy also has two great lines in this death scene: “I believe in you” and “You can check in, but you can’t check out”.

Brian C Tyler-“Scream 2”

Not necessarily my favorite, but the first that popped in my head was this great scene from SCREAM 2. As a kid, it was shocking for me to see Buffy killed so early on, I thought because she was Buffy she would be a main character. Besides that it’s a tense scene, with a great build up to a fun little chase scene and a brutal death.

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