We’ve always been supportive of low budget indie fare here at Slasher Studios and we have another brand new slasher feature to share with you. From the creators of Slasher House, Cleaver: Rise of the Killer Clown is the latest release from Mycho Entertainment. The film sounds like a hell of a lot of fun and Slasher Studios had a great time with Slasher House so we are excited to see what they do with this brand new slasher venture. They can’t make the movie though without your help so make sure to become a backer today and support indie horror!

Synopsis:
1990 Oklahoma : Carlton Layton arrived home to find his wife in the arms of another man, he went out to his van and donned the clown suit that he used as a children’s entertainer and proceeded to slaughter his wife and her lover. All of this was witnessed by his 5 year old daughter and Carlton escaped into the night leaving his little girl behind.

5 Years Later: Halloween Night and Carley, a young college student, is hired to take care of a little girl as her parents head out to a Halloween party, but someone one is waiting, someone wants the girl, someone who we know as ‘The Cleaver”.

To become a backer:
Cleaver: Rise of the Killer Clown

To order Slasher House:
Slasher House (DVD)

I have seen Waxwork (1988) for the first time (“W” of #AtoZHorror in August/September) and while I didn’t know anything about this movie till this year, I decided to blind buy it at a store for €6. I heard some good things, so I thought I would love it too. I also loved the trailer and the female lead: Deborah Foreman (April Fool’s Day). Did this movie surprise me on any levels? Yes and no… I really like how this movie starts, it was like your typical 80’s slasher. The characters were likeable and I liked the settings. However, things started to get problematic for me once the time swapping begun. These scenes took on forever and basically drained the entire 80s feel for me.

It did get REALLY over the top and it isn’t low on blood either. I just wish it got more creepier and atmospheric, instead we get these abnormal and sometimes bizarre time swaps to god knows which century and events. It may sounds fun on paper but it wasn’t really appealing to see on screen. The actors really tried their best and the characters were fun too with the standouts being Deborah Foreman and Zach Galligan were really good in their roles. Great performances! I dug the soundtrack of Waxwork and overall the whole setting in the wax museum. I didn’t completely hate this movie, there are a lot of things that worked in this movie. The script was pretty clever, the dialogue sometimes got cheesy and lame but that worked for the fun factor of the film. This is not exactly a movie I’d take seriously but it did spark my interest. I just wish they did more with the intriguing concept, and scored more on the creepy factor. I also thought this movie was a love letter to zombie/vampire/werewolf movies and Hammer movies too.

Overall I recommend you to see Waxwork even if its just for once, its definitely a fun and cheesy 80s slasher/comedy with lots of jokes, blood and great characters. For the horror die hard fans its a must for the collection because I know some have an instant love for it, for regular film fans I’d say rent, check it on Netflix or watch it online. Its not everyone’s cup of tea.

–Ferdi Akkulak

I have seen Vanishing on 7th Street (2010) for the first time (“V” of #AtoZHorror in August/September) and to be fair, I didn’t know all that much about this movie besides that it got released a couple years ago on a very small scale. I didn’t watch a trailer for it, I went in as fresh as I possibly could. Did I enjoy it? Yes and no, and I have some explanation. The movie starts out pretty interesting and suspenseful. It seemed like it had potential going for it, after a while however, I noticed things started falling apart after the story was set. The concept really looks good on paper but it wasn’t executed as good as it should’ve. Not all the characters were that likable but the actors were trying. The acting performance of Hayden Christensen was decent in my opinion, a likable actor however. Thandie Newton was REALLY good in this movie, but I could’ve expected that after her impressive slate of movies. I also thought that John Leguizamo was good in it.

This movie kind of reminded me of The Darkest Hour but that movie was released later than Vanishing on 7th Street. There is a certain amount of creepiness found in this movie but it doesn’t really seem to wanna go beyond that. The directing was solid and while the script isn’t that strong in general, the concept is still original. It is just the execution that was disappointing and I am still not sure what to think of the open ending. Its a decent post-apocalyptic thriller with a great concept, a good cast and cool effects. It still had lots of flaws, to me it just barely scores above average. I’d say check out Vanishing on 7th Street if its on your Netflix queue but I wouldn’t suggest to buy it on DVD/Blu-ray. You could do WAY worse but you can also do a lot better. Not sure if I will check this one out again anytime soon, its more of a one time watch.

–Ferdi Akkulak

I had seen this movie for the first time 3-4 years ago but somehow I cannot recall anything from when I saw it, so I decided to give Urban Legend (1998) a second viewing (“U” of #AtoZHorror in August/September) and I must say that its a pretty good late 90’s slasher. It has a really awesome and attractive young cast filled with horror legends and soon-to-be famous movie stars. The acting performances in this movie are pretty divided. Jared Leto was really likeable as the male lead, he was pretty charming but also had a knowledge of his own. Great actor in general and he came very far in both music and acting careers.

Alicia Witt, in my opinion, was really bad in this movie. It looks like she wasn’t even trying to make her character look or sound resourceful and/or interesting. I couldn’t care for her character and she was a tacky, bland and forgettable final girl also, if that is the term. Rebecca Gayheart was an absolute trailblazer in Urban Legend, hands down the best performance of the film and her career. Really interesting character development, that’s all I will say. Tara Reid had a fun performance, loved her spunky character. Joshua Jackson and Michael Rosenbaum were fun in this movie too. Also kudos to the phenomenal supporting turns by Loretta Devine, Danielle Harris and the ever awesome Robert Englund! Incredible cast overall! There are some really inventive death sequences in Urban Legend and some pulse pounding chase scenes, in particular the chase in the final act with Tara Reid. There were some surprise jump scares and one fantastic killer twist! The direction and editing are fairy well done. The soundtrack is really fun to listen to and very moody in some scenes.

Urban Legend is nowhere near as good as Scream but it still provides for great viewing pleasure. Its a fast paced slasher that borrows some of previous outings in the genre but also manages to serve us fun characters, great death scenes and a very interesting script. I highly recommend this to slasher fans and movie lovers in general, its worth a watch.

–Ferdi Akkulak

Horror movies are, admittedly, an ambiguous sort of entertainment. For some viewers, they are simply too much, while others find something exhilarating (if not cathartic) in being able to confront their anxieties in a safe way, that presents no actual danger to the viewer. Film itself is all about sensory manipulation, and someone who mastered the technique of scaring audiences through film is John Carpenter. And what’s more: Carpenter showed, with his early humbly budgeted thrillers, that he could generate strong reactions from viewers without a lot of special effects and explicit violence. Conversely, the brief period of time that he had investors confidently funneling money into his films showed that Carpenter could also produce competent horror films that did rely heavily on special effects.

Here is a look at some of Carpenter’s most noteworthy outings as director:

Halloween (1978)

Halloween is one of the most lucrative (and frequently imitated) horror films of all time. Not bad considering that the film was made for just over $300,000 and featured mostly green performers. The film really solidifies the sort of “slasher movie template” that was used as the basis for film franchises like Friday the 13th and Prom Night. On Halloween night in “Haddonfield, Illinois” in 1963, six-year old Michael Myers slays his old sister with a kitchen knife. 15 years later, while awaiting parole, Myers escapes his mental institution, and returns to Haddonfield to slay a bunch of teenagers. It’s a thin plot, with even thinner dialogue, a cast consisting of very few principal actors (most of them, completely unknown at the time the film was being shot, with the exception of veteran English actor Donald Pleasence).

The Thing (1982)

A routine scientific expedition in Antarctica soon becomes a macabre playground fit for an evil alien shape-shifter. What’s more, the alien is capable of taking over the bodies of his victims. The special effects for this film are incredible. It had the distinct misfortune, however, of opening up against Blade Runner and E.T. — so, suffice it to say, The Thing’s theatrical run was lackluster, at best. Even though the film is typically regarded by horror aficionados as a superb eighties horror movie, critics lambasted the film upon its release. The film is also notable as an interesting reinvisioning of the classic The Thing From Another World (1951).

The Fog (1980)

The town’s inhabitants may not realize it, but the sleepy coastal town of Antonio Bay was built atop a leper colony. When the town was first built, the founding government sent a group of lepers from the colony to parish aboard a ship during a storm. Antonio Bay’s centennial is coming up, and they’ve got a surprise guest: THE FOG. The “fog” itself is comprised mostly of the ghosts of those lepers who were killed. They are descending upon Antonio Bay to murder the townsfolk to avenge their own ghastly murder. Carpenter’s than wife Adrienne Barbeau plays a memorable role as Antonio Bay’s disk jockey. Although the film was largely dismissed by critics, it has gone on to become a cult film in its own right.

Prince of Darkness (1987)

Prince of Darkness is a movie from Carpenter that has a cult following but was not widely-accepted upon its release. When a priest goes missing and another attempts to find him, an unknown cylinder vat is discovered, adding to the mystery of the disappearance. The priest enlists a team of graduate physics students to help unravel and solve the mystery. Little do they know, evil is lurking all around them. The film features notable performances from Alice Cooper and Donald Pleasence.

In The Mouth of Madness (1994)

Main character, John Trent (Sam Neill), is sent to recover the latest manuscript form popular horror author Sutter Cane (Jurgen Prochnow), only to discover that the monsters and beasts from Cane’s fantasy world have become somehow manifest. Trent finds himself trapped within that world, and struggles to escape it. The film is Carpenter’s most direct tribute to classic horror pulp writer H.P. Lovecraft — a troubled, scrawny writer who envisioned a world filled with subaquatic monster gods, who were indifferent to human suffering. Unfortunately, Carpenter failed to secure all of the funding he needed to complete the film as he originally envisioned it, and some critics have mercifully attributed the film’s lack of coherence to this. Regardless, it’s a richly imaginative film, and one that delivers terrific scares.

They Live (1988)

Nada (wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper), discovers a pair of sunglasses one afternoon which reveal to him a dark and evil world that is unknown to most people on Earth. The world, Nada discovers, is controlled by Aliens whose ultimate goal is to enslave all humans and deplete the planet’s natural resources. Nada and his friend Frank (Keith David) are left with the responsibility of overthrowing the evil alien empire. Carpenter wisely (or unwisely) allowed Piper to ad-lib on set, and Piper came up with some doosies, alright. Nevermind the epic fight scene, which lasts nearly six minutes in duration.

Recent Projects

After contemplating retirement, Carpenter returned to the scene to direct two pieces to the Masters of Horror series. He contributed two segments: Cigarette Burns (2005) and Pro-Life (2006) Although Masters of Horror is well-known within the horror cult community, it is not one of Carpenter’s most well-received projects.

By and large though, Carpenter has retired. After a series of setbacks In the 90’s,Carpenter decided to be more selective about what projects he pursues. Regardless of the struggle, Carpenter’s film resume is quite impressive, duds and all. Recently, Carpenter was interviewed by Robert Rodriguez on The Director’s Chair which is available via local tv on the El Rey Network where he talked about many of the films he once created. Carpenter has also ventured into comic books (see here and here). Although Carpenter is not actively making movies at this time, the creations he brought to the big screens will continue to influence many modern horror films today.

–Brandon Engel

I have finally seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) for the very first time (“T” of #AtoZHorror in August/September) and as everyone told me: I absolutely loved it! It was exactly the movie that I needed at this moment, and I really thank this movie for the experience! It was disturbing, terrifying, gruesome and not to forget extremely realistic. It had this grisly and raw feel to it that made it look like a documentary, it wasn’t even like a movie sometimes. The movie also gave me an uneasy and uncomfortable feeling but in a pretty good way, mainly because of the intense imagery and the unsettling feel to it. Leatherface is a really disturbing killer/villain in my opinion. The deaths, while being really good, wasn’t the strongest aspect.

Acting wise, I absolutely LOVED the performances of the late Marilyn Burns and Gunnar Hansen! The soundtrack was also really moody and the movie had a couple of really well crafted chase scenes. Because of the low budget exploitation feel, it looked really realistic to me. The final act was gut wrenching and was able to leave me both scared, disturbed but also amazed by what I just witnessed. The running time wasn’t really long but I really thought this movie was fast paced and over before you knew it. My slight problems were the characters, I know that the makers intended to not have the characters play a huge part of the story but none, besides one (Marilyn Burns as Sally) really stood out to me. I also really felt that the character Franklin (don’t even care who actually played him) was super annoying and really unlikeable. They should’ve either scrapped the role or had him die earlier on in the film. He was THE bad omen of this movie.

Overall The Texas Chain Saw Massacre became one of my favorite horror/exploitation movies I have ever seen, fantastically directed by Tobe Hooper. Its really bizarre at some parts but that really only works in its advantage! I highly recommend this movie to anyone, you’ll love it!

–Ferdi Akkulak

I have finally seen The Shining (1980) for the first time (“S” of #AtoZHorror in August/September) and while my expectations were pretty high going in watching this movie, the movie ultimately turned out not meeting my expectations. I liked quite a lot of things of this movie. The performance of Jack Nicholson is iconic, scary and really realistic. To me, his character should’ve had more sane than insane scenes to make the transition look believable but still a terrific acting performance. I like the directing style of Stanley Kubrick, its really unique yet effective. The imagery in this movie is also top notch, scenes that slowly but surely build up with suspense and tension. I really liked a lot of scenes in this movie: the “Here’s Johnny” scene, the scene with the scary twins, the chase scene in the maze and not to forget the “redruM” scene! The soundtrack is unforgettably fantastic, one of the best I have heard. Really liked the hotel as well, great set design! This movie also had quite a few problems, which was what I could’ve expected…

The acting performance of Shelley Duvall is shockingly bad, a real shame, was hoping I’d like her more than others do but sadly its a really unimpressive performance. She had a handful of scenes where I thought she did good, but she was also really cringe worthy most of the time. Having seen the behind the scenes documentary I can understand how this happened. What I also didn’t like was the ending, that made no sense at all to me. I started wondering which characters in this movie were real or fake. It remains unexplained, the last 5 minutes of The Shining literally lost all common sense it had going for the entire film. Really disappointing…

I saw the European version of 115 minutes and not the version that is 30 minutes longer. Overall, I like The Shining, I wish I loved it like some do, but it might get better with future watches. It really had problems, but its also a beautifully shot thriller that is able to captivate as well, with lots of creepy moments. It’s just not perfect…

–Ferdi Akkulak

I have seen Red Eye (2005) for the first time (“R” of #AtoZHorror in August/September) and I absolutely loved it! This movie was everything I was hoping it will be, plus more! The acting performances by Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy were really strong and superb. Both showed the abilities they have as actors and as a result both performances are noted in my books as one of my favorites of their careers so far! I also really enjoyed the supporting characters of Brian Cox, Jayma Mays and Kyle Gallner!

The tense direction by Wes Craven was incredibly strong and in general its one of the best movies he has ever directed among the likes of Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The script is simple, yet effective. I feel like, while I was drawn into the story the entire time that they could have some more character develop scenes, but that is just me saying that cause of the surprisingly low running time of 82 minutes. None the less, Red Eye is well acted, strongly directed, really suspenseful and has a lot of unexpected surprises. The movie has interesting characters, that you care about, but they’re also developed so well and filled with both dramatic and comedic layers.

The final act is probably one of the best final acts I’ve seen in a psychological thriller, I also noticed some winks with the way of filming that was also done in Scream. Loved seeing that, what I also thought worked amazing was the perfect score of the legendary Marco Beltrami. This man can never do wrong! All by all, this is one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve ever seen and I highly recommend this movie to everyone, you’re gonna be sitting on the edge of your seat and the movie grips you from start to finish without letting you down.

–Ferdi Akkulak