So Bad It’s Scary: “The Roommate” (2011)

Slasher Studios*So Bad It's Scary

Some movies are just bad. Born bad without an ounce of originality or depth. Without a single imaginative scene or performance of note. “The Roommate” WISHES it were one of those films. This is easily one of the worst movies in recent memory.

The film starts with our bland heroine Sara (Minka Kelly) moving into college and getting used to living the dorm life. Her roommate, Rebecca, ends up being an awkward young woman who becomes increasingly weird and possessive of Sara. Rebecca does more and more harmful things to the people she’s trying to “protect” Sara from. Rebecca also finds ways of manipulating Sara to keep her from leaving once Sara starts becoming uncomfortable. Until this final act, Sara doesn’t even really show she’s scared or uncomfortable with Rebecca. It ends up escalating (although there’s no real escalation) to the point of the lame ending.

The Roommate is poorly done in every way possible. Everything from showing that Sara was an innocent, ignorant young lady from a small town (who really goes to a frat party and thinks they’re just serving punch?), to the all too obvious ending that never properly showed the escalation where it would get to that point. The escalation in violence is small, inconsistent, and boring. Nothing massive to the point you’d be creeped out, scared, or even just made uncomfortable, happens. The story is stupid and unoriginal. The directing seems passive, and the actors don’t seem very interested in anything that is going on around them. And don’t get me started on poor little Cuddles.

Everything about The Roommate is terrible. The acting, directing, casting, music, cinematography all feel very “made for tv”ish. There is no entertainment value and no reason to watch this movie in any fashion. Avoid at all costs.

Share:

Horror Movie Posters: “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama” (1988)

Slasher Studios*Slasher Movie Posters

The US version of the Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is pretty straight forward. We have some sorority babes in a bowling alley and the artwork is fairly fun with the two girls in the background standing over two of the college boys.

posters_of_the_week_sorority_babes

The foreign version is much different. In this poster, the title is not only changed to “The Imp,” but he is smack dab right in your face. This is a very interesting choice because this gives the film a completely different feel to a potential audience member. Both very cool and both very hard to find in the original format.

posters_of_the_week_sorority_the_imp

Share:

Indie Horror Short “Out There” Wows With Fantastic Editing & Clever Scares

Slasher StudiosOut There

Filmed across the pond in Ireland, the short film, Out There, was a surprising treat to bite into. Directed by Randal Plunkett, Out There begins deep in an Irish forest where we meet Robert. He is on the ground with a nasty head wound and seems to be a it out of sorts. As he searches for help or any signs of life, Robert has flashbacks featuring his wife, Jane. They seem to be the perfect loving couple and the absence of Jane is most definitely weighing on Robert’s mind.

Conor Marren screaming in the woods

While Robert continues his walk through the forest, he begins to remember bits a pieces that help him make sense of why he is stranded alone. The flashbacks are not only key to this film, but they are the backbone. The editing is fantastic (some of the best I’ve seen in indie films) and while the film may start off a little sluggish, the non-linear editing keeps the film very interesting and fun to watch. Speaking of fun to watch, the cinematography within this 16 minute short is outstanding. With all the great shots, perfect lighting and the beautiful Irish setting, Out There will have no problem wowing audiences.

There are only two speaking roles and both Jane and Robert seem real and are easy to connect with. The acting is above par and paired with the high production value, this should do very well during it’s festival play. The last shot of the film is one to stick around for, so get out there and watch this flick today!

3.5

Share:

Not Quite Horror: “CSI” (2000-Present)

Slasher Studios*Not Quite Horror

The following are reviews of films not traditionally considered horror films. By analyzing them as horror films (identifying the monster, discussing the shared worry for the audience and the main characters, and understanding the depth of horror available to the viewer), who knows? There more than one way to watch a movie.

— I am indebted to Noel Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror for his ideas on defining horror, as well as John Skipp and Craig Spector’s article “Death’s Rich Pageantry, or Skipp & Spector’s Handy-Dandy Splatterpunk Guide to the Horrors of Non-horror Film” in Cut! Horror Writers on Horror Film for a similar idea.–

CSI-csi-2603442-1024-768

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-Present)

The Monster: With a few notable exceptions, the monsters of CSI are relatable people with a flaw or secret. Very few of these monsters stay on the show from one episode to the next, although later seasons of CSI seem to utilize recurring, charismatic killers more frequently.

The Shared Fate: CSI reduces human beings to objects in a similar way to the Saw and Friday the 13th franchises. Episodes are frequently filled with bodies sliced apart (both by murderers and by forensics experts), gallows humor in the presence of the deceased, and explosions of festering bodily fluids.

Unlike traditional horror franchises, CSI benefits from our understanding that we will all end up in a room where we will be prodded, drained, and ignored by joking technicians. Many of the show’s plotlines are far-fetched and heavily fictionalized, but the end result of body on slab is unavoidably true. Ironically, some use this morbid truth as their reason to avoid considering CSI a horror show.

The Horror: CSI may be the most gleefully sadistic show on television, and it’s inspired dozens of imitators (including two spin-offs) and has stayed on the air for well over a decade.

Few shows have delighted in showing all of the ways the human body can become an unrecognizable, lifeless thing. The camera squirms inside the human body like a burrowing worm to get close-ups of squishy organs and stabbing blades. Dead bodies are found in whole and shredded states, as well as in solid and liquid states. The show isn’t afraid to murder its own main characters, either. In fact, the very first episode of the show focuses on a character that dies before the end credits roll.

CSI often offers a message praising the value of rational thought (especially when William Peterson’s Gil Grissom was the star of the show). This is true, but the even deeper message of the show is one of decay. All things decay on CSI, as they do for people in real life.
Watch the show long enough and you can feel yourself rotting and seeping right into your couch cushions. Which will be where they find you.

(Read more about the horrors of your imperfect body with Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror, which greatly inspired this reading of CSI.)

–Axel Kohagen

Share:

Kevin & Steve’s Horror Movies: “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama” (1988)

Slasher Studios*Kevin & Steve's Horror Movies

Today our horror hosts Kevin Sommerfield and Steve Goltz will be looking at the cult 80’s horror comedy from the 1980’s, “Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama.” How well does it hold up 25 years later? Our horror hosts are ready to dig into the campy goodiness.

Kevin: Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama is the kind of horror-comedy that simply would be never be made today. Directed by David DeCoteau (who has gone on to release a line of successful soft core gay horror films under the 1313 label) and released in 1988, it was one of the earliest Full Moon features released. It enjoyed a healthy life on USA’s Up All Night thanks to an equal share of T&A and light laughs.

Steve: A fun and slightly odd film, involving some college kids and an imp, Sorority Babes is the remedy for the boring and mundane horror films in theaters today. The characters found with this film are ones that any horror filmmaker would kill for. They are interesting, fun and very funny.

Kevin: The film centers around two sorority pledges played in tongue-in-cheek by B-movie Scream Queens Brinke Stevens and Michelle Bauer. The are forced to endure embarrassing hi-jinks such as spanking and whipped cream fights…no, I’m not making this up. When a trio of boys are caught spying on them, the girls who run the sorority send the two pledges and frat boys to the local bowling alley to steal a bowling trophy. An accident during the robbery causes the trophy to break open, releasing an evil imp who wreaks havoc with his supernatural powers.

screen-shot-2012-10-08-at-10-37-55-pm

Steve: The film silly and crazy and kinda weird, but this is where the charm of it all is found. The imp aspect definitely threw me for a loop. At first, I was a bit standoffish toward the little monster, but then images of my beloved ghoulies popped into my head and my mind was again ease and back into the movie.

Kevin: Oh wow, where do we start here. This movie has enough plot for three films and enough brains for zero films. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the hell out of this cheesy flick but intelligence is not the first thing of this script’s agenda. It’s just silly brainless fun aided by a great performance by the one-and-only George “Buck” Flower as the hearing impaired janitor of the bowling alley and Linnea Quigley as the badass wannabe thief “Spider.” At 76 minutes, this film doesn’t overstay its welcome and left me with a huge smile on my face from beginning to end.

Steve: I felt the film was strongest at the beginning and then reaches a little when the imp gimmick starts, but overall I had a great time with movie and I can’t wait to watch it again. The Buck Flower character is flawless and the line delivery is outstanding throughout the entire film. He doesn’t have a huge part but he sure does leave the biggest impact. The scene with him and Linnea Quigley is by far and away one of the funniest scenes I have came across in a while. This is a must see B-movie, so if you have not found this oop DVD yet, do some searching and find it today!

Share:

“Don’t Go to the Reunion” Limited Edition Promo Posters Now For Sale

Slasher Studios*Don't Go to the Reunion

Don'tGototheReunion(HappyBdayposter)

To celebrate our new film, Don’t Go to the Reunion, we are offering for a limited time a chance to buy your very own promo poster for the film. You have the choice of either a matte photo finish or a glossy photo finish, both in an 8 x 10. Posters are only $6.00 plus $.99 shipping to anywhere within the United States (overseas orders please contact us at [email protected] for exact shipping prices). Get your poster today and enjoy the bloody carnage.

To become a Don’t Go to the Reunion backer and receive some amazing rewards check out the officially kickstarter page:
Don’t Go to the Reunion Kickstarter


Don’t Go to the Reunion Posters




Share:

So Bad It’s Scary: “Savage Vengeance” (1993)

Slasher Studios*So Bad It's Scary

I have talked about this film a little in the past, it’s a film that, after a few viewings, easily becomes SO bad it’s good. Savage Vengeance is the best of bad film making. You know you’re in for a fun ride when the opening title spells the name of the film wrong…

Savage Vengeance plays as a sequel/quasi remake (rip off) to Meir Zarchi’s seminal classic I Spit On Your Grave. Jennifer was raped 5 years ago and cleared of murder upon taking her revenge. 5 years later Jennifer and a friend skip school for a remote cabin in the woods and are subsequently raped, her friend killed, and mutilated by two local hicks. Jennifer once again takes it upon her to exact revenge…

Oh, boy…where to start? This movie is simply so terrible….This film runs for a scant 66 minutes and it is an hour of sheer awfulness. Savage Vengeance is shot on video, with consistently awful camera work, lighting, acting and music throughout…

Although she’s appearing under a false name, let me reassure you folks, the star of this film is indeed Camille Keaton and she manages to ham it up as much, if not more, as her cast mates. She is a great actress indeed…just not here. One just gets feeling the poor woman doesn’t want to be there, everything, from her stilted dialogue to her bad crop of dyed red hair seems off…

A BAD synthesizer score that NEVER relents makes the movie’s brief stay seem much longer, dead bodies move, characters never change their outfits despite the film taking place over 3 days, near fatal wounds vanish in between scenes…I could go on and on about how many faults this film has, it’s the worst kind of bad film making and yet…I DO love this film. I don’t know why when the filmmakers can’t even spell their own title right, but to me this film is like a drug, I just want to watch it more and more…Savage Vengeance is truly a wonder to behold for bad film making. I implore any fan of I Spit, Camille Keaton or just a sucker for bad movies like myself to seek it out!!

–Reece Glen Donnell

Share:

“Some Guy Who Kills People” Slays With Heartwarming Dark Humor

Slasher StudiosSome Guy Who Kills People

FOX AMARAY_revised_r4.pdf

Some Guy Who Kills People tells the story of, well, a guy who kills people of course. Funny, imaginative, bloody, and even heartwarming, this film is able to hit on all cylinders. The acting is great from characters of all ages and this film has a very high production value that helps enhance the film even more. Directed by Jack Perez, Some Guy Who Kills People centers around the male lead, Ken, played by the very likable Kevin Corrigan. Throughout the film, we are shown flashbacks to Ken’s past as he is being tortured by members of the high school basketball team. Unfortunately for the bullies, Ken does not forgive and forget. He seeks out the ones who had hurt him and gives them the punishment that they deserve.

As Ken goes about his business, a he is surprised by the chance meeting with his daughter that he has never met before. This little girl gives him balance in his life and although he is a bit scared and hesitant at first, he soon warms up and becomes the dad that his daughter has needed. Played by Ariel Gade, this girl seems very comfortable with being in front of the camera and has great screen presence for such a young actress. She is a young actress to keep an eye out for as great roles are sure to come to this talented newcomer.

The flick also has a great share of comedic moments as the towns sheriff is played by Barry Bostwick. With great one-liners from him, I was pleasantly pleased with his portrayal of Sheriff Walt, who just happens to be sleeping with Kens mother.The only part of this movie I would perhaps change, would be the lengths of the deaths. They play out very quickly and I would have loved to see a little more. But, by all means, if you can find this film, pick it up and pop it into your DVD player and enjoy some guy killing people.

3

Share:

Horror Movie Posters: “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974)

Slasher Studios*Slasher Movie Posters

The posters for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974 each showcase the one and only, Leatherface and his beloved chainsaw. The US version is more on the simplistic side with the white background and block text. A true classic for any horror fan.

get-attachment

This French version is much more gritty with an abstract art feel and warm colors that are highlighted with the blood red spots found throughout. The hand is a very nice touch!

BirthdaySteveSpidermanCake

Share: