Tag: Slasher Studios

Horror Movie Posters: “Girlfriend from Hell” (1989)

Slasher Studios*Slasher Movie Posters

Girlfriend From Hell is a horror comedy filled with some great cheesy one-liners. It’s fun to watch from beginning to end and this first poster helps sell the goods! It’s bright, full of color and we are treated to some cool custom text for the title graphic. This poster gives you a decent preview of what is to come once you pop in your vintage VHS.

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This second, revamped poster is…a disaster. Just an awful piece of crap that gives no insight into the film at all. A rose on fire? Thats the best they could come up with? Yikes!

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The Ultimate Final Girl Challenge Winner: Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Slasher Studios*Ultimate Final Girl

It’s been a extremely tough battle of the Final Girls through Round 1, Round 2, and Round 3 of the Ultimate Final Girl Tournament. With over 500 votes, we are pleased to announce that the one and only Nancy Thompson from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series has been chosen by the slasher fans as the ULTIMATE Final Girl. Way to go Nancy! We are proud of you and couldn’t ask for a better or more heroic Final Girl. Also, a big thank you to both Wes Craven for writing such a strong, empowering female character and the one and only Heather Langenkamp for bringing her to life. Be Nancy!

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The Asylum’s “Hansel & Gretel” Proves to be Tasty Horror Appetizer

Slasher StudiosHansel & Gretel (2013)

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I must admit that I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with most films from Asylum. With over 50 movies in the can, the production company has yet to lose money on a single feature. Often from the time a title is announced to the moment the film is available to purchase is less than six months. This is cynical filmmaking to say the least but there is something ingenious about the business side of this sort of low brow end of movies approach. Is this really anything different than what Roger Corman did in the 60s and 70s? Joe Dante’s Piranha was a shameless rip off of Jaws. The Asylum’s Hansel and Gretel is a shameless rip off of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. The real question to ask…does this rip off work or is it even worse than the “blockbuster” it is trying to capitalize on. Let’s take a bite out of Hansel and Gretel.

As Hansel & Gretel begins we witness an overweight girl tied up in shackles trapped in a dark and dreary basement. She manages to get herself free and she runs out of the house and into the woods only to find herself trapped yet again. An apple in the mouth and some seasonings and she has become the next meal for the family who lives in the house. After “treated” to the opening Saw “homage”, I was already tuning myself out of the film. But then something strange happened. The movie developed a sense of humor about itself and it went from being a chore to sit through to becoming one of the more entertaining movies of the last few years. We have our two heroes (Hansel and Gretel, of course) on a race against time as they battle the delightfully evil Dee Wallace as the witch. But I mean Dee Wallace runs a bakery that sells meat pies called The Gingerbread House. How great is that?

I’m been complaining lately that there haven’t been enough good-bad horror movies lately. Horror movies that aren’t exactly great but are shamelessly entertaining. The Asylum’s Hansel and Gretel completely fits the bill. Not only is this Asylum’s best work to date, it is also their most enjoyable work yet. A terrifically over-the-top performance by Dee Wallace who gets to shout lines like “EAT YOUR FUCKING DINNER!” and “I was always going to eat YOU!” seals the deal. A must watch for slasher fans. I can’t wait to dig in for seconds.

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Not Quite Horror: “G.I. Joe: The Movie” (1987)

Slasher Studios*Not Quite Horror

Not Quite Horror contains 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.

G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)

The Monster: The new villains facing the forces of G.I., the Cobra-La, provide new faces and new toys to be sold to fans of the show. Their leader has the lower body of a snake, their strongest warrior has wings, and their foot soldiers have axes larger than their torsos. They were barely more monstrous than Cobra’s evil soldiers.

Their plan for global domination involves using one of the Joe’s many techno-toys to spread evil spores across the world, mutating all of the innocent civilians of the planet.

The Horror: In the midst of the show’s regular laser-light show of combat and bravado, a truly terrifying narrative emerges in the unlikeliest of places.

Cobra Commander, arch enemy to the heroic Joes, is ousted from his position of power and forcibly infected with the Cobra-La’s spores. During his escape, he devolves into a mutant snake that can’t stop hissing about how he used to be a man.

The Shared Fate: G.I. Joe: The Movie was released during the Cold War and marketed at adolescents.

These adolescents grew up believing in the threat of mutation and mutilation at the hands of the Evil Empire. However, the one who suffers the most in the movie is Cobra Commander, the enemy they used to fear. It’s not unrealistic to assume adolescents would identify with Cobra Commander’s plight, as they themselves worry about being betrayed by their growing social connections.

The horrifying moral of Cobra Commander’s story? Your friends will abandon you and you’ll suffer, then die alone. G.I. Joe had weapons, but when the credits on the film rolled, they couldn’t fight that fear of isolation and abandonment.

— 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.–

–Axel Kohagen

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Slasher Studios’ TEDDY Nominated for Best Horror Short by Horror Society

Slasher Studios*Teddy

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We are honored to announce that our very own TEDDY has been nominated for Best Horror Short of the year by Horror Society. Slasher Studios fans, we need your help! Vote for TEDDY as many times as you’d like at either the link below or by clicking the picture above. Let’s see the beary scary slasher with Best Horror Short. A big thank you to all of you! We couldn’t have done this without you.

Horror Society Nominations

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5 Horror Sequels That Don’t Suck

Slasher Studios*Great Horror

Sequels are both the best and worst thing to happen to the horror genre. Loved the original? We’ve got more of that for you! Really love the original? We have ten more installments exactly the same as the original for you. Some horror sequels are lazy, some are outright bad (Jason Goes to Hell), I’m looking directly at you. Below are five horror sequels that we recommend for a lot of reasons. One of the key reasons is that they remain faithful to their predecessor while, at the same time, adding something new and original to the story. Now THAT is the key formula to making a successful horror sequel.

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Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009)
“Cabin Fever 2″ is a messy, gory, bloody cherry on top of a demented sundae. From the opening (poor Rider Strong) to the blood bath of an ending, nearly everything about this sequel works. This is one of those slasher movies where I just don’t understand the hate. Had this movie been made in the 1980′s and directed by Sam Raimi, horror fans would be praising this as the next second coming of horror. The gore is demented, the kills are extremely disgusting, and the central love story is actually quite sweet. I was actually touched at the sacrifice that one friend gave so another could live. So the epilogue doesn’t really work (poor Ti West got his movie taken away from him and had his ending completely butchered just to go in some producer cameos) but this is splatstick at its very best. If John Waters directed a horror film in the 1980’s, it would look something like this. Bloody
recommended!

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Final Destination 2 (2003)
“Final Destination 2″ is wittier, smarter, and bloodier than its original. It is clever in the way that it ties our characters from this film with characters from the previous installments. The deaths are incredibly inventive and stand as the best deaths of the entire series. The ending in particular is a black comedy miracle that shouldn’t work but does. Granted some of the acting can be a bit over-the-top and melodramatic and some of the effects don’t hold up as well as others. Nonetheless, this is still the rare sequel that takes everything that works about the original film and adds to it. A definite must see for fans of the original.

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Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
“Friday the 13th Part 2″ is the kind of sequel that takes a lot of chances and most of them work. The film is well paced, well acted (big props to Amy Steel who does an incredible job as Ginny), and the deaths are effectively gruesome. Also, for what its worth, I’ll take potato head Jason over hockey mask Jason any day. This is a fun sequel that doesn’t exactly advance the series (the godawful Part 3 actually does more to define Jason than this one does) but doesn’t destroy its legacy either. The characters aren’t particularly memorable but they aren’t particularly annoying either. This is really the last point in the series were you actually still feel some affection for the characters. They aren’t quite stereotypes…yet. Furthermore, it contains the two best “jump scares” of the series and the ending is pretty damn scary. Sure the middle act drags a bit but don’t let that stop you, “Part 2″ is a fine slasher film that does the series proud.

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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
“Dream Warriors” is just all around a great sequel. I love that Nancy’s back for one last final battle with Freddy. A new addition too is the fact that Freddy is now able to target the teen’s fears and use it against them in their dreams. This makes the deaths more frightening and some of the use of special effects (the puppet scene, the television scene, etc) are just ingenious. Everything about the sequel works and when Freddy and Nancy have the one last showdown there is a bit of sadness at the end. It’s ***SPOILER ALERT**** always sad to see your hero die in the arms of the villain but it’s nice to see that Nancy isn’t willing to go down without a fight. In all honesty, the series should have ended with this installment.

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Scream 2 (1997)
Although at times I feel as though I am in the minority, I truly believe that “Scream 2″ is the best film in the Scream franchise. This is that rare sequel that takes everything that works about its predecessor and manages to take it to another level. The deaths are suspenseful, the characters are charming and likable, and the twist ending works better than it has any right to. I also truly believe that this is some of Craven’s finest directing and the “cop car” scene is a hide-your-eyes-behind-your-fingers chiller of a scene. More than that, this film is just a hell of a lot of fun from beginning to end.

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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.

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Slasher Studios Podcast: Horror Clichés

Slasher Studios*Slasher Studios Podcast

Slasher Studios Webcast

On this week’s episode of Slasher Studios, our hosts Kevin Sommerfield and Steve Goltz will be discussing their favorite horror movie clichés. Clichés that are used in just about every horror movie and yet still continue to work today. Show starts Monday January 14th at 10PM central. Click on the link below to listen in live or to check out an archive of a previous show.

Slasher Studios Podcast: Horror Clichés

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