Why? You don’t know what is a Boogeyman or a slasher? You really need a “Sarah horror lesson”! A slasher is a horror movie genre. Usually, it’s a cheap movie with a very small budget. It’s always a story with a horrible psychotic killer with powers or not who wants to kill people one by one, mainly when they are teenagers. If you want to create a slasher you have to follow many rules. That’s why the first slasher movie is not really a slasher in fact. I am certainly sure that you know this killer, because he is very famous: his name is Norman Bates and he is the Psychos‘s killer of Alfred Hitchcock. But, Norman doesn’t follow the slasher code: he doesn’t kill his victims one by one and he doesn’t have his own weapon. Because, slasher’s killer weapon is like a signature.
Two movies can be considered like the first Slasher. Both films were released in 1974 and set out the slasher‘s code. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre of Tobe Hooper is about a group of young people lost in the middle of nowhere in the Texas who meet a family of killers. At the head of the family one of the most terrific killers of the horror cinema: Leatherface and his chainsaw. The other film is Black Christmas a Canadian movie by Bob Clark, a story about many girls who are killed inside a boarding school during Christmas. Even if it was the first movie with the subjective camera‘s technique (the viewers sees through the eyes of the killers), Black Christmas is more unknown.
The slasher‘s code are really established during the eighties. The first slasher which had a huge success is Halloween of John Carpenter. This movie really defined the slasher‘s code with his famous boogeyman: Michael Myers and his knife. He follows Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends, determined to kill them one by one. Now, you understand what is a Boogeymam. I want to give you an idea of the price of a slasher: Halloween cost $325 000, a very small budget.
The next very famous slasher is Friday the 13th of Sean S Cunningham, a young boy who died inside a Crystal Lake, reborn as Jason Voorhees a killer with a machete. Even if, in the first movie the real killer is not Jason.
The success of Halloween and Friday the 13th, lot of producers decided to invest in slasher movies. So, during the eighties, they are an invasion of slashers: Happy Birthday to Me (1980), Mother’s Day (1980), Just before Daw (1981), Hell Night (1981), The Funhouse (1981) , Bloody Birthday (1981), Student Bodies (1981), Graduation Day (1981), New Year’s Evil (1981) and Final Exam (1981). But if you are not a slaher’s fan, you real don’t need to watch it.
You have to know something about Slasher’s producers, they never says stop. That’s why they have many sequels and remakes about the first slasher. They are 11 Friday the 13th’s sequel, 10 Halloween’s films and 5 for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Unfortunately, a majority of these movies are bad. Producers invested few dollars, hired two bad scriptwriters, a young director and gave them two weeks to create a movie. So at the end, the movie is a crap. But, producers managed to make profits, because you always to see the other movie with Jason or Michael Myers, even if you know that it will be bad.
After Scream many new slashers are created as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998) or Wolf Creek (2005). And the old franchises are revived: Jason X (2001), Halloween Resurrection (2002) a horrible movie or Freddy VS Jason (2003).
Since ten years, many good remakes are made by the new generation of directors: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by Marcus Nispel or the Halloween of Rob Zombie a huge box office success $ 57 million.
Sarah.
You could also talked about "The Last House on the Left", directed by Wes Craven and released in 1972, which gave the basis of the slasher movie, before it was glorified by The Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas (by the way, Glen Morgan made a remake of this last one, but not sure it's a great remake like The Chainsaw Massacre !! )
RépondreSupprimerDo you think "The Hill have eyes" could be considered as a slasher ?
I disagree The Last House on The Left" is not a slasher, it's survival ! Craven gave the code of the survival! Slaher and Survival are close, but it's not the same thing.
RépondreSupprimerThe Hill Have Eyes is betweenn the survival and the slasher. In my opinion it's more a survival movie.
RépondreSupprimerWow, the subtlety between slasher and survival escapes me. You are truly a connaisseur. I assumed Wes Craven was the inventor of the slasher; thanks for setting me straight.
RépondreSupprimerCorrections: What? what a Boogeyman…is? Psycho’s , by Hitchcock, first Slashers, by Tobe Hooper, in Texas, who meets, a subjective camera technique, Eighties, was a huge success, by John Carpenter, what a boogeyman is, by Sean…, in Crystal Lake, After the success of Halloween, there is an invasion, a slasher fan, really don’t need, they never say stop, sequels, invested a few dollars, movie is crap, to make profit, you always see, ran out of steam, producers stopped making crap, wait for a man, In the last ten years, by Rob were huge box office successes making $57m.