The last time we were here, I explained the slasher genre along with the origins of the slasher and the other genres that were NOT slashers but resembled the genre. The slasher genre also had a popular timeline where successful ones and non-successful ones were being made. The Golden Age of the Slasher Genre was from 1978 (when HALLOWEEN came out) all the way to 1984 (when SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET came out).
Now, after mentioning that BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) was the first proper slasher film and also mentioning that I'm pretty good at labeling slashers, it's time to move on and continue this fabulous slasher genre journey.
We continue the journey after the golden age. We will start at 1985. At the time there were lots of slashers released on video. The first shot-on-video slasher was the 1983 horror film SLEDGEHAMMER. There were many slashers later to be released that had the same filming origin just like this movie.
But by 1985, there were a lot of slashers that were filmed before that year but released that year. TOO SCARED TO SCREAM was also that slasher that was filmed before 1985.
THE MUTILATOR was a slasher that brought FRIDAY THE 13th back to mind.
Speaking of Friday the 13th movies, remember FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER was supposed to end the series? Well, unfortunately, there is actually a lot more movies to come. FRIDAY THE 13th: A NEW BEGINNING was obviously the fifth and one of the worst sequels ever made in my personal opinion. This sequel actually has psychological horror elements just like SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT except it was not as controversial as the other. Also, spoiler alert, it was not really Jason who was the killer.
FRIDAY THE 13th PART VI: JASON LIVES brought the real Jason Voorhees back, except who was much more supernatural than he ever was before. It also features Alice Cooper music.
FRIDAY THE 13th PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD featured a girl who was just like Carrie from that well-known Stephen King novel and its famous adaptation with Sissy Spacek.
FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN sadly took Jason away from the many camps he's been at and took him to New York.
Later, Sean S. Cunningham came back with New Line Cinema and took the bastard straight to hell in the ninth movie JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY. Although there were more sequels, the ninth one was supposed to end the Friday the 13th movies for good. But Jason could not stay dead no matter what. The movie also foreshadowed a battle against Freddy Krueger.
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET spawned many sequels as well. Fred came back in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE, which was yet another sequel for me that sucked. The third one was THE DREAM WARRIORS, the fourth one was THE DREAM MASTER, and the fifth one was THE DREAM CHILD. In my personal opinion, the first one is pretty much the only good one in the series after finally watching them.
Freddy Krueger himself also had a movie in the 90's that was supposed to end it all and it was called FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE.
And then he took Jason's mask to hell with him and also appeared in Wes Craven's NEW NIGHTMARE.
Then, he later battled Jason even though he was supposed to battle him back in the late 80's but did not anyway.
HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS gave Michael Myers a chance to return to his movies because he was absent for the third unrelated part of the series which was completely unnecessary. So basically, the fourth one is the real third story of the series.
HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE MICHAEL MYERS kept Michael in the series and also made him go after his niece. He's a nice uncle after all.
HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS was from the 90's which was supposed to be the last in the series but, again, later had HALLOWEEN H2O: 20 YEARS LATER which returned Jamie Lee Curtis. Busta Rhymes would later star in HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION.
PROM NIGHT had unrelated sequels, which obviously sucked. HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT II featured a non-realistic serial killer and instead a supernatural girl killing people. But at least it took place at the same school.
She also returned in PROM NIGHT III: THE FINAL KISS.
Then there was a supernatural horror sequel PROM NIGHT IV: DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
There would later be a terrible remake of the first one back in 2008 just like the Jason movies, the Freddy movies, and even the Michael movies. The first proper slasher film BLACK CHRISTMAS would also become a remake from 2006 which basically made it look more like a dark comedy.
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE would also spawn unrelated sequels just like the second one where a rock-and-roll singer is a supernatural-type of serial killer UNLIKE the killer from the 1980 slasher TERROR ON TOUR.
Anyways, back in 1985, there were more slashers to be made for video just like BLOOD CULT. THE NAIL GUN MASSACRE might be a slasher with rape-and-revenge elements just like the 2008 slasher GUTTERBALLS.
In 1986, you see slasher movies like SLAUGHTER HIGH bringing back Halloween-influenced slashers. It was also a slasher with a prank-gone-wrong backstory just like THE BURNING or TERROR TRAIN. It was originally titled "April Fool's Day", but at the time Paramount Pictures already had a movie that was filled with pranks and no real killer just like the 2005 slasher CRY_WOLF. I don't really like slashers that have fake killers like that because I'm more of a "real slasher" geek than a "fake slasher-killer movie".
Paramount Pictures also brought you FRIDAY THE 13th and MY BLOODY VALENTINE.
SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE is also a HALLOWEEN-influenced movie and was in the same realm as THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE.
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE spawned a sequel finally and also used slasher tropes unlike the first one and used splatter-cinema elements to add some more shock.
In 1987, STAGE FRIGHT was released in Italy and what made this slasher unusual was its style. Although not necessarily a giallo, some people mistakenly call it a giallo even though it's more of a slasher that was also inspired by Halloween. This slasher featured a killer in an owl-looking mask.
Sadly, it doesn't have a sequel. What makes me mad is that MY BLOODY VALENTINE and STAGE FRIGHT don't have sequels because they're both great movies but they have continuations in it. MY BLOODY VALENTINE left out the Harry Warden copycat threatening those two who survived and he's still in the mine.
Because of my time, we have to speed it up a little bit so here's to the slashers of 1988.
For some reason, when people talk about slashers, CHILD'S PLAY is never brought up even though it has supernatural elements unlike Halloween it is a slasher as well. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Child's Play is a supernatural slasher. MANIAC COP kind of has some supernatural elements but not as much as THE BOOGEYMAN.
In 1989, OFFERINGS came out and also brought HALLOWEEN to mind. This is where slasher movies start becoming annoying because they keep ripping off HALLOWEEN and not FRIDAY THE 13th. Unless you watch the CUTTING CLASS movie with a young Brad Pitt. CUTTING CLASS is also part-slasher and part-dark comedy just like SATAN'S LITTLE HELPER.
Now, we're finally here in 1990 where we see movies such as THE NIGHT BRINGS CHARLIE and BLOOD MOON.
HAPPY HELL NIGHT and the blaxploitation slasher comedy AX 'EM took over in 1992 and they both sucked but AX 'EM sucked a lot more.
In 1993, LEPRECHAUN came out but it wasn't a slasher film sadly.
In 1995, JACK-O came out as some supernatural-ish, fantasy-type of slasher film and it was at a lower budget.
Slashers kept sucking at it until 1996 came.
Almost based on the Gainsville Ripper case, Kevin Williamson took a lot more inspiration from slasher movies such as HALLOWEEN, PROM NIGHT, and FRIDAY THE 13th.
The name of this film was SCREAM, which was a completely different movie with the same title as the 1981 slasher SCREAM.
Anyways, the 1996 slasher---or neo-slasher to be exact---was directed by Wes Craven and was a complete satire to, not only slashers, but movies in general. This neo-slasher also spawned sequels. It would later spawn a TV series on MTV called SCREAM: THE TV SERIES.
SCREAM was an inspiration for the neo-slasher movement. As in 1997, SCREAM 2 came out and so did I KNOW WHAT YOU LAST SUMMER.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER was loosely based on the 1973 suspenseful novel by Louis Duncan and also the urban legend about the hook. The author did not like the adaptation because it was meant to be for young adults; but instead, they made it into a neo-slasher. It also spawned sequels called I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and I'LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.
In 1998, BRIDE OF CHUCKY used dark humor and also was the fourth in the Chucky movies. CHILD'S PLAY 2 and 3 were both released in the early 90's but did not end the Chucky series.
URBAN LEGEND was another neo-slasher that features a killer who is inspired by real urban legends. Just because they're not true doesn't mean that they won't inspire atrocious crimes.
THE CATCHER was a slasher throwback that may have been an inspiration for the 2013 slasher film BILLY CLUB.
In 1999, CAMP BLOOD, a low-budget slasher, was released using clowns as serial killers; although it was not the first slasher to use clowns.
Camp Blood was also the nickname for Camp Crystal Lake.
THE DEADLY CAMP was a slasher from Asia that was a reference of Friday the 13th.
LOVER'S LANE was a rip-off of both SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.
In Part 3, we will finish this....
