Rating of
3/4
A Must-See But Far from Important
Franz Patrick - wrote on 10/14/08
This is a really good documentary about the history of slasher films because it was able to cover so much territory in a span of about ninety-minutes. That said, it failed to reach its full potential for several reasons. First of all, it focused too much on movies from the 1980’s, only quickly glossed over the 1990’s, and barely mentioned the 2000’s. Since this was released in 2006, I expected it to spend equal time discussing each decade because each one is as important as the other. Instead of talking about the special effects of smaller slasher films from the 1980’s, it could’ve analyzed the best slasher pictures such as “Halloween,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “Scream.” For instance, putting the violence and sexual connotations aside (because it’s been talked about a million times before), they could’ve analyzed about how “Halloween” is more artistic than most horror pictures back then and even today, not just image-wise but also the use of music and suspense, especially with an extremely low budget. They could’ve delved into how “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is very different from typical slasher flicks because it’s able to relate to psychology and Eastern cultures–the role of dreams and internalized emotions in all kinds of society–and how it was able to make the violence aspect secondary. They also could’ve picked apart “Scream”–its post-modern attitude, how it juggled comedy and horror so well, and why it is one of the best horror movies ever made. I was also looking forward to the interviewees talking about the infamous “Hostel” and “Saw” pictures, but they rushed through them in under ten seconds. The movie became so alive when they showed newspaper articles and film critics, such as Siskel and Ebert, disapprove of slasher movies because they often show women being tortured to the point where it’s almost pornographic. In opposition, the documentary showed why the interviewees supported slasher pictures and their claims of such movies serving to empower women. I have my own opinions but it’s nice to see opinions clash because both sides bring up very interesting points–that there’s is no one “correct” side. This could’ve been a two and a half hour documentary and it could have been excellent. Instead, what I saw was a Slasher Movie 101 discussion so, unfortunately, I barely learned anything new.
