Editorials
A Comprehensive Guide to the Golden Age of Slashers, Part 1: 1978-1980
One of the foundational sub-genres of horror is the Slasher, a type of horror film that sees a killer stalk and slay a group of characters. Usually, the killer is masked, and the preferred weapon of choice tends to be of the bladed variety. Slashers have been around for decades, with films like Peeping Tom and Psycho credited as prototypes for the sub-genre and Halloween touted as the seminal slasher that set the mold for the modern slasher. It was the latter’s massive success that heralded in the Golden Age of Slashers.
This period, from Halloween’s release through 1984, marked an endless wave of slashers. It dominated horror’s output. But what exactly does that look like?
To give an idea just how immense this slasher boon was from 78-84, we’ve put together a comprehensive look at the slashers released during this period. Starting with the film that inspired it all, of course. Slashers lend well to the murder mystery, noir, and crime thrillers so there is some overlap. What’s not included are Giallo entries, as that’s a whole other category that warrants its own discussion. While there are likely a few titles that slipped through the cracks, this lengthy guide should get you well on your way to checking off all the Golden Age titles, and give context to the enormous scope of the craze. In Part 1, we cover 1978-1980…
1978
1978 offered numerous noteworthy slashers. Titles like The Toolbox Murders, Eyes of Laura Mars, Patrick, and more. Being that the Golden Age unquestionably started with Halloween, however, that’s where we begin.
Halloween
John Carpenter’s seminal slasher launched an ongoing franchise and kickstarted the true Golden Age of Slashers. Fifteen years after Michael Myers murdered his sister on Halloween, he escapes the mental hospital and stalks his new target, babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).
1979
The wave of slashers was only just beginning at this point, and the sub-genre was still exploring its identity. Mostly, Halloween’s success was still too fresh at this point.
Beyond the Darkness
Not the traditional slasher that this movement would come to embrace, but a gory flick only Joe D’Amato could make. An embalmer can’t cope with the loss of his girlfriend, so he exhumes her and keeps her body with him in his home. His sanity snaps, and the death toll mounts.
Bloodrage
A sexually frustrated man targets and slays prostitutes. A sleazy grindhouse-level slasher directed by Joseph Zito, the man behind slasher favorites The Prowler and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
Delirium
One of the more obscure video nasties. The plot sees a group of wealthy businessmen hire Vietnam vets to clean up the riff raff on the streets. Instead, one of the ex-soldiers goes on a murderous rampage targeting women.
The Demon
A schoolteacher finds herself stalked by a killer that prefers to suffocate women with plastic. Extremely low budget, and possibly the first slasher to directly copy Halloween, right down to the jumpsuit and white-masked killer.
Don’t Go in the House
A deranged man who was horrifically disfigured as a child by his own mother uses his beloved flamethrower when stalking and murdering women. Arguably one of the most creative weapons of choice for a slasher villain.
Don’t Go Near the Park
Murderous prehistoric cave siblings are cursed for eons to feast off the flesh of youth, and their hunting grounds eventually become a park in a Los Angeles neighborhood.
The Driller Killer
Abel Ferrara directs and stars as an artist crumbling under the pressures of work, caring for roommates, and paying bills. At night, the struggling artist takes to the streets of New York and murders the homeless with a power drill.
Effects
Crew members working on a horror movie begin to suspect that the movie’s kills are real, and that they’re actually working on a snuff film. Tom Savini appears in the movie alongside Joseph Pilato, and Savini handles the special makeup effects as well.
The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher
The film’s title says it all; a Hollywood model strangler crosses paths with a wino slayer from Skid Row. Lowbrow sleaze and chaos ensues.
The Meateater
A family purchases an abandoned theater with the hopes of turning it into a lucrative business. Little did they know, it’d been home to a movie-obsessed psychopath. The madman embarks on a murder spree over the disturbance.
Savage Weekend
A group of friends head out for a weekend getaway, where they’re stalked by a masked killer. While it sounds straightforward slasher, think proto-slasher with a touch of Deliverance.
Silent Scream
A college co-ed desperate to find a place to stay prior to the start of the semester locates a seaside boarding house run by a reclusive mother and her son. Shortly after her arrival, one of the residents winds up dead, causing the student to become entangled in a twisted murder mystery.
Tourist Trap
A group of friends find themselves stalked and murdered by a killer with telekinetic powers when they’re stranded at a remote roadside attraction. Mannequins, mayhem, and a delightful early slasher by David Schmoeller.
When a Stranger Calls
Opening with a chilling portrayal of a famous urban legend, this slasher sees a babysitter (Carol Kane) terrorized by a psychopath, who returns seven years later to torment her once more.
1980
Studios and filmmakers hoping to ride the wave of Halloween’s success were starting to see their efforts released by 1980. Ronald Reagan’s presidential election boosted conservatism, and major concerns about violence in film came along with it. In turn, that put slashers at the forefront of political and media ire, making them even more coveted among horror audiences.
Along with many notable entries in the sub-genre, 1980 marks the birth of an enduring franchise in Friday the 13th.
Anthropophagus
Joe D’Amato once again brings his love of gore to an island-set slasher that sees a group of tourists stalked and preyed upon by a cannibalistic madman. Entrails and death ensue.
The Boogey Man
A supernatural slasher turned Video Nasty in which a young girl witnesses her brother commit murder through a reflection in a mirror. Many years later, that evil mirror comes back to haunt and kill the family and anyone associated with them.
Christmas Evil
Mentally traumatized as a child upon the discovery that Santa Claus isn’t real, a toy factory worker suffers a nervous breakdown and embarks on a murder spree. Dressed as Santa, of course.
Cries in the Night
Also known as Funeral Home, this one sees a woman heading to grandma’s house to help her convert it into a bed and breakfast. Her home, naturally, used to be a funeral home at one point. So it may not surprise you that when the guests start arriving, the body count starts rising.
Cruising
Al Pacino stars in William Friedkin’s crime/thriller/slasher about a police detective that goes undercover on the underground S&M scene in New York City to root out a serial killer that’s preying on gay men.
Demented
Rap-revenge thriller meets slasher, in which a poor woman is institutionalized after being sexually assaulted. The nightmares don’t stop when under the care of her unfaithful husband. Finally, a group of masked youths decide to break into her home, and the woman snaps completely.
Don’t Answer the Phone!
A deranged Vietnam vet stalks and brutalizes women in Los Angeles, then taunts a radio psychologist with detailed accounts of his crimes.
Dressed to Kill
Brian De Palma channels Hitchcock in this erotic thriller. A sexually dissatisfied wife is murdered shortly after a tryst, and her son teams up with a prostitute to find the killer.
The Exterminator
When a man’s best friend is murdered on the streets of New York City, he’s so violently enraged that he becomes a ruthless killer himself. The city becomes a war zone. Look for The Brood’s Samantha Eggar in this one.
Fade to Black
Dennis Christopher stars as Eric Binford, a lonely cinephile obsessed with a woman who has an uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. But bullying has pushed him too far, and he begins donning costumes and committing murder.
Friday the 13th
Sean S. Cunningham’s seminal classic, which sees a group of counselors working to reopen a summer camp years after it closed due to a tragic accident. The problem is that someone is willing to kill to ensure they don’t succeed. Phase one of making Camp Crystal Lake and Jason Voorhees household names, complete.
The Ghost Dance
An anthropologist and her crew excavate the remains of an evil shaman, and its spirit possesses a Native American medicine man. The spirit causes him to become a homicidal maniac, of course.
He Knows You’re Alone
A young bride-to-be seeks help from a former lover when she’s stalked by a serial killer on Staten Island. A serial killer that only seems to target brides, no less. This slasher marks the first film appearance by Tom Hanks.
The Long Island Cannibal Massacre
A group of cannibalistic lepers living in, you guessed it, Long Island are feeding off of unsuspecting victims, leaving the authorities stumped. The network of killers is led by a mutated monster.
Maniac
Joe Spinell stars as Frank Zito, a greasy, psychologically disturbed New Yorker who murders women and keeps their scalps as souvenirs. Because it’s from Zito’s perspective, William Lustig’s cult favorite plays more like a sleazy character study than your average slasher. It’s effective nonetheless.
Motel Hell
It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s Fritters. Really, it just takes people. In this comedic slasher, a farmer and his sister kidnap travelers and bury them alive as stock to create their famous special meat.
Mother’s Day
Two brothers are willing to go to any length to make their mama proud. In this case, that entails Mother getting her kicks off of watching her sons rape and murder. Their latest captives, three women, are held prisoner and used as pawns in the twisted game between Mother and sons.
New Year’s Evil
A Los Angeles radio DJ gets a call during her New Year’s Eve celebration from a creep laying out their dastardly plans. Each time the clock strikes midnight in a different time zone, someone dies. The DJ is intended to be the final victim.
Night of the Demon
There’s a slasher for everything. Case in point; Night of the Demon unleashes Bigfoot in slasher form. His victims? A professor and his students aiming to track Bigfoot. They’ll clearly rue that decision.
Nightmares
Also known as Stage Fright, this one sees a girl suffer a mental breakdown after she accidentally causes a car crash that results in her mother’s death. Sixteen years later, she’s changed her name and become an actress. But someone is killing the cast of her new play.
Patrick Still Lives!
An unofficial Italian sequel to Australia’s 1978 Patrick. Like the original, the plot sees a bedridden telekinetic use his powers to inflict death on those around him.
Phobia
A psychiatrist has developed a radical new form of therapy, but his methods are called into question when his patients start dying according to their specific phobias. Directed by John Huston (Chinatown, The African Queen), from a story by Poltergeist III’s Gary Sherman.
Prom Night
In-demand scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis starred in this slasher about a masked killer stalking teens at their high school senior prom. The targets happened to be involved with a deadly prank six years prior. Prom Night also stars Leslie Nielsen.
Scared to Death
An inspector and a former cop-turned-novelist team up to investigate a series of grisly murders. The duo descends into the sewers to find the culprit, which turns out to be a genetic experiment gone monstrously awry. Scared to Death takes a slasher setup and turns it into a creature feature.
Schizoid
A “Dear Abby”-style advice columnist begins receiving threatening letters from a mysterious stalker. The stalker happens to be targeting and slaying members of the therapy group the columnist is a part of, and she starts to suspect the therapist and her ex-husband might be behind the murders. This one stars Klaus Kinski and Christopher Lloyd.
Shadows of the Mind
Over a decade after witnessing the drowning of her mother at a young age, a wealthy woman is finally deemed mentally sound and released from the mental institution. When she returns to her childhood home, greedy friends and family converge on the house in hopes of obtaining some of that wealth. The body count rises.
Terror on Tour
Glam rock band The Clowns are on tour when they come under suspicion thanks to a series of murders by a band member lookalike.
Terror Train
Three years after a horrendous college prank gone wrong, the pranksters are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year’s Eve celebration aboard a train. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as the final girl in a slasher with a plot setup similar to Prom Night. Also look for magician David Copperfield to lighten the mood.
To All a Good Night
In this yuletide slasher, a group of teens at a party find themselves stalked by a maniac in a Santa Claus suit. The holiday slasher tradition, after all.
The Unseen
A freelance reporter and her two friends can’t seem to find reasonable lodging around town due to holiday parade the reporter is covering. When a museum owner offers up his farmhouse for the cheap, the ladies aren’t aware that the place harbors a homicidal being in the basement.
Windows
Andrea is so psychotically obsessed with her neighbor Emily that she hires a rapist in order to get audio tapes of Emily’s reaction. When Emily embarks on a love affair with a Detective, Andrea’s obsession gets even more dangerous.
Without Warning
A sci-fi horror mashup that sees an extra-terrestrial stalking and slaying human prey. Look for notable cast members Jack Palance, Martin Landau, and David Caruso.
In Part 2, we’ll be taking a look at slashers released between 1981-1984.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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