Editorials
Stay Home, Watch Horror: 5 Slashers to Stream This Week
Between the recent Shudder additions of the first three Sleepaway Camp films, The Burning, and the Fourth of July-themed I Know What You Did Last Summer, now seems like the perfect time to binge slashers. Summer tends to serve as the favorite backdrop for slashers anyway, with camps, cabins, and remote vacation spots providing favored slaying grounds for masked maniacs.
So, this week’s streaming picks belong to one of the most beloved subgenres of horror. If you’ve never seen the Sleepaway Camp movies, start there. The first eight Friday the 13th movies are also available on Prime Video. After that, fire up the grill and prep your summery treats, then settle in for these five slasher films that bring the carnage, with a variety of tones and styles.
As always, they’re all available to stream now.
Hush – Netflix
For pure nail-biting intensity, Mike Flanagan proves he knows how to wield suspense like a weapon with Hush. Kate Siegel stars as Maddie, a deaf and mute author that lives alone in the woods. Her reclusive existence is interrupted by the arrival of a masked maniac currently amid a killing spree. A cat and mouse game ensues as Maddie fights to survive. It’s a good old-fashioned horror story elevated by the ingenious use of tension, sound design, and serious thrills. John Gallagher Jr., who typically excels in the nice guy role, plays against type as the chilling killer eager to rack up a body count.
StageFright – Prime Video
Also known as Stage Fright: Aquarius or Deliria, this Italian slasher follows a theater troupe that has locked themselves inside the theater to rehearse for a musical about a fictional mass murderer known as the Night Owl. They’re unaware that an escaped mental patient has crashed the party. Directed by Michele Soavi (The Church, Cemetery Man), this slasher features one of the most visually striking masked killers of all time. It’s gorgeous and stylized, without sacrificing brutal kills. For those in the mood for a classic ‘80s slasher, StageFright scratches that itch and then some.
Stitches – Prime Video
While performing at a children’s birthday party, Stitches the clown attempts to entertain but finds himself the subject of ridicule instead. Then a freak accident claims his life. Six years later, Stitches returns from the grave to exact revenge. This slasher comedy emphasizes splatstick gore. Think Evil Dead 2 levels of gory silliness, with inventive kills suitable for a killer clown. We’re talking balloon animals made out of dismembered members and ice cream sundaes concocted out of brains. The only aim in Stitches is to offer a good time with great kills, and it nails it.
Tourist Trap – Tubi, Shudder
This summery slasher sees a group of friends stranded at a secluded roadside museum that’s filled to the brim with creepy mannequins. These mannequins seem to have a life of their own and a lust for blood. Of course, if you’ve seen this cult classic, then you know there’s much more than meets the eye here. The feature debut by director David Schmoeller (Puppet Master) boasts atmosphere for days, and one haunting score by Pino Donaggio. Tourist Trap offers one of the best summer slashers not set at a camp.
Intruder – Tubi
The overnight stock crew of a local grocery store finds themselves falling victim to an unseen killer in this highly infectious late ‘80s slasher. The deaths are delightfully gruesome and inventive; look for this killer to make excellent use of grocery store items as weapons. Look for a stacked cast, too, with notable names like Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi, and Evil Dead II’s Dan Hicks. It’s the perfect film to showcase Hicks’ talent and honor his memory, but it’s also just plain fun. One of the better and underseen slashers of the decade, Intruder also delivers a small cameo by Bruce Campbell. Considering frequent Raimi collaborator Scott Spiegel directed it, the connections to Evil Dead 2 are endless.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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