Plain and simple, I thought this was a fantastic documentary about one of my favourite film genre’s which is horror. As the title suggests to you, this is about the sub genre inside horror, the slasher film. I really do love a good doco about film, and finding good doco’s on horror seems to be on the difficult side. I was so happy to have found this and I really want to re-watch it again. This is a must see for fans, it covers most of the films you would want them to, and ones you might never have heard of. It certainly has given me a list of films that I want to either re-visit or see for the first time. The 70’s and 80’s were a time in the horror genre where slashers were the big thing, and bloody films were definitely on the menu. However with that, there was the whole video nasty business in the UK (not really touched upon here but you’ll recognise that some titles covered would have been considered just that and they do touch upon some other things), but despite that these films made money and they were in demand. Looking back with the films they show, it certainly seems like a reminder they sure don’t make them like they used to. It almost feels like they had more balls back then, while today we might have a lot of gorey films, back then they certainly left all the PC business at home.
This documentary features some great icons of the genre, the likes of Tom Savini, Wes Craven and John Carpenter just to name a few that most people would recognise. They speak to a lot of actors and film makers about their work and the slashers in general. It is really interesting to see the different perspective’s about certain films and the different era’s for the slasher. The different trends that they went through (camp settings, heroine’s, ect) and the public reaction to these films, as well as Siskel and Ebert giving their opinions from back in the day. This doco is definitely well rounded as it tries to offer as much as it can in the way of the actual films, their impact, their history and it all really works too. It held my interest from start to finish and I really took in a lot of what people had to say. One thing you do need to know however is they do show footage that is considered spoilery if you haven’t seen some of the films they do discuss. So if a film you haven’t seen comes up, just skip some of the footage that might ruin it for you!
I really did have a blast with this, as I said being such a huge fan it was nice to get a film like this, being as informative and as fun as it is. I definitely would welcome more docos like this about horror and the different sub-genres within horror. It is refreshing to see something so well made and put together, and something that is truly for the fans and non fans alike. I think both would get something out of this, and definitely a non-fan might find some understanding as to the appeal of horror or the slasher film in general. This reminded me a little of Not Quite Hollywood in the great way it presents itself and it shows enough to give you a really good idea of the films and the history behind them. Thanks to this film, I have now more films to add to my queue, and I shall enjoy watching some good and bad slasher films!
The Super Network 