Now here come the ugly.
Some of these movies are just a bit
garish. Others are downright sleazy. And some are simply so violent, so scuzzy,
that people went to jail for trying to distribute them. Of course, publicity
like that cannot be bought, so these naughty flicks have managed to stand the
test of time. Through development hell, blacklisting, subpar home video
releases, and into the digital age. Now here they are, collected in one
convenient list, ripe for your discovery.
Yet
Another 10 Underrated 80’s Slashers!
10)
Doom Asylum (1988) dir. Richard Friedman
For our first spot on this list, we
bring a film where absolutely nothing makes sense. It’s okay though, because Doom
Asylum is a one-two punch of hilarious gags and low budget gore effects! A
group of teens decide to have a picnic at the local abandoned mental asylum (as
you do) and run afoul of an all-girl punk band. Both groups then mutually run
afoul of a killer with a skinned face and terrible sense of humor. All in all, the
only logical thing about this movie is that it went straight to video.
9)
The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982) dir. Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen
Carpenter
All of the movies on this list are
low budget, but this is the lowest of the low in that regard. Also known as Death
Dorm, this independently-financed picture is a surprisingly well-done hack ‘n
slash. It’s a simple tale of a killer on a college campus (sound familiar?) What
sets it apart from other academic assaults is the wealth of homemade gory
killings. Pieces (1982) might have been gorier, but its campiness
lessened the impact. Dorm brings a seriousness that only a drill through
the back of the head can provide. Incidentally, said head drilling is likely
the reason that this film is the first of three listed here to be labeled in
the UK as a video nasty. A final, interesting note: the fantastic gore effects
here were done by Matthew Mungle, who would later lend his talents to A
Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987) and Bram Stoker’s
Dracula (1992), among others…
8)
Happy Birthday to Me (1981) dir. J. Lee Thompson
Here’s a film whose cover art is a
sublime example of how slashers were marketed. While Happy Birthday to Me
does feature a fine parade of kills, none quite match the shish-kabob to the
mouth of the VHS cover art – which, by the way, never actually appears in the
movie itself. Nevertheless, this style-over-substance installment is quite the
gothic stabathon; and deserves to be seen by any fan of the genre. Poor Virginia
is recovering from a terrible accident, and on top of that, her classmates at a
snobby prep school are disappearing just in time for her birthday… Not much of
a mystery, but a very visually grabbing one for sure.
7)
Curtains (1983) dir. Richard Ciupka
One of literally three(!!!) entries
on this list that involves a troupe of actors being done away with, Curtains
is likely the most high-brow of the lot. Show-biz slashers enjoy their own subgenre
in much the same way campus slashers do. Here, an actress is forced to go a bit
too far in preparing for a role, while the rest of her supporting cast gets
picked off one by one. While a bit short on the red stuff compared to others
offered here, this film makes up for it in effective creepiness, atmosphere,
and a surprising turn by John Vernon.
6)
Nightmares (1980) dir. John D. Lamond
John Lamond is better known for his
sexploitation classics such as Felicity (1978) and The ABC’s of Love
and Sex: Australia Style (1978), but his one horror film is a remarkably
engaging and bloody affair. Another example of the show-biz slasher, Nightmares,
also known as Stage Fright, centers on a traumatized young actress and
her first major role in a new stage play. Meanwhile, “someone” is slaughtering
other cast members with broken glass. While Lamond himself was not pleased with
how the film turned out, it does have enough blood, nudity, and scuzzy attitude
to keep the most hardened genre fan entertained.
5)
Edge of the Axe (1988) dir. José Ramón Larraz
More well-known for his gothic
chiller Vampyrs (1974), Spanish exploitation director José Ramón Larraz
helms this straight-to-video effort about a sleepy California town, a deranged
axe murderer, and a couple nerdy computer teens trying to solve the mystery. The
European weirdness seeps in everywhere, despite the obvious attempts to be as
American as possible. Nevertheless, there is a lot of campy fun to be had here,
and the kills are suitably bloody. It speaks to Larraz’s aptitude as a director
that Edge of the Axe rates so high on this list.
4)
Bloody Birthday (1981) dir. Ed Hunt
And now we’ve reached the truly
great films on this list. Part The Bad Seed (1956), part Halloween
(1978), Bloody Birthday features three very naughty homicidal children,
a buffet of nudity, and some hysterical nonsense about horoscopes and solar
eclipses. The pace never lets up here, and it is supremely creepy seeing children
act in such a brutal manner. But beyond bloody kills and taboo-shattering
themes, the picture is actually good, with suspense landing well and the child
actors turning in astonishingly good performances. It certainly is a movie that
couldn’t be made today.
3)
StageFright (1987) dir. Michele Soavi
The finest of the show-biz bunch,
and Dario Argento apprentice Michele Soavi’s first turn in the director’s
chair. StageFright, alternatively titled Deliria, Aquarius,
and Bloody Bird, is yet another slasher to dump its frights into a
theatre house as the troupe rehearses a new play. What sets this one apart is
the quintessential Italian giallo flair that Soavi brings to the proceedings,
and the attendant amount of gore that entails. Add a killer in an owl
headpiece, and Giovanni Lombardo Radice getting his customary abuse, and StageFright
is an unmissable entry in the slasher canon.
2)
The Funhouse (1981) dir. Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is often credited with
helping to launch the slasher genre with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
Here, he dives headfirst into the craze with a psychedelic and impossibly fun romp through a carnival ride and unsuspecting victims. The Funhouse has some
decent gore, but it’s the atmosphere that really drives this one; so much so
that it’s hard to explain just how good it is if you haven’t seen it. Character
actor Kevin Conway turns in not one, not two, but three excellent
performances here, and the uncomfortable themes landed this one on the video
nasties list as well.
1)
Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981) dir. Romano Scavolini
Here at #1 is one of the ugliest, sleaziest slashers ever made. Banned in the UK as a video nasty, where the distributor was sentenced to eighteen months in jail for refusing to censor just one second of footage. Sued by FX guru Tom Savini, who demanded his name be removed from the project. Nightmares in a Damaged Brain is a sexually deviant, violently depraved slice of exploitation cinema. George is a sociopath with repressed memories. He escapes his hospital in New York and makes his way to Daytona, Florida searching for his family, and killing anyone who gets in his way out of sick and irrepressible urges. See it to believe it, because this exercise in decapitations, throat-slittings, axe murders, and psycho-sexual depravity is absolutely the ugliest of the ugly; and unequivocally deserves the top spot on this list.
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