It Does Not Give Up: It Follows (2014)

It Follows (2014)
Rating: ****
Starring:  Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi

Just when you thought horror flicks are becoming more recycled nowadays, something like It Follows happen. It's not a slasher, but it knows how to be influenced by one and churn up a rather original monstrosity.

Opening with a random girl in a panicked state, we see her run out of her own house before driving off to the beach. There, she calls her father and says her goodbyes as something unseen makes their presence known to the girl. By morning, she is dead, her leg mangled up in the most shocking visage.

We then switch our attention to Jay, a college student in Michigan who's as normal as any teenagers can be, loves to swim, hang out with her hipster-esque friends and her boyfriend, Hugh. The two eventually hook up and have sex in an abandoned building one night, an event that is, apparently, for the worst.

It turns out that by doing it with her, Hugh passed a curse to Jay. The curse takes form of an entity that stalks the last end of the chain with the intent of killing them before going back to the ones who passed it. Only those who are cursed can see this entity and, to make matters more complicated, it changes its appearance to any person of age and/or gender.

Jay is then left to fend for herself against this entity, which now has taken its close chances to kill her off, first hauntingly across her campus' hallways, and then later at her own home. When the attacks place Jay at her wit's end, her friends took notice and help her out with what could be a real phenomenon. Surely enough, they themselves see what the entity is capable of and it is only a matter of time before it gets to their friend. With very little options in stopping the creature and with her friends now in the line of danger, Jay has no choice but to find a way, any desperate way, to stop it.

The best way to describe It Follows is pretty much said by most reviewers out there; dream-like. This is no surprise as writer and director David Robert Mitchell got the idea of this film from a recurring nightmare he had when he was younger, wherein he is similarly stalked by an unseen creature. Due to this, much of the film’s execution dwells on the curious side; there is nightmare logic surrounding the whole premise, with no clear indication to when the entire film takes place (it’s “now” but with black-and-white vintage horror being played in a 50s style TVs and a futuristic eBook reading device that looks like a cross between a Smartphone and a girl’s powder kit) and the unwavering focus on teenagers turned adults into disembodied voices, background on-goings, and forms the entity takes.

Many may say that the film is a metaphor of teenage perspective, which is all not that far from the truth as themes of repression and fear of sexual infection are played around, along with other teenage dilemmas such as drug dependency (Jay was given a full meal and a pill at one scene. All she took was the pill) and suicide (Jay running her leg against a blade of grass), though by a lesser extent.  By mixing this hinted drama with the horror of the supernatural, It Follows somehow found a way to make it all work and deliver a chilling and expressive horror film that relies little on gimmick and more on what could make us unnerve, psychologically and emotionally.

The film borrows a lot of elements from other horror sub-genres, mainly slashers and ghost films, to make it as creepy as possible. While the curse angle is obviously a tribute to the supernatural, most of the other influence would be put to use in shaping the entity itself as it behaves quite similar to our human monsters, slowly walking, getting up whenever it appears wounded, and preferring to use its brute strength to do its killings than exploit its own supernatural nature. The very fact that it also changes appearance can come quite shocking and uneasy; in one scene, we see this entity take form of a girl and casually walk in to a beach full of people. One could never expect that it is the entity as the form it takes perfectly blends in and no one will notice until it begins hurting and killing whoever it is after.

With the little to no explanation given to what the curse is and why it behaves this way, the hopelessness of the situation is another working actor that makes It Follows scary. Some of the executions for the attacks did come quite comical, however, but this can be overlooked with the film’s other technical advantages such as the Halloween (1978) inspired soundtrack, shocking visuals, and atmospheric editing.

I can honestly say that this film earned the right to be included as one of the films to beat for modern horror. Interestingly, a lot of our modern indie releases are becoming quite imaginative and skilled, and Mr. Mitchell proves himself with this instant cult classic that he can be a worthy name for this genre. That being said, I am proud to have finally seen this unique take on all things familiar and for those who haven’t, keep an eye on this one. It’s a keeper!

Bodycount:
1 female killed offscreen, later found mangled
1 male killed offcamera, method unknown
Total: 2

Cheer! Cheer! Bloody Fear!!: Spirit Camp (2009)

Spirit Camp (2009)
Rating: ***
Starring: Kerry Beyer, Julin, Brandon Smith

Paint-by-number is a phrase that is likely to get used a lot when folks describe a slasher movie. It's a pain for some to see a movie with basically the same plot as the ten others would have under the same sub-genre, but for a few, a copy-pasted plot can be forgiven with factors such as execution, characterization, special effects, or entertaining cheesiness.

Spirit Camp is a movie that took the simplest 80s backwoods slasher plot and basically used cheerleaders as a plot point. Would have been really impressive if it was the first to do this but seeing we already have films like Cheerleader Camp (1987) and The Cheerleader Massacre (2003), the film would have been a failed attempt but thankfully, it managed to pull off a decent amount of entertaining cheese and some neat twists to keep the bodycounter in all of us entertained.

In the simplest way to describe the story, it's about five girls attending cheerleading camp to help them boost their morale and practice their routine for an upcoming game. Sticking out like a stick on a mud pile is one Nikki (Roxy Vandiver), a lonesome punkette with a criminal record and a spiky hairdo, who is only in this charade of pigtails and pom-poms cuz it'll help her lessen her parole. Things start off rather simple for these gals until, one by one, team mates and visiting boyfriends began to disappear. Could it be the doings of an escaped convict from a nearby facility? Or perhaps it's the wrath of the huge groundskeeper who's always holding an axe? Who ever it is, they'll stop at nothing until all of these airheads are dead on the ground, that is until some of said airheads (and Nikki) start to fight back.

There's not much to complain about except, perhaps, the lack of proper acting to make some of the would-be harrowing scenes much more exciting to watch, and the noticeably uninspired killings, most of which occurring offscreen. Of course, I do understand that these are likely due to budget constrains so I will let it slide, but a little variation on the murders wouldn't hurt, especially for a slasher movie. (I believe they used the same axe kill make-up twice, each on different actors and scenes)

Apart from this, I did enjoyed Spirit Camp since it respectfully captured the feel of 80s backwoods slashers it pays tribute to; the cast are, I believe intentionally, cheesy to parody the very slasher victims they are portraying, and a good dose of red herrings are placed around with minimal screen time, for us to ponder around and suspect once the murdering starts. The only one with depth is our punkette heroine who was given an insightful character and enough wit to challenge not only the killer, but also the outrageous authority figures around camp.

When it comes to the horror portions, Spirit Camp kept it calm yet bloody; the murders, as mentioned, are restrained to shots of a weapon slashing or dropping, cutting to the aftermath of said slaughter. I find this an endearing way to save budget while still keeping the spirit of a slasher film alive but, as mentioned again, the killer's limitation of using an axe and a knife gets pretty repetitive, with the only other weapon they wielded was a knitting needle. I'm also not a big fan of the killer's dollface mask as it comes off quite silly at times, completely in contrast to the serious body language of the murderer; nonetheless, seeing this is a cheesy slasher, I guess its in the right place.

Production wise, Spirit Camp boasts an impressive looking camera and light work and a direction that is fast enough to keep us on our feet. It did slowed down around the last third when nearly all of the cheerleaders are killed, focusing a bit on the whodunit play as our surviving casts suspects one red herring character to the next to be their killer. It soon reveals a twist that, while I honestly didn't expected it, seeing how obviously cliched some of their attempted might-be killers were, the reveal was underwhelming.

Still, the whole film was fun no matter how many ways I try to look at it. It is certainly not a movie trying to reinvent anything but is simply there to exist and be enjoyed. Rent it!

Bodycount:
1 male found with his gut spilled open
1 female hacked with an axe
1 female strangled to death
1 female hacked with an axe offscreen
1 female knifed on the head
1 female stabbed on the eye with a knitting needle
1 male hacked with an axe, left for dead
1 male found slaughtered
1 female knifed
1 male found axed on the back
1 female knifed on the gut
1 male axed on the back
1 female found tied dead on a tree, covered in stabs
Total: 13

StickyRed Presents: Pimp My Murder Weapons Volume 2

Last year, I made a post where in I shared my thoughts on this sub-genre's strangest "customized" murder weapons, pointy and deadly things wielded by our psychos to dispose dumb teenagers and random thespians, modified in the strangest manner.

Looking deeper into my collection, here be volume dos of these collected curiosities, fresh from the homicidal hands (or mouth) that held them!

Medical Monstrosities (Dr. Giggles (1992)) - In this early 90s cheese ride of all things cliched, the titular psychopath, who just happens to be the son of a deranged doctor, somehow had the time to design and invent his own slew of medical utensils, from tainted pills to syringes full of poison, to gas-powered stomach pumps with a rotating blade tip and giant band-aid plasters large enough to smother someone. It's cartoonishly crazy, but it fits the film's tone very well!

Pickaxe-catapult (Simon Says (2006)) - And just when you thought My Bloody Valentine's Harry Warden got the whole killer with a pickaxe shtick going, this film's Crispin Glover-played killer found 101 new ways to kill a person with one, mainly involving triggered traps and one pickaxe catapult! While the special effects used by the latter are dodgy, the whole idea of a catapult that swings out four pickaxes at the same time was and is pretty awesome!

Wearable Sword (Basement Jack (2009)) - Switching to this from a classic machete, the titular killer of this movie later wields a rather awesome looking blade; it's wearable and looks pretty badass, too bad the movie's gore effects are disappointing...

Van Trap (Creep Van (2012)) - Finding another use for creepy vans apart from being a bad guy's getaway vehicle, the random killer in this B-Grade slasher cooked up some rather over-the-top traps such as seat belts that crush and slice through victims and automated bladed sliding doors to make this van a literal hell ride.

A little clunky looking in terms of props and special effects, but it is more "realistic" in a way that the traps do look like something a demented maniac would had the capacity to make.

Hell Go-Kart (Leprechaun 2 (1994)) - And continuing with killer rides, this killer Leprechaun started his movie franchise by mauling his victims to death and  it wasn't until around the second film where we get to see more magic-induced kills, from hypnotizing someone into kissing a moving fan blade to, well, pulling out a killer go-kart out of hyperspace.

It's...something...but uh...killer go-kart? Really? So glad the third film is so much better...

Bladed Nailed Bat (Billy Club (2013)) - Attempting to do something different from your classic nailed bat, the folks behind the props of this movie did some slight modifications with the killer's murder weapon: a retractable machete blade that can be pushed out from the bat's head. Seeing what it could do, I am very impressed!

Cricket Kit (I Know How Many Runs You Scored Last Summer (2008)) - Taking revenge on his former cricket team mates, the mustachoid maniac from this slasher customized as many cricket apparels as possible, from spiked cricket bats, nailed-studded balls, and nailed groin cup. The result? Some fairly amusing murders. Too bad the characters aren't so interesting or likable to make the killings matter...

Lenghtened Chainsaw (Porkchop (2010)) - Not much to say about this except it's a weed whacker with a full working chainsaw replacing the saw end. How does it work? Not sure, but I'm picturing ole' Porky had to crank up the chainsaw first before holding on to the weed whacker body. Clunky design but works well for out-of-reach victims.

Poison-Tipped Cat Claws (Sette scialli di seta gialla/Crimes of The Black Cat (1972)) - And coming from this volume's only giallo entry, a slight variation to trained animals; if you can't count on your target being mauled to death by your chosen beast, why not hope for the alternative and taint the animal while you're at it? 

No, we're not talking about rabies, we're talking about poisoning their claws! Genius, you say? Well, not me; has the killer ever considered the fact that cats like to lick their own paws and rub it all over their faces in an adorable attempt to clean themselves? Yeah...

Chained Cleaver and Meat hook (Murderdrome (2013)) - The fire-breathing she-devil that is Mama Skate was a killer in her roller derby days. Literally. Armed with a chained meat-hook and cleaver, she's the star attraction of an underground blood sport known as Murderdrome and loved the spotlight so much that she started killer people off game. Even in her undead status, the cleaver-and-hook never looked so badass with a leather clad huntress! Me likey!

Droids (The Cheerleader Massacre 2 (2011)) - I don't consider killer bots as a weapon if they act on their own, but the tiny terrors of Cheerleader Massacre 2 are, however, handled by a killer in a bowler hat so I thought otherwise.

They're pretty cute, but cheaply depicted in the movie with low-budget CG which is why they don't sit pretty well with me. Still, I'm giving kudos for the producers of this flick for some attempts of originality.

Drill-Tar (The Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)) - Yeah, see, I'm one of the few who has no trouble enjoying this nightmarish entry to the slasher cycle and of its franchise. While the first Slumber Party Massacre features a plain killer with a plain powertool murder weapon, its sequel cashed in one Freddy Krueger's success and decided to concoct a rockabilly greaser from hell, armed with a drill-ended guitar! A Drill-tar!

Cheesy? Yes. Effective? Yes! Musical! Oh fucking yes!!! Blame it on my taste, but I will always love vintage rock-and-roll!

Steel Dentures (Luther The Geek (1990)) - Not sure how to feel about this; for one, I like the fact that the killer here's crazy enough to use his jaw strength to commit murders but it's not exactly subtle. You'll be leaving your DNA all over and that's never a smart thing to do as a slasher/serial killer.

Then again, the killer clucks like a chicken so I guess it doesn't matter. Goddamn Troma releases, luckily for them, I really enjoyed this one!

Cross-Mace (Sin Reaper (2012)) - From one 3D movie that no one would probably remember, the Sin Reaper sports a mean looking crucifix mace that, well, looks totally badass. Sadly, I remember nothing of the film except that the killer turned out to be somebody's brother or something. I should try watching it again but I'm just not feeling it. Cool weapon and killer get-up, though!

And there you have it. Again! Seen any new and/or odd customized weapon used in a slasher and/or giallo? Had I missed any of the ones from older titles? Feel free to tell me and I'll try to collect as many as possible for part 3 of Pimp My Murder Weapons!

Take me out to the Ball Grave: Billy Club (2013)

Billy Club (2013)
Rating: ****
Starring:  Marshall Caswell, Erin Hammond, Nick Sommer

What looked like a standard slasher movie with a baseball theme, imagine my surprise on how serious, sullen, and dark Billy Club ended up as a movie. Could this be a good thing in terms of production, or a bad thing in terms of my taste?

Beginning the film with a slight homage to the opening scene of A Nightmare on Elm Street, we watch a baseball bat being modified with nails and a retractable machete before being put to use against a drunkard in an alleyway one scene later. The killer then blowtorches away child’s face from a photograph, possibly as a countdown for each victim he will be killing. So far, only four faces are torched off, leaving the killer six more to hunt down…

We then shift our attention to four friends reunited at their home town, paying respect to their late little league team mates and coach who were all victims of a brutal massacre 15 years ago. The perpetrator, a bullied team mate named Billy Haskins, was caught the very night of his little spree and was sent away to a loonie bin where the four believes he is staying for good. Little do they know, Billy found a way out, still with vengeance in his mind, patiently murdering off each league member with his trusted nailed and rigged bat. It’s only a matter of time before Billy makes his way to their sleepy town and silence all that remains of the team for good.

The fact that the killer dresses up as an umpire and wields an ingenious murder weapon would have been an easy mark for a cheesy ride but, as mentioned, Billy Club is anything but that. The story has a good and patient look into the lives of our future corpses, showing how close they are as friends and how they are not all that perfect as a human being. Best way to describe our casts is that they’re simply stuck; they’re haunted by the past, hardly making anything for themselves which adds a sense of depth to these characters and makes them quite sympathetic if one would be patient enough to overlook some of their annoying quirks.

A sympathetic victim works best in horror movies because we can relate to them as humanely as possible and root for their survival or, at least, their redemption. Much of the main cast are saved by the killer for last, however, so just to remind you that you are indeed watching a slasher and not a coming-of-age flick, we are generously treated with some pretty good kill scenes committed against the less important grown-up little leaguers. These scenes are presented in an array of styles, from black-and-white to full color, all of them occurred in various dates prior to our main stories as flashbacks; I find this a pretty smart move to bulk up the kill count as it paces the story quite nicely without jeopardizing the flow and tone of the real plot. The murders themselves are pretty gory at times, but I am quite glad on the simplistic approach on some of them and the killer’s little own calling card on each victims (branding the corpses with their team number using a stamp and the ever-present blowtorch) was a delicious nice touch.

Despite looking like a sports-themed slasher, the latter part of Billy Club takes a modest backwoods approach which worked pretty well with the budget and the team’s technical skills. Around this time, the story goes quite deep and surprises us with a clever twist and one of the more downbeat endings I’ve seen in a movie of this sub-genre. Without saying much, the message of the film got into me and it was quite ominous, especially with the bullying undertones taken to quite a drastic matter.

Perhaps the only thing that didn't work well for me in this film was the so-called “humor”; with it being serious in its tone most of the time, it’s hard to find any of the jokes to be all that funny and I found myself more engrossed on how the story ends after all of this to notice any of the supposed funnies. I guess what I’m saying is that the atmosphere worked so well in bringing the dread and intrigue that the attempts to add some light-heartedness in this film seem futile. Not saying this is an overly bad thing but it may be a subject of taste.

Much like the 2010 indie President’s Day, I found Billy Club worthy of my patience ever since I first read about it back at 2013. It didn't fail to deliver all the goods one should find in a slasher movie; interesting and well-developed characters, a menacing looking killer, kills that are quite right, and a story that sounds basic but executed competently. Worth the wait and the viewing!

Bodycount:
1 male bashed on the head with a nailed bat
1 boy beaten on the head with a bat
1 boy beaten on the head with a bat
1 male gets a bat shoved down his throat
1 male ran through with a retractable blade
1 female beaten to death with a nailed bat
1 male beheaded with a retractable blade
1 male had his face pulped with a nailed bat
1 male shot
1 male bashed on the head with a shovel
1 male stabbed on the gut with a broken bat, later shot to death by a baseball pitching machine
Total: 11

Homicidal Aquaphobia: The Drownsman (2014)

The Drownsman (Canada, 2014)
Rating: ***1/2
Starring:  Michelle Mylett, Caroline Palmer, Gemma Bird Matheson

Slasher films are universally known for their splashy kills involving blunt objects and razor sharp edges. (Hence "slasher") The further this horror sub-genre go through the years, the bloodier and gorier the kills get; Hatchet, Laid to Rest and The Collector are some of the new age franchises that deliver the gooiest of splatter and visceral carnage, something that appease a lot of fans while turning off others. While gore is definitely something that will (and always) appease me in a slasher flick, the fact that some producers and directors out there think that messy deaths are all that matter for this sub-genre puts me in a position where I understand why some horror fans find slashers rather tiring.

This is also why I find The Drownsman an interesting entry.

When would they learn that nothing good will come from seances?

The film focuses on Madison, a girl who suffers from an extreme aquaphobia after seeing a vision of a soaked corpse-like figure during a near-drowning. When her fear prevents her from being the Maid of Honor at her bestfriend Hannah's wedding during a rainy day, Madison's friends gather up and fake a séance in order to prove to her that there isn't anyone or anything in the water out to get her. Unfortunately, something is indeed lurking in the waters and the attempted séance somehow invokes it into hunting them down, pulling one girl at a time into its murky realm. With her friends now in dire trouble, Madison has no choice but to fight her fears and learn the secrets in stopping The Drownsman.

The way I see it, The Drownsman is a workable look back at old school horror, not overly relying on gore and focusing instead on character development and some classic scares and thrills. It utilizes a supernatural slasher movie structure, giving us a menacing looking villain with a unique ability to travel and appear wherever water is and/or can be present, but the kills are bloodless (with the exception with a glass shard stabbing at the beginning of the movie) as each victim gets drowned in various means after being pulled into the killer's moist basement realm. It's certainly a gamble among slasher fans who grew up associating the sub-genre with blood splatter and gore, but the build-up to these kills are skillfully and effectively executed with practical effects. Not much to say if this is a good thing for many viewers but I myself find this a refreshing change of pace and idea among all of the chunky gore I've been seeing in my slashers lately.

Some cheese did get into the mix at times through silly scripts and some quirky characterization. Thankfully the main casts managed to pull off the odd premise with enough straight faces to keep them a likable bunch; Michelle Mylett goes to take on a classic example of a lead girl as Madison, though Caroline Palmer, as Madison's bestfriend Hannah, noticeably tackled a rather more expressive approach on her role. Some credits also goes to Ry Barrett as the titular monster; even if he spent most of his time slowly gurgling out names and look threatening in a soggy, supernatural killer kind of way, the fact that he had been doing all the water stunts in full make-up and effectively look creepy is indeed an achievement we rarely see in slasher movie nowadays.

The moist evil creature to swim your puddles!

Plot holes are, understandably in this sub-genre, ever present; how exactly did The Drownsman ended up in his state or why did Madison started seeing him after all of these years was never explained in detail. The latter, to be fair, was kinda clarified as a plot twist, but seeing the nature of this reveal, you just have to ask why it took the drenched killer that long to start haunting her? The film ends with a cliffhanger, obviously opened for a sequel, so I guess there are plans to answer these questions as a franchise? Not too sure about that but at least the film was an entertaining and well-produced round, gifted with a workable pacing, amazing camera work and well-shot lighting.

The Drownsman may as well be a welcome addition to new age slashers as not only did it tried and succeeded (at a level) to create something new out of the classic plot, but also packs enough thrills, scares, and twist to keep a fan satisfied. It may not look like much but it is a solid and well-recommended attempt.

Bodycount:
1 female seen dead from drowning
1 male repeatedly stabbed with a glass shard, disappears
1 female drowned in a bathtub
1 female locked and drowned inside a metal coffin
1 female drowned in the lake underneath the floorboards
1 female chained by the neck and pulled into the lake, drowned
1 female drowned in a tank
Total: 7

Never Have I Ever: Unfriended (2014)

Unfriended (2014) (AKA "Cybernatural", "Offline")
Rating: ***1/2
Starring: Heather Sossaman, Matthew Bohrer, Courtney Halverson

We all can agree that all of us were cyber-bullied at one point in our lives; may it be a hateful comment that led to a tirade of humiliation, or some troll's attempt to ruin someone else's life, we all can agree that this is a serious problem that is affecting children (and adults) differently. Unfriended is a "cyber-slasher" that took this theme in heart and gave us a simple plot revolving six friends facing a seemingly unstoppable presence.

Precisely a year since their classmate Laura Barnes committed suicide due to the humiliation she received from a raunchy Youtube video, token couple Blaire and Mitch was supposed to have a fun night chatting with each other and their friends online via Skype, only to discover that a random user had also logged in to their session. The user, "Billie", somehow hacked into Laura's account and begins to harass the gang with photos and videos taken from the night Laura's video was recorded; things go for the weird when all the usual features of each site they visit start to go haywire and Billie appears to have full control over each of these webpages.

When the hacker threatens the gang that it'll kill them if they hang up, it all turns deadly when, one by one, they fall victim to an unstoppable force that possesses them into killing themselves if they don't comply or lose to one of Billie's games. Friends are forced to confront and reveal their own secrets, leading them to go at each other's throats, all the while dying a horrific death. In the end, who will be left standing and what fate awaits them, courtesy of this "Billie"?

On a hindsight, Unfriended could have been another found-footage slasher movie with a cyberspace backdrop (I say "another" cuz we already have one last year, a far better entry known as The Den) but thanks to its twisted story and interesting premise, it still is an entertaining time-waster that honestly worked better as a video release.

The acting from the cast is the film's greatest achievement since everything is supposedly happening live via video chat. We see them panic with great effect, which is delightfully well orchestrated seeing that the situation they are supposed to be in is everything but in their control. Scares are limited to loud jumps at the end of each creepy build-up and while the kills are a bloody nice bunch ranging from a classic gun kill to a gory blender murder, much of the film's most intense scenes involve the psychological torment our cyberbullies are subjected to. I never played the game "Never Have I Ever" but seeing how it works in this film, I'm not sure I wanna play it whenever I have my drinks.

Perhaps the only flaw here is that the plot is partially predictable; it is simply another revenge-driven slasher with a cyber twist and a supernatural influence that increasingly became obvious as the film continues. In fact, one of the the film's original title, "Cybernatural", was a dead giveaway to this before the producers eventually settled with a more ambiguous "Unfriended", but seeing how the cast had been opening up webpages involving Facebook hauntings early into the film, the element of surprise was reduced to a red herring that didn't work too well.

Still, seeing these unfortunate souls get picked off one by one by a paranormal presence in revenge for being a-holes and hypocrites never gets tiring. It's a slasher, yes, but a fun and partially creative take to the classic stalk-and-kill if I may say so myself. If only we get to see some more blood and guts, and some more active scenes (like, maybe, the presence can pick up a webcam and stalk their victims and stuff?), I would have given this film a higher rating but, hopefully, the talks regarding this film's sequels would do just that. For now, Never Have I Ever enjoyed this film!

Bodycount:
1 female shot herself with a gun
1 female seen dead, implied bleach ingestion
1 male had his throat shredded under a live broken blender
1 male shot on the face
1 female gets an iron curler shoved down her throat
1 male gets a kitchen knife to the eye
1 female killed, method unknown
Total: 7

(c) Google Images

Dying for Good Time? Stay Away From: The Last Slumber Party (1988)

The Last Slumber Party (1988)

Rating: *

Starring: Jan Jenson, Nancy Mayer, Joann Whitley 

You know you’re in for a bad time when the premise of a movie involves a mental patient successfully sneaking out undetected, by using pillows covered in bedsheets to trick doctors into thinking he is still inside his cell.  Yes, we are aware slasher movies are in it for the bad logic, but even a sub-genre that features seemingly mortal men surviving six gunshots has their standards; The Last Slumber Party overlooked this and went ahead to feature a plot so overused that its execution seems all over the place.

A gang of gals decides to throw their last slumber party together, unaware that a mental patient recently escaped from a nearby asylum where one of the girls’ father works at. He apparently fears that the docs were gonna drill holes into his head so to show them he can’t be toyed with, he crashes the girls’ party and kills everyone in sight.

Tediously paced, lazily directed, and woodenly acted, one might question how serious the producers were in making this movie. The story is as bare bone as any staple slasher movie out there that not even its “shocking” twist in the end can help it from being so uninteresting. Not to mention, the production value is so evident from its horrid editing and unimaginative camera work.

Sure, you can laugh at how bad it is in every way, like how our supposed lead gal simply walks off a dying friend who appeared right in front of her as if it's nothing, or the appearance of a one-time second killer that gets killed himself no sooner as he appears, but let’s all get the facts straight here: you’re laughing at a movie that had no passion and clear idea to what it wanted to do, which is just sad.

I try to be a fair guy for the many films I watch, but some like The Last Slumber Party just doesn’t cut it. Period. 

Bodycount:
1 female slashed to death with a scalpel
1 male had his throat cut with a scalpel
1 male had his throat cut with a scalpel
1 male slashed to death with a scalpel
1 female knifed on the back (dream)
1 male had his throat cut with a scalpel
1 female gets a throat offcamera
1 female found stabbed on the back
1 female found with a throat cut
1 male knifed on the gut
1 male had his throat cut with a scalpel
1 female had his throat cut with a scalpel
Total: 12