ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Andolina is the latest person to answer our challenge: what are your ten favorite slasher movies? You can learn more about the movies Paul loves at his site Wrestling with Film, which is all about pro wrestlers acting in movies. Plus, Paul also covers a lot of found footage, foreign and Christmas-related films for our site, so I’m excited to see what he picked!
Sam asked me to participate with a top ten slasher post by writing what my top ten slashers are. Here they are in no particular order. I love them all to varying degrees but I always have a fun time watching them.
My Bloody Valentine (1981): A sleepy mining town is turned upside down when they have a Valentine’s Day party on the anniversary of the Harry Warden killings. This one probably kicked off my search for holiday themed horror. My Bloody Valentine is great. The characters are all pretty interesting, especially Howard and Hollis. They are probably my favorite characters in a slasher film to date, tied with Barb from Black Christmas. Good enough to watch all year long as it seems a shame to only break out once a year. There is a 2009 remake that is probably a little too harshly maligned. It works.
Black Christmas (1974): A sorority house is being terrorized by an exceptionally vulgar phone stalker in the midst of a missing house mate and young local girl. This movie is one of the best slashers of all time in my opinion. The constant calls filled with vulgarity and violence are truly upsetting and the ways the victims are dispatched aren’t as run of the mill as some of the later entries in the slasher genre. It’s hard to believe the guy who was behind A Christmas Story (1983) was the director of this one. He also directed Baby Geniuses which was a big part of my growing up but let’s keep the memories happy here.
Leprechaun 4: In Space (1997): The Leprechaun is one of my favorite horror franchises ever, that includes Leprechaun Origins which stars Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl. Warwick Davis is truly a gifted man, he brought so much life to the character of the leprechaun across 6 freaking entries! The reason I chose In Space among the other films is because it is off the freaking walls bizarre. A giant robot-man-spider hybrid makes an appearance, the leprechaun manifests out of a space marine’s genitals, and there is a metal domed hard ass marine Master Sergeant who gets his wires crossed and starts acting like a lady. Pair this with a sultry space princess named Zarina, and you have a truly fun movie. Who cares what Rotten Tomatoes says at least watch this once!
The Final Girls (2015): The grieving daughter of a famous B-Movie actress who starred in Camp Bloodbath attends an anniversary screening of the movie 3 years after her mom’s death. The theater catches on fire and are inexplicably sucked into the movie! This film takes the best and worst of the teens in the woods and a killer is on the loose trope and turns it into a nostalgia laden movie with a killer soundtrack. Adam Devine who plays Kurt in the movie hams it up brilliantly. Worth a watch for anyone who is a fan of comedies with a horror flair.
Scream 3 (2000): The Scream franchise has always been a bit meta and before it took being meta to an entirely new extreme in Scream 4 11 years after this one this is what fans were left with. Not many folks are big fans of this one but I am absolutely obsessed with Parker Posey. That’s in large part due to her excellent portrayal of psycho vampiress Danica Talos in Blade Trinity alongside WWE’s Triple H as Jarko Grimwood. Parker Posey needs the chance to do some more character work. Sidney Prescott visits the set of the movie Stab 3 and another Ghostface appears. I love movies set in a fictional Hollywood and this version of it is pretty scummy. I imagine the real one is just as scummy. I dare you to pull this one off the shelf next time you have an itch to visit this franchise. Also stars David Arquette who is currently blazing a new trail in the world of independent wrestling.
April Fool’s Day (1986): As you may have figured by now I have a slight obsession with films that occur on or around holidays. Muffy St. John invites some of her college friends to stay on an island during the weekend of April Fools. Her friends start turning up dead. This one is so fun. I like what it does with its story through-out its run time. I really like the character of Chaz. This one is produced by Frank Mancuso Jr. who co-created Friday the 13th and also stars Amy Steel who played Ginny in the 2nd Friday the 13th.
Jack Frost (1997): Serial killer Jack Frost is on his way to be executed when the truck carrying him crashes into another truck carrying genetic material. He turns into a mutant snowman and goes on a killing rampage. This movie is so dumb. It also happens to be a bunch of fun and spawned a somehow crazier sequel set on an island. Highly recommend a double bill of them both paired with a few frosty beers.
Nightmare Beach (1988): Sam and I share a special bond over Umberto Lenzi who may or may not be the actual director of the film. It feels like one that is close enough for me. A killer from a motorcycle gang is executed but not before he vows to return to kill again. A mysterious biker rides into town soon after with an electrifying apparatus attached to his bike. John Saxon is in this, Claudio Simonetti does the soundtrack, please go watch this film and fall into the trap of Lenzi’s kick ass filmography. Even at his worst he’s still at the top of the game.
New Year’s Evil (1980): A strange caller who calls himself Evil keeps calling into a televised New Year Musical Celebration saying he’s going to kill someone at the start of the new year from every time zone. With more red herrings than a jumbo bag of swedish fish, an extremely infectious theme song, and some slick ass costumes, you’re going to really enjoy this while boozed up during New Year’s Eve or any other time of the year you’re in a particularly festive mood. I watched this while I was sick as a dog so that may have colored my views.
Santa’s Slay (2005): I have my pro-wrestling obsession to thank for stumbling across this one. Goldberg (WCW) is an evil Santa Claus who has finally escaped from a very long sentence of being nice. He lost a curling bet to an angel. I know this sounds ridiculous and it is but it is a fun watch. I especially like WCW personality Vince Russo appearing as a non nondescript patron of a strip club and Tiny “Zeus” Lister’s portrayal of a gas station attendant. The opening alone is one hell of a thing to see so even if you turn it off immediately after that sequence, I’d chalk it up as a win.
So that is ten of my favorite slashers I’ve seen. I plan on trying my own hand at a slasher month over on Wrestling with Film. I had no idea how many slashers star or feature wrestlers!
B&S About Movies 