J. A. Kerswell - The Teenage Slasher Movie Book, 2nd Revised and Expanded Edition

THE
TEENAGE

SLASHER MOVIE BOOK

2nd Revised and
Expanded Edition

2nd Revised and Expanded Edition

J. A. KERSWELL

The Teenage Slasher Movie Book 2nd Revised and Expanded Edition

CompanionHouse Books is an imprint of Fox Chapel Publishers International Ltd.

Project Team
Vice PresidentContent: Christopher Reggio
Editor: Anthony Regolino
Design: Paul Wright and Mary Ann Kahn
Typesetting: Jonathan Hahn

Copyright 2010, 2018 by IMM Lifestyle Books

The Teenage Slasher Movie Book, 2nd Revised and Expanded Edition (ISBN 978-1-62008-307-9) is a revised edition of Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut (ISBN 978-1-84773-452-5). Revisions include new photographs and updated text.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Fox Chapel Publishers, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

ISBN 978-1-62008-307-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kerswell, J. A. (Justin A.) author.
Title: The teenage slasher movie book / J.A. Kerswell.
Other titles: Teenage wasteland

Description: 2nd revised and expanded edition. | Mount Joy : CompanionHouse Books, 2018. | Originally published: London : New Holland Publishing, 2010, under the title: Teenage wasteland: the slasher movie uncut. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018016900 | ISBN 9781620083079 (softcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Slasher films--History and critcism.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.S554 K47 2018 | DDC 791.43/6164--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018016900

This book has been published with the intent to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter within. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the author and publisher expressly disclaim any responsibility for any errors, omissions, or adverse effects arising from the use or application of the information contained herein.

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DEDICATION

First of all, thank you to everyone who good-naturedly watched a slasher movie late on a Saturday night because he or she was asked to. Your humor and patience has not gone unnoticed. Many peoples enthusiasm and knowledge have helped make this book what it is but I simply dont have the space to acknowledge them all, so I hope theyll forgive me. Thanks to my parents for letting me stay up late to watch horror movies and, if not exactly encouraging my burgeoning love of the genre, at least turning a blind eye to it. Thank you to Aruna, whose idea over a glass of wine was the chrysalis for this book. My eternal gratitude to the people involved in making these films for taking the time to speak to me. Thanks also to Joseph, Erik, Ryhan, Doug, Ross, Gina, Jake, Dobbs, Amanda, and Nathan. And to Stuart, for suffering through more slasher movies than most people have had hot dinners.

The slasher defined:

Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who cant act, who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door.

Sidney Prescott, the Final Girl in Scream (1996)

Iconic artwork for John Carpenters seminal slasher.

I saw my first bone-fide slasher movie at the tender age of 12, back in the early 1980s. Halloween II the 1981 sequel to director John Carpenters seminal film Halloween (the film that launched the Golden Age of slashers) was the one to pop my cherry, courtesy of a clunky Betamax VCR. I was immediately hooked, enthralled by everything about it the music, the darkness, the unstoppable maniac, the cat-and-mouse action, and, even, the corn-syrup blood.

Theres more than one way to lose your heart!

My Bloody Valentine

Soon I was searching out more such illicit thrills, but my youthful drive was thwarted somewhat by my age. The school bus passed by the local cinema, and I would stare longingly at a seemingly never-ending sequence of bloody movies Friday the 13th Part 2, My Bloody Valentine, and Happy Birthday to Me (all 1981). They were tantalizingly out of reach until 1984, when I managed to sneak into A Nightmare on Elm Street, but by that time the slasher movie boom was all but over. I had to console myself with feeding my passion on video, and for a few glorious, unregulated years, video stores in the United Kingdom carried movies featuring all manner of cannibals, monsters, and maniacs. My fun was ultimately spoiled by the moral panic caused by so-called video nasties, which led many slasher titles to vanish from UK shelves for years to come.

Even for a self-confessed and unashamed fan like myself, it is a little tricky to define the slasher. A blend of horror and thriller conventions (from earlier films that could be dubbed proto-slashers), it is a cat-and-mouse movie, usually involving a number of teenage victims, at its most basic. The murders are generally outlandish and bloody, invariably involving the killer brandishing a knife, a machete, an axe or any number of other sharp objects at his victims, usually with deadly consequences.

Japanese ad for My Bloody Valentine.

A scream heralds the start of mayhem in Japanese promotional artwork for Hell Night.

While the location of the slasher movie varies greatly, usually to give the somewhat familiar storyline some individual identity, venues such as fairgrounds, campsites, and dorm rooms are generally used as a way of isolating the doomed young cast. The killer is usually driven by a perceived injustice from the past, often related either to the location where most of the action takes place or to one or all of the people in the terrorized group.