1978 - 1984: The Golden Age of Slasher Films (The Good)

[claws]

Titles provided by Wikipedia. How many have you seen?

[Trevor]

19 for me.

[zombie no.one]

Seen: 16

Currently own on DVD/Bluray: 6

Never heard of before: 4

TENEBRAE and NEW YORK RIPPER are my favourite Argento and Fulci movies, respectively

[RCMerchant]

19.
I seen HALLOWEEN (1978), WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979), and FADE TO BLACK (1980) on their first release to theaters.
(All at the Strand in Paw Paw, MI., to be exact.)
How does HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY (1981) qualify as a "slasher"?
It's more a ghost/zombie film.

[M.10rda]

15/26.

These lists are silly (I presume that's on Wikipedia, not Claws). A lot of F13 afficionados have come to appreciate 3D (which is on the bad list) over the first two. It does have marginally more dramatic structure and a couple of more memorable characters!

And yeah, HBTC is slasher-adjacent, at best. Also, it was long considered a "bad" movie, even by me. It's good to see it's switched (nebulous!) lists...! It definitely has 2 or 3 exemplary moments of horror, plus an ending that has to be one of the (or The) most tasteful, understated, and enigmatic resolutions in Italian splatter history!

[claws]

What qualifies as a slasher? A killer stalking and murdering a group of people. Apparently the killer doesn't always need to wear a mask, and apparently only one death/kill is enough to qualify as a slasher.

Some may agree or disagree on that, and I used wiki titles in order to dodge the blame 

[RCMerchant]

But HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY doesn't have a knife wielding killer.
It has ghosts and zombies. So if ghosts and zombies without weapons qualify as "slashers" then all zombie movies fit?
What does Wiki know?

[zombie no.one]

But HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY doesn't have a knife wielding killer.
It has ghosts and zombies. So if ghosts and zombies without weapons qualify as "slashers" then all zombie movies fit?
What does Wiki know?

yeah I agree. that one's Fulci in supernatural horror mode... NEW YORK RIPPER is way more into 'slasher' territory, although I suppose you could very loosely call it a giallo (ditto TENEBRAE)

....but, labels schmlabels   

[claws]

People do get killed in House By the Cemetery in a slasher-like manner (especially in the opening scene)





it may be a supernatural slasher, just like Nightmare on Elm Street for example. Doesn't matter if the killer is a zombie or ghost.

[RCMerchant]

^ I dunno- I don't count it a a slasher.
If so, then BURIAL GROUND: NIGHTS OF TERROR (1983) is a slasher-and it's not. It's a Zombie movie.

ABSURD (1981) is an Italian slasher I love.

[claws]

Well, Burial Ground doesn't have slasher scenes like this





or a bloody knife on the poster

[zombie no.one]

I think the 'slasher' definition is as much about general vibe / atmosphere as anything else...

in my opinion there's a certain popcorn(y), trashy, adolescent energy to a 'slasher' that is not necessarily connected to how the kills go, or how the plot unwinds.

- obviously certain key things have to be present and  happen as well

[claws]

Yeah, it's like splitting hairs. Everybody has their own definition. In case of House by the Cemetery

the plot revolves around a series of murders committed by a ghoulish and demonic serial killer taking place in a Massachusetts home that happens to be hiding a gruesome secret within its basement walls.

There's obviously more going on in House by the Cemetery, but one shouldn't dismiss its slasher elements.

[M.10rda]

Debates like this are why I joined an online movie community!   

It's cool, I ain't mad about it.

ABSURD is a cool movie and seems more like a slasher film, but the slasher played by George Eastman is a zombie.  I don't recall him eating anyone in ABSURD, though he does in the previous movie. But he's definitely un/dead. I guess no reason why we can't have it both ways!

[RCMerchant]

^ Jason is a zombie. He's a kid from the bottom of a lake. And Michael Myers has been killed umpteenth times. So is he's a zombie too? But I don't consider HALLOWEEN a zombie movie.