80s: Girls Nite Out and Madhouse
In the tradition of House on Sorority Row, Final Exam, and other early ’80s college-set slashers is 1982’s GIRLS NITE OUT. After the DeWitt University basketball team wins big during a championship game, the players and their girlfriends celebrate by…
Return to Camp Blood: Part III
By Frank Pittarese The One with Fake Jason What do you do when the lead character in your ongoing franchise is dead? Make another movie, regardless — with an imposter-killer — and hope for the best. That’s what happened here,…
Return to Camp Blood: Part II
By Frank Pittarese Continuing a month-long review of the Friday the 13th film series, I dive into Parts 3 and 4 to discuss the ending that wasn’t… The 3D One The third in the series comes with some controversy. It…
Summer Camp Slashers: The Burning and Madman
When you think of summer camp slasher flicks from the early ’80s, Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp automatically come to mind. While those two deserve their place on the mantel of great summertime splatter, there are two others that…
Impulse is an Overlooked ’80s Chiller
When Jennifer (Meg Tilly), a young ballet dancer, receives a distressing phone call from her mother that results in an attempted suicide, Jennifer and her doctor boyfriend, Stuart (Tim Matheson), head back to her hometown to visit her family. Upon…
Return to Camp Blood: Part I
By Frank Pittarese More than Halloween and beyond Elm Street, the Friday the 13th franchise holds a very special place in my heart. I’ve seen this series more than any other horror staple, bought every film in every home media…
Occult TV: Kolchak, Dark Shadows, and Friday the 13th: The Series
By Frank Pittarese In the ‘70s and ‘80s, cults became a go-to source for villainy in episodic TV. Inspired by real-life events like the Manson Family attacks and the mass suicide at Jonestown, series ranging from Starsky & Hutch to…
Ti West’s The Sacrament is an Overlooked Gem
The Jonestown Massacre is the inspiration for the 2013 found footage thriller, THE SACRAMENT. In New York City, fashion photographer, Patrick (Kentucker Audley), receives a cryptic letter from his sister, Caroline (Amy Seimetz), a recovering drug addict. In the letter,…
Satanists, Witches, and Bloodthirsty Hippies
One of the better post-Exorcist Satanic chillers of the mid-70s is definitely 1975’s RACE WITH THE DEVIL. Sort of a hybrid car chase thriller and occult horror, the film focuses on friends and business partners, Frank (Warren Oates) and Roger…