SLASHERS Pt 10: The Slasher Slump (1987-1995)
The Evolution of Horror
Mike Muncer
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2017
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What goes up...must come down.
This week Mike is joined by cinephile Brad Hanson to describe the period that followed the 80s slasher boom...the slasher slump. Brad and Mike discuss why this era is generally thought of as one of the worst for horrors and particularly for slasher movies. They discuss such turkeys as Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Jason Takes Manhattan, Leprechaun and Rumplestiltskin. They also discuss a couple of the gems that stick out from this era, such as Child's Play and Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
Music by Jack Whitney.
Brad Hanson is a cinephile and film writer and can be found on Twitter (@HadBranson).
Mike is a podcaster and producer and can also be found on Twitter (@TheMovieMike).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The During the late 80s and early 90s, something very strange happened to the Slasher movie. |
| 0:27.0 | Horror characters that originally terrified audiences such as Michael Myers, Jason Vauhies, and Freddie Krueger, were now available to purchase as action figures. |
| 0:35.6 | They were releasing rap songs, they had video games, TV shows, and they made costumes |
| 0:40.0 | for kids. |
| 0:41.6 | They were no longer terrifying figures who we only saw in grindhouse cinemas or in our |
| 0:46.3 | nightmares. They were pop culture icons. Jason was facing off against telekinetic girls, |
| 0:51.9 | taking boat trips to Manhattan and had his own best-selling video game. |
| 0:56.0 | Freddie was having babies, he had his own hotline, and he was becoming famous for his puns and one-liners more than his tendency to murder and molest children. |
| 1:06.0 | For many horror historians, this period of the late 80s and early 90s is thought of as one of the biggest |
| 1:12.0 | slumps in the genre. |
| 1:14.0 | But it's easy to forget that in the midst of this slump, |
| 1:16.2 | there were of course some hidden gems, |
| 1:18.6 | not to mention some huge runaway hits, |
| 1:22.2 | and the horror genre's first ever Oscar Best Picture winner. |
| 1:27.0 | Join me as we continue exploring the evolution of the slasher and delve into the early 90s, slasher decline. |
| 1:37.0 | I'm a leopardy! |
| 1:40.0 | Welcome back to the evolution of horror. My name is Mike and as ever I am your host. |
| 1:45.6 | If you're joining us for the first time then welcome. In this podcast we dissect and |
| 1:49.6 | explore the evolution and history of the horror genre by delving into specific sub-genres |
| 1:55.5 | across a number of weeks. We are currently in the midst of exploring the evolution of |
| 1:59.7 | The Slasher and this is part 10. I cannot believe we're already up to part 10. Now |
| 2:06.3 | before we get started I always love to hear from you guys the email address is |
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