SLASHERS Pt. 8: Slasher Mania (1980-1985)

The Evolution of Horror

Mike Muncer

Tv & Film, Film History

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2017

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Mike is joined by Michael Blyth to give a rundown of the very best of the early 80s slasher boom! From Sleepaway Camp to Slumber Party Massacre, we leave no stone unturned...

Theme music by Jack Whitney

Michael Blythe is a programmer for the British Film Institute, and is the man behind the BFI Cult strand and BFI Flare. For all information on upcoming events at BFI, visit https://bfi.org.uk
Michael can be found on Twitter (@MichaelBlyth)

Mike Muncer is a podcast, producer and film journalist. He can be found on twitter (@TheMovieMike) and does another podcast with Rhianna Dhillon called Back Row (@BackRowFilms).

List of 80s Slasher films mentioned (in chronological order)

Prom Night (1980)
Terror Train (1980)
New Years Evil (1981)
The Burning (1981)
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
The Prowler (1981)
Final Exam (1981)
Just Before Dawn (1981)
Pieces (1982)
Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Curtains (1983)
The House on Sorority Row (1983)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
The Initiation (1984)
The Mutilator (1985)
April Fools Day (1986)
Stage Fright (1987)
Blood Rage (1987)

Transcript

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0:00.0	1st
0:06.6	1981, it's high school prom night and a group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a masked killer.
0:13.0	1982, a group of girls plan a slumber party,
0:16.0	but they're unaware that they're being preyed upon.
0:18.0	1983, a young girl called Angela,
0:21.0	visits Sleepaway Camp.
0:22.0	1981 Valentine's there,
0:24.4	the company of the team
0:25.2	find themselves being picked up one by one by a four
0:28.4	a killer gas.
0:29.4	Santa Claus terrorized its graduation day in 1981.
0:37.0	After the success of Halloween and then Friday the 13th, the slasher had officially
0:48.1	become a genre, a trend, a phenomenon.
0:51.6	Filmmakers and studios had all clocked on to the fact that a small budget, a cast of unknowns, some
0:56.8	decent gore effects and a very simple story in which kids get offed one by one was a
1:01.8	hugely bankable concept and so began the slasher boom of the early
1:06.8	80s. Between the years of 1980 and 1985 over 100 slasher movies were released in theatres, all with essentially the same premise.
1:17.8	Some of these slashes had some original interesting spins on the genre, some were conventional
1:22.0	but solid, and some were complete and utter trash.
1:26.0	But no matter how the quality varied, audiences always flock to the cinema to find out what
1:30.4	other possible ways filmmakers could think of to dismember teenagers.
1:36.4	Join me as we continue exploring the evolution of the slasher and delve into the early 80s
	...

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