I have asked a lot of people this question: When did the "Golden Era" of slasher films start to get bland, too-slick and generally uncreative ? Some people say it was all over by - say- 1984. Others say as late as 1987.... I think by the "direct-to-video" era (1986-ish?) things went downhill.
What do YOU think ?????
"In every dimension , there's another YOU!"
Actually, more like 87-88, but yes, in that time frame. By then all the rip offs, not to mention all the Fridays and Nightmares, along with Halloweens were flooding theaters with the genre to the point where they had to pick and choose, especially in smaller markets, what to show. So this really helped the video boom, since a lot of those rip offs never made it to theaters where I live. The big 3 always did, even Hellraiser to 4, but not much else. Child's Play, TCM, a few of the second tier, but yes, it got to be a bit much, which is why I'm glad they slowed down and shifted gears in the 90s to less is more.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN
In my opinion? 1989
By this time H5, Friday part 8, nightmare part 5, were released and it felt like these genres were becoming stale. I remember reading an article some years ago about how some of these sequels were ripping off ideas from each other. For example, a character with psychic abilities was shown in
H5
Friday part 7
Phantasm 2
Nightmare part 5
Silent night deadly night part 3 or 4? My memory is foggy
and possibly a few others
And let's not forget them ripping off the family angle of Halloween in Friday 9 and Nightmare 6.
But yes, it was around the time of those movies where things got bad for horror.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN
Didn't get good again for years.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
There was some good horror movies now and then going into the 90s, to this day I still don't understand the fascination with the scream movies
shareI do. For one, it's Wes Craven and people loved that man and everything he did. They thought it would be the New New Nightmare as far as Craven franchises go. Little did they realize that he'd satirize the horror genre, make it more of a meta joke in those films than actual horror. I mean, as far as storytelling goes, the brother who prods his sister's ex boyfriend to kill their mother is a new twist on the brother/sister Halloween angle. The 4th and last one was simply a cash in with hot up and coming actors.
I mean they weren't great on the scale of Halloween and Friday the 13th, but they are better than the found footage films and gore fests we are stuck with now. For their time, they were effective. Now, not so much. Still fun though.
I still say when horror films started cranking them out every year is when quantity took over quality.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN
Screams are way better than the lousy Friday's.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
I mean they weren't great on the scale of Halloween and Friday the 13th, but they are better than the found footage films and gore fests we are stuck with now. For their time, they were effective. Now, not so much. Still fun though.
Never even cared for Blair Witch. The Fridays are gore fests, aren't they?
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
For me the sub-genre had pretty much exhausted itself by 1984.
By then, we'd had plenty of one-off imitations (THE BURNING, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME etc.) for the formula to become familiar and the HALLOWEENs and FRIDAY THE 13ths had passed their third instalments - with the HALLOWEEN series wisely recognising the need to switch the formula with SEASON OF THE WITCH.
One might argue that the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series was only beginning at this point but I don't count the NIGHTMARE movies exclusively as Slashers due to the heavy fantasy/supernatural element they centre around that is not typically a trait of the sub-genre.
And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.
Things went wrong somewhere in the mid 80's. It's around that time that they started pounding Friday the 13th into the ground as well as Nightmare on Elm Street. Halloween came back around 88 I believe and it was late to the game because at that point...slashers were done.
Horror itself didn't get good again until the late 90's...The Blair Witch Project helped it greatly.
American Horror Story Season 7: Donald Trump
The post Halloween wave was filled with mostly crap movies from the outset. Even Halloween II is mediocre. Only acceptable by slasher standards.
"Who can't use the Force now?! I can still use the Force!" - Yarael Poof
It's better than other slashers, though.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
That's like saying nausea is better than all the other things that can similarly cause you to vomit.
"Who can't use the Force now?! I can still use the Force!" - Yarael Poof
Cher for me. Lol.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
1989 is where it began.
Halloween 5, Friday The 13th Part 8, Nightmare On Elm Street 5, Shocker,
All pretty terrible.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
1988. Halloween 4, Friday 8, Nightmare 4, Child's Play, Killer Clowns, Maniac Cop. Hellraiser II, etc.
Check this list and tell me I'm wrong...
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=1988+horror+movies
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN
In the 90's the people were more into thrillers genre like Silence Of The Lambs or Twin Peaks...The rest of the Horror films in the 90's feature mostly teeny boppers from television or rap artists as a gimmick to make a horror film in the 90's horror genre...
The early 90s improved with but when it hit Scream (sorry, not a fan of that series) and up thats when horror films completely fell off.
shareI was never into Screams or I know what you did last summer series - It's freaking sucks that I hated these movies cuz Jennifer Love Hewitt & Neve Campbell & Drew Barrymore, Sarah Michelle were damn hot in those days....
shareThey were the only reasons to watch those films.
"He came home." - Dr. Sam Loomis from the original HalloweeN
1988 was fine, 1989 was worst, to me.
shareWhat ever 80's horror franchise cross over in the 90's - It just did not worked with the 90's generation...
The Friday's,The Halloween's or the Nightmare's & even Children of the corn sequels were a complete flop in the 90's...
Worst of them all: The Amityville series in the 90's....
1989 sounds right.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
1981, after Halloween II none of the horror films were great.
shareHOrror changed greatly after Amicus folded (1981). HOwever, in the late 80s, the Direct to Video made horror stale.
shareNot too far off, Cs.
RIP Gene Wilder. RIP Robert Vaughn. RIP Carrie Fisher. RIP William Christopher. 2016 is the worst!
In my opinion, it wasn't so much the 'genre' that went wrong....but audiences changed.
Around the mid 80's, cinema audiences could get just as much gore and carnage in a Stallone or Schwarzenegger flick (with the added bonus of decent production values, also) and I think the slasher movie paid the price for this audience shift? And even before the 80's were over....the aformentioned action stars started turning to comedic roles also, because of the upturn in comedy movies. So I think it's more likely down to audience demographics, rather than an actual decline in genre?
Never been a fan of the 'Elm Street' series (or those terrible 'Scream' movies either) but Friday 13th 1-8 were solid entries (Halloween sequels were patchy after #4)
It was over by 1985.
share