I've just watched the film. I simply don't understand why they didn't even mention this movie (which I consider the finest horror movie of the genre).
Does anybody have a good explanation?
Did the director hate this movie or something?
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how come?
all the kids but the girl are killed!
in the documentary they give a structure for this kind of films, that responds absolutely to the one in TCM.
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I see. Then what is exactly a slasher film, or, "to slash" someone?
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Ok, but in the documentary they didn't limit to that definition about how to kill (they even made enphasis on the idea of "the craziest the better").
The fact that in TCM there is no morality about the killing, I agree completely (and is one of the things that makes it scarier and more significant, to me).
I honestly don't know much about the subject, I've just watched the movies, but never got really deep into the subjectt; so I ask you: all the slasher films post-TCM weren't influenced by it?
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It's true TCM has Leatherface, but that character really doesn't do much in the first TCM...
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I loved the original Black Christmas too but I don't think that it's a "slasher" compared to "The Burning" if you count gore as a factor in making it to G.T.P. There's isn't really a graphic slashing or impaling; most of it is implied. But this film came way before Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Has anyone considered that maybe the films they suggested didn't make it into the film because of licensing issues? Perhaps they couldn't secure the rights to show clips so they didn't even mention them?
It's also possible that the original directors/ producers are doing more "legitimate" films now and didn't want to have anything to do with a project like this. Shame.
yah, isn't TCM more in the vein of exploitation movies?
as for Black Christmas, I definitely WOULD consider it a slasher, but let's face it, there's no set definition so we could argue all day. Still, you can't deny how influential TCM and Black Christmas were, so their lack of attention is surprising. You make a good point with the licensing issues.
Well, I don't count the saw movies as slashers.
Only one person was slashed in ONE of the movies.
I never liked the movie.
But, since so many people do, and it's considered a classic, I'm also surprised it wasn't mentioned.
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I don't consider "Texas.." a slasher movie because it seems to emphasize the fact there is a family of cannibals (not one psychopath hiding). Otherwise, "the Hills have eyes" would also have to be considered a slasher.
shareJust because in TCM theres a family doing the murders its still not a slasher, in Scream there was two of them, in The Devils Rejects there was a whole family at the start then whittled down to three. I personally dont think Saw is a slasher, its a psychological thriller, I dont even class it as horror, because its not even 'jumpy' and it dosent leave you scared like most others do, i.e. Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street etc. Maybe they left it out because it was a documentary about slashers in the Eightiest, but then why would they do LAst House On The Left and Halloween and leave out such a popular film like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
sharePEOPLE!
all of the other slasher AFTER friday the 13th, halloween, black christmas, TCM, Bay of blood: all slasher began coping! so all of the above that i listed are SLASHERS! GOD!
If I remember correctly they show Leatherface a few times. I know they definitely show Leatherface circa the remake towards the end of the documentary, but I think I remember them showing clips from the original earlier on in the film. That's better than nothing.
shareLicensing isn't an issue. I've seen documentaries where they'll show poster art/production stills instead of clips, and its just as effective.
I never liked Black Christmas, it bored me tremendously. But regardless of whether it could be considered a slasher film or not, including TCM, I think they should have been included in the documentary as an influence to the sub-genre. They might not be slasher films per say, but they certainly without a doubt influenced the genre in the same way as the Giallo films. And like another poster had mentioned, they didnt spend much time on the roots of the genre as they should've. If they had, they would in fact go into depth with Black Christmas, TCM, and Italian giallo films. The film felt more like a showcase of the films throughout it's age, and not an in-depth analysis. It could've been better, and made more seriously, but for what it is, it isn't that bad.
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"Life's a pain and God's a sadist."
I just watched the documentary and there are clips from Black Christmas, so licensing wasn't an issue. That should clear things up
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"Life's a pain and God's a sadist."
I'd call that a "cannibal family" film, but it DID have teenage protagonists like the slasher movies. There's actually a whole lot of movies they could have mentioned that influenced the slasher genre--"Psycho", "Blood Feast", "Last House on the Left", some Italian gialli like "Bay of Blood" or "Torso", and even some early British psycho movies like "Fright" or "The Flesh and Blood Show".
Unless you're going to make a whole documentary mini-series on the subject though, you have to limit the scope a little, and it made sense to limit it to the teen slasher movies initiated by "Black Christmas" and "Halloween".
Exterminate the Brutes!
Agreed with the OP, TCM '74 should've been included in this doc. I think this helped break out mainstream horror slashers.
And the fact that only 1 kid in TCM gets killed with a chainsaw is a moot (sp?) point. Kids get killed by a non-supernatural force one by one & in a scary way...THAT MAKES IT A SLASHER FLICK IN MY BOOK.
Still, this doc is perfect just the way it is.
BTW, they DO cover the sequals "doing well" at the box office. I think they show a poster of TCM 2 when their talking about slashers "taking off".
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Although TCM has a masked lunatic in it, the film is considered an exploitation shock picture like Last House on the Left and in some cases a Grindhouse picture where it was mostly shown in TCM's inital release and is in no way a slasher pic
shareAlthough TCM has a masked lunatic in it, the film is considered an exploitation shock picture like Last House on the Left
The most recent TCM movie was definitely transformed into a slasher film. Only Leatherface was in that one doing his thing and it felt separate from any other TCM films. Moot point because it came out after this doc, though.
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