I promise not to bore anyone to tears here with yet another review-type blog, but from time to time I may mention movies I like, or just want to comment on. After all, I happen to like horror

Anyway, I just had a chance to check out Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher this morning for the first time. For those who haven’t seen it, it is a documentary on, well, the slasher genre.  I haven’t had a chance to finish it but so far it’s been rather entertaining. It seems like people are finally getting it “right” when commenting on the slasher genre.

When I was growing up I had a thirst for any sort of article, book, news story, etc. that had to do with horror movies. Most of the time, writers focused on sexual undertones that these movies supposedly contained and the psychology behind the killer’s motivation. And my favorite, the old “Do drugs and have sex and you get killed” philosophy that so many of these so-called professionals held on to when psycho-analyzing these films. 

Gimme a break.

I’m not saying you can’t apply those theories and have them work in pretty much any slasher film. Of course the virginal girl almost always survives, and yes it almost always works out the killer was wronged in some way which aids in their motivation to kill. But do you really think the people who wrote these films thought like this? Umm, no…

As soon as movies like Halloween gained public interest, producers everywhere were clamoring for the next best slasher.  It happens in all genres and across different mediums. It’s this reality that is the focus of Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher. and that’s why I like it. It makes no excuses for those money-grubbing studios who just wanted to cash in on a trend.

That isn’t to say that exploiting a trend is bad. Afterall, movie producers have a right to earn money and wouldn’t make any if the public didn’t line up for these flicks time and time again. And even though the constant release of one crazed-killer themed movie after another was ultimately the reason for this genre’s demise, it was sure fun while it lasted!

That is also something that Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher covers, and does it well. You get the inside scoop on why these movies were made, and how they ended up becoming so popular. And even though you may have heard these stories many times before, it’s still fun to reminisce about a time when movies didn’t have to rely on computers or quick edits to jolt an audience. And for as cheesy as the slasher genre is (and was), I love it, dammit…and always will.