Frightday Night Film Recommendations: Modern Masked Slasher Films.

It’s Friday…

Ahem…I mean Frightday…

And I have some recommendations for you to enjoy this weekend…

Okay…This Frightday’s theme is…

Modern Masked Slasher Films.

I was raised on masked slasher films…

These faceless, emotionless killing machines filled my video store shelves in the 80’s…

Back then…

There wasn’t an end-cap display with a bunch of cool new fast-moving zombie movies…

Or a shelf of the latest found footage ghost movies…

But one thing there was never a shortage of…

Was…

Masked Slasher films…

And lately…

I have discovered a handful of modern masked slasher films…

That could sit proudly on the shelf…

Next to those 80’s classics.

So, let’s take a chronological look at the hackiest, slashiest, and possibly even unknown to you, Modern Slasher Films…Over the last decade or so. 

 

Cold Prey (2006) – This Norwegian slasher flick was directed by Roar Uthaug (The Wave, and the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot)…And tells the story of a gaggle of good-looking Norwegians who are snowboarding up in the mountains…When one of them,  breaks his leg…The gang seeks shelter in a ski lodge that has been abandoned since the mid-seventies…This is an incredible slasher film that hits all the marks…And…It introduced me to the amazing actress and kick-ass Norwegian scream queen, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal…Who played the bad-ass bitch, Armistice in the HBO series, Westworld…In this film, she plays Jannicke…A tough as nails character who does more than hold her own against the film’s masked slasher.  

 

Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon – This meta-horror mockumentary takes place in a tongue-in-cheek universe where other masked slashers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers…Actually freakin’ exist! The first half of the film is found footage, and plays like a documentary… But when the style of the film shifts to traditional cinematography…It also shifts gears and becomes a full on, crazy as hell, masked slasher film…Now this film is no doubt a horror fan’s horror film…And fans will no doubt be excited to see cameos from Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Zelda Rubinstein, and Scott Wilson…You can be sure that if you’re a fan of horror movies, and slasher movies…This one will be right up yer alley!

 

The Tripper (2007) – This horror-comedy comes from the twisted brain of David Arquette, who co-wrote and directed this bizarre flick about a van full of smelly, weed-addled, millennial, neo-hippies who while attending a music festival…Are stalked by a killer wearing a Ronald Reagan mask…That’s right…I said a Ronald Reagan mask! It is a pot-fueled, counter-culture, socio-politcal, horror-comedy that pokes fun at both sides of the fence…Was Reagan a long-time corporate shill with big business puppeteering his presidency by cramming their collective hand up his fuzzy muppet ass? Sure…Probably…And are the patchouli-stinking, tofu-stuffed, leftist-liberal hippies a bunch of whiny, pathetic, politically-correct loudmouths who have forgotten that hard work and patriotism are the backbone of this country…Sure…Why not…In this crazy masked slasher flick…The lampooning is 100% bi-partisan.

 

Cold Prey 2 (2008) – Okay…So you had the nerve to start this list with a Norwegian slasher flick…But now you’re gonna add the sequel?…Seriously?…Yes, that’s right, the next film that I am recommending is the stunning sequel to Cold Prey…This film picks up right where the last film left off…Which I personally adore…Because its got Double Feature written all over it…Ingrid Bolsø Berdal is back as Jannicke…Who finds herself in the local hospital after her ordeal at the ski lodge in the first film…The hospital setting is perfect for the sequel…And it reminds me of classic 80’s horror sequels like…Halloween II…Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors…And…Hellbound: Hellraiser II…If you trust me…And maybe by now you do…I recommend that you watch the two films back to back for a seamless night of masked slasher fun!

 

Laid To Rest (2009) – Special effects wizard Robert Hall wrote and directed this nasty throwback to those gloriously cheesy masked slashers that I talked about in my intro…He cast his wife, Bobbi Sue Luther in the nameless lead role…And created a masked slasher by the name of…Wait for it…ChromeSkull…A villain with what I consider to be, hands down, the coolest freakin’ mask that a slasher ever wore…Hall’s work on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles…Had a hand in him scoring Lena Headey, and Thomas Dekker for the cast…But he also brings some horror movie street cred to the cast with Sean Whalen, best known as Roach in The People Under the Stairs…And, Richard Lynch who for me, will always be Harris from Bad Dreams…The first act stutters just a little, but once the ride gets going…It’s a bloody good time!

 

The Hills Run Red (2009) –  This delightfully disturbing horror movie not only tells the story of a rabid horror movie fan…But is also tailor made for rabid horror movie fans…Dave Parker (The man behind the lens on one of my favorite segments from Tales of Halloween, the opening segment called “Sweet Tooth”) directed this film which, I was surprised to discover was direct to video…When I saw this flick, it had slasher classic written all over it…I mean just take a look at the film’s slasher…Baby-Face…And although ChromeSkull might have the coolest one…Baby-Face hands down, has the scariest freakin’ mask that a slasher ever wore…So here’s the skinny…The main character in this film, Tyler, is obsessed with horror movies…But one film in particular…The film that shares it’s name with this film…And in this story, The Hills Run Red is considered the scariest horror movie of all time…Both the film and it’s creator have vanished, and Tyler is hell-bent on finding them…And the answers to this mystery…But let me tell you, folks…The answers to some mysteries…Should never be found.

Girl House (2014) – This one comes from Jon Knautz, and Trevor Matthews, the creators of one of my favorite 21st Century Cult Classics, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer…This time around they took a crack at the masked slasher genre…Traditionally, sex has always been a part of the masked slasher film…But always sort of in the background…You know…As the masked madman preys upon horny young people…Usually while they’re getting it on…But in this film…Sex is in the forefront of the story…And is, in many ways, the driving force of the fast moving narrative…In the opening scene…We get a kick-ass back story for our antagonist…One that shows the origins of both his vulnerable, sexually insecure side…As well as his violent and viciously malevolent side…Then we meet our protagonist…College student, Kylie, as she moves into a place called Girl House…An online experience where users get to watch the women that live there 24/7…With 50 different camera feeds…Millions of users log in, expecting to watch naked debauchery…But on this night…They’re watching a live feed…Of a masked slasher film.

 

Fender Bender (2016) – I absolutely flipped out about this little bugger when I saw it last year…The masked slasher is iconic as hell and is simply named…The Driver…He is played by Bill Sage (We Are What We Are, Hap and Leonard)…What’s cool about The Driver, is that his behavior reminds me so much of masked slashers of days gone by, like Michael Myers…In the sense that he, like Myers, plays a long game…Toying with his prey over the course of the briskly moving 91 minutes…When he finally goes in for the kill…This became a nail-biting, edge of your seat slasher film that made me feel like it was 1986 again…I felt like I picked up this random VHS at my local video store…And got together to pound a few hundred beers, and watch it with some friends…And sure…We were drunk…But, we were loving every minute of this kick-ass, masked slasher film.

Frightday Night Film Recommendations: Pregnancy and Childbirth Are Scary AF.

It’s Friday…

Ahem…I mean Frightday…

And I have some recommendations for you to enjoy this weekend…

Okay…

This Frightday’s theme is…

Pregnancy and Childbirth Are Scary AF.

 

I became a grandparent recently…

And while she was both pregnant and giving birth…

I was right there…

By my daughter’s side…

And one thing I can tell you about that experience, is…

It’s scary as fuck…

Now…

The first time that pregnancy scared the ever-lovin’ shit outta me was when I saw Roman Polanski’s 1968 classic…

Rosemary’s Baby.

Polanski’s tale of demonic insemination was a creepy, slow burn…

One where an expectant mother was being slowly drained of her life force during her pregnancy…

By not only her devastating paranoia…

But also…

Whatever the hell was gestating inside her.

 

So, let’s take a chronological look at the scariest, goriest, and possibly even unknown to you, Pregnancy and Childbirth Are Scary AF Films…In the years following Rosemary’s Baby. 

 

It’s Alive (1974) – Now I’m going to start with the fact that this film scared the piss out of me, before I ever even got the chance to watch it…The TV spot that aired was the stuff of nightmares…Especially for a kid.

Check it out.

See what I mean? Sure it may seem tame to you…But you’re not four years old…At least I hope you’re not…If so…I commend you for reading at a surprisingly advanced level…And I apologize to your parents for the excessive use of profanity…

Anyway…

Larry Cohen (Q: The Winged Serpent, The Stuff) directed this nasty little tidbit, that took the total lack of reveal we saw in Rosemary’s Baby, and tasked one of the Gods of Practical Effects…Rick Baker, with giving us more reveal than we could possibly handle…

Is this film cheesy?

Hell yes…

But is it also a messed-up must-see monster-baby movie?

Hell yes.

 

Xtro (1982) – I used to obsessively read Fangoria magazine as a kid growing up in the 80’s…And they released an issue with a ghoulish, fanged creature on the cover…And the tagline read…Not All Extraterrestrials are friendly…Now for me when sci-fi and horror can be combined, it’s two great tastes that taste great together…This film tells a truly deranged tale of alien abduction…One that delivers the abductee back to Earth by way of an unsuspecting woman’s uterus…This woman is pregnant for a very short time…And then is forced to give birth to a full-grown man…It is hands down one of the most fucked up childbirth scenes that I’ve ever witnessed.

 

Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of the classic zombie film was a success on a number of levels…It was the first remake of a horror classic that horror fans actually heralded…It treaded comfortably on the well-trodden ground of the zombie genre…And it created the first zombie pregnancy…The first zombie childbirth…And of course…The first zombie infant…That any of us had ever seen. It was one of the darkest, and most disturbing scenes of the film…And although the entire film doesn’t focus on this event…It is the scene that will stay with you for years to come.

 

Inside (2007) – Alexandre Bustillo, and Julien Maury created this intense and brutal home-invasion flick…It is the story of a pregnant woman who must try to keep herself and her unborn baby alive…All while an aggressive lunatic of a woman invades her home with the intent of taking her baby from her…Now…I realize that I have recommended this film before…But there’s a damn good reason…It is intense…It is dark…It is frightening…It is bloody…

And folks…

It…

Is…

Awesome.

 

Grace (2009) – This film is about a young woman played by Jordan Ladd (Cabin Fever, Death Proof, Hostel part II), who after an accident takes the life of her husband, and her unborn child…Decides to see the pregnacy through to the end…And that end is a most disturbing one…At first the infant appears stillborn…But before long becomes the thing of gross-out nightmares…A baby that reeks to high heaven…Attracts flies…And rather than breast milk…Prefers to dine on blood…Human blood to be specific.

 

Antibirth (2016) – This film was part of my Gross-Out Horror Films list…But I had to include the story of  hard partying wastoid, Lou, played by Natasha Lyonne who becomes “pregnant” at a party…The thing that she gives birth to is not a baby at all…

In fact…

If Rick Sanchez were to describe it…

He would have called it…

A Cronenberg.

 

Prevenge (2017) – Alice Lowe, who co-wrote and co-starred in Ben Wheatley’s 2012 pitch-black comedy, Sightseers…Takes the controls in this one…She wrote it…She directed…And she stars as, Ruth…A pregnant woman who after the loss of the baby’s father…Begins to take direction from her unborn child…These snarky requests from her thuggish fetus revolve around doing harm to those people who the baby deems responsible for the climbing accident that took her father…This unique slasher film is even more of a pitch-black comedy than Sightseers…And with the hormone-fueled insanity of this main character…She could comfortably stand next to slasher icons of days gone by…In fact…She’d make a guy like Norman Bates seem like a harmless introvert with a mild case of mommy issues.

 

The Void (2017) – This twisted little throwback to 80’s classics like The Thing, Hellraiser, The Beyond, and Prince of Darkness…Was written and directed by Jeremy Gillespie, and Steven Kostanski…two-fifths of the creative team known as Astron-6…They are the folks behind one of my 21st Century Cult Classics, Father’s Day…This film tells the story of the night when all of the dark and nefarious things afoot in a small town…Right under the noses of not just the townspeople, but also the police force…Finally come to light…And as this frightening story unfolds…The film portrays pregnancy and childbirth, in various ways…The devastating and permanent effects to people, following the loss of a child…The inherent natural dangers of the act of childbirth, to both the mother, and the infant…And of course…The macabre and twisted use of the woman’s womb, as a launching pad for evil.