Scream 20th Anniversary

Scream

Twenty years ago today, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's Scream was released. While younger viewers might not be able to appreciate what it brought to the then dead Slasher genre, they should be able to appreciate the fact that it debuted outside of the Top Ten Box Office before climbing its way up to #1 -- a feat few other films, and almost zero horror flicks, have ever accomplished.

While the sequels were nowhere near as good as the original, they featured an endless string of young Hollywood stars and starlets from the 1990s. Many of those went on to appear in numerous horror films and TV shows, as the genre was renewed by the Scream franchise's success.

We covered Scream in-depth on this blog a few years back. Director, Wes Craven, died August 30^th, 2015. Scream went on to gross more than $600mn worldwide, cementing it as one of the most successful horror franchises in film history. The antagonist, Ghostface, has since become a staple horror slasher alongside such onscreen luminaries as Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers.

Although a fifth Scream installment has been rumored, it has yet to appear. 

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Spooky Halloween Music from Goblin

Goblin - Profondo Rosso (Deep Red)

Happy Halloween from The B-Raters!

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vs. The Oval Portrait

The Oval Portrait

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Silent Night, Deadly Night Trailer

Silent Night, Deadly Night Trailer (1984)

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At the Movies: Silent Night, Deadly Night

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Silent Night, Bloody Night Trailer

Silent Night, Bloody Night Trailer (1974)

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Snowbeast Trailer

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vs. Silent Night, Bloody Night

The B-Raters vs. Silent Night, Bloody Night

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Hack o Lantern Trailer

The trailer for 1988's Hack o Lantern.

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Die, Sister, Die Trailer

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Killdozer Commercial (1974)

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vs. Killdozer - ep. 310

Killdozer

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vs. Ice Cream Man - 3.03

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vs. Ice Cream Man

The B-Raters vs. Ice Cream Man

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Slashers

Slasher Flicks

Slashers were largely an invention of the 1980s although previous examples abound. The Menace is an unstoppable Supernatural force, often masked or mangled, on an unquenchable campaign of revenge. While the earliest Slashers of the late 1970s and early 1980s were largely Psychological Horror, most historians agree that the runaway success of the low-budget Halloween truly established the field and it is from this franchise that almost all of the common, modern slasher tropes were taken.

To be sure, weapon-wielding "psychos" had been featured in numerous films prior to the explosion of the 1980s. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is often credited as the roots of the sub-genre but most of the tropes and clichés that came to define it followed. Similarly, while the film Peeping Tom may have been the first to employ the Menace's POV as a camera angle, Halloween made it popular. As did another horror classic released around the same time: Bob Clark's classic, Black Christmas.

Furthermore, the success of the drive-in classic, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, proved that horror movies could turn a tidy profit, even if not done well - such as the Friday the 13^th franchise, which began as nothing more than an ad in a trade 'zine. The advent of the VCR and home-viewing also opened up an entirely new distribution model which allowed many horror films to be made as "direct-to-video."

By the mid- 1980s, nearly every Slasher was branded with a quirk or gimmick -- distinctive masks, specific and sometimes exotic weapons, and/or some tortured modus operandi -- and most were specifically associated with a holiday or theme. These Mad Slashers were on an irrational, neverending quest for revenge and remained faceless almost to the end. While the nigh-unstoppable villain was rarely seen, the audience experienced many kill scenes from his perspective. 

Also by this time, Slashers had moved from Psychological Horror into strictly Moral Tales that directly served the purpose: Giving the Menace a reason to become active once again. This formula was so successful that it fueled several of the largest movie franchises in American cinematic history. The villains of these franchises became celebrities in their own right.

The Moral Tale approach may also have been related to the political climate of the time, as the rise of the Moral Majority -- fueled by "Satanic Panic" -- lead to a return of Conservative political leadership and social morés. Slashers came under attack around the same time as the music industry for a general suspicion of contributing to American moral decline and association with Satanism. This may have been an approach by filmmakers to avoid confronting such accusations directly, as the victims were invariably engaged in some illicit activity prior to their violent demise.

This also did not become apparent until well after the field had become firmly established. While it is a common cliché that the kids who did drugs or had sex were always victims, so were the nerds and social outcasts, the unwitting trophy girlfriends of the leading love interest, innocent campers and party-goers, et. al.  So, while the strict Moral Tale on sociopolitical grounds theory may be true, it hardly explains the villain's rationale or the popularity of these Mad Slashers.

Slashers did come under heavy fire from the Moral Majority, which included representatives from both American political parties, but all of the major franchises were well into their fifth or sixth installment by that time and had largely run their course. The Slasher genre burned itself out by the 1990s and lay dormant for several years.

It was the release of Kevin Williamson's Scream, directed by Wes Craven, that revived them. Craven had left an indelible mark on the sub-genre years earlier with A Nightmare on Elm Street. Williamson's script also ushered-in the cynical self-awareness some later termed "Meta." 

But, while Scream both reinvigorated and reinvented the Slasher sub-genre, the majority of Horror films over the next decade would be rated PG-13 with vaguely Supernatural themes.

Image courtesy of Prototype Productions.

Copyright 2014, The B-Raters

vs. April Fool's Day

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209: Blood Beach

The B-Raters vs. Blood Beach

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Presents Lady Frankenstein

vs. Lady Frankenstein

Copyright 2014, The Weirding

vs. Don't Look in the Basement aka The Forgotten

The B-Raters vs. The Forgotten

This weekend, The B-Raters tries our best to watch the 1972 classic grindhouse flick, Don't Look in the Basement, aka The Forgotten. This is one of those films which is notorious amongst fans of the genre but not well known outside of it. Part of this has to do with the fact that the material was shocking and controversial for its time, but the film itself also proved obscure throughout the years.

Due to the sheer number of these films that we have watched, and the fact that Don't Look in the Basement is in the public domain, we can't say for certain that we have not seen this movie but none of us can recall anything particular about it, which is always a sign of quality in cinema.

The riffs are recorded LIVE around 9:30pm, CST, Saturday night. They are then available for replay the following day on The Weirding YouTube Channel. The B-Raters vs. Don't Look in the Basement was recorded LIVE on October 4^th, 2014.

Copyright 2014, The Weirding

Religiousploitation

Religiousploitation films include those with religious themes as well as those created specifically for proselytizing, but this Exploitation movie sub-genre usually exploits a common belief or fear of the religious.  The Devil Flick is probably the most ubiquitous of the Religiousploitation films but Apocalyptic themes draw a close second.

Devil Flicks are a specific sub-genre that usually involve possession.  Sometimes, Ghost Flicks are lumped-in here as well, but general Supernatural or Occult films are not necessarily a good fit.  

Devil Flicks also include a wide range of movies that have no overt religious themes or implications aside from the existence of demons and their ability to impact the natural world.  Whatever the mythology involved, the end result is that there is no scientific explanation for the Menace or its abilities, leaving only a Supernatural one.  The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, and Evil Dead are all examples of Devil Flicks.

Apocalyptic themes have persisted since the Dawn of Man but their popularity as the subject for Christian-themed fiction soared in the late 1990s, spawning its own sub-genre of Religiousploitation flicks.  Although Rapture movies target the Christian market and this sub-genre is dedicated to them, Apocalyptic themes was already a staple of cinematic pop-culture and entertainment, particularly in science-fiction. 

While the Turn of the Century certainly played some part in the popularity of The Rapture as subject matter, the most successful of these franchises spans 16 novels, four movies, and a major Hollywood reboot is scheduled for future release.  That Rapture series started in 1995 and continues to this day.

Religiousploitation films do not necessarily have to choose sides in the religious debate.  John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness falls into the Religiousploitation field due to subject matter but concerns itself more with the Lovecraftian concept that there are simply Things Man Should Not Know -- "Religion trumps Science," in the phrasing of that film.  Prince of Darkness is also a Devil Flick but only on a technicality for the purposes of this example.

Copyright 2014, The Weirding