Let's talk about one of the more lowkey entries from the golden year of slasher film, Joe Giannone's Madman.

Starring: Gaylen Ross (credited as Alexis Dubin), Tony Fish, Harriet Bass, Seth Jones, Jan Claire and Alex Murphy.

Along with Friday the 13th (1980), The Burning (1981), and Sleepaway Camp (1983), Madman is one of the seminal films which helped cement the now-beloved summer camp themed slasher. Shot on Long Island, NY in late 1980, and initially conceived as an adaptation of the Staten Island urban legend of Cropsey, a boogeyman-like figure who would kidnap children, but production got off to a bumpy start for Joe Giannone as he was beaten to the punch by Tony Maylam, Brad Grey, and Harvey Weinstein in co-opting the legend for The Burning (1981), an early Weinstein production, and inarguably the better of the two films.
Now unable to use Cropsey, since The Burning explicitly uses that name, Giannone had to quickly re-write and alter his antagonist, conjuring a new urban legend, or at least a variation of Cropsey, and so for better or worse, the yarn of Madman Marz - the homicidal farmer, was spun.

You know, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for the kids in these summer camp slasher flix, they only went away for the summer to have a good time and make lasting memories, instead they end up traumatised, or worse, murdered by a maniacal living legend. Comparatively to the poor fuckers seen these movies, I had relatively safe and uneventful summer breaks as a kid. Sure, I fractured my wrist one time falling 6ft from a rope swing, but that's all part of growing up, what I didn't experience is seeing a friend being decapitated by a 7ft lunatic farmer wielding an axe, and I struggle to recall any instances of urban legends coming to life after a word or two of disrespect - no matter how hard we tried, and chasing us through the woods. Nor do I recall any of my so-called friends suffering a psychotic episode, donning a mask, and stalking the rest of us around a forest with an instrument of death.



In any event, Madman opens with a ragtag group of shithead youths and gaggle of bored-looking counsellors gathered around a campfire. The eldest counsellor Max (Frederick Neumann), a middle-aged yet utterly haggard-lookin' dude, is relating to the group the terrifying legend of Madman Marz, a local farmer who one day for no-apparent reason took up an axe and decided to dismember his entire family, and who was subsequently lynched by villagers. Max warns the campers that merely saying his name aloud is enough to summon him, so ace twat Richie (Tom Candela) decides it's a good idea to defy Max's warning, yelling "Marz" at the top of his lungs and lobbing a rock through the window of Marz's abandoned abode.

The group breaks-up to return to camp with Richie catching a brief threatening silhouette of Madman Marz hanging out in a tree above. Captivated, Richie absconds to snoop around the Marz house instead of returning to camp with the other kids, meanwhile counsellors Betsy (Gaylen Ross) and T.P. (Tony Fish) engage in the most awkward and unromantic hot tub romance scene in cinematic history, complimented by Gaylen Ross' criminally gormless expression. Marz wastes no time initiating the body count, brazenly slashing the chef's throat with his razor-sharp fingernails. From here on out, Madman kind of aimlessly meanders along with a handful of kills sprinkled throughout, until the last 20 mins when the action becomes a bit more desperate.



"One by one you'll start to fall, before night's over I'll get you all" - Max (Frederick Neumann)

Marz, the titular madman, manages to simultaneously appear imposing and laughably-ridiculous; from a distance he's menacing, but in close-up the effects don't sell it, still as silly as he often appears, with his gnarled blancmange features, the tone is always stone-cold vicious. The kills are mean spirited and brutal in execution; a hanging of one counsellor is cruelly drawn-out, and the shot of Marz holding another above his head is a formidable sight to behold. Unfortunately, characters are so one dimensional that it's hard to give a shit when any of them are in peril, let alone about to be decapitated by the hood of a car - yes that's a verified kill here in Madman. Whether it's down to ability or boredom; Gaylen Ross/Alexis Dubin in particular looks even more vacant, bordering on comatose, than she did as Francine Parker in Romero's zombie epic Dawn of the Dead (1978), or the script they're working from, but performances are noticeably wooden and lacking any sense of enthusiasm.



For the most part Madman follows every established slasher trope, but breaks convention during the final moments by offing and allowing the cocky brat Richie - who started Marz's rampage, to survive the whole ordeal, only with his sanity in tatters, in a way, it's kind of poetic.

I dig Madman although it's taken several watches over a very many years to fully appreciate its charm, there's enough to admire. I think the biggest problem for anybody watching it for the first time is just how dull it is, sure it has a great poster to pull you in and all the necessary ingredients to be a great slasher, as well as, a pretty iconic antagonist in the form of the hulking Marz, but it's all so flavourless and lacking. Cinematographer, James Lemmo, does his best to keep everything visible; naturally it's a very dark film, everything happens over the course of a single night, and there's no day-time footage. Lemmo infuses most outdoor sequences with a blue tint, adding to the already cold and chilly atmosphere.
Sadly, Madman is further bogged down by the collective apathy of the cast, rendering a good portion of the runtime as a bit of a slog. Mercifully, in the last 20 minutes the tension is ramped up and you're bludgeoned by a few (welcomed) shocking sequences, creating a sense of dread and mayhem as the remaining characters fight to survive against a seemingly unstoppable boogeyman.

Sergio Martino's fifth gialli is a violent and sexually-charged thriller, co-written by Martino and Italian screenwriting legend, Ernesto Gastaldi, Torso / I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale is arguably far removed from what would be considered a purists idea of a giallo film. Instead, it sort of acts as a precursor to the soon-to-be slasher boom - I'm desperately trying to avoid that now all too common phrase of 'proto-slasher', but the point I'm trying to make is that while other gialli from this period still, for the most part, pushed a tightly woven plot with an air of sensuality, scenes of verbose exposition, peppered with brutal, yet brief murders, in Torso the focus has shifted from an attempt at telling an intricate story of deceit and murder to becoming a Grand Guignol-style bodycount movie.

Starring: Suzy Kendall, Tina Aumont, Luc Merenda, John Richardson, Roberto Bisacco, Angela Covello, Conchita Airoldi and Carla Brait.

With that being said, I've fond memories of watching this as an impressionable teenager beginning my backwards journey through the ages of horror cinema, looking to broaden my horizons and delving for sights less seen, I took a trip down the winding path of Italian genre cinema.



Deftly lensed by regular Martino collaborator, Giancarlo Ferrando - All the Colors of the Dark (1972) and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972), the mixed locations are brought to life, ranging from the busy bustling of city/town streets to the relaxed and sumptuous atmosphere of an isolated villa.

Torso relishes in bodily destruction, the lingering shots and closeups on acts of violence really show that Martino set out to shock the audience and to boldly breakaway from what had been previously seen in giallo film. There's a little humour injected into the events, maybe to take the edge off the viciousness of the attacks and the hateful misogynistic motive of the killer. An example being the scene immediately after the first young couple are murdered and an old trap is being interviewed by police after discovering their mangled remains. He admits to police that he found the bodies of the couple while "littering" and by littering he means taking a shit.



There's a haunting, yet beautiful sequence of Carol (Conchita Airoldi, christ isn't she stunning?) walking through a misty marshland, the scene is extremely well photographed and bathed in the blue light of morning. A tense and languidly paced stalking scene follows; Carol notices a silhouette off in the distance which swiftly disappears into the fog like a spiritual apparition, this short sequence sets-up a decidedly ruthless execution of her character, including a shocking moment of Fulci-like ocular violence, as poor Carol's orbs are ruptured by the killer's black gloved fingers after a muddy strangulation and drowning. The sequence ends in closeup with a profusion of crimson running down Carol's forearm and mingling with the mud, still bathed in a cool blue hue, the camera then jerks upwards to the sky ushering in a brief moment of calm after the frenzied attack.

The killer's look, so to speak, is more akin to that from a typical slasher; eschewing the fedora and overcoat in favour of a ski mask and black & red scarf, while still retaining the black leather gloves, Torso's faceless sadist is altogether menacing, brutalist, and unforgettable.

For the last act there's an almost-complete tonal shift with the film now taking a different approach to the pace and narrative to what the previous 40 minutes were. It begins when Jane (Suzy Kendall) wakes up from a nap, she finds that the quaint villa has become a total bloodbath. While asleep, all 3 of her friends have been eviscerated, Torso now becomes a single location thriller; a battle of wits and survival between Jane and the killer. Martino chooses to actively skip the on-screen murder of the three girls, however he manages to uphold the severe tone and deliver on the gruesome goods with glimpses of bodily mutilation via hacksaw.



All is not lost, however, for our plucky final girl Jane, as fortunate would have it local doctor, Roberto (Luc Merenda - gosh isn't he handsome?), has taken more than a shine to our Jane and is on-call to save the day. Go Roberto!

Remaining true to gialli contemporaries, Torso has a scattering of red herrings and potential suspects spread over its runtime and I think it's a pity that every time I watch this I still remember who the killer is. I wish I could experience the excitement of the killer's reveal over and over again. This becomes the case with most gialli on repeat viewing, but the moment of unmasking on a first time watch is one of the most thrilling and unique aspects of the genre. The rush of excitement from either complete surprise or confirmation, if your suspicion or intuition is on the money, is a point of engagement for the audience and in a subtle way allows the viewer, in some respects, to participate in the films events.

Even after all these years and repeated viewings, Torso still manages to shock, surprise, and keep you on the edge of your seat with the numerous kills, red herrings and near-misses, and the change in pace for the final act manages to bring the whole piece together for an ever increasingly dramatic climax.

Half grisly slasher, half sympathetic character study, William Lustig's psychologically-driven splatterfest, Maniac, needs little introduction.

Starring: Joe Spinell, Caroline Munro, Gail Lawrence, Nelia Bacmeister, and Tom Savini.

October, 1979. New York City.
Director William Lustig and character actor/co-writer, Joe Spinell, begin shooting one of the most potent works horror cinema has ever seen. I apologise in advance for all the fanboy gushing, to say I like this film is an understatement, I adore it.

The poster is iconic, a beautiful illustration of said maniac gripping a scalp in one hand, a bloodied hunting knife in the other, and a raging hard-on in the crotch of his jeans. The tagline is a statement, and I've sported it proudly on the blog's banner since its inception. It could be perceived as victim blaming, though I think it's something of a cheeky marketing double entendre, referring to either Frank, and/or his victims. It added to the outrage the film caused among women's groups, who vehemently picketed the movie, brandishing it misogynistic.

In Britain, Maniac somehow skirted the title of "Video nasty" despite being (banned) denied a cinema certificate by the BBFC in July 1981 and was also later refused a video rating in 1998. It was finally released on DVD in 2002 by Anchor Bay with 58 seconds worth of cuts. In 2022, it was finally released uncut on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom by 88 Films.

But, for all of the controversy surrounding Maniac it's a spectacularly well-made picture and what elevates the production and sets it apart from its contemporary slasher ilk is how the narrative sits firmly between an outright body-count slasher and a warped, claustrophobic character study of a man with an unsound mind. Likely riffing off of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960), Maniac helped pave the way for films such as Angst (1983), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), Man Bites Dog (1992) The Last Horror Movie (2003) and the more recent The House That Jack Built (2018), for an intimate observation and portrayal of an immoral central character and their deplorable actions. It's a fascinating angle for a story that's still captivating the attentions of the many, especially given the popularity of recent shows like Dexter (2006) and You (2018).



Frank Zito is a big, unkempt, greasy, sweaty; you can practically smell (and see) the B.O. wafting off this guy and out of the screen. He lives in a squalid apartment and surrounds himself with mannequins that are partially dressed in his victims' clothes with their scalps crudely nailed to the mannequin heads. I guess you could say Frank Zito, enthusiastically portrayed by Joe Spinell, is more than a little troubled. He's tormented, psychologically complex; he's got severe mommy issues, he kills prostitutes and young couples, and while he's frequently deplorable there're times when Frank is quite likeable.

Spinell brings such intensity to the role, the characterisation is credible, and there's a unique vérité to his performance. Whether he's delivering monologues that are punctuated by creepy mouth-breathing, crying, or shrieking, it's all so convincingly real. I think what makes it so shocking is that, collectively, we all know killers/sex killers exist, they're a real threat, but in Maniac you are watching and experiencing it first hand and almost, kinda beginning to feel sorry for the guy. I don't say that to try and exonerate, or excuse Frank's actions, but there's certainly a slant to the story where you can begin to understand him.

It's through Spinell's performance and what we learn about Frank through his monologues and inner-thoughts, you begin to reach a level of understanding of why he is the way he is, and I've found through a very many rewatches over the years that towards the final moments I pity him. When he meets Anna D'Antoni (Caroline Munro), and they begin to get to know each other, go out on few dates, you kind of wonder if Frank is capable of holding down a normal romantic relationship with a woman. You see a side of Frank which is charming, affable, even caring, a further credit to Spinell's acting chops. You're almost rooting for him to settle down, leave all this crazy, murderous madness behind. Whether or not the dichotomy is intentional, you can question if he's feigning these emotions to just get closer to Anna to kill her, luring her into a false sense of security, or is it coming from a heartfelt place of genuine affection. The scene in the graveyard, when he takes Anna to his mother's grave, is extremely sad and always fills me with a sense of utter loss as Frank begins to break down, before (unsuccessfully) attacking Anna.



Another strength is the ever-present score by Jay Chattaway; a sublime mix of stringy, elegant, and haunting notes underpinned by a moody and ominous bass. A successful marrying of suspense and sorrow, mirroring events on the screen and elevating the production of the piece, further cementing Maniac as one of the most memorable horror films of the 1980s.

Tom Savini's effects are grounding and bring a stark realism to a subgenre fixated on an over-the-top style of gore and borderline splatstick set pieces. The only time the gore goes truly overboard in Maniac is during the final moments, of which are intended to be somewhat fantastical since it's taking place in Frank's mind; his death fantasy. Savini himself pops up at one point, trying to get fresh with a bit of skirt in his car, only to feel the blast from Frank's shotgun through the windscreen.

Maniac is also notable for the b-roll footage of NYC & Times Square, offering a snapshot of a now bygone era of that sordid locale. There's few nods to the beginning of director William Lustig's career in the movie business with his two porno features: Hot Honey (1977) and The Violation of Claudia (1977). During the subway-stalking scene, one of the bathroom stalls has some graffiti that says "Hot Honeys" and Maniac features a brief appearance by adult industry legend Sharon Mitchell, who plays Nurse #2, and a slightly larger part by Gail Lawrence (Abigail Clayton), who appears later-on in the film as Rita, one of Anna's friends.



A defining picture in the slasher genre, its fleshed out, character-driven narrative sets it apart from its very many brethren, and where other slashers fall into the trappings of formulaic, murder-by-numbers plots, Maniac manages to retain a unique perspective and premise. It's easily one of, if not, the greatest to come from the so-called Golden Age of slasher films. Lustig's opus is mandatory viewing for anyone interested in horror, slashers, or exploitation fare.

Bill Lustig's action-slasher, Maniac Cop, a movie that comes with one helluva cast; Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell and Richard Roundtree, to name a few. Love the title sequence of Cordell gearing up accompanied by Jay Chattaway's eerie score. Perfection.

Tom Hanson's semi-fictionalised account of The Zodiac Killer was actually part of an elaborate scheme to try and catch the killer with Hanson believing that the killer would likely attend a screening. Under the guise of winning a Kawasaki motorcycle, audience members were asked to write their answers to "I think the Zodiac kills because..." Unbeknownst, the handwriting of those entries was compared to samples of the Zodiac's.

Happy Halloween! What better way to celebrate the occasion than with John Carpenter's seminal slasher, Halloween.

Also known as Terror Eyes in the UK, Night School is a low-key slasher that, for one reason or another,  made an indelible impression on me as a teenager and I still believe it to be largely overlooked and underrated.

This'll be a short and sweet entry; I should have seen the inevitability of this, I can't write these fast enough, so I'm skipping forward into February from my Letterboxd diary.
Read, or don't!

Films watched between Monday 13/02/2023 and Sunday 19/02/2023.

Monday 13/02/2023
My Bloody Valentine (1981)

Director: George Mihalka

I make sure to watch this movie every single year and have yet to grow tired of its charms. A top-tier slasher; one of the most memorable from the '80s boom and forever anchored to the Western status quo in the same way that Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the multitude of Christmas-themed horror films are. For the uninitiated, a killer begins offing the residents of the mining town, Valentine Bluffs, in the run-up to recently reinstated Valentine's Dance. The location/setting is great, the characters are likeable, the killer looks formidable, the kills are memorable, the gore is grisly. If you haven't seen it, fix it next Valentine's Day.



Wednesday 15/02/2023
X (2022)

Director: Ti West

Ti West has generated a bit of a marmite response within the horror community, personally I've always favoured his oeuvre; particularly House of the Devil (2009), Cabin Fever 2 (2009) and The Inkeepers (2011), so I've always been surprised to hear from, or read about fellow horror fans saying they loathed House of the Devil. It's a stylish, slow-burner that exudes shades of occult horror classics like Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Devil Rides Out (1968), and The Omen (1976). Similarly, with X, Ti West revisits the '70s aesthetic, predominantly channeling The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), with echoes of Silent Scream (1979), Death Trap (1976), and Psycho (1960), but also paying a well-just homage to the era of porno chic; the plot concerns a group of pornographic filmmakers who set out to make a "good" dirty movie, and referencing the somewhat obscure Zebedy Colt roughie, The Farmer's Daughters (1976) and namedropping Debbie Does Dallas (1978). West's X is a love ode to '70s horror cinema; a competent slasher that effectively doubles as a warts and all exposé on ageing and its effects on the human condition.



Friday 17/02/2023
Init!ation (2020)

Director: John Berardo

A meandering, moderately interesting slasher that falls a little short of the mark due to hollow characters and inexcusable moments of predictability. Strangely, kept being reminded of Cry Wolf (2005); I don't think there are very many similarities, granted I haven't seen that film for a very long time and I remember very little about it other than the autumnal backdrop. Initiation is a sorority themed slasher flick that primarily deals with date rape. It doesn't help that there's so many other movies based in or around a college campus, or in a sorority house, even some good ones, so from the outset Initiation has a lot to live up to and sadly it doesn't quite make the grade. I'll never give up on these newer slasher flicks though, I always like to give them a fair shot with the hope of finding a gem!



Friday 17/02/2023
Mutant Hunt (1987)

Director: Tim Kincaid

Seeing the MGM logo on the spine of this blew my mind and I'm going to have to look into the how and why MGM acquired this. Especially as it's helmed by a porno director, though credited for most of those as Joe Gage, Kincaid had a short run of sci-fi/horror movies in the mid-80s with Breeders (1985), this, and Robot Holocaust (1987).
Now, I accept there are some neat moments in this, but for the most part this was an exercise in tedious garbage. I'm sure I'll come back around to it again sometime, but crikey this is a hard-sell so it's getting branded with "avoid." Check out Breeders instead, you'll have a much better time and even the 1997 remake isn't so bad.



Friday 17/02/2023
Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973)

Director: Fredric Hobbs

Wow. This is something special, by all accounts it should have been complete garbage, I shouldn't have enjoyed this as much as I did, but I fell hard for the Godmonster. The pacing is a little uneven, but once it gets rolling it's a fun ride. I was routinely laughing my ass off whenever I caught a better look at the titular "Godmonster". Grab the latest AGFA release, well worthy of your time. What a trip!



Sunday 19/02/2023
Prisoner of Paradise (1980)

Director: Bob Chinn, Gail Palmer

Big John Holmes, the Platinum Princess - Seka, and an appearance from the alluring Mai Lin. It's no secret that I'm a fan of the independent and collective efforts from Bob Chinn & Gail Palmer, Prisoner of Paradise is nothing short of a real good time. Holmes plays a shipwrecked sailor during WWII, finding himself castaway on a tropical island, who stumbles upon a Nazi encampment where two American nurses are held captive. I guess you could categorise this as "nazisploitation", it's resplendent in bad German accents and domineering nazi women. There's a bevy of scenes with John Holmes gathering and eating coconuts, hell there's even some explosions thrown in for good measure! Recommended smut viewing.



Sunday 19/02/2023
Too Naughty to Say No (1985)

Director: Humphry Knipe

It's a pity I wasn't too impressed with this one, thought it was a tad weak considering the talent involved; Ginger Lynn, Lisa De Leeuw, Jamie Gillis & Eric Edwards.
The plot is super thin and basically goes the route of being a succession of loosely connected sex vignettes with a meagre wraparound story. The flick is about two best friends at a Catholic girls school, one is shy and sexually repressed, the other is a wild at heart party chick who wants to give her best friend a carnal education through a series of sexual escapades. Ginger Lynn & Jamie Gillis' scene is the crowning achievement, but the rest of the film fails to really go anywhere.