This came out 2 years before the Grandfather of slasher movies (Halloween). Although some may claim there were at least one other slasher movie before the one John Carpenter did, Halloween put the slasher movie on the map. So what is this? And does it even qualify as slasher movie? Because the Killer that this is based on apparently did not kill that many people to begin with.
The story takes other liberties too and some things may qualify for the slasher genre (mask, some of the killings, the way the Killer "hunts" his victims, inventive killings, although the one with the trumpet I don't quite get), but overall it has so many other tones in it, it's tough to make a case of Carpenter having stolen a blueprint here. There are moment were this slides into slapstick too (car going too fast scene). That doesn't change the fact though that this is still a drama, dresses as pseudo documentary, with voice over and all, to make it more legit.
Good try overall, but maybe a bit too slow for audiences now (and who knows, maybe even future audiences in general). That's something you have to make your mind up yourself.
The story takes other liberties too and some things may qualify for the slasher genre (mask, some of the killings, the way the Killer "hunts" his victims, inventive killings, although the one with the trumpet I don't quite get), but overall it has so many other tones in it, it's tough to make a case of Carpenter having stolen a blueprint here. There are moment were this slides into slapstick too (car going too fast scene). That doesn't change the fact though that this is still a drama, dresses as pseudo documentary, with voice over and all, to make it more legit.
Good try overall, but maybe a bit too slow for audiences now (and who knows, maybe even future audiences in general). That's something you have to make your mind up yourself.