Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

A documentary on the history of the slasher film.

Writers:

J. Albert Bell, Rachel Belofsky,

Stars:

Ed Green, John Carpenter, Wes Craven

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ed Green	...	Narrator (voice)
John Carpenter	...	Himself
Wes Craven	...	Himself
Herb Freed	...	Himself
Stan Winston	...	Himself
Tom Savini	...	Himself
John Dunning	...	Himself
Joseph Stefano	...	Himself
Jeff Katz	...	Himself
Debra Hill	...	Herself (archive footage)
Malek Akkad	...	Himself
Gregory Nicotero	...	Himself (as Greg Nicotero)
Amy Holden Jones	...	Herself (as Amy Holden-Jones)
Rob Zombie	...	Himself
Anthony Timpone	...	Himself (as Tony Timpone)

Storyline

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with "Halloween," "Friday the 13th," and "Prom Night." The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, "Nightmare on Elm Street" revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when "Scream" brings humor and TV stars into the mix. Although some criticize the genre as misogynistic (Siskel and Ebert), most of the talking heads celebrate the films: as long as there are teenagers, there will be slasher films, says one.

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Plot Keywords:

film director | film making | producer | director | writer | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Slasher-filmien nousu ja tuho

Company Credits

Production Co:

Starz Entertainment, thinkfilm, Candy Heart Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 88 min (European Film Market)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

Joseph Stefano, in loving memory

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Connections

References Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

User Reviews

Interesting, Smart Review of 80s Slasher films ...

This is a pretty good treatment of the thinking that went on behind the scenes of movies like "Prom Night", "Friday the 13th", "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and others. The great thing is that the cool stories and insights are told by the key players involved (directors, producers, special effects artists). You get to hear not only their thoughts on the psychology involved, but also about the marketing struggles they had to deal with.

Essentially, this is a documentary which interweaves present-day interviews with film clips from classic 80's horror flicks to give you a behind the scenes look at a genre during its peak period of interest. If you're a horror fan, you'll probably like watching this.