"Halloween" was John Carpenter's first big hit, a low-budget ($300,000) horror film that went on to make millions.  It was also a ground-breaking movie that spawned a new genre - the slasher film.  "Halloween" was so successful that it also spawned many imitators: the "Friday the 13th" series, the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, and more "Halloween" movies.  All of these films involved ordinary people being terrorized and killed by a homicidal maniac.

In "Halloween", a young boy kills his sister after he sees her have sex.  The boy, Michael Myers, is placed in a mental institution, where he is treated by Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance). Loomis soon realizes that Michael is unreachable and evil.  He spends the next fifteen years trying to keep Myers institutionalized but, on a rainy night, the now-grown Michael escapes.  He returns to his hometown, where he goes on a killing spree on Halloween.

Carpenter gives evil a face.  Michael Myers is emotionless and unstoppable, the perfect sociopath.  Even when Dr. Loomis empties a pistol into him, Michael does not die.  He is pure evil.  His main quarry, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), is the personification of innocence and goodness.  Evil is trying to destroy good but all good wants is to be left alone.  Michael does kill two of Laurie's girlfriends, who exhibit shades of both good and evil.  But can pure evil destroy pure good?

It turns out that it cannot.  Michael can only kill those who live in the gray area but neither can Loomis or Laurie kill Myers.  Pure evil and pure good can only battle to a stalemate.  Good must always stay alert to evil. These are the major themes of John Carpenter's work.  Good is always there but evil lurks just around the corner.  The good person must constantly adhere to his or her principles but may have to be just as ruthless as the evil person in order to survive. 

The slasher movies legacy began all the way back in 1960 with the work of acclaimed director Alfred Hitchcock, the movie... Psycho. On a hot summers day Marion Crane makes off from her workplace with a heavy stash of cash, in search of retreat she finds herself in The Bates Motel, where she falls foul of a vicious killer.

While the entry level to the slasher movie it's probably best to regard Psycho as a very basic slasher, there is no great abundance of deaths as followed in future slasher offerings. One thing Psycho did however was blazed its way into the history books as one of the most notorious horror movies of all time; despite its killing, Psycho features no blood whatsoever.

The slasher movie picked up speed in 1964 in Italy, director Mario Bava told a terrific tale of a masked killer stalking models in a high profile fashion house in the movie Blood And Black Lace. The movie not only reasonably sits in the category of slasher, but also falls into another genre, the Giallo movie. Six years later the most important entry in the slasher movie history appears again an Italian movie by Mario Bava, this movie was Bay Of Blood (Twitch Of The Death Nerve). Bay Of Blood was an inspiration on the American breed of slasher movie, with notorious horror directors John Carpenter, Tom Savini, and Wes Craven all acknowledging its incredible influence. Bay Of Blood follows a group of despicable individuals as they turn to the most extreme methods in order to inherit the bay of the movie's title.

In 1972 a little known director by the name of Wes Craven teamed up with producer Sean C. Cunningham to make the movie Last House On The Left, a movie that shocks audiences even today. The premise of Cravens movie takes shape on the 17th birthday of Mari Collingwood, Mari and her friend Phyllis head off from her rural location to the city to see a popular rock band of the day. A quest for some weed leads the friend to Junior, a young man turned into a drug addict by his own father. Junior is part of a gang of thugs and the girls are soon in their lair, where over a period of time they are raped and assaulted by all members (except Junior) before being murdered, but this is only where the story begins. Last House On The Left was banned or censored across the world, and until 2008 could not be seen in an uncut form in the United Kingdom.

In 1974 Canadian movie Black Christmas saw a vicious killer stalk a house of young women at the most festive of times. But the passion of this movie was overshadowed by another seasonal offering in 1978. Having scored success with Dark Star and Assault On Precinct 13, John Carpenters next movie is a keystone in the history of the slasher movie.

Halloween is arguably john Carpenters most successful movie, and one of the most famous horror movies of all time. Taking the element of fear already instilled in the hearts of Americans in respect of Halloween, Carpenters story follows vicious killer Michael Myers as he escapes from a mental institution and rips terror into the community of Haddonfield as he hunts down relative Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). Halloween was a naturally acted movie that showed an innocent babysitters life turned upside down, to the viewing public it was all just so plausible.

Where Halloween stopped, Friday The 13th (1980) picked up. Taking the feel of Halloween's horror from a community to an isolated location, in this case Camp Crystal lake. Nicknamed Camp Blood after a terrible series of events back in the 1950's the plan is to turn Crystal Lake into a summer camp for kids, and the unlucky victims of Friday The 13th's killer are the summer camp guides, one of which was future star Kevin Bacon. What made Friday The 13th so special was that it was a low budget movie offered by producers Paramount to a major audience, it knocked Oscar winning movie Kramer Vs Kramer off the top of the charts, and at that point became of the most profitable movies of all time.

The same year a similar tale The Burning appeared, this was far more extreme that Friday The 13th, where as there was 7 victims in Friday, in The Burning the body count was in double figures, and that was in just one attack by the movies killer Cropsy. Like Friday The 13th the movie was set in a summer camp, and had future Hollywood stars Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens. Notorious for its rowing massacre The Burning unlike Friday The 13th was censored across the world. The Burning rather interestingly bought about one of the most successful movie houses of modern times, Miramax.

Having released Halloween, and Friday The 13th the next few years saw lots of date themed movies, Happy Birthday To Me, My Bloody Valentine, Don't Open Till Christmas, New Years Evil, and returns for both Halloween and Friday The 13th. But 1980 was not done with the slasher movie, Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielson starred in the movie Prom Night in which a killer with a grudge stalked celebrating teens. A young Tom Hanks starred in the brilliantly suspenseful He Knows Your Alone, a young bride to be comes face to face with a brutal killer that is of course after he has despatched all of her friends. Maniac saw a New York man going to pieces while stealing parts from ladies of the city; and Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the horror genre again for Terror Train.

In 1982 journalist Deborah Ballin (Lee Grant) becomes stalked by a nutcase (played by Michael Ironside) in the movie Visiting Hours. Banned in the UK television channel ITV made the terrible mistake of showing the movie uncut, the result was expensive for the network.

Another legend was born in 1983, but it was so "out there" that until recent years it was forgotten. The movie Sleepaway Camp featured the most shocking final revelation of any of the slasher movies, taking a nod and a wink from Friday The 13th the movies finale left people completely gobsmacked.

The next big landmark in the genre was in 1984 when another legend was born, Freddy Kruger stalked the dreams of the kids in the picturesque location of Elm Street in the movie A Nightmare On Elm Street. Freddy Kruger was a child abuser burned to death by the residents of Elm Street many years prior to the original movie, but the vengeful Kruger returned to haunt the dreams of teens, if Kruger killed his prey in their dreams they also died in real life.

As the 1980's continued more Friday The 13th's, Elm Street's and Halloweens saturated the slasher genre. But it was the cleverly scripted April Fools Day in 1986 that put the death nail in the coffin of the slasher movie until ten years later. April Fool's Day had a pretty bizarre ending that was both loved and hated by horror movie enthusiasts, some went as far as to say they had been cheated. Whatever the case the movie ended the run of slasher movies, and until 1996 horror movies became just a dirty word.

For the third time Wes Craven caused a stir in 1996, having mortified audiences with Last House On The Left, and caused a whirlwind with The Nightmare On Elm Street movies, Wes Craven returned with the movie Scream. This new breed of slasher movie mixed graphic horror and comedy together and shook it up vigorously. Scream re-energised the horror movie genre, and proved there was still life in the slasher genre. While it charged up the slasher genre, it was only Scream and its two sequels that occupied the slasher mantel of the 90's into the early 2000's.

In 2007 having caused controversy with his movies House of A 1000 Corpses, and the Devil's Rejects, maverick director/musician Rob Zombie remade Halloween. This movie delivered something far more terrifying than the original and insured the way for a series of movie remakes, Friday The 13th, My Bloody Valentine, and Terror Train are all in production to bring the slasher movie to a whole new generation.

Having travelled from across the UK the group of performers arrive in the small town, where no hotel rooms are available. Opting instead to bunk down in the old theatre rather than to actively look for accommodation; the group are soon very aware that things on the show are not as they seem, especially when they discover that the play is so improvised that there is not even the most basic of scripts. When one of the group goes missing, and shortly after a beheaded body is found under the stage; things soon start to look considerably worse.

The Flesh And Blood Show is a 1972 movie by Pete Walker, it has a group of familiar "actors of the day" including Ray Brooks, Robin Askwith, Jenny Hanley and Patrick Barr. For the director it was his first really risqué move into creating a synergy of erotic movie making and horror; while not being over the top in its sexual reference (especially from modern standards) the movie was for its time quite a notorious piece, involving some full frontal nudity, something seldom found in British cinema. Beyond the use of horror the movie pushes the boundaries beyond typical 70's horror expectations for the day, revolving around a sex mad serial killer picking off victims at a seaside resort.

If you are familiar with the wider world of horror you'll easily make some comparisons to Michele Soavi's 1987 movie Stagefright or Stagefright: Aquarius if you prefer. Both featuring an unknown killer while a group of actors perform on a stage play, unlike Stagefright however the cast of this earlier offering have the opportunity of escape but  for some bewildering reason don't bother to even try. Sadly unlike Stagefright there is no an owl headed killer at the heart of this movie.

In terms of storylines The Flesh And Blood Show is a prime example of a slow burner, a movie that seems to take ages to really achieve its point; it is not Pete Walker's finest work that much is for sure. When the movies first murder occurs it's pretty underwhelming, and more so "oh dear" very much a case of who really cares. Then you are forced to wait another 45 odd minutes before the movie really moves on, until that point you are stuck in slowly developing story plots that don't seem to have much rhyme or reason to it. Suddenly though you are almost teleported into a very 21st century style of horror, the sight of a woman struggling for her life on a set of steps beneath the pier, and people racing to save her is straight out of more modern horrors like Saw or Hostel, it's pretty chilling stuff.

The movie is very much on the sexist side; this is a movie that most women would consider was made by a male chauvinist; opening with a scene of two women in bed "Only friends" (but with a nudge and a wink) one of whom is completely naked, a state in which she opens the front door when a caller arrives in the middle of the night. After a prance about with a character that appears to have been stabbed she finally decides it's time to put something on. Scattered around the movie are the odd breast shot, a glimpse of pubic areas, and the odd backside. As if to balance this (maybe someone on set had a word with Walker), he chucks in a naked man shortly towards the end.

Despite the blatant uses of sex, from a look and feel perspective the movie is the most like the style of Hammer movies that the director ever achieved, something he clearly did not want to mimic. There were at least three or four occasions that you could literally smell the Hammer feeling that had invaded this movie that so clearly wanted to distance itself from the world's biggest horror movie producers.

Where The Flesh And Blood Show really wins out though is in its score by Cyril Ornadel who later contributed music to ITC's Sapphire And Steel. Ornadel's music in this movie is nothing short of breathtaking, if a scary music score has ever been put to a movie then this is the prime example of the best of them, better still the more you hear it the more increasingly creepy it gets, this makes Walker's movies music instantly recognisable to the ear. Starting like a conventional Hammer horror piece of music, it suddenly becomes very European in its sound, no castanets or anything, but far from British in its styling. I would go as far as to say anyone who has ever had as much as a shudder from this particular movie, music paid a large part of that sensation.

The movies final sequence of the movie was shot in 3D something that Walker was keen to embrace believing it to be the next big thing, and later the same year filming The Four Dimensions Of Greta with lengthy 3D scenes whenever sex came into play.

While I cannot speak for the rest of the world, the recent UK release of the movie by Odeon Entertainment features the longest version seen of the movie in the UK, and for the first time the movie receives a lower 15 certificate, having previously being certified as firstly an X certificate and secondly an 18 certificate in the 1980's.

I should of course mention that despite being set in a fictional Essex location, the movie was in fact filmed in Cromer, Norfolk.

As I said this is not the best of Pete Walkers works, but sit down and look at the movie next to about 9 other movies from the same year and you'll see that Walker was light years ahead of his time.

Opening with Go Go dancer Marianne (Susan George) begins the movie in a bedroom having seduced a sailor the night before in a small Algarve town. Rudely awoken though by the arrival of a shady looking Portuguese man, Marianne sneaks out through an open window to escape, the reason for this escape is shrouded in secrecy. Walking down the road she encounters Sebastian (Christopher Sandford), who whisks her away back to England so she can set up a new life. On the day of her marriage to Sebastian Marianne suspects something is wrong, and falls into the arms of Eli Frome (the late Barry Evans). But as her sinister past in Portugal catches up with her, Marianne, Eli and Sebastian are all forced to go to Portugal to face the sinister Judge, and his daughter Hildegard, who just so transpire to be Marianne's father and sister.

Die Screaming, Marianne is much criticised movie that has its heart in the right place, but it's soul buried elsewhere thanks for its appalling acting skills, and Walker's then harsh direction. But with this taken into account I really enjoyed the movie, I found it a touch refreshing although at times a little predictable.

The movie despite being a British offering has something incredibly European about it, almost as a reflection of the increased interest in the European horror and thriller movies of Italy. What is good though is unlike so many of these Brit movies that look like Brits abroad, Walker direction allows for a genuinely European look. The movie is split 50/50 between time in Portugal and in England.

For fans of 70's cinema this is almost like the ultimate resource, you get a very precise view of life in England, specifically Brighton and London during the 1970's. It's fascinating to look at the way the streets look, the movies at the cinemas, posters, and newspaper stand signs. While all around are the tell tale signs of a rapidly changing society, drugs and free love both hinted at but never properly addressed.

Back onto the movie in general and despite my earlier comment about the poor acting I should add that both Susan George and Barry Evans both put their heart and soul into the movie; George shows the sort of fiestiness she returned to later in the same year with Sam Peckinpah's Cornish Western Straw Dogs, to be fair she is where she is this movie simply due to her smouldering sexuality, and this is played up more than her acting skill. While Evan's is essentially used as a tool for the movie, but his performances is straight up, this was actually the last serious movie Evans starred in. The acting comedy comes from a quartet of clowns; Leo Genn a familiar horror actor delivers an abysmally creepy performance as the Judge. Christopher Sandford a DJ from the likes of Radio Caroline is just diabolical, that's if you can get beyond the humour of his hair. Judy Huxtable here nearing the end of her acting career is just completely vacant; she cannot have the decency to even be attacked in a decent manner, as Marianne's murderously obsessed sister she actually comes across as more of a drag queen than a woman, a very bizarre casting indeed. Finally Kenneth Hendal plays the dodgy butler Rodriguez, here tanned up so that he looks Portuguese but is so obviously British.

The story goes well beyond the boundaries of typical British fare of the era; it's an incredibly sexual piece that once having broken the boundaries of sexual inhibition pushes the envelope a bit further by having a vicious stab at incest. It's hard to believe that the same country that delivered stodgy looking Hammer horror movies around the same time was capable of delivering this sort of very new terror, although personally it gave me no fears.

Despite the flaws I really enjoyed Die Screaming, Marianne; it was a really heavily layered movie with an awful lot of depth to it, it to some degree seemed like two movies jammed into one. The story is well developed, with well rounded corners all the way, although there are a few moments where you almost enter cartoon filmmaking because it seems that script writer Murray Smith literally though on his feet as the script continued. The one thing that let the movie down are those abysmal performances, and even though I did start to warm to Leo Genn his appearances on screen were suddenly cut short just as his performance improved, only allowing you to remember the negatives.

For one thing, the remake actually tells a completely different story with new characters, rather than just simply retell the original version with updated details. Made in 1980 and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielsen (in a surprisingly serious role), the original “Prom Night” was a “revenge” slasher story in the same manner of “Friday the 13th and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. It began with four kids accidentally killing a girl while picking on her, then swearing to keep it a secret unaware someone else had been there and saw the whole thing. Years later at prom, those same kids are now being targeted in retaliation, with the killer possibly being an escaped mental patient. It was one of the many films that capitalized on the success of “Halloween”, and had a surprising twist ending that made it a very good film.

In the new “Prom Night”, high schooler Donna (played by Brittany Snow) comes home one night to find her family murdered by her teacher, Richard Fenton (Johnathon Schaech), who has an obsession with her. Three years later, Donna is getting ready for prom and move on with her life, unaware that Fenton has escaped from the mental hospital and is coming for her so they can be together. Rather than killing for revenge, Fenton's victims are either out of necessity (like a man whose car and identity he steals) or to get rid of those he feels is keeping Donna from him, such as her friends. The “obsessed stalker” idea is nothing new to slasher films, but this new story helps make this remake seem somewhat original and keep things fresh.

The other thing “Prom Night” has going for it is the fact that it's “old school” horror, relying on suspense and scare tactics for the horror rather than excessive blood and gore. The film makes great use of camera tricks, tense moments and music to build suspense and scares, and there are plenty of moments where what you think is going to happen doesn't, not only throwing you off but then truly surprising you when it does happen. There are some violent moments in the film, particularly when Fenton attacks someone, but much of it happens off camera and the blood is kept to a minimum. Some horror fans, particularly those who have been getting their fix with films like “Saw” and “Hostel”, may protest this, but as an “old school” fan, I feel it helps to build the tension and make things seem more scary.

Speaking of Fenton, he's another “old school” example is how his character is played out. In this age where something is usually given to make us sympathetic towards a villain, Fenton is not such a case. He's played as a classic psychopath, showing absolutely no remorse in actions and having an obsession with Donna that's frightening. There is nothing to make us like this character, and that's good, because that make us root for the good guys to catch him. You don't get a lot of villains like that anymore, and that's something to enjoy about this movie.

Naturally, there are some things to groan about. Given the setting, a lot of this does play out like a teen drama series. Donna and her friends gripe and bitch about rich girl Crissy, who herself is the traditional “mean girl” of their class, eager to stay on top and become prom queen rather than Donna's friend Lisa (a fresh surprise, Donna is NOT one of the contenders for prom queen, when under a different writer and/or director she would have been). There are also relationship problems, talks about moving on and going away to school, stuff a lot of us probably experienced in high school ourselves or saw on TV recently. The good thing about it is that it helps break the tension of the main story and make the characters more human, but it's probably going to draw out more than a few snorts.

My other gripe is the police's pursuit of Fenton. Surprisingly, they're actually portrayed as seriously doing their jobs in trying to catch the bad guy, rather than just being stereotypical idiots like in most horror movies. Even they groan about the fact that it took several days for the news about Fenton's escape to reach them. My complaint, though, is that when asking about Fenton, they use his old mugshot, where he has long hair and a beard, when now he has a buzz-cut and is clean shaven. You would think that the police would have a more recent photo to pass around, but then again, that would make things a little too easy.

Other than that, the film plays out rather well. A good story, plenty of suspense and some decent characters. This new version of “Prom Night” is definitely worth watching, though most might want to catch it on DVD. At the very least, it'll make for a good rent on Halloween.

Directed by: Nelson McCormick
Rating: PG-13
Score: 7 out of 10