Slash Dance Movie Review

Trailer here.

Slash Dance is a 1989 horror movie directed by James Shyman and starring Cindy Ferda.

The film begins with a girl called Alice who is supposed to audition for a part. She looks around but there is nobody there. She searches for someone and a killer emerges and murders her. Cut to a cop called Tori(Ferda). She works undercover. The Captain isn't impressed with her work. Her partner is called Jeff and he likes her. She beats up two men in a ridiculous scene where she is dressed as a bag lady.  We discover that her sister, Janet, died of an overdose. A drug dealer is responsible so she shot him. Another women shows up for an audition and she goes the same way as the previous girl.

A weirdo called Amos(J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner) works at a local theatre. He frightens the girls who come to audition .Tori is assigned to the case. She will go undercover and audition for a show in the theatre. Two local women ask Tori to help them track down a girl called Alice. The Captain wants Tori taken off the case but Jeff tells him that she has already started. Tori goes to the theatre and she sees Amos. A famous director called Logan Bridger(James Carroll Jordan) is going to be directing the show. The stage manager is called Rupert. Tori is lucky enough to be chosen for the show. Jeff shows up and he tells her that the captain wants her off the case. She asks him to pretend that he can't get in contact with her. Logan also likes Tori. He asks her out. They kiss.

One of the other girls called Holly gets attacked. Tori asks Amos if he did it. He tells her it wasn't him. Amos finds a rubber knife in the prop department and he is going to use to play a trick .Unfortunately, someone replaces it and when he pretends to stab himself, he really does and he dies. The cops are called in. Amos' brother talks to the police. The previous owner of the theatre died under suspicious circumstances. He left the theatre to his son, but he died so now his other son Oliver has it, but he wants to close it. Tori finds that her gun is missing. The killer shows up and he is after Tori. The killer turns out to be Logan. He says that the man who owned the theatre in the past did awful things to him. He hung him as he wanted revenge. He kills Oliver. He tries to kill Tori but she throws a stiletto at him and manages to hit him perfectly on the head! He chases her and they have a struggle. She manages to hit him and kill him with a saw. The film ends with another girl coming for an audtion. I guess he wasn't dead.

This is a bad film. It could have been a lot better. The name was funny but the film didn't live up to it.

There wasn't a lot of good acting. The dialogue was terrible in parts.The story didn't even make a lot of sense and it just felt silly. I don't mind low budget but this was just too bad. I couldn't watch it again. I will give it a 3/10.

Christmas Horror- the good and the bad part two!

In my last post, I listed my favourite Christmas horror movies. Now, I am going to list some that wouldn't be my favourites, but that I enjoyed. I also will list some that I didn't love. Let me start with some of the ones that I found entertaining....

Elves

This 1989 Christmas horror film is bad, quite bad, but at the same time, it is entertaining. There is something endearing about it and that makes it better than it is. It is a simple tale of a Christmas elf who is awakened during a blood letting ritual by a teen and her friends. Yes, it is a weird mix of elves, Nazi plots and a girl who is a cranky teen. It is a funny film because the elf looks bad and the plot is crazy, but it will make you smile, so I recommend it.

Krampus

This 2015 Christmas horror movie is a lot of fun. We all know the character and that makes for some festive frights. It's partly comedy and partly horror. There is a lot to like about it. It is one of the better Christmas films. I enjoyed it and I recommend it.

Rare Exports:A Christmas Tale

This film is from 2010 and it is from Finland. In this film, Santa is evil and people have to try and stop him from being defrosted in a block of ice. A man and his son try to stop him from coming back to life and killing the local children. This is a weird movie and it is partly a comedy. I don't usually like horror comedy very much, but it works here. This is an unusual take on the evil Santa so have a look if you want something different.

Terrifier 3

I don't think I need to say much about this. Everyone has heard of the third installment in the franchise and you should watch this if you liked the other two. Art the clown is demented, as usual and he is basking in the Christmas spirit in this film. He is murdering his way through the festive season and this will delight you if you enjoy some yuletide gore. Highly recommended.

Now, there are a few others that I enjoyed and I am not going to get around to each one. Here a few more that I liked. Jack Frost(1997) is a fun take on an evil snowman. Home for the Holidays is a 1972 TV slasher film set around Christmas. Silent Night, Bloody Night(1972) is another slasher film which has a Christmas theme. He Sees You When You're Sleeping is a decent Christmas slasher from 2024. All Through the House is a fun Christmas slasher film from 2015 which is worth watching.

Now, anthologies are always fun and these Christmas horror anthologies are worth watching. The first one is  A Christmas Horror Story(2015). Holiday Hell is another one from 2019. I liked some of the stories. All the Creatures were Stirring(2018) is another anthology which has some pretty good stories.

This is where I tell you about the bad films that I saw. Now, I just didn't enjoy these very much. I wanted to but some had poor acting and others were just bad.  Better Watch Out is from 2016 and I thought that it would be better, but I didn't like it much. Red Christmas(2016) is bad, in my opinion. I didn't like it. It's a Wonderful Knife(2023) is a mix of horror and comedy and it fell flat for me. I didn't get it and I didn't like it. Secret Santa(2015) is another horror/comedy and it is drivel. Pure drivel. I disliked it immensely. The last film that I will put on the list is one from 2022. It is called Nutcracker Massacre. The premise was interesting and I liked the poster, but the film didn't really deliver .

I am going to include two more films that are not Christmas films, but should be included because they are related to the festive season. New Year's Evil from 1980 is ok and worth a look as is Bloody New Year from 1987. Weird film, but worth a look as it is one of the few New Year horror films out there.

So, that is my list of Christmas horror films. Of course, there are some that I haven't included but you will have more than enough to keep you going. I hope that you have a Happy Christmas and as always, thank you for reading and following Jigsaw's Lair!