Candyman (1992) 4 of 100

Susan's History with this movie: This is one of my favorite horror movies of all time. The script is amazing and the story is from the mind of Clive Barker. I'm going into this one with great love.

Play by play:

Helen is a graduate student in pursuit of proving some of the greatest urban legends. She is married to Trevor the Professor, who is very shifty from the start. Helen becomes intrigued by the story of The Candyman. We come to find out that the legend of Candyman involves saying his names 3 times in a mirror and then that person would be killed with his hook. Helen decides to investigate this legend first hand. Helen is skeptical thinking that all of the stories are myths explained by a serial killer rather than a supernatural boogeyman as told in stories. She investigates further by going to the buildings that some of the stories come from. She wants to prove that the poverty of daily life in this neighborhood is why the Candyman tale was made up.

Helen and her girl Bernadette discover a painting of Candyman in a ghetto apartment they break into. To be fair….Bernadette was so cool during this scene telling Helen she was crazy to be crawling around these apartments but Helen wouldn’t hear it. She’s all about the story.

Back to a dinner with Helen’s pretentious husband Trevor and his friends. We then hear the story of Candyman. (You will have to watch this film or read the book to get this story…sorry…It’s too good for me to write up)

So Helen goes back to the projects and is wearing less “cop like” clothing. She thinks Candyman is not a supernatural being but a gang member. She then gets her ass beat……by gang members. The gang members are then arrested.

Everything is all good now in Helen’s life. She thinks that the Candyman legend was all a story and she has put those men behind bars.

Helen is happy now…relaxing in her apartment when….. a lot of crazy ass shit happens. And then more crazy shit happens.

This is one of those films that I would never be able to give justice to by giving a play by play. Let’s just say……the urban legend comes true and kicks her ass.

I will leave you with this. Trevor gets what he deserves…….. 

Feminist Slasher Project Research: 

Herione = Helen.  99% of this film is showing how strong and determined Helen is. She gets beat down and keeps coming back for more. You can take the end of the film however you want, but she still comes out on top. Bright Green Light in for the Feminist Slasher Project.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Let's Take A Break From All This Blood!!!!

Alecia, Feminist Slasher Project International Correspondent, will from time to time give us recommendations of happier movies. This segment will be called "Let's Take A Break From All This Blood"

Here is her recommendation for this week:

Your international correspondent has the first non-slasher movie recommendation for you.

Youth in Revolt. With Micheal Cera.

Check it out. One of the best movies I have seen this year so far.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) 3 of 100

Susan’s History with this movie: I am a HUGE TCM fan but I have never seen this specific one. I have a bit of bias going in because of the franchise but I’ll keep an open mind.

Play by Play:

Okay…..so…..for this movie I’m not going to do a play by play because the storyline is so out there and not inventive enough for me to give it any praise.

I will say though….Dennis Hopper as Lefty is worth the 1hour and 45 minutes of confusion. Running around after Leatherface and his family of cannibals sometimes with a chainsaw as his weapon. Lefty Rocks! Best Lefty Line “I’ll take ya all to hell!!!!” Freakin’ priceless.

Being a HUGE TCM fan I didn’t like the cheesy….let’s try and make this a comedy intention of this movie. I get what they were trying to do but do it to another movie. Leatherface ends up being not even the least bit frightening in this film. 

I also noticed something else strange. One of the “Family” had a very similar personality to Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice character. Who ripped off whom? I need to look that up.

The obligatory dinner scene was torture to watch. I’m not talking torture like the original TCM where Grandpa beat that girl silly in the head and it made you want to cry. This was more of a “ohhhh good grief…..kill her already” torture.

Sooooo…..the lead character in this movie is ……a woman. And despite a horrible script she does KICK ASS. Her name is Stretch and she is a local radio DJ. Lefty uses her as bait and leaves her to be killed by the family. Nice guy that Lefty. I will always remember Stretch as the woman who seduced Leatherface in order to try and escape. Ummmm, it’s as gross as it sounds.

Lefty eventually comes to her rescue….sort of. He kind of just came in and said run as he was slicing up the family with his chainsaw. Stretch does run…..and takes out like three family members doing so and the movie ends with her on top of their lair waving a chainsaw around. Oh dear lord……

Feminist Slasher Project Research:

While it obvious from my notes that I did not really enjoy this movie I will say that Stretch was smart and could possibly have been mildly funny if someone else would have written the script. She’s gung ho from the beginning and ends up conquering all in a pretty epic way. There really aren't any scenes that are exploitive unless you judge Stretch for wearing very short shorts, but I don't. Bright Green Light for the Feminist Slasher Project. 

Black Christmas (1974) 2 of 100

Susan’s History with this movie: No history at all! Going into this one blind.

Play by Play:

Sorority house slasher movie starring Margot Kidder.

May I add.....a very hot Margot Kidder. The first part of the movie shows Barb (Margot Kidder) as quite a drunk bitch. She is loose with the cocktails and heavy on the insults to her less fortunate sorority sisters. I will also say that the house gets a dirty phone call that is truly disturbing even for a horror movie. Favorite quote by Barb in the first 5 minutes was "Townys don't get raped" followed by laughter by her sisters. Fun fact! The first person to be killed was a sorority sister that was a Towny. 

So....one of the most amazing things about this movie so far is the boyfriend of one of the girls. He is constantly wearing a VERY LARGE fur coat. Susan says ...."Huh?"

So....back to the story.....Barb is basically drunk and talking dirty to the police.....and her parents and pretty much everyone in her path. I will say after 36 minutes into this movie that I am questioning her true heroine abilities.

Okay....death #2 was what I can assume was a sort of house mother. A crazy old lady with a cat. Kind of a cool death scene. Pulled up through the attic and killed. Creepy screaming effect.

Another creepy phone call comes in and the British sorority girl takes some action. Sort of.....She gets distracted by a cute boy who I will call Turtleneck. Never a good idea in a horror movie to be distracted by a cute boy.

So British girl and Turtleneck are talking about marriage now and a baby....Uh oh! Abortion talk! British girl is a surprisingly good actress!

The police come to investigate the disturbing phone calls and the Lt. looks a lot like the Sheriff in Nightmare on Elm Street. Must research this.

Just did an IMDB search and yep! It's John Saxon! Awesome.

So the killer is now hanging out in a creepy way with the two dead bodies up in the attic of the house. Not a comfortable scene at all.

Drunk Barb had a bad dream and was saved with her inhaler by cool ass british chick. I am now thinking british chick will be our savior.

Dude!!!!!! Death # 3 Drunk Barb just was killed in her bed.! I guess I was right.

So....the dirty calls come in again and they suspect Turtleneck! British girl says no!!!!!!!!

Funny thing....the way they traced the calls back then is this dude walking around what it looks like is a big room of phone lines and the dude needs to actually walk to where the signal is activated. Through this process....Turtleneck was ruled out as the murderer.

Death #4 - Glasses girl. Kind of annoying anyways.....but just walked into drunk Barbs room and I think she's a goner.

Creepy ass calls continue.....

OHHHHH DUDE!!!!!!!! Call tracer dude just told them all the creepy calls were coming from INSIDE THE SORORITY HOUSE!!!!!!

So....British chick is told by the police to leave the house and she decides to go save Barb and Glasses girl (not knowing they are dead)......because she is awesome.

She grabs a poker from the fireplace......heads up the stairs and sees the dead bodies....and slams the killer in the closet.

Craziness comes about and cool ass british chick is locked in a closet herself. Of course....police sirens are on their way...but not there yet.

Ohhhh man! Turtleneck just broke through a window to find her.....she thinks he's the killer....

Police arrive.....Turtleneck is dead and british girl is knocked out. Police are sure Turtleneck is the killer.

Okay....REALLY CREEPY scene. Shows the killer is still up in the attic with all the dead bodies. Not comforting at all. To add to that while the credits roll there is a phone ring sound. So not happy.

This was a good movie. I expected a little better but it was good to see some familiar horror movie faces.

Feminist Slasher Project Research: 

Cool ass female (while pregnant) is the heroine. While she does end the movie in a deep sleep you are left with hope she will kick some ass when she wakes up. Also, throughout the movie there are few moments when you question her actions and scream at the TV for her to do something else. I didn't see any exploitation in this film. The ladies are pretty much in charge of everything. This one gets a bright Green Light for the Feminist Slasher Project.  

House on Sorority Row (1983) 1 of 100

Susan’s History with this movie: I saw this movie in bits and pieces about 15 years ago so I remember very little. Excited to see it, but no bias of previous knowledge going in.

Play by Play

First scene is a woman losing her baby in a hospital and not very happy about it.  Titles roll through a happy sorority house.  So a Creepy Older Lady goes to visit an Older Doctor Dude. She tells him that she is going to complete some mission and he better not stop her. Doctor dude is threatened and stands down.

Moving on…..to a completely different scene….This girl is firing a gun with her boyfriend. I will now call this girl Gun Girl because I feel she may have a substantial part in the movie.

The movie now jumps back to the sorority house where the ladies are celebrating their graduation…and getting very drunk! So Creepy Older Lady owns the sorority house and she is NOT happy that the girls are celebrating when “HER HOUSE IS CLOSED!”

 So …..now Gun girl is back and she invited her curly haired boytoy up for a fun time. Sex scene…..not very explicit but I will give a nod to them for making sure we saw they were using a condom. All safe sex fun is halted when Creepy Old Lady storms in and slashes…..her waterbed. Yes…..a waterbed. Gun Girl is pissed about her bed and vows to get back at creepy old lady.

DUDE! Gun girl’s plan goes crazy and she accidently shoots old creepy lady. They decide to hide the body in the pool. I’m not seeing a real heroine in this story yet. These girls are all kind of dumb.

The girls then throw a party in the house. I’m now hoping the worst for them. They are all crap buckets. Oh wait! Someone feels bad. Her name is Katherine. She may be my heroine. She meets a guy I will now call him Sweater Vest and he wipes her tears and they go back to the party of doom.

 Yep! Found my heroine. They realize that creepy old lady is no longer in the pool and may be alive. Katherine wants to call the police but is overthrown by her sisters and they decide to try and find her on their own and dispose of the body again. Really dumb girls.

The girls start being killed one after the other….but on another note. The party band is REALLY good in this movie. Who are they?

Back to the story….Katherine goes to investigate and she finds an attic full of toys. Creepy toys. Sweater Vest comes up and Katherine tells him to leave because she is scared of what is up in the attic with her. Sweater Vest leaves.

Many sorority sisters are killed…..and I will say the scenes were very well shot. I’m very impressed.

AHHHH…..Katherine figures out that old creepy lady is wanting retribution on the ladies of the sorority house because she was unable to conceive a child and they did not leave the house on the day of her sons would be birth. Good lord……….

Craziness ensues when we realize the killer has left her body and is using another body to kill. Doctor dude drugs Katherine to use her as bait to find the killer. Sweater Vest gets shot in confusion and Katherine uses this distraction to get away. Katherine slashes Doctor Dude in defense. Some GREAT scenes come after this. Watch them yourself!

CREEPIEST DAMN ENDING OF A MOVIE EVER!

I really did like this film even though most of the characters made me furious. The last 30 minutes are AMAZING and will keep me sleepless for a while.

Feminist Slasher Project Research:

This is a hard one to start out with because while I did prove my point with one female character, there were about 12 other women in this movie that made me hate my gender. Yes, I’m talking about you Gun Girl! Katherine steps up and turns against her friends in order to do what is right and save other lives. To be very truthful though, none of the devastation in the movie would have happened if these young college women were not so evil in nature. So I will have to say there was some sexism involved in the story line. I’m going to give this a green light in the Feminist Slasher Project because I did prove the main point. A chick did save the day.

My name is Susan and I am a horror movie connoisseur with a special interest in the slasher film genre. I am also a staunch feminist. In my 33 years of life I have found that most people say my affection for horror movies contradicts my daily strife to promote the progression and power of women in society. I'm now ready to fight that argument.....with great force. 

In this blog I will take on the Top 100 Slasher Movies (http://www.onlygoodmovies.com/blog/movie-megalists/top-100-slasher-horror-movies/)

In this blog I will not only give a detailed play by play but I will also prove a theory that has been plaguing me for years. Here we go:

Feminist Slasher Project investigators:

Susan "Sus" Goodwin - Blog Creator / Feminist / Slasher Movie Fan

James "The Jimi" Hattar - Slasher Movie Fan / Full of Testosterone / Loves the Ladies

Alison "Alicat" Wise - Slasher Movie Fan / Film Degree /International Correspondent

Alecia "Lee" Rossi - Hates Slasher Movies / Film Buff /International Correspondent

I'm going to address my theory by using the scientific method. I found a Susan friendly website that gave me the tools for my project:

(http://www.sciencebuddies.com/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml)

Totally a kids website, but I don't care....do you?

• Ask a Question : Do horror slasher films subjugate and objectify women? Or are they a media force that brings women into power and portrays them as heroines?
• Do Background Research: My background research is purely personal. Years of watching these movies has lead me to this project. 
• Construct a Hypothesis: My theory is that most horror slasher movies are driven by female survival and generally show the protagonist to be a female. Not only do women lead the fight against the aggressor they also are the heroines in the films. My theory is that most horror slasher movies do not hurt the feminist movement but rather support it. 
• Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment: I will be watching the top 100 slasher movies with assistance from 2-3 correspondents to insure a non-bias environment. I believe that if 85% of these films meet the criteria then I have suceeded. 
• Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion : Coming Soon
• Communicate Your Results: Coming Soon