JohnLeeT
Superbly researched, beautifully edited, expertly written, and a tremendous tribute to the horror genre unlike anything ever produced before. The overwhelming facts, clips, trivia, and expert commentary who were part of making these films flood the screen. It is a documentary not to missed by anyone interested in the genre as well as a any student of cinema. The artistry of these motion pictures will shock viewers and anyone who sees it will come away with a true appreciation of the writers, producers, directors, and actors who made this unique form of cinematic expression possible. A true American art, the genius, the imagination, and the ultimate beauty of these films have finally been given monument they deserve.
insomniac_rod
A really interesting study on the Slasher sub-genre but lacks on profundity on the investigation field.It clearly skips some important movies like "Black Christmas" or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" because it doesn't gives the respect to them. But that's just my opinion.The featured movies are really well chosen although more footage would be great. Still, this is a movie recommended ONLY FOR FANS of 80's slashers. If you are looking for more interesting Horror movies, look elsewhere.As a fan of 80's Horror I truly enjoyed the movie because I grew up with Jason and company.It was also a great detail to show interviews from important Horror icons from the time such as John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and Sean S. Cunningham.
Michael_Elliott
Going to Pieces (2006) *** 1/2 (out of 4) A look at the rise and fall of slasher films is one of the best documentaries I've seen on the subject due in large part to the fact that we actually get to see clips from the various movies that are being discussed. Most of the times these documentaries can't show clips due to rights issues but thankfully all of the glorious clips are here. We also get interviews with the big guys like Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Sean Cunningham, Rob Zombie and various other smaller guys who contributed to the big part of the genre back in the early 80s. I also loved the clips from Siskel and Ebert where the two say horror films only appeal to guys who want to kill women themselves.
Het81
I am a huge horror movie and slasher fan and I was shocked to see this on my Starz On Demand list. It is pretty good, but I think they try to cover a little too much ground in its short running time to really go into one subject too much. I have seen a lot of the movies that are discussed and it also introduced me to a few that I wasn't familiar with that I can now try to watch. It is good for an introductory course on slasher films and I seriously could have watched another hour's worth of material, but I understand why they had to trim to a shorter time. It does one of my least favorite things in documentaries though, when the subtitles would come up showing a person's name and what film they worked on, the font was very small and it was only on the screen for a second, so I had to keep rewinding to see the name's of people that I didn't recognize (which admittedly wasn't a lot, but still.) If you are a fan of the genre, this is a good little documentary to get you acquainted with some classic movies and maybe introduce a few new titles to track down.
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