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| GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER FILM |
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| Participants: John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Stan Winston, Rob Zombie |
| Writer: Adam Rockoff |
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Studio: VELOCITY/ThinkFilm |
| DVD release: 20 March 2007 |
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Runtime: 88 minutes (1 disc) |
| Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC |
| DVD Features: Subtitles (Spanish), Audio Tracks (English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo),
Filmmaker commentary with producers Rachel Belofsky and Rudy Scalese and editor Michael Bohusz, A message from the author Adam Rockoff, Bonus interviews, Trivia game, Trailer, Trailer gallery |
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The most maligned subgenre in the history of modern cinema finally gets its due in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. Though it has its flaws, Going to Pieces takes a fairly comprehensive look at the slasher flick within the scope of the horror genre, and its reflection of society at the time. First a disclaimer: it's assumed by the very nature of its existence that those who would watch a documentary on slasher films have probably seen a lot of them (at the very least, some of them). Many a twist ending is revealed, so if you want to check out any of the featured films, you might want to do that before watching this documentary.
Like going to Slasher 101, this film starts at the beginning then has the major (and minor) players discuss in detail their thoughts of the genre, their particular film, the impact of other films, and the inspiration, machination, and eventual exploitation of the slasher film. People like Wes Craven, John Carpenter and special effects guru Tom Savini all give us a glimpse inside their genius. While it does cover movies like Psycho and the evolution to films like Halloween and Friday the 13th , it only glosses over the gory Italian films and their impact. It also quickly elides over the modern trend in horror, which are gory, bloody and violent, but not the same caliber of films like the aforementioned Halloween.
While it does a fantastic job with the genuine hits, the actual middle of the movie shows clips from the more obscure - and quite frankly by that time overproduced, underdeveloped - cookie-cutter flicks that followed the paradigm first displayed in Friday the 13th more so than Halloween; though this classic gets lumped in with the rest of the bloody bunch, it really relies far more on suspense and that classic score.
To give you a little heads-up to the movies discussed, here is a partial list. Though spoilers aren't given for all them, crucial details are shown or talked about. Along with the films mentioned above (and their subsequent sequels), you also have
.and for those I might have missed, I apologize. Overall, Going to Pieces is a great dissection (pun intended) of the subgenre.
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