The Slayer (film)
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| The Slayer | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | J. S. Cardone |
| Written by | William R. Ewing |
| Produced by | William R. Ewing Eric Weston Anne Kimmel |
| Starring | Sarah Kendall Frederick Flynn Carol Kottenbrook Alan McRae |
| Cinematography | Karen Grossman |
| Edited by | M. Edward Salier |
| Music by | Robert Folk |
| Distributed by | 21st Century Film Corporation International Picture Show Continental Video Inc. Marquis Video Planet Video Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes 86 minutes (uncut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Slayer (also known as Nightmare Island) is a 1982 horror film directed by J. S. Cardone. The film gained notoriety and was classified in the UK as a video nasty in the 1980s.
The film concerns two couples who go on vacation together to a small island off the Atlantic coast of the United States. One of the women, plagued by disturbing nightmares since childhood, claims that she knows the island from her dreams and that staying there will mean their imminent deaths. An oncoming hurricane traps everyone on the island, and over the next three nights, several people are murdered by an unseen individual or presence.
The film is unique among slashers for its' arthouse style ambiguity: Part of the film is told out of chronological order, leaving it unclear as to which scene is the actual climax, and three mutually-exclusive interpretations of the films' events are offered, with the narrative providing evidence in favor of each.
Plot
Kay (Sarah Kendall) is an abstract artist who has been plagued since childhood by a series of disturbing dreams. The intensity and frequency of the dreams have fluctuated over the course of her life, as has their content: Some of her dreams are simply of glimpses of desolate locations that leave her feeling dread upon awakening, while others feature the gruesome deaths of her friends and loved ones at the hands of a supernatural force. Recently, her dreams have become more frequent and disturbing than ever, resulting in a shift in the quality of her work. Afraid that the dreams are aggravated by stress, and fearful that her newfound success may be slipping away, Kay's family and friends plan a vacation for her to a small island off the coast of Georgia. Accompanying Kay will be her husband, David (Alan McRae); Kay's brother, Eric (Frederick Flynn), who introduced her to David; and Eric's wife, Brooke (Carol Kottenbrook).
As the couples' plane prepares to land, their pilot, Marsh (Michael Holmes), informs them that he's just received notification that an Atlantic Hurricane has shifted course towards the island. Marsh hurriedly drops the couple off, telling them that he has to leave the island before he's stranded there. The couples discover that, against expectations, the island is deserted, and populated largely by derelict buildings and the ruins of a once-thriving resort town. Kay informs the rest of the quartet that the island is the place she has been dreaming about since childhood, and that they are all in danger if they stay there. Unnable to leave due to the hurricane, Brooke, David, and Eric try to assuage her fears.
Over the next three days, David, Eric, and Brooke are murdered one-by-one. With each subsequent killing, alternate possibilities as to the motive for their deaths are offered: Eric believes that Marsh never left the island and brought the couples there to kill them, a supposition that is granted some support when Marsh is later seen on the island. Kay believes that the island has allowed her dreams to cross over into reality, and that the creature from her nightmares is responsible-- a theory supported by the fact that the deaths only occur when Kay is asleep. Additionally, it becomes apparent that Kay herself may be the killer, murdering in the throes of a somnambulistic trance out of repressed resentment towards her loved ones.
With everyone except for her dead, Kay barricades herself in the beach house and struggles to stay awake. As night falls, Marsh attempts to gain entry into the house; Kay shoots him with a flare gun, killing him and setting the house on fire. When she attempts to escape the house, Kay discovers a flaming, skeletal creature waiting for her at the front door.
The film jumps to a scene of Kay as a child being woken up on Christmas morning by her parents. Kay tells them that she had a nightmare and describes the events of the film; it is unclear whether the scene is a flashback or if the film itself was merely a nightmare. After telling her parents about the dream, Kay's father presents her with a black cat, and Eric enters the room. Kay looks at the cat and becomes visibly frightened.
Cast
- Sarah Kendall as Kay
- Frederick Flynn as Eric
- Carol Kottenbrook as Brooke
- Alan McRae as David
- Michael Holmes as Marsh
- Paul Gandolfo as Fisherman
- Newell Alexander as Kay's Father
- Ivy Jones as Kay's Mother
- Richard Van Brakel as Eric (as a child)
- Jennifer Gaffin as Kay (as a child)
- Carl Kraines as The Slayer
Release
Critical reception
Allmovie wrote "The Slayer boasts some effectively eerie atmosphere and a dark, downbeat attitude. Unfortunately, sluggish pacing eliminates the tension that might have been established between the minimal cast and the sinister deserted-island setting."[1]
Home Video
The film has been released on VHS and DVD format. The Slayer was released in the U.S. on double feature video format by Continental Video alongside another feature - Scalps. It was cut by five minutes or so, in order to make room for the second feature, but all the gruesome scenes and violence are intact.[2] The film has never been made available on DVD in the U.S.
In the UK, the film has had several releases. It was initially released in the UK on VHS uncut from Vipco before being banned when it became one of the several films to appear on the video nasty list in October 1983. It remained on the list before being dropped in April 1985. It received a new release in 1992 by Vipco, with 14 seconds cut by the BBFC. However, in 2001 the film was released once again by Vipco on VHS and for the first time on DVD and was passed uncut by the BBFC. The same DVD version was released in 2010, uncut by Cornerstone Media, but it is only the outer packaging that is new, the disc is from Vipco's release. The extras include trailers and filmographies. Both DVD's have an aspect ratio of 4:3 full screen.[3]
See also
References
- ^ Fred Beldin. "The Slayer (1982)". Allmovie. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- ^ Ziemba, Joseph A (September 1, 2005)"The Slayer (1982) VHS review". bleedingskull.com. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ^ "Re-Slayed...Recent re-release of the video nasty: The Slayer". melonfarmers.wordpress.com. Retrieved 5 November 2010.