Review #454: 'The Slayer' (1982)

Another day, another grossly absurd video nasty slasher film. J. S. Cardone's The Slayer offers nothing new to this (even by 1982) very tired sub-genre, each bringing nothing new to the screen - a tiresome effort to profit, and take advantage of horror tropes. Two couples go to a remote island on holiday, the two females based on cliche, as they appear aggressively unhappy about the trip before it even starts (typically ungrateful women! (sic)). Kay (Sarah Kendall) is an artist who paints from her nightmares, and she instantly feels uncomfortable on setting foot on the island.

Of course, once they have spent one night in the rental house, they begin to be mysteriously killed off, a fact that Kay believes she is responsible, as she had dream-premonitions of the gruesome events. With its dull colour pallet of browns, greys and yellows, this is pretty dull stuff. The plodding story could have been trimmed by at least 20 minutes, as the director seems to simply fill time with tedious rummaging, and bizarre and pointless dialogue.

One thing that does elevate this "shocker" is the supernatural manifestation of the monster, with its skeletal head, brightly lit in flaming orange colours. However, this image is left for the last shot on the island, and despite the movie tradition of not showing the beast until the end, this film may have benefited from a more prominent monster. The epilogue is bizarre in itself, bringing nothing to what had happened previously and possibly not really having any relation to the film at all - although, by this time I was so disinterested that I may have even distracted myself purposely to get away from the atrocity.


Directed by: J. S. Cardone
Starring: Sarah Kendall, Frederick Flynn, Carol Kottenbrook
Country: USA

Rating: *

Marc Ivamy