The Teenage Wasteland: Slasher Movie Uncut
J. A. Kerswell


"Death has come to your little town", Dr Loomis to the cops in John Carpenter's Halloween, the movie that kick-started the Golden Age of Slashers.

Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut lifts the lid on the glory days of the slasher perhaps the most reviled but also commercially successful of all horror's subgenres. Taking its cue from the Parisian theatre of the Grand Guignol, German krimis, Alfred Hitchcock, grindhouse movies, and the gory Italian giallo thrillers of the 1970s, among others, slashers brought a new high in cinematic violence and suspense to mainstream cinema.

Following the development of the slasher, from its beginnings through the "Golden Age" (1978-1984), and the recent resurgence of the slasher as seen in such movies as Wes Craven's 1996 success Scream, Teenage Wasteland also looks at the political, cultural and social influences on the slasher, and its own effect on other film genres and culture generally.

Packed with in-depth reviews of the best (and worst) slashers, and illustrated by the distinctive and often graphic colour poster artwork from around the world, this book is unlike any other published on this subject.

A must for all film buffs and students of film history and popular culture.