Review: Slice & Dice – The Slasher Film Forever / Cert: 18 / Director: Calum Waddell / Screenplay: N/A / Starring: Corey Feldman, Tobe Hooper, Mick Garris, Tom Holland, Jeffrey Reddick, Patrick Lussier, Felissa Rose, Adam Green / Release Date: May 13th
Horror fans, and slasher fans in particular, have been spoilt recently by genre documentaries; His Name Was Jason and Never Sleep Again have dissected the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series to the core. Following on from these comes Slice & Dice, a very British look at the history of slasher cinema, which traces the trend back to its humble beginnings with Peeping Tom and the seminal Hitchcock classic, Psycho, and all the way through to modern remakes of original subgenre hits.
As with any documentary, there are the usual series of talking heads that are happy to provide their own little bit of insight into the subject matter. Corey Feldman (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) heads a stream of actors, directors and producers who recount their experiences on set and their thoughts on the slasher phenomena. It’s interesting to see and hear the musings of individuals who don’t normally get screen time in documentaries like this – Adam Green (Hatchet series), Tom Holland (Child’s Play) and Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine remake) are just some of the names that turn up here.
However, it is the fact that the talking heads on view here are not normally heard from and the obvious non-involvement of the bigger hitters who are conspicuous by their absence that lets Slice & Dice down. It has the best of intentions – Waddell is a known genre journalist who has a genuine love of horror – and tries to offer fans something new, which it achieves to a certain extent, but an extremely short running time means that what could have been an insightful deconstruction of slasher cinema comes up short.
The creators must have struggled to get hold of the rights to a lot of slasher classics, hence the use of stills from the big studio productions rather than clips, and the inclusion of more films from lower budget companies such as Charles Band’s Full Moon show that the budget of this production was lower than was perhaps hoped for. This is a real shame as it would be great to see a packed documentary about this sub-genre – both in length and content. Interesting in parts, but a real missed opportunity.
Extras: Audio commentary with director/producer Calum Waddell / Additional ‘outtake’ interviews featuring Corey Feldman, Felissa Rose, J.S. Cardone, Kevin Tenney and more / Q&A from the Glasgow Film Theatre featuring James Moran and Norman J. Warren / Footage from premiers / Trailers
