Movie Info
Movie Name: The Slayer
Studio: The International Picture Show Company
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): October 1, 1982
MPAA Rating: R
I found the pitchfork
Kay (Sarah Kendall) has been haunted by dreams and nightmares. When her husband David (Alan McRae) and her brother Eric (Frederick Flynn) and sister-in-law Brooke (Carol Kottenbrook) decide to get away to an island cottage. When Kay arrives, she finds that the cottage and the island appear to be like visions from her dreams…and nightmares. Kay suspects that her dreams weren’t dreams but premonitions and that something is coming…and no one is safe!
Directed by J.S. Cardone, The Slayer is a horror slasher. The movie received censorship complaints and was classified as a “video nasty” in the United Kingdom.
The Slayer seemed like it was going to be a typical “slasher in an isolated place story”, but the story goes a weird and different way with psychic dreams and a killer that might or might not exist…but just because the movie goes a different direction, it doesn’t mean that it is very good.
I need a manicure
The movie is automatically limited in that there are only four real characters…plus Marsh and a fisherman who hangs out on this isolated island that doesn’t appear to have anything on it except this one house. With few victims, the movie needs to go heavily psychological…and it feels like it only goes partially psychological. With a somewhat cool looking “monster”, there is potential, but the movie ends up with a rather muddled approach then wraps it in a weak twist ending.
The cast doesn’t stand out. Sarah Kendall plays the tortured Kay who is almost like a Cassandra that no one will believe. Her husband played by Alan McRae is kind of a jerk, but so is her brother played by Frederick Flynn. The only person who feels halfway sympathetic is Brooke played by Carol Kottenbrook as the woman who doesn’t think Kay is insane (or at least needs more help if she is).
It’s Morbin’ Time!
The movie should be a creature feature, but it largely is a monster movie that doesn’t utilize the monster well. The “slayer” is rather cool looking when you get a look at it, but it is underused and underdeveloped. If The Slayer had been about the Slayer, it might have been a better movie (though at least you get a nice seaside location).
The Slayer is a rather generic horror movie that needs more of a hitch. The film seems to go between psychological thriller to monster movie to slasher and never comfortably settles on any one of them (almost landing on a long Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside type of tale). Instead of making it unique, it feels more like it is directionless. The film flounders when it could have real potential…if it had, The Slayer could have slayed another day.
