Should we ever sympathize with the villain? Halloween and Friday the 13th cast the mold for slasher movie villains with the wordless killing machines of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. Sure, they are still the most endurable horror icons but we don't (or should I say, most don't) actually root for them, which is why the other films in their franchises aren't very good. After all, the characters have to become stupider and stupider in order to serve themselves up so mindlessly for the slaughter. But can a slasher movie illicit sympathy for both the victims and the killer?
The next two films in the Top 10 answer that question with a qualified 'yes'. In one, the killer's violent tendencies are due to circumstances beyond his control and are somewhat understandable; in the other, the killer's identity isn't revealed until the very end, but the revenge posited by the killer is sort of justified: the victims themselves are very, very guilty. It's very easy to have a faceless maniac hacking away at a bunch of cardboard clones; it's difficult to create a real story and characters, but these two do it quite effeciently.
#4 Prom Night (1980)
Jamie Lee Curtis second trip towards scream-queen status seems, at first glance, to be yet another typical slasher movie, only this time taking place at the titular event; however, there is much more than meets the eye. The set-up takes place several years prior, when a 10 year-old girl was tormented and accidentally killed by four other children; but instead of calling the police, the kids swear an oath of silence. Luckily for them, a drifter was blamed for the crime and has been imprisoned ever since. We jump to eight years later as these same kids are now preparing for the senior prom, but unfortunately for them, there is someone out there who remembers what happened way back when and is now preparing to exact revenge. The convicted, innocent man has recently escaped and there is evidence he is back in town, or was there someone else who knows the real truth?
There is much to distinguish Prom Night from the rest of the pack: we have a genuine mystery that is well-written and intruguing; the acting is mostly successful, especially by Curtis as the older sister of the murdered girl who is currently dating one of the potential victims; and a special mention should go to the editing job that deftly mixes all of the elements and maximizes the tension. And, what is a rarity in slasher films, the victims here actually, kinda...well....deserve it...especially when it becomes clear who the killer is.
Upon its initial release, Prom Night got tossed onto the slag-heap with the plethora of z-grade slasher rip-offs. The criticism was so absurdly over the top one has to wonder whether the critics really even watched it. In my book, Prom Night gets put in the 'win' column. That's not what can be said of the abysmal, in name only remake from 2008, whose makers almost certainly didn't watch the original.
#3 The Funhouse (1981)
For someone who is considered a horror director icon, Tobe Hooper's track record is pretty terrible. Hooper started off with guns blazing in his searing horror debut, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), but he's been searching for an encore ever since. Eaten Alive (1976) has its supporters, and although he's the director on record for Poltergeist (1982), the rumors about how much of what's on screen is actually the work of producer Steven Spielberg have persisted despite insistance from both parties. Hooper was fired from two projects (The Dark, Venom), chucked out the terror of the original Chainsaw and replaced it with a bloody geekshow for the 1986 sequel and was sent to movie jail in 1995 with the release of the godawful The Mangler. The only other real oasis in this very iffy career is the shockingly good The Funhouse.
The setting is a wonderfully seedy carnival that has blown into town, and our lead characters are two teenage couples, who decide, as a prank to spend the night in the funhouse itself. But three things go very wrong: 1) they witness a murder, 2) they unwisely steal some money from a hidden lock-box, and 3) their presence is discovered. The monstrously deformed son of the carnival owner is the killer of note here who is soon dispatched by daddy to take care of the intruders and leave no witnesses. Can we sympathize with this hideous madman? Actually, yes. He's so terrifying that he has to wear an uncomfortable Frankenstein mask in order to even be in the company of other people; his deformed twin brother who died at birth is pickled and on display at the freakshow; and it's pretty clear he's led an existence of abuse, ridicule and revulsion. Who wouldn't have issues?
The biggest strength of The Funhouse is the care given in creating the carnival itself. It feels perfectly authentic what with the livestock tent, creaky rides, Madame Zena the fortune-teller, the rather used-up looking strippers, and Kevin Conway in multiple roles as the various barkers throughout the whole carnival as well as the monster's father. The funhouse itself is too creepy for words (if a little too professional and polished for such a fly-by-night outfit) in its lighting and music and the various trap doors and false walls. All the way around, The Funhouse is top-notch horror film making.
Next up...the Top 2. One you've definitely seen, and one you probably haven't.
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