Not For the Faint of Heart: Movieline's Halloween 25 Brings on the Slasher Films

· Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)

The ultimate Halloween party movie. As with all of the entries in this franchise, this one is about an all-girl slumber party where the guests get, well, massacred. But in this tongue-in-cheek installment, death is dealt by a singing, dancing Elvis impersonator who kills his victims with an electric guitar drill. Also... what's that? Why yes, there is and out-of-nowhere song-and-dance number that ends in a murder! I've embedded that clip below! Also, if the misogyny of most slasher films gets you down year after year, take comfort that this film was directed by a woman (Deborah Brock).

· Opera AKA Terror at the Opera (1987)

Director Dario Argento is more renowned for '70s classics like Suspiria and Deep Red, but Opera is the film I keep coming back to. As the titles suggest, the film concerns people getting murdered during an opera production. Also, in a diabolical twist, the protagonist is forced by the killer to watch every murder, Clockwork Orange style. Argento's stylish, subjective camera techniques are on full display here (I'm actually not sure that the camera ever stops moving), and the playful way Argento mixes high and low art is more fun here than in any of his classics. Most of the scenes stay true tonally to the high-class origins of opera, but then every single murder is accompanied by over-the-top metal courtesy of the rock band Goblin. The trailer below captures the juxtaposition perfectly.

· <Evil Dead Trap (1987)

Pay no attention to the derivative title -- anyone bored with the standard stalk-and-kill formula should take a look at this wild Japanese film. It begins as a stylish slasher film, with a TV crew getting killed off in brutal, inventive ways as they investigate a warehouse where a snuff film was made. But it soon travels into seriously weird territory and just gets crazier from there. You will feel like you just watched three amazing horror movies by the time this one ends.

PREVIOUSLY IN MOVIELINE'S HALLOWEEN 25

Monday: Vintage/B&W

Tuesday: Terrible Children

Wednesday: Vampires

Thursday: The Devil

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