Going to Pieces: Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film Review

After reading Louise’s article on the evolution of the slasher film a week or so ago, I felt compelled to rummage through my DVD collection and re-watch Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film. This documentary, based on Adam Rockoff’s novel, Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher film 1978-1986, takes a look at slasher genre from both a historical and artistic perspective, while analyzing its impact and significance on modern horror. Where did mankind’s lust for violence originate? How has violence as entertainment evolved, and what does it say about human behavior? These are all questions that the documentary asks and tries to answer. By looking at the social and political themes of an era, we can see how slasher movies reflect society based on the years they were made.

The film begins in the 1960’s with Peeping Tom and Psycho, but really begins to delve deeper into the genre with 1978’s Halloween, as it sets the framework for all slasher movies to follow. It then moves onto 1980’s Friday the 13th where we see a transition from small amounts of onscreen blood to an extreme amount of blood and gore. This period also marks the beginning of major studio involvement within the genre. It is here where the majority of the film takes place.

As studios began to realize that slasher movies could make a huge profit without putting much money into them, they were released in abundance. Ultimately, this would lead to their demise. As the industry became saturated with slasher movies, they started to make less and less money. Sequels were being made left and right and many slashers were going direct to video as demand fell.

In 1996 Wes Craven re-animates the genre with Scream, by giving it a clever mix of self-reference, social commentary, and humor, while still satiating a horror fans lust for bloodshed.  Scream’s box office success paved the way for many new faces to make a name for themselves, and by the early 2000’s horror had made its way back to the top. Movies like James Wan’s Saw and Eli Roth’s Hostel were giving horror a new facelift, and people were flocking to theatres to see them.

Going to Pieces has a lot of interesting information and is full of interviews from directors, producers, and make up artists such as Rob Zombie, Stan Winston, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Tom Savini, Greg Nicatero, and many more. You will see clips from all of your favorite 80’s slashers and learn new bits of information from the people who made them. It also paints horror fans in a good light and really captures our passion and love for the genre. Going to Pieces is streaming on Netflix right now. Anyone who hasn’t seen it should definitely check it out.