Just in time for Halloween, Starz brings us this insightful look at the history of the slasher film and its many incarnations and…re-incarnations. ‘Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film’ takes us through the birth, death and eventual re-birth of one of the most controversial, gratuitously violent and utterly entertaining horror sub-genres.

The main question I had going into this film was ‘who really originated the slasher film?’. I was always under the impression that Mario Bava was the grandfather of the genre with such Italian classics as Twitch of the Death Nerve (Bay of Blood). Of course there’s also Bob Clark’s ‘Black Christmas’. But who truly deserves the title? The film does touch on this, but the answer isn’t really as easily narrowed down to one specific film or filmmaker. The history begins as far back as the 1800’s with a grotesque stage play depicting death and gore in front of a morbidly curious audience. It’s only a matter of time before death is depicted on film. Alfred Hitchcock eventually takes his classic style of suspense to a new level with what some would say laid the seeds for what would eventually become the slasher film. Of course that movie was Psycho, with Janet Leigh’s infamous shower scene shocking audiences around the world. Of course, Leigh’s daughter Jamie would end up playing an even larger role in the creation of what would become a template for hundreds of films to come. John Carpenter’s Halloween was met with both critical and financial success, becoming the top grossing independent film at that time. This caught the attention of the studios, and thus the slasher film was born.

This lead to a series of copycat films following the same format: a crazed killer wielding a weapon begins to kill off a group of teens one by one in a creative fashion. Friday the 13th found success with its own form of over the top horror. The genre began to focus more on special effects and gore, gradually phasing out the idea of leaving it to the audience’s imagination. By the mid eighties the genre gradually lost steam as the market became over-saturated with sub-standard rip offs and low budget disasters that eventually left a bad taste in both audiences and studios. The films were criticized for their increasingly sexual and violent content, and some even saw the recurring theme of women being terrorized as a male response to the uprising women’s rights movement. The audience no longer rooted for the victims, but rather waited to watch and cheer at the different ways in which they eventually were killed. Is it starting to sound like I have a problem with this? Because I don’t. I love watching them die too. Just to be clear. And for me, sometimes even the worst horror films are in some ways the best. Eventually, the genre did make its come back with the success of Wes Craven’s Scream series. The film not only revitalized the genre, but poked holes through its many conventions, all the while winking at the audience but still managing to terrify them.

Going To Pieces features interviews with some of the key players in the horror world. Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Sean S. Cunningham…and we’re treated to some of the best clips from some classic (and not-so-classic) films. I was excited to see Savini and Joseph Zito talk about their work on the underrated ‘Friday the 13th 4: The Final Chapter’ and ‘The Prowler’. The film didn’t get as obscure as I thought it might, but it still managed to represent the hundreds of films that popped up throughout the eighties.

Unfortunately, I think Going to Pieces may be somewhat limited in its appeal. There’s definitely a built-in audience for this one (and I’m included), but as a film on its own it doesn’t have much to offer. Horror fans are treated to clips of some of their favourite films as non-horror fans sit back and think ‘how do people find this entertaining?’ I guess I would’ve liked to have seen the film make more of a case for what horror fans love about slasher films and why they’re so successful. Non-horror fans are going to leave just as confused and unconvinced as when they walked in. But in the end, this was meant for the fans and manages to recount the history of the slasher film in an informative and passionate movie.