El maleficio satánico

"The Slayer" follows a troubled avant-garde artist with psychic proclivities who travels to a remote island with her husband, brother, and sister-in-law in order to regroup. Immediately bothered by the atmosphere of the island, she insists something is amiss among the forests and derelict buildings— but the three dismiss her. Unfortunately, they're wrong.

An early entry in eighties horror that somehow got sidelined by history, "The Slayer" is shockingly good given its lack of notoriety. The set-up is straightforward, and the low character number means there isn't much in the way of the expected body count, but in its brisk eighty minutes, the film manages to achieve a dreadful atmosphere and also boasts some shockingly realistic and disturbing murder scenes.

J.S. Cardone, directed and co-wrote the film—it's his first picture, and he has gone on to work mainly in genre films over the years, giving us the marginalized 2001 vampire flick "The Forsaken" and 2006's "Wicked Little Things." Compared to those films, "The Slayer" is rather minimalistic, but there is a unique sense of foreboding in this film that is something that slasher flicks particularly don't always seem to achieve. The island locale is woodsy and populated with derelict buildings from when it was a resort years prior—an idyllic setting for a horror film. The film in some ways reminded me of a non-wintry "Ghostkeeper," another debased eighties horror picture. The score is quite elegant and ominous, and there are also high-caliber special effects throughout, which are on show during each death sequence, as well as during the monstrous reveal at the finale. Some have argued that the conclusion to "The Slayer" is a cop out. I don't know if I necessarily feel that way. It is rather abruptly thrown at the audience, but it also has narrative significance, linked to threads that are presented earlier on in the film. If anything, it's a somewhat bold move.

Overall, I was quite surprised by how well-crafted this film was. It's not a groundbreaker, but it's a sturdy exercise in dread that happens to be well-shot and eerie. Serious fans of stalk-and- slash movies may find it a bit slow, but it's worth holding out for the impressively jarring murder scenes and the wild card of a conclusion. 8/10.

Two couples in their 30s take a vacation to a secluded isle off the coast when a storm hits and people mysteriously start dying one-by-one. Kay, a troubled artist (Sarah Kendall), says she sees everything in her nightmares before it happens.

I suppose "The Slayer" (1982), aka "Nightmare Island," could be classified as a slasher flick, but it's more accurately a mystery-horror with haunting remote island ambiance, sort of like "The Shuttered Room" (1967), but mixed with elements of moody coastal horror, such as "The Fog" (1980). "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" (1998) took the stormy island setting to forge a more conventional slasher.

The filmmaking is top-notch for the time period, including the superb score. Carol Kottenbrook as Brooke is a highlight, lookin' good in tight jeans. Kendall shows her acting chops as the haunted protagonist. Meanwhile the titular character is diabolically hideous, but you barely get to see him. Yet there's a twist and, even then, the movie's an enigma wrapped in a riddle.

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot on Tybee Island, Georgia, and nearby Savannah.

GRADE: B

Although not the most original concept in horror movie history ( girls dreams start to turn into reality), this is quite a decent and atmospheric movie, well acted and scripted, and it features some unusual and gruesome deaths (in the uncut version anyway). An unusually classy music score (played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra no less) gets things off to a moody start, and the tension slowly mounts as four holiday-makers travel to a deserted island for a weekend vacation which turns into a nightmare, when the bad dreams suffered by one of the group start to come true. Only disappointment I found was the let down ending, when the "monster" finally appears it looks dead phony. Apart from that, this is worth a look.

The Slayer only manages to scrape its way in to the slasher genre with its heels dragging across the floor. Like The Dead Pit, Hard Cover and Small Town Massacre; J.S. Cardone's video nasty includes many of the prominent trappings, but tries to incorporate something slightly different. The majority of the runtime is pretty standard stuff as a silhouetted killer hacks off cast members one by one. But when the maniac is revealed to be a supernatural monster, Cardone stretches the realms of the category beyond tradition. There's certainly nothing wrong with a tad of originality, but the stalk and slash cycle is renowned for its stringent similarities. This of course pushes titles like Pledge Night, Child's Play and A Nightmare on Elm Street just outside of the equation. Much has been written about The Slayer's obvious links to the creation of Wes Craven's Freddy franchise, so I won't dwell too much on that topic. But it's worth recognising the fact that Mr. Craven almost certainly lifted a few plot points from this and the Frankie Avalon bore fest of the following year (Blood Song) to come up with the idea for his huge horror series.

Surreal artist Kay (Sarah Kendall) has been having the same reoccurring dark dream since she was a young child. It contains vivid images of a horrific monster that stalks her in a flame filled room. Even though the nightmare has plagued her more and more over the past few days, she has never been able to see it through to its conclusion. Her Doctor husband David (Alan McRae) has agreed to take her away on a trip with her brother Eric (Frederick Flynn) and his wife Brooke (Carol Kottenbrook). He hopes that a little break from the pressures of everyday life will finally put an end to the restless nights. They have borrowed a beautiful house on a secluded island, which at this time of the year remains virtually un-inhabited. The rugged beauty of the isle immediately captivates Eric, but Kay is spooked because she believes that she has been there sometime before. On the first night they are warned that a dangerous storm is thundering towards the land, and it's arrival sends the atmosphere into total chaos. The following morning when they awaken, David has disappeared, unbeknownst to them semi-decapitated by an unseen menace. Before long, the silhouetted killer begins stalking the island with a pitchfork, looking to turn Kay's dreams into a shocking reality.

The Slayer succeeds in being one of the few video nasties that someway lives up to its gruesome reputation. Robert Folk's impressively orchestrated score keeps the tension running high and J.S. Cardone's razor sharp direction builds a few satisfying scares throughout the runtime. Although Richard short's special effects don't stand up to the scrutiny of Tom Savini's greatest hits, there's still some memorable gore scenes on offer. One guy gets semi decapitated in an ingenious killing that has surprisingly never been imitated over the following years, and there's a decidedly grisly pitchfork impalement that is worth the budget purchase price alone. The film does drag somewhat in places, but some splendid scenes, which see Kay battling to stay awake and prevent the monster's reappearance, salvage the final third. A good plot twist in the closing scene makes up for the somewhat brief showdown when the beast is finally unveiled and the net result is a thoroughly satisfying bloodbath.

Unfortunately, the years haven't been to kind to this feature and the digitally remastered DVD cannot hide the numerous blips on the negative. The level of performance from the cast is also fairly questionable, especially the lack of emotion from Sarah Kendall. Even when her brother and husband have been slaughtered she fails to look anything other than totally flat. At times Cardone also falls foul to the old 'victim # 1 goes missing so victim # 2 goes looking for him', which shows a slight weakness in the screenplay. But the intriguing set locations, some stunning aerial photography and a decent score (recorded at London's notorious Abbey Road studios) make up for the shortcomings.

The Slayer is one of the many old horror movies that have been re-released totally unedited on budget DVD. You can pick it up for next to nothing on Amazon, so there's really no reason why you shouldn't. Captivating, compelling and at times downright gruesome, this one is certainly worth picking up.

Four young people vacation on a barren island. One of them, a female artist, has dreams that depict ghastly murders. Sure enough, the fun begins when her boyfriend is found dead, and others begin to die, too. Soon, she becomes awear that something in her nightmares is escaping threw her dreams...and it ain't Freddy Krueger! A decent, watchable horror movie. I wonder if Wes Craven got the idea from this film for "A nightmare on elm street"? (Hmm, it makes one wonder…) The acting is generally pretty good, with the exception of Kay (Sarah Kendall) who overacted terribly. I've always liked the director, J.S. Cardone, He's capable of taking a generic plot and making it interesting and intelligent (See "Shadowzone" and "Alien Hunter", both were smart and enjoyable sci-fi movies that he scripted himself.) and he does well here with the creepy atmosphere he delivers. There's enough gore to satisfy, the pitchfork-threw-chest death scene being the best, but the gore is delivered just sparsely enough to make it effective. And the monster, once it finally shows up, looks really cool. I recommend "The Slayer" to horror fans, it's kind of different then the rest of the early 80's slashers, and one of the better ones at that. My rating for "The Slayer"—6.5/10.