I admit it, I'm a sucker for slasher films. Even when they're terrible, I can almost always find something to like about them. There's something about a group of people being stalked by a killer that piques my attention and holds it throughout a film. Classics like the original Friday the 13th and Halloween will never get old for me no matter how many times I see them, therefore the segments in this documentary that cover these films, though I've heard most of the information before, excite the horror geek within me. I also appreciate the documentary's thoroughness, digging up lesser known films like Terror Train, Happy Birthday to Me, and Graduation Day. It's a treat to see genre favorites and lesser known directors and actors alike talking about their experiences creating the slasher classics we know and love.

Finally, the film comments on the decline of the slasher film as the 80s worse on and people began to grow tired of the stalk-and-slash formula (crazed killer stalks and kills a group of people until finally one surviving girl manages to defeat him). So many movies were churned out at this time that audiences realized that they were seeing the same film over and over. Thus the subgenre petered out and largely stayed out of the spotlight until it was resurrected in the 90s with the movie Scream. Then came a trend of more self-aware slasher movies with characters who were in on the gag and who knew the slasher conventions. And that's all well and good, but honestly, I know that I and many other slasher fans will take our stalk-and-slash films however we can get them.

The documentary seems to suggest that people won't accept a "standard" slasher film anymore, the characters must be self-aware or it won't succeed. But while this might be true of mainstream audiences, I know slasher fans like me who will accept crazed killer on the loose movies even if they're not post-postmodern hip and cool and self-aware, as long as they're done with a modicum of talent and style. What I'm trying to say is that even if the slasher film subgenre "rose" and "fell," there are still fans like me who love it and who will buy and watch our favorite slashers unto the end of time. We know it's a crapshoot and for every "Halloween" there's a "Christina's House" or a "Cheerleader Massacre," but we take the chance in hopes of finding something to love... it's what good fanatics do.

If I have one quibble with this documentary, it's that the compilations of clips from several movies that flash by on the screen without identifying the films do tend to get annoying. Even if I've seen the movies featured, I can't always identify which films are which, and title cards would have been appreciated. Other than that, this documentary is full of good information and a healthy respect for the subversive slashers we all love and/or love to hate.

• Be sure to check out Felix's review of "Going to Pieces," here!

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