{"id":9974,"date":"2023-01-19T15:20:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T15:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattshorroraddiction.com\/?p=9974"},"modified":"2023-01-19T15:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T15:20:50","slug":"slasher-month-intruder-mountaintop-motel-massacre-and-the-toolbox-murders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/?p=9974","title":{"rendered":"Slasher Month: Intruder, Mountaintop Motel Massacre, and The Toolbox Murders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MV5BMmFkYjc0M2UtZTZmOC00NjIxLWEyMTktYWYyYjNjODNlMDg1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10004\" style=\"width:425px;height:260px\" width=\"425\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MV5BMmFkYjc0M2UtZTZmOC00NjIxLWEyMTktYWYyYjNjODNlMDg1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg 985w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MV5BMmFkYjc0M2UtZTZmOC00NjIxLWEyMTktYWYyYjNjODNlMDg1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-300x184.jpg 300w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MV5BMmFkYjc0M2UtZTZmOC00NjIxLWEyMTktYWYyYjNjODNlMDg1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-768x472.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL MASSACRE<\/strong> <em>(1983)<\/em> Crazy old Evelyn (Anna Chappell), recently released from an institution, is trying to live a normal life with her teen daughter deep within the Louisiana bayou at the Mountaintop Motel. After she discovers the young girl practicing witchcraft, Evelyn accidentally kills her in a fit of rage, snaps, and goes on a rampage, murdering the motel&#8217;s patrons with poisonous snakes and other instruments of death. This strange slasher has good atmosphere (its rainstorm-night setting and camp-like cabins remind of <em>Friday the 13th<\/em>) and likable characters, and although Evelyn is just a Norman Bates clone, Chappell sells it with a subtle performance. <em>Mountaintop<\/em> might be too slowly paced for some, but this is decent stuff and not the cheap exploitation flick its title would suggest. <strong>B<\/strong>     <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/toolbox.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10033\" style=\"width:416px;height:261px\" width=\"416\" height=\"261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/toolbox.jpeg 670w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/toolbox-300x188.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 416px) 100vw, 416px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>THE TOOLBOX MURDERS<\/strong> <em>(1978)<\/em> A seminal piece of sleazy &#8217;70s exploitation, this cheap quickie features a Los Angeles apartment complex targeted by a sadistic murderer who uses hammers, screwdrivers, and nail guns to kill his mostly female victims. When the police don&#8217;t take a teenage girl&#8217;s disappearance seriously, her older brother (Nicolas Beauvy), who believes she was kidnapped by the killer, takes it upon himself to find her. As with most slasher movies that carry notoriety, <em>Toolbox Murders<\/em> is better than its reputation suggests, but that&#8217;s not to say it&#8217;s <em>good<\/em>, either; the story is hackneyed and the middle half drags considerably. But, it&#8217;s watchable hokum, contains a wacky performance by Cameron Mitchell, and features a fairly taut final 10 minutes. <strong>C<\/strong>+<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/intruder-best-horror-movie-you-never-saw-featured-1280x720-1-1024x576.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9985\" style=\"width:421px;height:237px\" width=\"421\" height=\"237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/intruder-best-horror-movie-you-never-saw-featured-1280x720-1-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/intruder-best-horror-movie-you-never-saw-featured-1280x720-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/intruder-best-horror-movie-you-never-saw-featured-1280x720-1-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/intruder-best-horror-movie-you-never-saw-featured-1280x720-1.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>INTRUDER<\/strong> <em>(1989)<\/em> A great bookend to the 1980s slasher cycle, this energized splatterfest is written by Tarantino&#8217;s future producer, Lawrence Bender. Closing time for a rowdy group of supermarket employees turns into a nightmare when a madman breaks in and begins hacking them to pieces. Is the culprit the obsessed ex-boyfriend of cute cashier, Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox), who earlier made threats against several of her coworkers? Although the plot is routine and textbook of the subgenre, <em>Intruder<\/em> fires on most cylinders because of an excellent cast, punchy characters, and terrific direction by Scott Spiegel (co-writer of <em>Evil Dead II<\/em>). While slow to start, this picks up speed and tension, skillfully structured to build to a slam-bang finale pitting Final Girl Jennifer against the maniac. A worthy entry in the late &#8217;80s slasher cannon and featuring some superb KNB FX work. <strong>B<\/strong>+ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL MASSACRE (1983) Crazy old Evelyn (Anna Chappell), recently released from an institution, is trying to live a normal life with her teen daughter deep within the Louisiana bayou at the Mountaintop Motel. After she discovers the young girl practicing witchcraft, Evelyn accidentally kills her in a fit of rage, snaps, and goes on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-80s","category-capsule-reviews","category-slashers"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matt.doppiavvu.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}