Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986 | Adam Rockoff
"In writing about this rogue genre, Rockoff limits his audience. Yet in gathering all the nasty bits of gougings, stabbings, and bloodlettings that constitute the production of this cinematic subspecies, he targets how such gory films as Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. actually altered the shadowy landscape of US cinema. For the most part, the author surveys the history of the specialized genre with reviews of key films and scans the usual suspects of sadistic villains, psychotic killers, and final girls. He grounds their cartoon violence in the grisly histrionics of the Grand Guignol theater and the visceral horror of Hitchcock's Psycho and Italian crime films. The chapter on the quintessential slasher film, John Carpenter's Halloween, offers intriguing glimpses into its independent production. Unlike Carol Clover (in Men, Women and Chain Saws, CH, Sep'92), Rockoff dismisses both critical and pop psychoanalytical perspectives, carving up the texts themselves. For a popular, nonacademic work, the book is amazingly well-informed, engaging, and liberally illustrated. As a guilty pleasure, it will be fascinating reading, especially on a dark and stormy night, like Halloween. Recommended for general readers, undergraduates, and mostly fans of slasher movies. Copyright 2002 American Library Association" --Choice Reviews.
Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986 | 
