The Gore Connoisseurs

With The Burning recently added to Shudder (in the US at least) and many discovering the movie for the first time, is it time to re-evaluate the film as one of the greatest ever slasher flicks ? Is there even an argument to say it’s better than the much more ubiquitous Friday the 13 th ? On its release in 1981, The Burning was buried in a slew of similarly plotted slasher flicks – with many complaining it was derivative of Friday the 13 th , released the previous year. It also suffered extensive cuts to its gore effects, and was only officially available uncut in 2003 in the UK and 2007 in the US. On the surface The Burning has much to recommend it. Special effects come courtesy of Tom Savini, who turned down Friday the 13 th Part 2 to work on it. The budget of $1.5 million is also almost three times that of Friday the 13 th . This shows by having the action take place in a fully operational summer camp, rather than just having a handful of camp counsellors turn up ear...

Slasher movies have been preoccupied with the most inventive ways to kill folks for decades. Here's ten of horror's most elaborate murders from artisans such as Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Art the Clown. The kills are ranked on originality, gore effects and just how much they make your stomach turn. There's also a bit of info on how the special effects team worked their magic. It hardly needs saying, but be advised there are some bloody images and video clips below. 10/ Caught in a cat flap - Scream (1997) Killer: Ghostface Victim: Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) What goes down: Tatum is confronted by Ghostface while grabbing some beers from the garage. What she thinks is a prank escalates quickly as the masked killer pulls a knife. Tatum looks to have the upper hand as she batters a flailing Ghostface with fridge doors and beer bottles. Yet then she makes the ill advised decision to try and squeeze through a cat flap. Ghostface can't beli...