The U.S. is obsessed with serial killers. We read about them, we develop TV shows about them. And we make movies about them. Here is our list of the greatest (most popular and well-known) cinematic slashers of all time.

Freddy Krueger

The Child Molester and Dream Demon

First Appearance: Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

No. of Film Appearances: 8

Created By: Wes Craven

Actor: Robert Englund

Description: Freddy’s face is a mutilated, fire ravaged visage covered by smooth, bumpy scars. His teeth are rotting and jagged. He’s fond of wearing a dark fedora and a red-and-black striped shirt. He rarely goes anywhere without his clawed glove.

Backstory: Freddy’s mother was a nun who was tortured and raped by more than 100 pyschos while she was trapped in a prison for the criminally insane. His mother nearly died in childbirth and Freddy found a home with a violent alcoholic who abused him both physically and mentally. Freddy later murdered his adoptive father. Freddy grew up, got married, and fathered a daughter. He worked at a power plant and developed a fondness for kidnapping and murdering children. The police called him the Springwood Slasher. After Freddy was captured, law enforcement bungling forced them to release him. The parents of Freddy’s victims hunted him down and burned him to death. But before death took him, Freddy was approached by three evil dream demons who gave him the power to turn dreams into reality. Now Freddy returns to hunt victims in the night.

Method of Murder: Freddy wears a metallic glove with razor sharp claws at the end. He likes to torture his teenage victims, by manipulating their dreams. He generally kills them while they sleep – the wounds materializing in real-life after he slays them in slumber land.

Killer Quote: “One, two, Freddy's coming for you/ Three, four, better lock your door/ Five, six, grab your crucifix/ Seven, eight, gonna stay up late/ Nine, ten, never sleep again.”

Random Pop Reference: Freddy has appeared in three episodes of “The Simpsons” Halloween specials.

Honors: AFI ranked Freddy number 40 on its list of greatest Heroes and Villains list.

Jason Voorhees

The Hockey Mask and Machette-welding Mass Murderer

First Appearance: Friday the 13^th (1980)

No. of Film Appearances: 12

Created By: Victor Miller, Ron Kurtz, Sean S. Cunningham, Tom Savini

Actors: Many actors have portrayed Jason including Ari Lehman, Warrington Gillette, Steve Daskewisz, Richard Booker, Ted White, Tom Morga, C.J. Graham, Dan Bradley, Kane Hodder, and Ken Kirzinger

Description: A gigantic, mammoth man with a distorted, ugly face usually clad tattered dark clothes. Jason rarely speaks. He wears an old 1950s style Detroit Red Wings goalie mask and carries a machete.

Backstory: Jason was not the primary killer in the first “Friday the 13^th” movie – his mother was. Jason was the motivation behind her murders – because he died from a drowning while camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake fooled around. Jason – the mass murdering adult – didn’t come until the 1981 sequel. Not much is known about Jason. He was a mentally challenged child who grew up with an abusive mother. Creators re-engineered his drowning so that he didn’t die, just washed up on shore and lived in the forest. It is speculated that he continues to kill to please his dead mother. His creators have called him a “psycho-savant” with a high tolerance for pain.

Method of Murder: Jason is quite fond of using sharp object to poke, dismember, and slaughter his victims. That’s why he really enjoys using his rusty, blood-splattered machete.

Killer Quote: “He (Jason) doesn't have any personality. He's like a great white shark. You can't really defeat him. All you can hope for is to survive.”

Random Pop Reference: Jason has become a cultural icon – from comic books to parodies to appearances in pop songs. Musicians from Alice Cooper to Tupac Shakur have sang about him.

Honors: Jason received a lifetime achievement award from MTV in 1992 – one of only three fictional characters to ever get the award.

Michael Myers

The Supernatural Babysitter Butcher of Illinois

First Appearance: Halloween (1978)

No. of Film Appearances: 9

Created By: John Carpenter and Debra Hill

Actors: Many actors have played Michael including Nick Castle, Tony Moran, Will Sandin, Dick Warlock, George P. Wilbur, Don Shanks, Chris Durand, Brad Loree, Tyler Mane, and Daeg Faerch

Description: A hulking man in soiled gray overalls wearing a rubber William Shatner mask backwards and often carrying a butcher knife. He is obsessed with teenage girls and often follows them around before murdering them and their friends.

Backstory: The character, according to creator John Carpenter, was based on Yul Brenner’s killer robot in the film “Westword.” At six years old, Michael murders his sister with a butcher knife on Halloween night. The boy was sent to a hospital for the criminally insane. He escapes as an adult and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois to continue murdering teenagers. It is likely that Michael is supernatural or possessed by some supernatural evil spirit – because he cannot be killed (by bullets, knifes, etc.).

Method of Murder: Michael enjoys killing with knives – but he’s very resourceful when he needs to be.

Killer Quote: “(I wanted to) raise this Michael Myers character up to a mythic status; make him human, yes, but almost like a force. A force that will never stop, that can't be denied."

Random Pop Reference: Michael made his debut in video games in a 1983 Halloween game released by Atari. He’s been the subject of novels, comic books, toys, dolls, etc. Another icon of the horror movie slasher genre.

Honors: The Halloween series has grossed more than $328 million worldwide.

Leatherface

Got Chainsaw?

First Appearance: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

No. of Film Appearances: 6

Created By: Tobe Hooper

Actors: Leatherface has been portrayed by actors Gunnar Hansen, Bill Johnson, R.A. Mihailoff, Robert Jacks, and Andrew Bryniarski

Description: A big, chubby man who is mentally retarded. He wears old clothes and likes to stalk around wearing the peeled off facial skin of his victims. He enjoys lugging around a gas-powered chainsaw.

Backstory: Leatherface’s real name is Bubba Sawyer. He is one of four brothers who live with their grandparents and great-grandmother in an old house in Texas. The family members are cannibals – and Leatherface the primary cook. In the new series of movies, Leatherface’s real name is Thomas Brown Hewitt. His mother dies in childbirth and he is tossed in a Dumpster where a woman finds him and takes him home. The creators noted he’s treated more like a pet than a son.

Method of Murder: Leatherface uses a chainsaw to dismember his victims and then carves up the meat for storage in a meat locker – so his family can dine on the remains later. He’s also been known to use a sledgehammer.

Killer Quote: “Leatherface is completely under the control of his family. He'll do whatever they tell him to do. He's a little bit afraid of them.”

Random Pop Reference: Leatherface has been the main character is a series by Wildstorm Comics.

Hannibal Lecter

Psychiatrist and Cannibalistic Serial Murderer

First Appearance: Manhunter (1986)

No. of Film Appearances: 5

Created By: Thomas Harris

Actors: Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, Gaspard Ulliel and Aaran Thomas

Description: A short, thin man with great physical strength for his size. He has a sixth digit on his left hand (two middle fingers). He had wispy black hair which he slicks back over his head and small than average teeth. He also has a calm, creepy demeanor and an uncomfortable stare. He’s extremely sophisticated and quite an elegant talker.

Backstory: Lecter is the son of Lithuanian aristocrats and is orphaned with his sister during World War II. The siblings are captured by Nazis – who murder his sister and eat her – in front of him. Later escaping, Lecter is raised in an orphanage until adopted by his uncle. He has an affair with his uncle’s wife after his death. His obsession with catching his sister’s killers overcomes him and hunts down, kills, and eats each of them. He is a brilliant man and graduated from the John Hopkins Medical Center to become a world renowned psychiatrist. He continues to kill – mostly patients and those connected to his patients until he is arrested by the FBI and imprisoned.

Method of Murder: He murders in various methods, but usually eats his victims by cooking them up gourmet style.

Killer Quote: “(Lecter) is standing at rest - like a savage animal confident of the brutality coiled up inside him. His speaking voice has the precision of a man so arrogant he can barely be bothered to address the sloppy intelligence of the ordinary person.”

Random Pop Reference: Lecter has been parodied on “South Park” and in the movie “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”

Honors: “Silence of the Lambs” won the Oscar for best movie in 1991.

Jigsaw

Want to Play a Game?

First Appearance: Saw (2004)

No. of Film Appearances: 5

Created By: James Wan and Leigh Whannell

Actor: Tobin Bell

Description: A balding middle aged man with a hang-dog, expressionless face. He is paunchy and average sized, but very cunning, patient, and willing to do what it takes to succeed.

Backstory: Jigsaw is Jonathan Kramer, a civil engineer who is dying from an inoperable frontal lobe tumor as a result of colon cancer. He is divorced from his wife, a drug counselor, after their unborn child dies in an attack by one of his wife’s patients. The event makes Jigsaw angry and detached. Once he learns of his cancer, Jigsaw devises intricate traps and places flawed people into them in order for them to see the error of their ways. Those who survive, Jigsaw believes, will be better people. Oddly, Jigsaw doesn’t see himself as a murderer, but someone who helps people. He wants his surviving victims to appreciate their lives.

Method of Murder: Jigsaw sets up deadly traps to see how far his victims will go in saving their own lives. If they die he cuts a jigsaw puzzle shaped section of their flesh – as a symbol that they where missing a part of themselves needed to survive the traps.

Killer Quote: "He's not Jason or Freddy. He's not even Hannibal Lecter. He's a person with extreme beliefs and he really thinks he's making a difference. He's a vigilante if anything. He thinks he's making a difference."

Random Pop Reference: Jigsaw action figures are now available.

Honors: The Saw movie series has earned more than $555 million worldwide.

Patrick Bateman

The Boy Next Door

First Appearance: American Pyscho (2000)

No. of Film Appearances: 3

Created By: Bret Easton Ellis

Actors: Christian Bale, Dechen Thurman, and Michael Krembo

Description: A sophisticated, well-educated young investment banker. He’s handsome, but intense and very competitive. He’s fond of wearing expensive designer clothing – especially suits. He is arrogant and seems full of self loathing.

Backstory: Bateman is the oldest son of wealthy Long Island parents. His parents are divorced and his mother lives in a sanatorium. Bateman attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, and Harvard Business School. He lives in Manhattan on the Upper Wide Side and works in investment banking. He’s the ultimate yuppie, except that Bateman leads a double life and enjoys murdering people in a variety of ways – including torture and cannibalism.

Method of Murder: Various – but he likes to torture or have sexual liaisons with his victims before killing them.

Killer Quote: "I like to dissect girls; do you know I'm utterly insane?"

Random Pop Reference: In the Showtime serial killer series “Dexter,” the main character uses Patrick Bateman as an alias.

Honors: “American Psycho” has become a cult hit.

Chucky

This Doll is Your Worst Nightmare

First Appearance: Child’s Play (1988)

No. of Film Appearances: 5

Created By: Don Mancini, John Lafia, and Tom Holland

Actor: Voiced by Brad Dourif

Description: A two-foot tall plastic “Good Guy” doll. The doll has red hair and big, blue eyes and wears cute overalls.

Backstory: A serial killer called the Lakeshore Strangler is shot by police. The mortally wounded killer, Charles Lee Ray, breaks into a toy store and falls on top of pile of “Good Guy” dolls. Just before he dies, he chants a voodoo spell to place his soul into one of the dolls. The toy store burns to the ground, but the doll lives.

Method of Murder: Chucky kills with various methods, but generally like to use hammers, knives, and hatchets to do away with his victims.

Killer Quote: “This is certainly not "Pinocchio" or "Babes in Toyland," and it may not do much for the sale of large boy dolls between now and Christmas.”

Random Pop Reference: Chucky was parodied on “Robot Chicken,” and voiced by Mark Hamill.

Honors: The Child Play series has gross more than $175 million worldwide.

7 Obscure Serial Killer Flicks Worth a Look

Halloween: 30 Years Later

10 Bizarre Serial Killers in History

Labels: Freddy Krueger, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Horror, Movies, Serial Killers, Texas Chainsaw Massacre

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Thanks to everyone who entered. These three winners will soon be receiving the 12 DVD set “Horror Classics” featuring 50 of the best classic horror movies of all time:

• Lee Windener of Portland, OR -- favorite horror flick: "Bride of Frankenstein"
• Keith Rawsom of Gilbert, AZ -- favorite horror flick: "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
• Tim Ahern of Winslow, ME -- favorite horror flick: "Saw"

Stay tuned to more contests and giveaways at your favorite place for literate blather the DaRK PaRTY ReVIEW

Labels: Contest, Dark Party, Halloween, Horror

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Observations and Rants While Watching the Horror Movie That Changed the Genre

I saw the original “Halloween” for the first time when I was in eighth grade. To say it scared the shit out of me is to reduce the term “scared the shit out of me” to meaninglessness. The movie gave me nightmares – for weeks. Hell, it changed my perceptions on fear. I still think about butcher-knife welding madmen every damn time I hear a strange noise in the night.

Can it be argued that the United States’ obsession with serial killers started with this low-budget slasher flick (that cost about $300,000 to make)? Can it be argued that Michael Myers – the demented seemingly supernatural killer – is the grandfather of Hannibal the Cannibal, Jason Voorhees, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Freddy, and all the rest of our gloriously worshiped Hollywood mass murderers?

Yes, it can be. So on the year that “Halloween” turns 30 I decided to rent the 25^th anniversary edition and watched it – alone – to take only my second look at the horror movie that changed everything.

Here’s my real-time running commentary on the film (the parenthetical comments were all added later):

• John Carpenter’s piano score is one of the creepiest themes to a horror movie. The opening sequence shows a jack o’lantern with a bemused expression -- a candle glowing within it's plump interior. The music pounds away and I can feel a lump growing in my throat – this is truly a moment of hesitancy and I’m thinking: “Why the hell am I doing this?” The music grows and the camera gets closer and closer to the pumpkin and the bemused expression starts to subtly change – into a very demented face and then it all goes dark and I know I’m friggin' in for it.

• The first person point of view is brilliant. The sister is making out with her boyfriend – so you know that her number is up. Where did the idea that sex will get you killed in a horror movie come from anyway? Oh, yeah -- "Halloween.” It was John Carpenter that introduced for modern audiences the concept of “immoral” teenagers literally getting the knife. One of the criticisms of the film is that sexual active characters are the first die. Carpenter dismisses this as nonsense – but there it is.

• The boyfriend bounds down the stairs after like two minutes. Talk about a quicksilver in the sack! No wonder he’s ambivalent when she yells down the stairs for him to call her in the morning. I’d be embarrassed at that performance as well.

• The first time you see the movie – you think the first-person is some adult killer. He puts on the mask and just starts hacking up his sister. It’s a terrible, shocking scene. When he runs down the stairs and the car pulls up with his parents inside. Wow. There’s this little kid in a clown suit and the knife is so big in his hand it looks like a sword. Blows you away. Even now when I know its coming. Is there a better opening for a horror flick?

• Donald Pleasence is an ugly bastard. Why do I immediately start thinking about Nazis when I see him?

• Pleasence is driving with a nurse who is dressed like Florence Nightingale. She’s actually wearing a black-and-red cape. I'm not kidding.

• Uh oh, here comes the music!

• There are mental patients wandering the lawn – at night, in the rain! Donald don’t leave the goddamn car!

• Michael has escaped and Donald shouts: “The evil is gone! The evil is gone from this place!” Jesus, what a jackass.

• Jamie Lee Curtis makes her appearance at 11 minutes in. She’s a high school girl in nearby Haddonfield – where Michael Myers grew up. Hmm. He escaped from the mental institute. Wonder where the plucky bastard is heading?

• Jamie Lee is hot.

• Holy crap! Michael is in the goddamn house! Oh, man, he’s following her and you can hear him breathing.

• Classroom scene. Look at all those terrible 70s haircuts. Nice bangs.

• Whoa, Michael is outside the school watching Jamie. Damn this movie is scary (It’s no wonder Entertainment Weekly named it the 5^th scariest of all time).

• Donald finds a truck that Michael stole and runs off. The camera pans back and there’s a dead body in the bushes. For those counting – Michael has already murdered two people: his sister and this unknown pick-up truck driver. Donald, by the way, was wearing a suit with a vest. Quite sharp.

• Jamie is walking with her two girlfriends – and the girlfriends share a smoke. They’re dead (the girlfriends are P.J. Soles and Nancy Kyes. Soles is probably best known as the sexy MP who romanced Bill Murray in “Stripes.” Kyes appeared in “Halloween II” and “The Fog” and then pretty much disappeared).

• Carpenter just doesn’t let up. One of the incredible things about the film is how he makes the scenes so tense and creepy – even when they are taking place in broad daylight. Michael drives slowly by the Jamie and the girlfriends and one of them yells out at him. He brakes in the middle of the road. It’s really quite scary – yet it is right after school.

• By the way, if its autumn in Illinois then why are all the trees green? (Turns out the film was done in California – in the late spring. The crew made fake dead leaves and threw them all over the set. Couldn’t do much about the real trees, however, and apparently there are a few palm trees in the movie).

• The music really does add an element of eeriness to the entire proceedings.

• There’s Michael again behind a shrub. This guy is quite persistent.

• Hmm. Suddenly the streets and sidewalks are soaking wet. When did it rain?

• Michael’s in the laundry in the backyard!

• Donald is back – checking out the graveyard of Michael’s sister, Judith. The headstone is gone. Donald says: “He came home.” Captain Obvious!

• Fabulous. “Don’t Fear (the Reaper)” by Blue Oyster Cult is playing in the car with Jamie and Kyes. Michael, of course, is following them.

• Whoa. It’s suddenly pitch black. Night falls fast in Illinois.

• Apparently, Michael ate a dog when hiding out in his old, abandoned house. Donald and the Sheriff are checking out the house. Donald tells the Sheriff “This is no man.”

• Oh, man. A rock gets thrown through the window. I may have a skid mark on my boxers.

• Donald is talking about dark eyes and devil eyes. He thinks Michael is evil and he spent six years trying to reach him and another six trying to keep him locked up.

• Look at the size of those telephones!

• Kyes is in deep, deep trouble. She just took off her shirt and pants in the kitchen and Michael is watching her. Call me nuts, but I don’t think he likes naked women much.

• Michael kills another dog. Death count: 2 dogs, 2 humans.

• Jamie and the boy she babysits are watching “The Thing,” which John Carpenter would end up remaking (in 1982).

• The people Kyes are babysitting have no washer and dryer in the house. It’s in a dark shed in the backyard. Very unfortunate for her. Oh, man, here it comes!

• She made it.

• Michael is like a jack-in-the-box.

• Kyes is alone again – after dropping off her ward with Jamie. The way she’s parading around it’s only a matter of when. She in her car and she leans forward to wipe condensation off the windows (really nice touch) and then Michael pops out of the backseat and kills her.

• Body count: 3 dead people.

• P.J. Soles just showed up with her boyfriend – and they’re drinking beer. They’re heading into the house where Kyes was babysitting and now it’s completely dark. Now they are making out. Won’t these kids ever learn?

• Now they’re upstairs in bed and Michael’s shadow passes across them.

• Soles has an annoying giggle.

• Michael just pinned the boyfriend to the wall with the butcher knife. He standing back to admire his handiwork. Brutal.

• In one of the more twisted scenes, Michael puts a sheet over his head and put glasses on it. He goes to see Soles. She calls Jamie, who – swear to God – is knitting. Michael then proceeds to choke Soles to death with the phone chord.

• Body count: 5 dead people

• Donald sees the car Michael stole down the street. You think he would have, you know, turned around earlier.

• Jamie has walked across the street – into the house of death.

• She creeps up the stairs and there is Kyes lying on the bed with her throat slashed and Judith Myers gravestone behind her. She whimpers, bangs into the closet door, and the boyfriend swings out (putting another skid in my poor boxers). Jamie screams. Run, Jamie, run!

• And then another door squeaks open and there’s Soles. Another scream. Jamie really can scream.

• Then Michael is behind her and stabs – and actually misses. The bastard rips her shirt and she falls down the stairs. But how did he miss?

• She runs across the lawn screaming help. But the neighbors don’t do anything. Sounds more like California than Illinois.

• Here comes Michael. She’s banging on the door trying to get in and he walks across the street. It’s a tense scene. But the little boy finally does let her in. Unfortunately, he’s already in the house.

• Michael pops up from behind the couch – and misses again. It’s a bloody easy shot! The dude is 0 for 2. So Jamie sticks a knitting needle in his neck.

• Donald is wandering the streets aimlessly.

• Jamie goes to get the children – but she should have called 911 first. Here comes Michael again. Jamie locks herself in the closet and the rattling starts. This is the famous scene with the light bulb swinging and then she stabs him in the eye with a coat hanger and then with his own knife. Jesus.

• Michael is up again. He grabs Jamie and starts to choke her. Donald runs in and shoots the living blazes out of him. Hits him like six times and he falls out of the second floor onto the ground. Jamie says: “Was that the Boogie Man?” Donald says: “As a matter of fact, it was.”

• When he looks down. Michael is gone. The music starts and Donald looks really, really scared.

• The movie ends with Jamie whimpering. Then the breathing from every where.

• Damn that’s a scary movie.

Labels: Halloween, Movie Review, Movies

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By Rev. Colson Crosslick

In the 1980s there were several Halloween incidents in which innocent children were brutally murdered by liberal Satanists handing out poisoned candy and apples riddled with razor blades. Children literally perished on the streets!

This is just one of many reasons why Christians should boycott Halloween – a national anti-Christian holiday that celebrates evil, the devil, and witchcraft (It’s also a holiday that promotes drunkenness and wantonness in college kids).

Recently, some left-wing media types have tried to debunk the reality of tampered candy on Halloween claiming there are no creditable evidence of this ever happening. Don’t let these alleged “facts” get in the way. I happen to know first hand that these cases are true because I read about them on the Internet.

So if the life of your child isn’t enough of a reason to avoid Halloween then maybe you should also consider your soul. Think logically. Would Jesus condone a holiday symbolized by ghosts, goblins, witches, and orgies? If you need further proof – look no further than the Holy Bible:

“Don't participate in the things these people do. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.” (Ephesians 5:7-12)

While Halloween isn’t mentioned by name in this passage of scripture, it refers to pagan rituals. Halloween, as any educated person knows, originated as a Pagan celebration of darkness – a time when the spirit world and the real world became one. Celtic druids would dance around bonfires and toss babies into the flames in order to pay tribute to their vile gods. The druids – mostly robust, muscular men – would then have a homosexual orgy and howl at the moon with unrelenting passion.

As you can plainly see this is behavior for a Hollywood movie set, not for good Christians! When Christians are lulled into the belief that Halloween is simply a secular holiday and harmless fun for children, they are falling into a trap. Let your guard down here and you might as well start buying your children licorice-flavored condoms and crack pipes.

So what should a good Christian do on Halloween? Here are five family filled fun activities to participate in rather than dressing up like a whore or a pirate to beg for poisoned candy at your neighbor’s house.

· Go to your church and worship Jesus Christ

· Hold a pumpkin carving contest with your kids using Bible themes. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a pumpkin carved to look like Moses smiting the Egyptians!

· Decorate your house with crucifixes and hand out pamphlets filled with Bible sayings to the children of misguided parents who clearly don’t understand that they are setting their children on the road to Hell.

· Hold a Noah’s Ark costume party and have all the Christian children come dressed up like different animals that were on the ark – including baby dinosaurs, bald eagles, and kangaroos!

· Hold a fundraising party for a local Christian charity. You can serve Jell-O and hand out lollipops while raising money for those less fortunate.

Some of my parishioners think my stance on Halloween is extreme. But in the eyes of God, celebrating Halloween would be the same thing as worshipping pagan gods, reading comic books or attending a service at a Synagogue. In other words, Halloween is a sin. Celebrate at your own risk!

(The Rev. Colson Crosslick is pastor of the Pretty Good Shepherd Church in Ripsaw, Arkansas. In the past, he has called for a boycott of not only Halloween, but Labor Day. He also writes the regularly appearing column Under God's Right Arm for DaRK PaRTY.)

Labels: Halloween, Under God's Right Arm

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Labels: Halloween, Music

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