'The Slayer' (1982) J.S. Cardone. 

In the early 80s the cinema screens ran hot red with gory delights such as, Tobe Hooper’s freaky ‘Funhouse, Sam Raimi’s demonic ‘Evil Dead’ and another chilling terror title that has manifestly stood the test of time no less rigorously is, J.S Cardone’s surrealistic, profoundly sinister nightmare ‘The Slayer’ (1982). It might well be argued that, Cardone’s haunting indie horror was simply too effective for its own good, and, frustratingly, was initially released on VHS in a heavily censored version.

Two clean-cut, well-to-do couples take a holiday break on a palpably eerie, apparently unpopulated island in picturesque, storm-lashed Georgia. Kay's (Sarah Kendall)pragmatic older brother, Eric (Frederick J. Flynn) primarily organizes the trip to help his anxious, nightmare-riddled artist sister, Kay. This amicable, close-knit group are flown to the island by the grimly archetypal, doom-auguring pilot, Marsh (Michael Holmes) and it is not long after their arrival that the monosyllabic, hatchet-faced Marsh ominously foreshadows: “This island is the sort of place folk’s dream about!’ Kay’s malevolent, deeply felt premonitions are eerily emancipated from her fertile imagination with such gruesome, wide-scream, blood n’ guts verisimilitude that cult 80s classic ‘The Slayer’ remains a genuinely unsettling experience!

Even seen in its edited version ‘The Slayer’ proved entirely watchable, effectively maintaining its dark mystery, as the oppressively isolated location and, Kay’s monstrous visions remained dramatically intact. Her increasing despair, and inexorable descent into hysteria, along with the film’s robust technical merits revealed it to be one of the more nuenced, independently produced slashers of the period. Some modest intrigue remains whether director Cardone’s prescient horror visions penetrated, Wes Craven’s fertile imagination to the point of perhaps infinitesimally influencing his sleep-depriving, box-office smashing ‘Elm Street’ franchise? Who knows? 

Availible fully uncut, J.S Cordone's Lovecraftian terror tempest ‘The Slayer’ is a once neutered slasher behemoth stridently revivified, now with its murderous canines gruesomely unsheathed, the pristine HD format doing much to highlight the once hidden depths of pulse-paralysing psychological horror of those trapped upon this nightmarish island! Before Freddy gave Elm Street nightmares, ‘The Slayer’ tore the audiences dreams to shreds!’