Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

Oct 13, 2006

1h 28m

★ 6.8

Every Evil, Every Nightmare, Together in One Film

Overview

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, Nightmare on Elm Street revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when Scream brings humor and TV stars into the mix.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Starz Entertainment

Candy Heart Productions

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film Trailers

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Ed Green

Self

Lilyan Chauvin

Self

John Carpenter

Self

Rob Zombie

Self

Betsy Palmer

Self

Malek Akkad

Self

Wes Craven

Self

Sean S. Cunningham

Self

Herb Freed

Self

Chela Johnson

Self

Amy Holden Jones

Self

Jeff Katz

In 1933, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, two audacious and visionary directors, dared to create a motion picture that eclipsed everything seen until then: when King Kong was released, it was celebrated as an artistic and technical revolution and became the first myth created by the young cinematic art.

7.0

How we made Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra

Aug 28, 2002

Behind the scenes of Chabat's take on Asterix.

6.7

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

Nov 21, 2003

British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.

8.5

Red Dwarf A–Z

Feb 10, 2003

A compilation of clips and interviews, originally broadcast on BBC2's Red Dwarf Night, celebrating the show's 10th anniversary in 1998, and subsequently included on the DVD release of Red Dwarf series II.

7.8

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

May 4, 2010

For decades, Freddy Krueger has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films.

6.6

Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini

Oct 16, 2015

Tom Savini is one of the greatest special effects legends in the history of cinema, but little is known about his personal life until now. For the first time ever a feature length film has covered not only Tom's amazing career spanning over four decades, but his personal life as well.

7.3

Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey

Oct 22, 2000

Documentary on the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, with a focus on the production of his unfinished film Game of Death. Using interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, Lee aficionado John Little paints a portrait of the world's most famous action hero, concluding with a new cut of Game of Death's action finale, reconstructed from Lee's notes and recently-recovered footage.

6.2

The Jodorowsky Constellation

Oct 7, 1994

This documentary depicts the filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky talking about his life, his loves, his career as a filmmaker, graphic novelist, and workshop leader, and his eccentricities including tarot reader and theatrical director during The Panic Movement. Directed by Louis Mouchet, La Constellation Jodorowsky includes a lengthy on-camera interview with Jodorowsky in Spanish with subtitles. Marcel Marceau, Fernando Arrabal, Peter Gabriel, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and Jean Pierre Vignau make appearances discussing their various projects with the director. In addition to the interview and film clips, Mouchet features some bizarre footage from Jodorowsky’s absurdist plays in which topless women splattered with paint writhe around the stage in a theatrical production meant to represent The Panic Movement, i.e., an artistic expression in which reason cannot fully express the human experience.

6.2

What About ME?

Jan 1, 2016

Inside the dramatic search for a cure to ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). 17 million people around the world suffer from what ME/CFS has been known as a mystery illness, delegated to the psychological realm, until now. A scientist in the only neuro immune institute in the world may have come up with the answer. An important human drama, plays out on the quest for the truth.

7.4

Wick Is Pain

May 8, 2025

Witness the never-before-seen footage and true story behind the John Wick phenomenon – from independent film to billion-dollar franchise.

8.5

A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon'

Jan 1, 2001

A documentary about the making of Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film, Platoon (1986).

7.0

Let's Get Lost

Sep 15, 1988

Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.

0.0

Ciné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon

Jan 1, 1983

A fortuitous meeting, late one afternoon, in the garden of the Tuileries, of one or two cameras, a tape recorder, and three cameramen/directors, Raymond Depardon, Jean Rouch, and Philippe Costantini.

6.5

Enrique Herreros

Jun 10, 2011

The story of Enrique Herreros (1903-1977), cartoonist, advertiser, poster designer, talent manager, actor, producer and filmmaker, and the most daring of mountaineers; the man who, along with his companions from the so-called “other Generation of '27,” brought Hollywood to Madrid's Gran Vía, turning a grey and sinister post-war city into the capital of an incipient and ambitious cultural industry.

6.8

Sociology Is a Martial Art

May 2, 2001

"I often say sociology is a martial art, a means of self-defence. Basically, you use it to defend yourself, without having the right to use it for unfair attacks." (Pierre Bourdieu) The world has witnesses who speak out loud what others keep to themselves. They are neither gurus, nor masters, but those who consider that the city and the world can be thought out. The sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu is one such witness." Over a three- year period, Pierre Carles' camera followed him through different situations: a short conversation with Günter Grass, a lively conference with the inhabitants of a working-class suburb, his relations with his students and colleagues and his plea that sociology be part of the life of the city. His thinking has a sort of familiarity, which means it is always within our reach. It is the thinking of a French intellectual who has chosen to think his times.

7.5

Profils paysans : l'approche

May 9, 2001

The first of a documentary serie about rural France.

7.2

Profils paysans : le quotidien

Feb 23, 2005

Second documentary of a trilogy produced on the long term (together with Profils paysans: l'approche (2001) and Profils paysans: La vie moderne (2008)), showing the simple lives of farmers in contemporary Southern France.

No Image Available

8.0

Launching Red Dwarf

Nov 2, 2002

A documentary about the making of the first series of "Red Dwarf" (1988).

5.0

Orson Welles in Spain

Jun 1, 1966

Orson Welles presents a proposed film project to prospective investors in Spain. Speaking to an audience of wealthy arts patrons, Welles outlines his vision for an improvised, documentary-style fiction set in the world of bullfighting, centered on a solitary, existential matador who stands apart from his peers. As he expounds on cinema, performance, and the ritualized spectacle of death, the film captures a project that would ultimately remain unrealized.

6.5

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

Dec 12, 2014

The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-85), an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick to surprise his audience, a romantic and legendary figure who lived only for cinema.