Butcher Knives & Body Counts Essays on the Formula, Frights, and Fun of the Slasher Film

"From meat cleavers and machetes to summer camp carnage and sorority house massacres, from final girls and scream queens to demented deviants and dead teenagers, slasher films have turned body counts into box office gold. It's the oft-maligned -- but surprisingly durable -- sub-genre of horror films that uses a Freudian rulebook and bases the survival rates of its characters on vice and virtue. From the earliest black-and-white forerunners of the slasher to the low-budget aesthetics of the 70s, from the 80s golden age to the self-referential gloss of the 90s and beyond, Butcher knives and body counts brings together over 70 filmmakers, editors, actors, and writers to explore the archetype of the slasher film and trace its evolution from formula to franchise. From the inventive kills and the gory intestine spills right down to the last tagline and toe tag, Butcher knives and body counts celebrates the enduring formula, frights, and fun of slasher movies"--Page 4 of cover.