Suspected Serial Killer Robert Zarinsky Has Died!!!

Suspected serial killer Robert Zarinsky, who became the first person in New Jersey to be convicted of murder without any body as evidence in 1975, died in prison at the age of 68 on Friday, November 28th.

So here you have it, my list of top 5 Slasher Films of All Time:

5) Friday the 13th (1980) - Does it really get any better than a bunch of young camp counselors out in the woods, while a stalker offs them one-by-one on a stormy night? I think not. I can watch this movie any time someone is up for it and it never gets old. The acting is awful, the script sucks, the lighting is terrible, but shit if it isn't the most entertaining thing to watch in the dark with a bunch of people. I remember renting the movie when I was 10 or 11 and kept asking my dad when they were going to show Jason. He kept telling me, "wait...it's good." Uhhh....yeah dad, it is fucking good. Showing this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it before is a real treat, as watching them shit their pants at the end never ceases to be hilarious.

4) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - My girlfriend still refuses to watch this movie, despite her need to watch Forensic Files every night, you know, where they show all the disturbing shit real serial killers do. That I will never understand. What I will understand is why so many people love this movie. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is so creepy that it's impossible to watch without feeling uneasy. Supposedly based on actual events (in reality inspired by serial killer Ed Gein), a group of five young adults head to a small town in Texas to check on their grandfather's grave after a series of grave robbings in the area. When they visit their grandfather's old abandoned house, they encounter a family of toothless rednecks, including the one and only Leatherface. The group is hunted down one at a time before subjecting the sole survivor to a family dinner, psychopath-style. The dinner sequence is by far the most disturbing scene, as they revive ol' granpa with a taste of the girl's blood, and repeatedly attempt to smash her head with a mallot (apparently it's really hard to do this when you're a decaying old man). By the end of this movie you feel like you just watched a documentary, and almost makes you think that maybe you have. The sequels and remakes have all been terrible because they missed the vibe of the original, which proves that less is more.

3) Psycho (1960) - Also inspired by the acts of Ed Gein, Psycho has been called the first slasher movie. Well, it is and it isn't. Norman Bates dresses up like his very deceased mother and kills guests at his seedy hotel. There's no real gore in this movie, apart from the shower scene (which in all honesty is really scary the first time you watch it), but he does kill at least two people on screen. I first watched this movie when I was 8 or 9, at the insistence of my dad who is a huge Hitchcock fan. Perhaps this movie is what turned me on to the horror genre. There isn't much to say about this movie that hasn't already been said, so I will say this: Anthony Perkins' delivery of "Shut up! Shut up!" still makes me laugh.

2) Friday the 13th: Part IV - The Final Chapter (1984) - Have you ever actually watched this movie? No? Well, you should. Better than the original in my opinion, the third sequel in the neverending franchise is the definitive Jason movie. Having received the iconic hockey mask in the nearly unwatchable Part 3(D!), our favorite serial killer is at it again, except this time a young Corey Feldman and his family are at prey. Did I mention that it stars Crispin Glover and he does a really weird dance during a party scene? That scene alone is reason enough for you to go to Amazon and order the most expensive copy of this movie (select overnight shipping for an additional $16.99 so you can watch this ASAP!!!). Adorable Tommy Jarvis (Feldman) chops Jason to peices at the end, effectively killing the character for good, but that didn't really matter because they pretended like this never happened in Part V. Never quite understood that, but seriously, watch this movie, you won't regret it. Plus you do get a good 5 minutes of an unmasked Jason!

...actually it really isn't all that impressive.

1) Halloween (1978) - Psycho may have been the first slasher movie, but Halloween invented the formula for all slasher movies that followed. I first watched this movie with two friends when we were 13. They both dismissed it as trash, but I didn't, I saw it as something much much more. What's so intriguing to me is Donald Pleasance's dedication to his character, so much so that I've come to believe that Pleasance actually was Dr. Sam Loomis and that's why he continued to enthusiastically portray the character in Parts II, IV, V and VI until he died. Don't get me wrong, his performance in the original is great, but hearing him say the same thing over and over in the sequels is damn near depressing (and hilarious). This movie has Michael Meyers stalking a couple of babysitters and their respective boyfriends in his hometown after escaping a mental institution. You know what's really weird? You don't find out about Jamie Lee Curtis' character being Michael Meyer's sister until the 2nd movie. It really makes you question whether John Carpenter originally intended this, or if it was an afterthought. Nonetheless, I always find it amusing when stories from inferior sequels become canon.

Notable slasher films that you should also definitely watch: Slumber Party Massacre, Sorority House Massacre II, Sleepaway Camp II and Silent Night, Deadly Night.