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

Adam Rockoff's 2002 book of the same title supplied the template for this breezy, fast-moving history of the slasher film, in which innumerable clips of murder and mayhem are juxtaposed with brief snippets from interviews with such genre stalwarts as Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Sean S. Cunningham, Tom Savini, and Rob Zombie. Concentrating on titles from the 1970s and ‘80s, Going to Pieces hits most of the high spots but, unaccountably, gives short shrift to some key films—for example, there's nary a mention of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Slasher films have always been profitable, so a historical overview like this one, teeming with blood and breasts is sure to be popular with the beer and pizza college-aged crowd, as well as nostalgia-minded boomers who saw the original films in the theater, back in the day. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)