Has Caller ID Killed The Slasher Sub-Genre?

[pizowell]

Remeber those late great days where a person (or psycho killer) could just call someone up and threaten their life with immunity? Those days are gone and I say we blame caller ID for that. Has caller ID killed slash? What do you guys think.

[JayWolf]

Uhhhhhhhhhh, Piz. The killers calling people really didn't take effect till "Screm" which was about around the time they released caller id. And beisdes, the caller id doesn't ruin the phone calls from evil forces and Freddy and other evil beings. I say, it didn't ruin the slasher genre. I say that Kevin Williamson ruined the slasher genre because he made one good film (Scream) and the trend picks up and killed it for many.

[The Arrow]

Kind of wrong there Wolf. The phone has been very prominent in 80's slasher movies. When A Stranger Calls, Black Christmas and many Argento flick come to mind. So I agree with Piz...caller ID has tranished slashers but then again they can always call from a cloned cell or a phone booth...technologie can suck sometimes..

[JayWolf]

Well Arrow, I never saw those films and have only seen a couple Argento flicks (I'm hunting down a collection of Argento so I can see them all) So that would explain it. But I still think Kevin Williamson is responsible for ruining the slasher genre.

[pizowell]

Sounds to me like someone needs to brush up on their slash flicks there JayWolf. A slasher could just skip the whole threatening phone call stuff and go straight for the home invasion slash or the good old slash in general. Prom Night also had the killer calling his victims the night of prom.

[JayWolf]

Well, some movies I can't find, Piz, because my video stores are too fucking cheap to carry them. And I just don't buy a film unless I've already seen it or rented it (unless it's Dario Argento of course). I do need to see those films but I think I'll skip Black Christmas. What also pisses me off is that my video store had to ditch 1/4 the movies in every gerne they had because of a damn tanning salon. GRRRRRRR!! And they use to have those films you mentioned as well. But I still say Kevin Williamson is responsible for making slasher films shit these days.

[JayWolf]

Damn typo demon! *pulls out a machete and chops the typo demon to pieces* Where it says, "gerne" in that last post, it should read "genre."

[pablotheintern]

Skipping Black Christmas would be a big mistake.

[JayWolf]

Why is that?

[The Arrow]

Cause its one of the best and creepiest slasher flicks out there

[JayWolf]

Why is it one of the best and creepiest slasher films of all time?

[Antonio Del Lago]

BLACK CHRISTMAS (1975) was the first slasher film to feature the "menacing phone calls device", followed by WHEN A STRANGER CALLS in 1979, PROM NIGHT in 1980, and the SCREAM trilogy (of course). This gimmick has been done to death (pun fully intended).

If you want to kill someone, why call them up first and threaten them? JUST DO IT already!

[jim varney]

I know absolutely no one who owns caller ID. My 12 gauge helps me sleep far better at night.

[The Arrow]

Just read my review of it...thats why I think its one of the best slashers out there...

[JenDan05]

There is also such a thing as *67 (STAR-6-7) that makes the call anonymous. I've played some pranks in my fifteen years of life and they were great! I don't know what I would do without star-67!!

[Antonio Del Lago]

But JEN, there are some phone numbers that have a Star 67 BLOCK! LOL!

[JenDan05]

Really? lol

[pizowell]

Yes Jen.

[The Undertaker]

Slasher movies from the 80s. Sit back, enjoy the violence, and view the hairstyles at your own risk.

[The Undertaker]

Damn, I responded accidentally to the wrong topic. My bad.

[teenkiller]

Its a shame Black Christmas isnt known by most of the mainstream public and people think that Scream started the whole killer on the phone thing. Black Christmas should be re-released to thetres in a couple years for its 30 year anniversary. That would be awesome. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[AlienClown]

Nothing's been ruined, because 1) not everyone has caller ID I think that's a pretty obvious fault in your logic and 2) FAR from every slasher film relies on or even has anything to do with anonymous phone calls.

[Kim_EZ]

The phone is one of the most frightening devices IMO. It startles you with a very loud ringing. Befoe you answer, you never know who's it going to be calling, or what they're going to say...

Anyway, yeah not every movie relies on Caller ID. Plus, if a slasher does have someone using a phone, the writers will probably at best not even mention a Caller ID anywhere in the film to keep away such theories.

[Wolfman]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Antonio Del Lago:
But JEN, there are some phone numbers that have a Star 67 BLOCK! LOL! </font>

Yes, but rumor has it that you can pay a little extra to bypass Star 67 Block. I'm not sure how many times the cycle repeats.