Behind the Couch

The Hills Have Eyes (2006) 2013 Dir. Calum Waddell Backwoods: pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. Heavily wooded, uncultivated, thinly settled areas. 2. An area that is far from population centres or that is held to be culturally backward. “ West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight. On the slopes there are farms, ancient and rocky, with squat, moss-coated cottages brooding eternally over old New England; but these are all vacant now, the wide chimneys crumbling and the shingled sides bulging perilously beneath low gambrel roofs. ” HP Lovecraft The backwoods has long held a strange place of morbid fascination in the collective mind of city dwellers. It represents escapism – somewhere to go to negate the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle; a place which grants...

2013 Dir. Calum Waddell Ever since Alfred Hitchcock filmed Janet Leigh being stabbed to death in a shower in Psycho (1960), stories of knife-wielding madmen - stalking and slaughtering unsuspecting victims - have become a permanent fixture in horror cinema. Hitchcock humanised the monster and made audiences think twice about being alone in the company of that nice looking, quiet guy from next door. You know, the one who lives with his mother?    Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever takes an often irreverent look at the often maligned and misunderstood slasher films which came in the wake of Hitchcock’s masterpiece. Made by Calum Waddell and Naomi Holwill of High Rising Productions, who have been widely acclaimed for their work with Arrow Video and other labels, it is a knowing love letter to stalk and slash cinema. Amongst those discussing the appeal of the slasher are the likes of Tobe Hooper ( The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ), Adam Green ( Hatchet ) Jeffrey Reddic...