Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall Of the Slasher Film (2006) 7/10

I'm a big fan of early 80's slasher flicks, especially the slew that Tom Savini did the FX for. I figured a documentary that focused on the subgenre only would be an in depth interesting treat. Somehow the film makers were able to have to broad of a brush stroke and not enough depth.

Going To Pieces.... is a documentary about...well...the rise and fall of the slasher film. It traces its roots all the way back to Peeping Tom and Psycho and brings us all the way to Hostel. There's interviews with numerous directors, special fx artists, magazine editors and critics including Wes Craven, Sean Cunningham, Tom Savini, Tony Timpone and many others.

The documentary is pretty dang informative and covers alot of ground in less then 90 minutes. The film includes the history, the influences, the critical review, the major films, the lesser known gems, and the crappy rip 0ffs too. The interviews are pretty interesting as well, the film makers were able to dig up some pretty obscure directors and get their take on the whole phenomenon. The problem is that the film actually has too broad of a focus for its run time. Each subject is blown threw in a matter of minutes and then its on to the next topic. The problem is that there's really a lack of depth here. Most of what's presented can be found in other documentaries and publications, and for the most part, with more depth to boot. Its certainly a great film for horror fans that have yet to investigate the genre and lays some good groundwork for more focused works that may not include all the subjects found here.

Going to Pieces is a great documentary for those new to the genre but aside from some unique interviews the film doesn't represent anything that can't be found elsewhere.

Overall - 7/10