Revenge Of The Slashers: Lillian Nebb

Computers And Axes….A Love Story

When computer nerd Gerald Martin encounters the lovely Lillian Nebb in her father’s Paddock County bar, their shared love for technology makes them fast friends…and lovers in 1988’s Edge Of The Axe. Oh, and there’s a psychotic killer on the loose as well. That killer is an axe-wielding masked maniac that is eventually revealed to be none other than Lillian herself, who is out to eliminate the folks that tended to her at the psychiatric hospital, the ladies that pursued her father, and anyone else that gets in her way.

Lillian is a slasher who appreciates the simple things in life. All she needs is an axe, a slicker to stay dry, and a plain white mask that conceals her identity. Her kills are brutal and, thanks to director Jose Ramon Larraz, we get to see most of them played out on the screen. From hacking a nurse in a car wash to tricking the police into gunning down an innocent man, Lillian will do anything to feed her psychotic hunger for vengeance. Lillian was portrayed by Christina Marie Lane.

Edge Of The Axe ended with a very much alive Lillian convincing the police that Gerald was the Paddock County axe murderer. It left the door wide open for a sequel. Unfortunately, we have yet to get one. I’m actually hoping that Edge Of The Axe gets a reboot and that we get to see Lillian back in action.

Thanks for checking out today’s post! See you tomorrow!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Esther/Leena

“I’ll Shoot Mommy If You Tell.”

One of the most unique slashers that will be on this year’s Thirty-One Days O’Horror list is sweet little Esther. If you’ve seen either of the films that feature her, Orphan (2009) or its prequel, Orphan: First Kill (2022), you know just how deadly….and demented….Esther is. She’s quite possibly one of the most sinister killers on this list, and that’s a list that includes Freddy and Jason so far!

For those of you unaware, little Esther is actually thirty-three year old Leena Klammer, an Estonian serial killer who suffers from a form of hypopituitarism, a rare disease that makes her look much younger than she actually is. She uses this to her advantage, assuming the life of Esther Albright, a young girl who is accidentally killed by her brother, Gunnar, and whose body is hidden by Gunnar and his mother, Tricia. This particular fact comes into play in the second film, where Tricia agrees to let Esther live on in order to protect her son and to hide the fact that the real Esther is dead from her husband, Allen.

Esther moves from family to family, usually due to some traumatic event that involves the death of the adopted family members. In Orphan, Esther attempts to kill off her new adoptive family and seduce the father of the family. Keep in mind that Isabelle Fuhrman, who was around ten years old at the time, portrayed Esther. It is both amazing and uncomfortable to watch her performance in both films, as she does a brilliant job as both the young Esther and the adult Leena. In the second film, Fuhrman was in her mid-20s and was de-aged using makeup. Forced perspective was used to make her look much shorter than she actually was, and this led to some rather awkward looking moments in that film. Still, Fuhrman received a ton of praise for her performance in both films and definitely deserved it.

The character of Esther is based upon a real woman. Barbora Skrlova posed as a thirteen year old boy in Norway and as a twelve year old girl in the Czech Republic. You can read an article about it here. It’s an absolutely insane and twisted tale of starvation, sexual abuse, a cult, and police evasion. I highly recommend reading the article, but be prepared to feel sick after doing so.

With her death in the first film, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll get another Orphan movie. That said, I believe that the story should be left alone with just two films. A book series would work much better, as there would be no issues with the age of the actress.

Thanks for checking out today’s post. See you again tomorrow!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Candyman

“Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candy……”

Say his name five times while looking in a mirror and you just might end up on the business end of a hook! Today’s post looks at one of the final 1990s slashers to arrive on the scene prior to the rise of the Scream franchise that changed slashers forever. Of course, I’m talking about the one and only Candyman. The character and his first film are based upon a short story by Clive Barker called The Forbidden. The first film, and our first look at the Candyman, came in 1992.

As many horror films and franchises do, the Candyman films use horror as a metaphor for real life issues. The franchise addresses interracial relationships and the terrible things that can happen as a result of those relationships due to racism, discrimination, and bigotry. It also looks at racial profiling, gentrification, and other social issues.

The iconic Tony Todd has portrayed Candyman in all four of the franchise’s films. Candyman’s real name is Daniel Robitaille. He was a young slave who becomes famous for his paintings. When he falls in love with the daughter of a white farmer and impregnates her, the farmer has a lynch mob cut off his right (painting) hand, smear him in honey to attract bees that eventually sting him to death, and burn his body. The mob scatters his ashes on what would become the Cabrini-Green Homes housing authority of Chicago. As the years go by in Cabrini-Green, Candyman’s legend grows. He requires people to keep his legend alive by having them say his name five times while looking in a mirror. He then comes back to murder the person that speaks his name and anyone else that witnesses them do so. Each film has expanded upon the urban legend of the character, with the fourth film, which largely ignores the second and third films in the series, opening up the “role” of Candyman to a wide group of black men that have been executed or murdered wrongfully. This group is collectively known as the Hive.

The fourth film also brings back one of Candyman’s early targets, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). McCoy was saved by Helen Lyle, who sacrificed herself and replaced him in the Hive when he was an infant. McCoy is essentially being groomed to become the next Candyman in a long line of Hive members. The Candyman before him is a homeless man that is wrongfully gunned down by police. His name was Sherman Fields and he is portrayed by Michael Hargrove. He is the most prominently featured Candyman in the film until the end.

As I’ve already mentioned, there are four films in the Candyman franchise. The 1992 original and the 2021 fourth film are both titled Candyman. The second film took place in New Orleans and was called Candyman: Farewell To The Flesh (1995). The third film, Candyman 3: Day Of The Dead (1999) is a direct sequel to the second film and takes place in Los Angeles in 2020. Thankfully the 2021 film brings the story back to Chicago and back to Cabrini-Green.

Have you ever spoken the name of the Candyman????? Lemme know in the comments and thanks for checking out today’s post. Tomorrow, we’ll be looking at a young killer with an affinity for older men!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Brenda Bates

“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!”

The death of her would-be husband at the hands of two young ladies recreating an urban legend is all the motivation that Brenda Bates needs to recreate a few urban legends herself in 1998’s aptly titled Urban Legend. While the film definitely one of the weaker entries in the 1990s slasher revival spearheaded by Scream, no one can argue with the fact that Brenda is one of the most bat-slappy slashers from that era.

Brenda’s killing spree starts with one of the oldest and most basic of urban legends: the stranger in the backseat of the car. From there, each kill gets a bit more dramatic and a bit more over-the-top. Theft of one’s kidney, a hanging death unwittingly caused by an innocent person, and even eating Pop Rocks and drinking a Coke are some of the urban legends that Brenda Bates reenacts.

Brenda conceals her identity by wearing a hooded winter coat and a black mask. She also enjoys toting around an axe and utilizes it when necessary.

Brenda is portrayed by Rebecca Gayheart in the film. In all honesty, had any other actress taken on the role, Brenda would most likely have been a very dull villain. Gayheart, however, sells the completely bonkers Brenda with zeal! She delivers not only the best performance in the film, but one of the best crazed killer performances of all time in my opinion. Had the film been just a bit better, I’m sure that Brenda would have had a much longer on-screen life because, spoiler alert, she doesn’t die at the end of the film!

Unfortunately for us, however, both of the sequels to Urban Legend, Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000) and Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), don’t bring Brenda back as the gorgeously goofy killer. Instead, the second film introduces a new urban legend-themed killer and the third film goes full blown supernatural. To its credit, the first sequel does give us a Brenda cameo, but I’d love to see her return as the primary antagonist in a future film. At this time, no plans are being made for a reboot, remake, or new sequel in the franchise.

Thanks for checking out today’s Revenge Of The Slashers entry. I have an extra sweet slasher planned for tomorrow!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Russ Thorn

“It takes a lot of love for a person to do this.”

Most of the slashers on this list seem to have a motive for their mayhem. From mental trauma to out-and-out revenge, these folks have a reason for what they are doing. Today’s slasher, Russ Thorn, likes pretty girls and power drills. For this reason, he is known as the Driller Killer. But why didn’t I list today’s slasher by that nickname? Because both of the sequels to the original Slumber Party Massacre (1982), where Russ makes his debut, feature other versions of the Driller Killer and I want to focus solely on Russ.

In the original Slumber Party Massacre, a group of young girls have a slumber party at the wrong time. Russ has recently escaped from prison, where he was serving time for five murders, and picks up right where he left off by killing a local telephone worker and a very, very young Brinke Stevens. Russ terrorizes the girls at the party, but they manage to put up a surprisingly good fight, especially considering that the early 80s thrived on damsels in distress being saved by men. In fact, the men in this film that do get in Russ Thorn’s way end up on the business end of his power drill.

There’s absolutely nothing flashy about Russ Thorn. He wears a denim jacket, t-shirt, and jeans. He throws out a few choice words here and there, sometimes humorous, but he’s pretty much nothing more than your traditional, sadistic, twisted serial killer. There’s no backstory or motive for his murders, except for the fact that he appreciates a pretty face. He was portrayed by Michael Villella in the original film.

Two sequels and a 2021 remake were released. In the first sequel, 1987’s Slumber Party Massacre II, the Driller Killer is a supernatural rockabilly guitarist (yes, you read that correctly) who has a massive drill on the end of his guitar (you read that correctly as well). He haunts the dreams of Courtney Bates, the little sister from the original film, and then murders her bandmates and friends one by one. He’s A LOT mouthier than Russ. The third film, Slumber Party Massacre III (1990), gives us Ken, a troubled young man who was sexually assaulted as a child by his uncle, who goes on a drilling spree. A 2021 remake of the original film turns Russ into an escaped mental patient who has a fondness for drills.

Russ Thorn might be a bare-bones mass murderer, but his weapon is pretty unique. I hope that you enjoyed this look at our favorite drill enthusiast and I appreciate you checking out my post!

Revenge Of The Slashers: The Miner

“Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, One Is Dead, And So Are YOU!”

Although he doesn’t get as much attention as Jason, Michael, Freddy, or even Ghostface, the Miner from My Bloody Valentine (1981) and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) definitely deserves to be in this month’s Revenge Of The Slashers entries. He has a cool suit, an even cooler primary weapon, and he sends folks Valentine’s Day candy boxes packed with a human heart. Now that’s class!

The Miner keeps things simple. He wears a miner’s uniform complete with a hard hat and gas mask. He mainly uses a pick-axe as his go-to weapon and he uses it with great accuracy. He also uses the occasional laundry dryer, boiling hot dog wieners, and a nail gun. He’s also pretty lethal with a shower head. He may not have the charm of Freddy, the dashing good looks of Jason, or the charisma of Michael Myers, but the Miner is efficient and industrious.

The Miner is technically two people in both of the films. Harry Warden is the original villain in both films. In the 1981 version, Harry and other miners are trapped in the mine. In order to stay alive, he murders his co-workers and resorts to cannibalism to survive. He then kills the two supervisors who skipped out on work early to go to a Valentine’s Day party and failed to check on the men. He is shipped off to a secure asylum. Twenty years later, Harry apparently returns just in time for the first Valentine’s Dance since that fateful night in the mines……except it isn’t Harry that’s doing the killings. Nope, it’s Axel Palmer, who is basically a jealous boyfriend who witnessed the murder of his father at the hands of Warden when he was a child. He never recovered from that night and decided to ease his mania by killing townsfolk and the competition, T.J. Hanniger, for his girl. In the 2009 remake, Harry kills his co-workers to conserve air and goes into a deep coma after being recovered from the mine. He later awakens from the coma, escapes from the hospital, and is then brutally murdered by the local sheriff and the mine supervisor after going on a killing spree at a party in the mines. Ten years later he apparently shows up again, but this time around it’s T.J. Hanniger who is on the hunt, and although Axel isn’t the most likeable guy in the film, he turns out to be the good guy. Both films end with the potential for a sequel, but there has yet to be one made.

Harry Warden was portrayed by Peter Cowper in the original film. Neil Affleck portrayed the murderous Axel. Rich Walters portrayed Harry in the remake and Jensen Ackles played the wicked Tom Hanniger. The Miner was immortalized by NECA when that company released an action figure of the character in 2021.

Thanks for checking out today’s post! Tomorrow’s slasher promises to make you fear sleepovers!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Jason Voorhees

“Ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma…..”

Could I really pass on the opportunity to post about Jason Voorhees, arguably the most famous slasher of all time, on Friday, October 13th????? Absolutely not. There’s really not much to say about the big guy that most horror fans don’t already know, but I’ll do my best. Instead of giving you a general description of Jason, I figured that bullet points would work best for him. I hope that you enjoy this look at everybody’s favorite hockey masked slasher.

  • There have been twelve Friday The 13th films, but Jason was only the antagonist in ten of them. His mom, Pamela Voorhees, was the killer in the first film and Roy Burns portrayed a copycat killer in Friday The 13th: A New Beginning (Part V).
  • Jason’s signature weapon is considered to be a machete, but he has used everything from spears to lawn equipment and even a sleeping bag to kill his victims.
  • According to this article from Digital Trends, Jason ranks third on the Kill Counts list with 163 confirmed kills. He only trails Michael Myers by two kills. Topping the list is Pinhead with over two hundred kills. In my book, Pinhead isn’t a slasher, so Jason moves to #2 on my list.
  • Jason is one of the only slashers to make it to outer space. He did so in Jason X (2002).
  • Jason didn’t wear his iconic mask until Friday The 13th Part III (1982).
  • Jason battled another horror heavyweight, Freddy Krueger, in the 2003 crossover film Freddy Vs. Jason.
  • Jason was created by Victor Miller. Young Jason was designed by Miller, Ron Kurz, and Tom Savini. Sean S. Cunningham is considered the co-creator of the Friday The 13th franchise and has been heavily involved on many of the films.
  • Ari Lehman was the first person to portray Jason. He appears in the first film during a dream sequence and is shown to be a deformed child.
  • The first person to portray Jason as an adult was Warrington Gillette. However, Gillette was not able to perform the stunts in Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981), so stuntman Steve Daskawisz appears as Jason for nearly all of the film.
  • Numerous actors and stuntmen have portrayed Jason over the years. Many, like makeup and effects guru Tom Savini, only portrayed Voorhees for one scene. Some of the notable actors behind the mask include C.J. Graham, Derek Mears, Richard Brooker, and Ken Kirzinger.
  • Kane Hodder has appeared as Jason more than any other performer with four appearances. He is also considered by many to be the best actor in the role.
  • Jason has appeared in video games, comics, and novels. There have also been model kits, action figures, and tons of other types of merchandise created featuring his image.
  • A prequel series entitled Crystal Lake is set for release on Peacock at some point in 2024. Little is known about the series, but Adrienne King, who played Alice in the first two films, will have a role in the series.
  • Michael Myers is noted as one of the biggest inspirations for Jason. The duo have never squared off on film but often battle for the top position on multiple Favorite Slasher lists.

Well, that does it for my look at Jason Voorhees. This post is a little different from the rest, but I felt that it was probably the way to go considering how popular Jason has been over the years. I will most likely use this format for a couple of other big bads that will arrive later this month!

Thanks for checking out my post!

Revenge Of The Slashers: The Hag

“I’d kill for the part.”

1983’s Curtains gives us, spoiler alert, not one, but two killers. Only one of them, however, qualifies as a real slasher. I won’t reveal the name of the second killer, but I will say that the slasher in the film wears an old hag mask and while she is never directly called that, the Hag has become the name that horror fans have attached to her. The Hag will stop at nothing to get the starring role in Jonathan Stryker’s new film, Audra, about a mentally unstable woman. The movie mirrors the real world plight of actresses in the late 1970s/early 80s and the misogyny that ruled that era and much of the era prior to and following it. It shows just how far women were willing to go to win the role of a lifetime.

In the film, Stryker invites a number of actresses to his home to audition for the part of Audra, and one by one they meet a terrible fate. The film does a great job of setting up potential suspects right off the bat, and while one particular actress seems to be the obvious choice for being the Hag, a twist is thrown in for good measure. When the real Hag is revealed, the film ends with yet another twist, leaving the audience wondering if the murders actually occurred or if they were all in the head of the killer.

The Hag, ultimately revealed to be Patti O’Connor (Lynne Griffin), favors a knife to kill most of her victims, but one particular death, that of sweet, innocent Christie Burns (Lesleh Donaldson), stands out from the rest. In Christie’s death sequence, the Hag chases her down on ice skates and eventually catches up to her in the forest where she decapitates her with a sickle. It’s one of the best and most unique chase sequences in the slasher genre in my opinion. The Hag is also known for her distinct mask featuring a wrinkled face and long, grey hair.

Curtains is a much deeper film that it appears on the surface, with most of it, from the different types of actresses to the Hag mask itself, representing some of the darkest corners of the film industry. Check this film out. It’s available to stream for free on numerous platforms. I might have to do a full film review on this one, so be on the lookout for that as well.

Thanks for checking out my post. The bloodbath continues tomorrow!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Angie Phelps

“Welcome To Camp Whistler.”

Today’s Revenge Of The Slashers post features a rookie member of the slasher club. Yep, Angie Phelps only arrived on the scene in August of 2022 when the film They/Them landed on Peacock, but she definitely wasted no time racking up a body count. Angie is the masked killer who takes out victims at Camp Whistler. Sounds like a pretty standard summer camp slasher, right? Well, if you think so, you’re wrong.

Angie has chosen Camp Whistler because it’s a conversion therapy camp for LGBTQIA+ teens. This puts quite the twist on a traditional slasher flick, as the villain isn’t necessarily the slasher for most of the film. Sadly, the movie as a whole is kind of dull, but you may want to check it out.

Angie wears a fairly traditional black hooded outfit to dispatch victims. There is one striking feature, though, and that’s her mask. It’s an eyeless face that is haphazardly stitched down the middle (most likely as a representation of her non-binary gender identity). One side of the face is relatively plain and the other side appears to be scratched up with the teeth exposed. It’s an excellent mask. She’s an opportunistic slasher as well, using any and everything that she can get her hands on to kill her victims.

I hope that we see more of Angie in future They/Them sequels. As of right now, I have yet to hear anything about any plans for another film. Angie is definitely an interesting slasher and a unique entry into this month’s Thirty-One Days O’Horror. Let me know if you’ve seen They/Them and let me know what you think about the film.

Thanks for checking out today’s post. It was pretty difficult to find photos of Angie in her full costume, so you’ll just have to watch the film for yourself to see her in all of her glory. See you tomorrow!

Revenge Of The Slashers: Benjamin Willis

“When you leave a man for dead, make sure that he’s really dead!”

Today’s slasher is the primary antagonist of what has often been referred to as the lesser slasher franchise from the 1990s. Despite being written by the same man, Kevin Williamson, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) has always remained in the shadow of Scream (1996). Summer is also considered the first in a long line of copycat slasher films featuring a young, beautiful cast that is systematically taken out by a sadistic killer that attempted to capture some of Scream‘s profitability. Today’s slasher is none other than Benjamin Willis, also known as the Fisherman.

Willis goes on a vengeful killing spree after he is struck by four young adults in a vehicle who, believing that he is dead, dump him by the docks and vow to never speak of the incident again. Willis remains in hiding for a year and then begins his reign of terror in the town of Southport, North Carolina, taking out friends and family of the four young adults before turning on them as well. Willis would return to hunt down the survivors of the first film in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) and, in a whacky twist, be resurrected in 2006’s very forgettable I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer. Another Fisherman killer appears in the 2021 series I Know What You Did Last Summer, but let’s not talk about that one.

Willis wears a black commercial fisherman’s slicker suit and uses a large, industrial fisherman’s hook to kill his victims. When he loses his hand near the end of the first movie, he replaces it with the hook in the second film. He was never a good guy, as he actually murdered his daughter’s boyfriend just prior to getting hit in the first film. We finally see his face at the climax of the first film.

Willis was portrayed by Muse Wilson in the first two Summer films. In the third film, Don Shanks took on the role. Benjamin Willis does not appear in the television series. Rumors about a fourth film have floated around since the early 2010s, but nothing has come to fruition. Hopefully we will sen Ben and his hook back on the big screen soon.

I hope that today’s Thirty-One Days O’Horror entry really “hooked” you in and made you eager for the rest of the month’s posts. Tomorrow’s slasher is the most recent to join the killer club!