Slashers & Psychos Movies

Platinum Dunes revives the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with this reworking of slasher film legend Freddy Krueger, a deceased child killer who torments the dreams of the teenagers of Springwood, OH. Jackie Earle Haley picks up the killer's mantle from series veteran Robert Englund with the reboot from music-video director Samuel Bayer. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

In this sinister twist on the Sleeping Beauty legend, an innocent beauty suffering from a rare sleep disorder falls victim to a menacing mesmerist and serial killer who draws on his vast arsenal of hypnotic weaponry to take control of her fragile psyche. Art student Danny Sloan (Dylan Purcell) has fallen deeply in love with the Laura Baxter (Cherilyn Rae Wilson), a lovely young woman afflicted with a medical condition brought on by a tragic childhood accident. Laura suffers from Parasomnia, a condition that causes her to literally sleep her life away. She only awakens on rare occasions, and even then, she doesn't stay conscious for long. Unfortunately, murderous psychopath Byron Volpe (Patrick Kilpatrick) has also fallen in love with Laura, and he'll do everything within his power to claim her as his own. Byron may be locked away in a high security hospital, but no restraints in the world are strong enough to keep him from the woman of his dreams. Now, as Byron uses his powers to take possession of unsuspecting hosts in the real world and command a frightening array of ominous creatures in the realm of the unconscious, Danny must face unimaginable horrors to defeat the malevolent killer and save the woman he loves. Dylan Purcell and Cherlyn Wilson star in a dark thriller directed by William Malone, and co-starring Patrick Kilpatrick, Jeffrey Combs, and Timothy Bottoms. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A pool party in the Hollywood Hills becomes a chlorine bloodbath when a crazed killer begins hacking up the young revelers. Serena always looked forward to her 18th birthday, but before the night is over she'll wish she were never born. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A mentally-unstable man finds his slow side into insanity hastened when he walks in on his wife and his best friend having sex, and embarks on a vicious killing spree that culminates in a shocking act of brutality. Mike Strauber was never a picture of mental health to begin with, but after becoming the victim of the ultimate betrayal, his odd fixation with the game "Truth or Dare?" becomes an outright obsession. Now, anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path will be forced to play, and odds are it'll be the last thing they ever do. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A devoutly religious college student seeking to escape her roommate and make a little extra cash becomes the target of a disfigured serial killer who stalks his helpless prey from outside of darkened rural windows. Having recently struck out on her own and found, Angie is eager to begin life away from her overbearing Catholic mother and support herself with a suitable job. One day, while passing by a campus bulletin board, Angie notices an ad for a babysitter and contacts the family to see if the position is still open. Before Angie knows it, she's arriving at the Stanton family's scenic farm and being introduced to their adorable little boy. Her job is simple: watch after the sleeping boy until his parents return. But the Stanton's house is enormous, and it isn't long before Angie is at the mercy of her own fears. Suddenly, the serine country silence is broken by the ringing telephone. But who is the anonymous caller on the other end? As if the frightening telephone calls weren't enough to shred Angie's nerves, now there's a mysterious figure lurking around in the darkness outside. There's a killer stalking this small town, and it doesn't take Angie long to realize that the same person who's peering in at her through the window is likely the same creep who's been butchering the local girls for months. As the tension begins to build and the situation turns threatening, Angie realizes that her only hope for survival is to fight back with everything she's got and hope that the local sheriff (Bill Moseley) will get to the farm before it's too late. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A young group of survivalists-in-training are stalked through the woods by a psychotic killer seeking victims for a blood sacrifice. Back in the 1990s, a maniac working for a private security company in Yugoslavia used the conflict in the country as cover for a series of grisly murders. Conducting the killings under the twisted guise of experimental archeology, he claimed numerous lives before vanishing into the countryside. Flash forward a decade later, and television personality Ray Morris has founded a company that trains people on survivalist tactics. His instructor Juliet Corman has invited a small group of recruits, including her sister Holly, to Kent for the initial course when someone begins stalking them from the trees. The body count steadily rising, Juliet and Holly vow to use their survivalist training to gain the upper hand on the relentless killer. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A psychiatrist attempting to cure her patients of coulrophobia finds her experiment disrupted when her psychotic brother escapes from a mental hospital, slathers on the greasepaint, and embarks on a brutal killing spree. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A malevolent board game proves to have deadly repercussions when a group of surfers role the die for fun, and begin to perish in the same way they were eliminated from the game. The name of the game is Mamba, and the board was constructed from the remains of a witch put to death during the Spanish Inquisition. If you lose this game, you don't have long to live; if you win, you get everything your heart desires. As the body count begins to multiply, the rest of the players race to cheat death by unearthing the secret of Mamba's supernatural curse. Eliza Dushku and Mike Vogel star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A simple Halloween prank turns deadly after a group of teens ditch Homecoming to explore a grapefruit orchard with a dark past in this campy fright fest featuring Jedd Nelson and Jennifer Tilly. The fall winds are blowing, and the harvest moon is high in the sky - what better time than to cut out of school for a little midnight mischief? According to local legend, the reclusive caretaker at the orchard doesn't take kindly to visitors. Few have seen the mysterious figure and lived to tell the tale, and the opportunity to catch a glimpse of him is too tempting to resist. If they can just ditch their randy teacher (Tilly) and an overprotective parent (Nelson) long enough to reach the orchard, the teens will finally be free to get into the Halloween spirit. But the Caretaker has a special surprise in store for them, and when the gag gets the axe they'll be begging for their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Not to be confused with another Scream -- that of a jubilant Wes Craven when he went to the bank in 1993 with the release of his popular horror film -- this much weaker Scream was never heard at the box office. Like in many a similar film, a most thick-headed group of dullards go hiking for the weekend, this time in a remote Western ghost town. Once there, they end up joining the ghosts, one by one. As they sit waiting for the next victim to be bumped off, a horseback-riding stranger comes into town. He entertains them with a story of his seafaring days nearly a half-century earlier and then rides off -- but not for long. Apparently that was the intermission. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

An emotionally disturbed cult member loses grip on his sanity and sets off on a killing spree. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

As another semester draws to a close at the University of Dreyskill, a simple game dreamt to help students avoid studying becomes a bloody battle for survival in this stalk-and-slash frightener from filmmaking duo Brian Hooks and Deon Taylor. Dreyskill may have a reputation as a prestigious private school, but a group of students known as "The Crew" are sick of studying for finals and looking to have a little fun. In order to pas the time, they create a game called "75." The rules of 75 are simple: the participant in the game calls a random telephone number and attempts to scare the party on the other end of the line for 75 seconds; should the recipient of the call laugh or hang up, the player loses, and the player with the best call emerges victorious. By the time exams are over, 75 has become a popular campus pastime among all the students, and one rich classmate invites the Crew to his massive mansion in the Colorado hills for a wild weekend of partying. But when one of the Crew accidentally calls the wrong person, the once-playful scares become all too real. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi