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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
The art of the kill: A primer on slasher flicks
In the past few years, the type of film frowned upon during the Reagan era has become respectable or, at the very least, more respected . For example, last year's extremely gory slasher, 'In A Violent Nature,' earned positive reviews from even the most squeamish of critics. This year's ' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up More importantly, these movies found an audience, which gave Hollywood the incentive to make (or remake) more slashers. This is why we're getting an inexplicable reboot of 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.' Though the 1997 original was successful enough to earn a 1998 sequel called ' Advertisement The Fisherman in "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures Advertisement In honor of Jennifer Love Hewitt's return to the psychotic Gorton's Fisherman franchise, here's a short history of the slasher movie. Like the victims in 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' I'm sure I'll get the hook for some of my choices. According to my pal Danny, whom you may remember from our The Primitive: Setting the rules The general rules of a slasher are pretty consistent. There's a group of expendable teenagers (or young adults) representing varying tropes — the hothead, the jock, the horny couple, the innocent or virginal female, and the nerd. The catalyst for carnage is often the result of a traumatic prior event that bonds the characters in secrecy. It's usually a prank or accident that maimed someone, or worse, killed them. This tragedy may have happened on a national holiday like Valentine's Day. Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger in New Line Home Entertainment's horror classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street." New Line Productions Whatever the cause, it always brings out a mysterious stalker armed with an arsenal of sharp weapons. The killer's perspective is seen whenever their victims get splattered with anything from axes to machetes to power tools. Items you wouldn't expect, like corkscrews or lawn mowers, are also employed as murder weapons. Gore is plentiful and prevalent, and these 'kills,' as they're called, are the money shots of the genre. The nastier they are, the better. The identity of the slasher movie killer remains a secret until a shocking, last minute reveal. It might be the scarred prank victim seeking revenge, or a relative avenging the death of a loved one. In many cases, it's the dumbest, most nonsensical outcome you could imagine, one you couldn't have predicted unless you were the screenwriter. Advertisement Jamie Lee Curtis in a scene from the 1978 horror film classic, "Halloween," directed by John Carpenter. Compass International Pictures And lest, I forget, there's a 'Final Girl' who must face that killer alone as the sole survivor of the carnage. Now that we've established the rules, the burning question becomes 'what was the first legitimate slasher movie?' Ask ten people and you're bound to get ten different answers. Did 'Psycho' invent the slasher, with its iconic shower scene and the type of convoluted reveal that has marred many a slasher movie? Was it Bob Clark's 1974 Canadian horror movie, 'Black Christmas,' with its young women being stalked on a holiday by a mystery man? By virtue of being released first, some theories choose this movie over the most common holiday-themed answer, John Carpenter's 1978 classic, 'Halloween.' Carpenter's script with Debra Hill includes the oft-quoted idea that if you have sex in a slasher movie, you die. As for sharing the stalker's perspective, the gore level, and the gonzo endings, those ideas originated with any number of giallo movies. Gialli are murder mysteries like Dario Argento's 'Deep Red' — films with graphic violence, stunning visuals, and confusing plots . Mario Bava's 1971 giallo, 'A Bay of Blood' (aka 'Twitch of the Death Nerve") influenced 'Friday the 13th Part II' so much that director Steve Miner paid explicit homage to some of Bava's graphic murder sequences. All of these films added something to the slasher genre. The Classical: Following the rules There's a million of these. Practically every sequel to a slasher belongs here. (Even the three 'Psycho' sequels made in this era.) The goal was one-upmanship. How gory are you willing to get with those kills? How far would the MPAA let you go? In order to get an R, movies like the original 'My Bloody Valentine' and Miramax's first movie, 'The Burning,' were eviscerated as if they were slasher victims. Thankfully, unrated home video versions restored all the good stuff the MPAA cut out. Advertisement Jason Voorhees swings an axe in "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood." Michael Ansell Part of the fun of the early 1980s slashers was seeing studio system era actors you'd never expect. 'Mister Roberts''s The Revisionist: Breaking the Rules 'Happy Birthday to Me' gets a special shout-out here as the only movie I can think of that features death by shish kebob. But the true rule breakers are films like the aforementioned 'In a Violent Nature,' which presents most of the movie from the killer's point of view. Between incredibly graphic kills built for midnight movie audiences, director Chris Nash traps us in the killer's viewpoint. This forces us to revel in ennui as the killer slowly walks to his next victim. The guy gets in his 10,000 steps, and you're there to count each one. By making death the ultimate murderer, the 'Final Destination' movies belong here, too. Other worthy mentions include 1984's 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and its meta-sequel, 'Wes Craven's New Nightmare,' both directed by Craven. Freddy Krueger, the big bad of the 'Nightmare' franchise, is my favorite slasher movie monster. Advertisement Craven also gave us 'Scream,' which belongs in the next category. The Parodic: Making fun of the rules The Ghostface killer - or at least one of them - in "Scream VI." Paramount Pictures The first 'Scary Movie' in 2000 spoofed 'Scream,' taking a comic (though still graphically violent) spin on something that was already a parody. The 2020 film, 'Freaky,' mocks the two biggest genres in the 1980s, body swap movies and slashers. Those are recent additions, but slasher movie parodies aren't new. They've existed as far back as 1981's 'Saturday the 14th' and 1982's 'Pandemonium.' I saw the latter on HB0 7 million times when I was a kid. The film stars Paul Reubens, Tommy Smothers, Carol Kane and Judge Reinhold. Its kills are blatantly comic--one victim is murdered in a tub full of milk and cookies. And the ending makes absolutely no sense. A good parody should be a prime example of what it's parodying, so this fits the bill nicely. Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
After passage of Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill,' some low-income workers ask: How will I support my family?
Trump's so-called Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up All told, this legislation will Advertisement 'Any time any sort of social safety nets are defunded, it makes me mad. Especially when I know that the savings from those cuts are going to the super-elite rich class, it's even more maddening,' said Talbot, 41, whose wife is a Navy veteran on disability. Advertisement He can't even think about his daughters' college funds or saving for retirement, he said, because he's so focused on day-to-day survival. 'It makes me scared to think about how I will support my family if things get harder than they are,' he said. The Trump administration has said the bill will eliminate 'waste, fraud, and abuse' and notes that the In Massachusetts, one of the most expensive states in the country, Several hundred thousand more rely on insurance purchased through the Health Connector, the state marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act. More than 300,000 residents could Advertisement Lisa Ragland and other workers from Service Employees International Union protested the Republican Medicaid cuts near the US Capitol building in June. Joe Raedle/Getty About 175,000 people are at risk of losing some or all of their food stamp benefits due to expanded work requirements and the termination of benefits for immigrants here legally who fled persecution, many of whom are on a track to get a green card. For Christiana Haramut, the uncertainty of if or how her benefits could be affected is the hardest part. Haramut was working as a recovery coach in Holyoke until she was appointed guardian of her now 3-year-old grandson and went back to school. She receives food stamps and MassHealth, in addition to cash assistance and a housing subsidy, and worries that every safety net could be at risk, including the Social Security her parents rely on. 'I'm assuming it will be under attack soon if it isn't already,' she said. The drop in federal funding, coupled with increased work verification requirements and other administrative tasks, could have a big impact on access for working families if states don't increase staff and IT funding, said Victoria Negus, senior economic justice advocate at the Law Reform Institute. Massachusetts has the resources to mitigate the worst harms of the measure, she said, although it will require new investments. The law also changed how benefits are calculated in the future, Negus said, essentially freezing in place anything beyond cost-of-living updates. Data about changing shopping habits, for instance, such as the fact that most people now buy canned beans instead of less expensive dried beans, will no longer be factored in. 'The bill is the largest handoff of dollars from folks who are struggling to those who are wealthy,' Negus said. 'And the way that handoff happens is both clear-cut – slashing eligibility for SNAP and Medicaid – and very nefarious, by implementing changes that cut at the knees the ways that states like Massachusetts have tried to make these programs work better.' Advertisement Data show that the Among the biggest employers of people receiving benefits, the agency found, are major retail, restaurant, and grocery store chains such as Amazon and Walmart – led by billionaires Jeff Bezos and the Walton family, respectively, who stand to benefit greatly from tax breaks in the bill. For the top fifth of all earners, these changes will result in an average 2.3 percent boost in after-tax income over the next decade, according to a the Advertisement In Massachusetts, Dunkin' had the highest number of workers on SNAP, the GAO reported, and the state employed the most people receiving Medicaid. Dunkin' did not respond to a request for comment. A state spokesperson said that Massachusetts 'will continue to ensure people receive the benefits they are eligible for and understand how these changes might affect them.' The PCA Workforce Council, the state entity that employs personal care attendants to help elderly and disabled residents, also had a high number of workers receiving both types of benefits. The 58,000-person workforce, comprising largely women of color, including many immigrants, generally makes between $20 and $22 an hour, and the majority of them are on MassHealth or subsidized Health Connector insurance, according to their union. Care attendants' fluctuating hours and complicated employer status – hired by individuals but paid by the state – make eligibility requirements particularly complicated, said Rebecca Gutman, vice president of home care at 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. And this will surely be intensified by new paperwork requirements. 'PCAs struggle every day with balancing the pay that they're receiving, putting food on the table, taking care of their kids, accessing health insurance,' Gutman said. 'This law is absolutely going to exacerbate wage inequality in our country, and it's going to hit women and people of color the hardest.' Personal care assistant Fe Guidry swept the kitchen floor in the New Bedford apartment of her client, Aquilina Gili. MARK STOCKWELL FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE Fe Guidry, 70, lives in New Bedford and works as a personal care assistant for two elderly women. But one of them is often gone, either in Florida or the Philippines, leaving her with just 14 hours of work a week. She needs every cent of her $89 monthly SNAP benefits to buy groceries, she said: Advertisement 'The price of the commodities now is always rising.' Low-income workers are already plagued with anxiety about being able to feed and care for their families, said Alicia Fleming, executive director of the economic justice nonprofit Massachusetts Jobs With Justice. And the still-unknown effects of the bill are adding more stress. 'I think what we're seeing now,' said Fleming, who relied on fuel assistance and day care vouchers when she was a young single mother, 'is that our society is set up to create an environment where corporations can thrive and the people who support those corporations, the workers, they struggle to survive.' This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Katie Johnston can be reached at
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer' should get the hook
Despite a high body count, director-cowriter Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's version is not gory enough to satiate gorehounds. The atmospheric cinematography, by Elisha Christian, and the bombastic score, by Chanda Dancy, fail to accompany or elicit a single good scare. And unlike the original, there's no reason for this film's killer to don a fisherman's slicker. The outfit exists because the filmmakers believe that this franchise villain's look is as iconic as ' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The Fisherman in action in Columbia Pictures "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures Advertisement Unless you're a fan of the original movies, you can skip this reboot. I keep writing 'reboot,' but that's a false statement. The new 'IKWYDLS' is really a sequel masquerading as a reboot. When you bring back original cast members like Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., then involve their characters, Julie and Ray, in large chunks of the plot, you may as well have ditched the new cast. There isn't much difference between the 1997 original and this movie. We still have a group of privileged twentysomethings from the fictional coastal town of Southport, North Carolina who swear themselves to secrecy after causing a seemingly fatal accident. A year later, an avenger emerges to teach them a painful lesson via grappling hook. The murders start after the killer sends a note with the film's title scrawled on it. Advertisement The characters are slightly more likable this time, but still as vapid and obnoxious as Ray and Julie were back in 1997. There's Ava (Chase Sui Wonders), her engaged friends, Danica (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy (Tyriq Withers), and Ava's potential love interest Milo (Jonah Hauer-King). (L to R)Sarah Pidgeon, Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, and Tariq Withers. Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures There's also Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), their former hang out buddy, who has fallen on such hard times that she's working as a server at Danica's big bash. The crew feels sorry for Stevie, and invites her to join them on a dangerous, curved road to view the July Fourth fireworks, a location that just screams 'accident waiting to happen!' Their presence in the middle of the road leads to the apparent death of an innocent person. As in the original, the friends swear themselves to secrecy. However, this time, the group has Teddy's rich father, Grant (Billy Campbell) to help them hide the evidence. Grant is an expert at covering up Southport's dirty laundry: in order to maintain Southport's reputation as a tourist attraction, he erased nearly all traces of the murderous events of the 1997 movie from the internet. Cut to a year later. Milo picks Ava up from the airport just after she's hooked up with crime podcaster Tyler (Gabbriette Bechtel) in the bathroom. Ava is back in town for Danica's party celebrating her engagement to Wyatt (Joshua Orpin), the guy who stepped in after Teddy ditched her. Advertisement Gabbriette Bechtel in Columbia Pictures "I Know What You Did Last Summer" Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures Tyler is in town because she wants to broadcast the story of the fisherman murders witnessed by Julie and Ray back when they did what they did 28 summers ago. She tracks down Julie, who tells her to kick rocks, because she's so traumatized by the events in Southport that she's moved away forever. Never mind that Julie lives only 45 minutes away, rather than on the other side of the world like most people would have moved. No matter. Soon after Milo's arrival, Danica gets a card at her party that reads 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.' She thinks it's Teddy trying to ruin her life. He denies everything, and that's when the bodies start piling up. Wyatt, by virtue of being completely extraneous to this plot, is the first one to go. His slow, painful death occurs while Danica is chanting self-help mantras in her bathtub. At almost 2 hours, 'IKWYDLS' starts to drag fairly early. Between the obligatory stalking and murder scenes, you're left with long stretches where you're bored enough to start asking questions. Slasher movies aren't bastions of logic by design, so this is a problem. Freddie Prinze Jr. stars in "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Brook Rushton/Sony Pictures For example, once people start getting gutted, Ava seeks out Julie for advice on how to outwit a different fisherman than the one that terrorized Southport back in 1997. If you recall, all Julie and her friends did was run around screaming. She and Ray survived both of their films by pure luck, so they're the last people you'd run to for help. Advertisement You'll also have time to think about who's behind that fisherman's slicker, a resolution you'll easily figure out if you know anything about the economy of characters in a slasher movies, or if you've seen 'Scream.' Besides being overlong and unsatisfying in its resolution, the biggest sin committed here is the slavish devotion to fan service. They want fans to like this movie so much that they not only have a sequel-previewing mid-credits sequence that will make zero sense to non-fans, but they also bring back characters who were dead in the first movie. Even so, there's a moment that may turn fans against the movie. You'll know it when you see it. On a personal, petty note: One of the characters in this film quotes the infamous Nicole Kidman AMC ad. Readers know that I hate that infernal ad so much that I boo it at the theater. For his bad taste, the movie kills that character off, which added a half-star to my rating. You should probably subtract it. ★1/2 I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. Written by Robinson and Sam Lansky. Starring Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Campbell, Gabbriette Bechtel. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 111 min. R (graphic violence, gore, language) Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Republic Services sees mounting frustration from towns, officials amid worker strike
Advertisement 'The City of Boston is already experiencing service disruptions as a result of this strike,' the Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Republic and Teamsters Local 25 have held two negotiating sessions since approximately 400 workers walked off the job, but have yet to end the standoff. On Friday, the two sides met for nine hours, aided by a federal mediator, but remained far apart. They are scheduled to meet again on Tuesday. Union officials said that Republic upped its wage offer, but workers would still earn less than those at other waste management companies. The union also said the company 'refused to budge' on providing health insurance that is more comprehensive than the plan Republic now offers. Advertisement 'We tried everything to get a settlement,' Local 25 President Tom Mari said. 'We even proposed a delay in implementing our health insurance proposal to replace the inferior company health insurance, which would have been a savings to the company. But it was to no avail.' A Republic spokesperson said union is spreading falsehoods. He said the company's proposal on Friday included a pay increase of about 43 percent over five years, with an immediate 16 percent wage increase. The company said 45 percent of its Greater Boston Teamsters drivers earned more than $100,000 last year. Republic said it offers a 'comprehensive health and welfare plan,' and pays 100 percent of the premiums. The Teamsters' proposal, the company said, 'offers no significant benefit at a substantially higher cost.' Stella Tannenbaum can be reached at
Boston Globe
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Aaron Judge becomes fastest to 350 regular-season home runs, topping Mark McGwire by nearly 200 games
He reached 350 in his 1,088th game. McGwire hit No. 350 in his 1,280th game, against Detroit's Brian Moehle on June 2, 1997, bettering Harmon Killebrew in his 1,319th game. 'Big Mac did a lot of great things in this game, and he's definitely a legend,' Judge said. Judge, who turned 33 in April, debuted with the Yankees at age 24 in 2016. The Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Would have been great if we got a win today,' Judge said. 'I've been surrounded by a lot of great teammates, been on some good teams, so they really put me in the best position to go out there and perform at my best.' Advertisement McGwire finished in 2001 at age 38 with 583 homers, currently 11th on the career list. He admitted in 2010 he used performance-enhancing drugs and has been denied entry to baseball's Hall of Fame. The Yankees captain has spoken with McGwire. 'I think it started with when I broke my first rib,' Judge said. 'I think his son was kind of going through the same thing, so he was first asking me how did I heal? What do we do? So I kind of gave him some tips on that. And then we just kind of chit-chatted a little bit and kept in contact.' Related : Advertisement
