Rosemarys Killer (DVD)

Boasting superlative make-up and special effects by gore guru Tom Savini, Joseph Zito's Rosemary's Killer was amongst the first of the 1980s cycle of slasher movies and remains one of the sub-genre's pinnacle points. The story opens in the 1940s, just after the end of WWII and a solider receiving a letter to inform him that his girlfriend has found a new flame. The girl and her new beau are at the local college graduation dance, but decide to go outside for a walk and to fool around. They are brutally killed but their murderer is never found. Resultantly, the town does not hold another graduation dance for over 40 years. The film skips forward in time to the preparations for the newly reinstated dance but somebody can't forget the past and wants to make sure nobody else does either. Soon, a mysterious figure in an military uniform begins to dispatch the college students in various blood-splattered ways. Featuring cameos from acting legends Farley Granger and Lawrence Tierney, Rosemary's Killer is elevated above the numerous other entries to the slasher cycle that followed by high production values, a picturesque setting and perhaps, most notably by Savini's aforementioned and highly original and spectacularly gruesome work.