The Slayer
Four friends, Kay, David, Eric, and Brooke, take an airplane to a beach house on a deserted island for a vacation. David is Kay's husband, and Eric is Kay's brother and Brooke's husband. Finally, there's Kay, an artist who has been having recurring nightmares ever since she was a child. They are about a fiendish, horrifying creature who does horrible things and wants to kill her. When she was a child, her parents gave her a kitten for Christmas, and a few days later the cat was found frozen to death in a freezer. Kay illustrates what she dreams into art, and when she arrives to the island, she discovers many things that she dreamed. A tropical storm stirs, and many of Kay's friends start to disappear one by one. Kay soon discovers that her nightmares have become true, and the monster is real. She has created it with her dreams and made it stronger. Will Kay be able to stop it before it gets her?
I think there should be a lot of credit given to this hidden treasure. It was produced in 1981, three years prior to A Nightmare on Elm Street, and it features a similar plotline. I wonder if this inspired Wes Craven a little... I found the death scenes to be pretty creative and gory. Many scenes are very tense, and they make you almost jump at some points. I especially liked the surprise ending. The creature is never shown until the film's conclusion, which adds to the tension. Check this rarity out as soon as possible if you can. This was released by itself and on a tape from Continental Video, along with Scalps, which isn't as good as The Slayer. That was the version I saw, but I think some of it is edited for some reasons, possibly for time compressment. Also known as Nightmare Island.
