Slasher Summer

Prologue The Slasher

Prologue

The Slasher

It was astounding how much blood the human body held.

How much it could fountain out of a teenage boy’s neck, where someone had sliced away a wedge of flesh like it was an apple pie.

How much time it took for the boy to realize he was a dead man walking.

No, not walking. Thrashing. Performing a suite of full-body lurches like an air dancer in front of a used car dealership, while his girlfriend’s severed head rocked at his feet.

Gurgling, the boy clutched helplessly at his spraying wound.

In front of him, a pretty blond girl shrieked as a crimson jet hit her squarely in the chest and splattered across her chin.

She grabbed her boyfriend’s arm—and the shriek collapsed into laughter as the fake blood dripped down her disposable plastic rain poncho.

Printed with the Slasher movie logo on the back, it had been included in the ticket price and was a prized souvenir for those who braved the front row of the Rialto Theatre.

The audience erupted in hoots and catcalls.

“Die, jock!” someone yelled from the back.

The high school football player shambled about on screen, his eyes bulging in a comical rictus of terror as a hulking figure in a plain white mask and red buffalo plaid jacket hacked at him with a machete.

In front of the screen, on what had been a stage in the Rialto’s pre-cinema heyday, a teenager in a mullet wig and blood-stained jersey mimicked the actor’s exaggerated death throes.

A grubby mannequin head in a blond wig—which looked about as realistic as the severed head on screen—leered at the audience.

Meanwhile, another cast member in the wings gleefully sprayed the front row of the theater with a Super Soaker of watered-down red poster paint.

It was just another Friday night in Cedar Lake.

At the very back of the theater, the only one not cheering or hollering, a hooded figure observed the mayhem with the keen eye of a scientist. The figure’s attention was drawn to the “shadow cast,” the group of teens who were hammily reenacting Slasher on the stage in front of the film while the audience got splashed with fake blood.

The hooded figure didn’t know whose idea that had been.

Probably an enterprising Rialto manager who’d been a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Evil Dead: The Musical and needed a gimmick to pump up ticket sales.

Slasher had never dominated the box office like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street.

It had modestly debuted during the eighties horror movie rush, spawning two direct-to-video sequels and a gritty reboot directed by Rob Zombie in the early aughts.

But the franchise would’ve never reached cult status if not for the fact that the cabin where it had been filmed was still standing on the outskirts of town.

Just as Seneca Falls, New York, celebrated It’s a Wonderful Life and Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, had their Blobfest, Cedar Lake leaned on Slasher to transform their otherwise quiet small town into a popular—and lucrative—tourist destination.

“Virgin!” the audience yelled as Slasher’s fresh-faced “Final Girl,” the only survivor at the end of the movie, appeared on-screen.

Below, a winsome brunette in a white tank top padded onstage, her look of bewilderment so pronounced it could’ve been seen from the diner across the street.

Despite the girl’s terrible acting, the hooded figure drew in a sharp breath.

The movie audience erupted in cheers as the Slasher reemerged from stage right, wielding a plastic machete. On-screen, the girl gasped and sprinted into the woods, the Slasher right on her heels even though he walked with slow, purposeful strides.

Onstage, the actress jogged on the spot, looking over her shoulder as the Slasher approached.

The shadow cast’s Slasher was usually a lucky audience member, or sometimes a local celebrity who’d be unmasked at the end of the night.

Cedar Lake High’s principal had played the part a few times.

Mock-slaughtering teenagers was probably the only thing that kept cranky old Mr. Cunningham going through the school year.

This year, however, was Slasher’s fortieth anniversary and Slasher Summer’s twentieth.

Slasher Summer didn’t have as huge a fandom to draw on as the Twilight festival in Forks, Washington, but recently the fan convention had attracted higher-profile guests.

Most of the original movie cast was scheduled to appear next week, along with special effects artist Tom Savini.

It was already rumored they were each going to play the Slasher at various screenings and the forthcoming shows were almost sold out.

It was going to be a summer to remember. Onstage, the Slasher double waved their plastic machete as the brunette cowered. The hooded figure’s lips twisted in a smile. But it wouldn’t be memorable for the reasons everyone thought.

Soon, very soon, the people of Cedar Lake would find out these performances had been only a dress rehearsal.