The Slasher Film with a Questionable Guinness Certificate

According to the wonderful website MovieBodyCounts.com, a feature film individual-kill total of 155 was achieved in 1999 by Universal's The Mummy. In 2011, that same body count mark was claimed by indie slasher The Summer of Massacre, which arrives on DVD and VOD January 10.

The big difference is that only the latter has a Guinness World Record certificate to go along with the 155 total. Earlier this year, Massacre was awarded a “highest body count in a slasher film” commendation for its anthology-driven mayhem. Among the eight killers featured in the the movie's connected tales are three serial murderers terrorizing downtown LA.

In recent years, the folks at Guinness have really been stretching the brand thin. Where once it was a matter of some dude with fingernails grown over a span of decades, today it seems that just about anything can be included. As a further proof, consider that Jay Leno was awarded a record this past St. Patrick's Day for largest number of Leprechauns gathered together in a single room, only to have that mark broken last month by an Irish radio host.

I have nothing against the Massacre tandem of writer-director Joe Castro and editor-co-producer Steven Escobar, who have been milking the Guinness angle for their DVD PR. But they should realize that in the grand (cinematic) scheme of things, their latest effort lags far behind the true champions of verified individual-victim movie body counts - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (836), Kingdom of Heaven (610) and 300 (600).

[The Summer of Massacre]