Cosh Boy, known as and titled The Slasher here in the United States is a tragic tale about juvenile delinquency. 16-year-old Roy Walsh (James Kenney) is the central figure in the story. He is a notorious leader of a gang that steals money from elderly women or attacks people that are a threat to his plans.

Roy lusts after the gorgeous Rene Collins (the one and only screen legend Joan Collins). To the disappointment of Roy, Rene is involved in a relationship but that doesn’t stop him. His gang beats up her boyfriend badly, letting Roy step in and make his move on Rene, which she submits to. Poor Rene winds up pregnant, and wants to marry Roy, but he shows his true colors. Roy, basically used her for sex, wants nothing to do with her and doesn’t want to see Rene ever again. Meanwhile, Roy’s mother, Elsie Walsh (Betty Ann Davies), having her hands full being a single parent and dealing with her devilishly delinquent son, marries Bob Stevens (Robert Ayres), primarily because he will beat some sense into Roy!

The Slasher is nothing short of a fantastic film, with themes of single parenthood, bullying, gangs, and under 18 pregnancy, which were not quite as taboo as they would have been twenty years early, but still were sensitive topics at that point in time. The actions implied, but not seen, such as the two under 18 teens having sex and when Bob takes his belt out to prepare and whip Roy at that time could have, and most likely were shocking for audiences. This picture may remind some of those early 30s films such as Reefer Madness where the stories were about troubled teens getting involved in mischief and the consequences. 

The acting for The Slasher is also excellent with the leads and the rest of the cast handing in excellent performances. James Kenney is outstanding with his over the top performance as Roy. The lavish cinematography is courtesy of Jack Asher.

Kino Lorber presents The Slasher on Blu-ray, making its domestic debut. The picture quality is stellar, as the high definition image looks strong in 1080p. Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1, The Slasher has never looked better than it does here. The grey scale is balanced, black levels are flawless, and the image has a nice polished look to it. Film grain is present and despite a few minor blemishes here and there, this is nothing short of spectacular.

For those interested in DVD releases, The Slasher is also available in Kino Lorber’s British Film Noir Volume II, a DVD set that contains The Slasher, The Interrupted Journey, Time in My Enemy, Time Clock and The Vicious Circle.

The primarily used English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono audio soundtrack for this release is generally satisfying. The lossless audio comes in clearly overall, with the characters dialog, music and other sounding fine, with nothing being overly aggressive or too faint. English subtitles are available for this release.

Extras, while not having much, does include the alternate US opening, which shows the opening scene and the title card which was presented for North American distribution. The opening shows the title card as The Slasher as opposed to Cosh Boy. Since the boy uses a knife, I can see why it was called The Slasher for American audiences. The title Cosh Boy didn’t make a lot sense in the United States, hence the more catchier title.

The other supplement are trailers for The Slasher and other releases from Kino Lorber. It Always Rains on Sunday, The Queen of Spades, Razzia Sur La Chnouf, The Stud and The Bitch are the other trailers for this release.

The Slasher is a recommended film, an overlooked classic and I feel is essential for those into British dramas and Noirs. This new Blu-ray release is ‘bloody good’ with great audio and video quality. The lack of extras shouldn’t be thought as detrimental for the release; it’s just a marvel to have this rarity be released in Blu-ray format.

The Slasher (Cosh Boy)

Director- Lewis Gilbert

Cast- James Kenney, Joan Collins,

Country of Origin- UK

Distributor – Kino Lorber Studio Classics

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 02/08/2020