‘An ancient curse has turned their lives into a nightmare of lust and revenge.’

The House Where Evil Dwells is a 1982 American/Japanese supernatural horror film directed by Kevin Connor (At the Earth’s Core; Motel Hell; Frankenstein [2004]) and produced by Martin B. Cohen. It was based on a novel by James Hardiman, adapted into a screenplay by Robert Suhosky.

Main Cast:

Edward Albert (Galaxy of Terror; Mimic 2; Sea of Fear), Susan George (The Sorcerers; Die Screaming Marianne; Venom), Doug McClure (At the Earth’s Core; The People That Time Forgot; Humanoids from the Deep), Mako Hattori and Tsuiyuki Sasaki.

Plot:

In 1840, in the rural region of Kushiata near Kyoto, Japan, a samurai, named Shigero, comes home to find his wife, Otami, in bed with another man, named Masanori. In a violent scene, Shigero kills them both and then himself.

In the present day, an American family of three, writer Ted Fletcher, his wife Laura, and their 12-year-old daughter, Amy, moves into this since-abandoned house and starts to experience incidents of haunting and possession. The three murdered people still haunt the house and subject each of the Fletcher family to various harassment and mischief which gets more frequent and serious with each passing day…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“The special effects, particularly the ones in which the ghosts interact with the live characters, are good, but everything else is fairly silly.” Vincent Canby, The New York Times, 1982

“The film can only be enjoyed on a camp level, as the theatrical make-up on the three spirits is pretty poor, and the special effects of them entering their modern counterparts’ bodies is bound to be considered dated by modern CGI-raised audiences. Most of the scare tactics bring more laughs than fright… George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“The film has more nudity than chills, but it does have some quirky humor, especially in the exorcism scene.” TV Guide

“familiar concoction that blames women for craving more sex than marriage affords (providing an opportunity to ask George to take her clothes off), involve a plague of insects and demonic rubber crabs as well as a phallic ivory carving… ” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“Fans make fun of the obvious effects first and the unnecessary nudity second, although fans of Susan George (from Pekinpah’s Straw Dogs) may find the nudity their main reason for watching.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Cast and characters:

Edward Albert as Ted Fletcher
Susan George as Laura Fletcher
Doug McClure as Alex Curtis
Amy Barrett as Amy Fletcher
Mako Hattori as Otami
Tsuiyuki Sasaki as Shigero (as Toshiyuki Sasaki)
Toshiya Maruyama as Masanori
Tsuyako Olajima as Majyo Witch (as Tsuyako Okajima)
Henry Mittwer as Zen Monk
Mayumi Umeda as Noriko, the babysitter
Shuren Sakurai as Noh Mask Maker
Hiroko Takano as Wakako
Shôji Ohara as Assistant Mask Maker (as Shoji Ohara)
Jirô Shirai as Tadashi (as Jiro Shirai)
Kazuo Yoshida as Editor
Kunihiko Shinjo as Assistant Editor
Gentaro Mori as Yoshio
Tomoko Shimizu as Aiko
Misao Arai as Hayashi
Chiyoko Hardiman as Mama-San
Hideo Shimedo as Policeman (as Hideo Shimado)

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Images: Wrong Side of the Art!

The Unseen is a 1980 American horror film directed by Danny Steinmann [as Peter Foleg] from an [uncredited] screenplay by Michael L. Grace. Director Steinmann, who later directed gory movies Savage Streets and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, apparently fell out with the producers during post-production, hence the use of a pseudonym.

The story was co-devised with special effects creators Stan Winston and Tom Burman, plus Texas Chain Saw Massacre co-writer Kim Henkel. Craig Reardon (Eaten Alive; The Funhouse; Poltergeist) supplied the makeup for the monster.

Main cast: 

Barbara Bach (Short Night of Glass Dolls; Great Alligator River; Isle of the Fishmen), Sydney Lassick (Carrie; Alligator; Lady in White), Karen Lamm (Ants), Doug Barr, Stephen Furst (Silent Rage), Lois Young, Leila Goldoni (Hysteria; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The Devil Inside), .

Plot:

After a hotel reservation mix up, two sisters Karen and Jennifer, and their friend Vicki Thompson, meet a friendly, but shady character named Ernest Keller who is the owner of a small town museum. Ernest convinces the three women to accept an invitation for cheap room and board at his farmhouse outside of town where his wife Virginia also lives.

Once there, Jennifer and Karen leave for a holiday parade fair which Jennifer, a news reporter, is reporting on.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Vicki takes a bath and then a nap in her room, but is attacked by an unseen figure…

Reviews:

“It plods along like a soap opera for large chunks, but then launches into an outrageous nudity scene that feels out of place. It does manage to build enough of a tone to keep us interested though and we do get a couple of creatively planned murder scenes.” Luisito Joaquín González, A Slash Above…

” … as long as you’re not looking for Steinmann’s usual Grindhouse-y approach, I think you’ll dig The Unseen. It’s a nicely paced suspense tale with two terrific villains and an offbeat tone that I quite admired.” Horror Movie a Day

“The Unseen is worth at least one viewing, if only for the terrifically insane scene in which Ernest Keller has a drunken conversation with his father’s dead, stuffed body. This guy should’ve won some kind of award for this movie.” Tower Farm Reviews

” … a film full of character if not class, weirdly compelling performances and some third act developments which take the whole thing someplace hysterical, transgressive, and unforgettable.” Phil Nobile Jr., Birth. Movies. Death.

“The Unseen is quite lame, quite tame, and nearly bloodless … It’s hard to get past the similarities to other, better movies. It’s got more than a few things in common with Silent Scream, which came out around the same time but was at least a little more atmospheric, if not fantastic.” Groovy Doom

“A sort of mash up of later flicks American Gothic and Humongous, The Unseen deserves to be seen; it’s an eighties slash-classic that offers as much campy fun as spooky chills.” Kindertrauma

” … this is a strange, sometimes enthralling low-budget flick… takes one of the hoariest cliches of horror movies – the animalistic, “unseen” entity living in the cellar – and gives it a new sense of mystery, even compassion.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Release:

The film was released theatrically in the US by World Northal in September 1981. In the UK, Prism issued the film on DVD in 2002. In the US, Code Red issued it on DVD by in 2008 and a Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray followed in 2013.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Stephen Furst as ‘Junior’ Keller (The Unseen)
• Barbara Bach as Jennifer Fast
• Sydney Lassick as Ernest Keller
• Karen Lamm as Karen Fast
• Lelia Goldoni as Virginia Keller
• Douglas Barr as Tony Ross
• Lois Young as Vicki Thompson
• Maida Severn as Solvang Lady

Choice dialogue:

Ernest Keller: “Nobody here but us chickens!”

Filming locations:

Santa Paula, Altadena and Piru, California

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credit: Groovy Doom

Vacaciones de terror – English translation: “Vacations of Terror” – is a 1989 Mexican horror film directed by René Cardona III (who also appears as Al Coster) from a screenplay by Carlos Valdemar, based on a story Cardona co-wrote with producer Santiago Galindo.

René Cardona III is the son of veteran Mexican filmmakers René Cardona (Night of the Bloody Apes; Invasion of Death) and René Cardona Jr (Night of a 1000 Cats; Guyana: Crime of the Century; Beaks: The Movie). Clearly, a taste for cinematic schlock runs in the family. Meanwhile, Vacaciones de terror presumably made muchos pesos because a sequel was made in 1991.

Cast:

Pedro Fernández, Julio Alemán, Gabriela Hassel, Nuria Bages, Carlos East.

Plot:

An evil witch gets burned at the stake, but not before vowing to return and get her revenge.

A hundred years later, a family arrive to spend their vacation at a summer home located in the same immediate countryside area where the witch was killed.

Trouble ensues when little girl daughter Gaby finds an ugly doll that’s possessed by the lethal spirit of the malevolent witch…

Reviews:

” … doesn’t do much other than unleash a bag of hoary and outdated haunted house tricks onto the audience. The only thing they seem to have left out from your typical 1930s old dark house flick was eyes on a painting moving but they more than make up for that with a hundred odd close-up shots of the doll’s eyes shifting from left to right.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

Filming locations:

Mexico City; Valle de Bravo, Estado de México

Trailer:

IMDb | Related: Burn, Witch, Burn! Witchfinders on the Screen – article by David Flint

We are grateful for the plot summary by Woodanders and to Mierdoteca Nacional for bringing this film to our attention.

Angus Scrimm (born Lawrence Rory Guy; August 19, 1926 – January 9, 2016) was an American actor and author, best known for playing the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film Phantasm and its sequels.

Scrimm was born in Kansas City. He was originally a journalist and has written and edited for TV Guide, Cinema Magazine, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and many other publications. He has also written liner notes for many LPs and CDs for artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles.

Scrimm stood approximately 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m). To appear even taller when playing the Tall Man, he wore suits that were several sizes too small and platform shoes.

Although he had acted in a couple of horror thrillers previously, Sweet Kill (1971) and Scream Bloody Murder (1973), his well-received 1979 Phantasm role led led him to become a horror icon.

Selected filmography:

• Sweet Kill (1973) Henry
• Scream Bloody Murder (1973) Doctor Epstein
• Phantasm (1979) The Tall Man
• Witches’ Brew (1980) Carl Groton
• The Lost Empire (1983) Dr. Sin Do/Lee Chuck
• Phantasm II (1988) The Tall Man
• Transylvania Twist (1989) The Tall Man
• Subspecies (1990) King Vladislas
• Mindwarp (1992) The Seer
• Munchie Strikes Back (1994) Kronas
• Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) The Tall Man
• Wishmaster (1997) Narrator
• Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) The Tall Man
• Masters of Horror: Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (2005) Buddy
• Automatons (2006) The Scientist
• Satanic (2006) Dr. Barbary
• I Sell The Dead (2008) Doctor Quint
• Hollywood Horror (2009)
• Satan Hates You (2009) Dr. Michael Gabriel
• John Dies at the End (2012) Father Shellnut
• Phantasm V: Ravager (2016) The Tall Man

Posted in tribute to the late Angus Scrimm who died on January 9, 2016, he died at the age of 89 in Los Angeles.

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bathroom…’

Ghoulies II – aka Ghoulies 2 – is a 1988 American supernatural comedy horror film directed by producer Charles Band‘s father, veteran Albert Band (I Bury the Living; Zoltan, Hound of Dracula; Doctor Mordrid). The screenplay by Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator; From Beyond; The Dentist) was based on a story by Charlie Dolan.

Main cast:

Damon Martin (Freddy’s Nightmares; Amityville: It’s About Time), Royal Dano (Messiah of Evil; House II; The Dark Half), Phil Fondacaro (Hard Rock Zombies; Monster High; Night Angel), J. Downing and Kerry Remsen (Appointment with Fear; Pumpkinhead; After Midnight).

Plot:

The ghoulies from the first film escape the manor and end up hiding in an amusement park funhouse called “Satan’s Den” which becomes a smash hit when visitors believe the little demons are part of the attraction – that is until people start falling victim to the evil creatures…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Ghoulies II‘s sense of humor is equal parts diabolical and campy … The sense of community among the carnies is a blast when they take the fight to the creatures, and the Evil Dead II-style cure-is-worse-than-the-disease climax is right up my alley.” Adam Tyner, DVD Talk

“This movie is a ton of fun, encapsulating everything that makes ‘80s horror so endearing. First off, the ghoulies are back and indeed better than ever. Buechler’s FX are more refined, with increased movement and better sculpting evident on ghoulies new and old. The use of stop-motion in a few key scenes also allows for a greater range of activity and mischief.” Anthony Arrigo, Dread Central

“Ghoulies II takes itself less serious and really finds its stride in its last act. As soon as the little creatures take over the carnival and its rides, deadly mischief and mayhem unfold and hilarity ensues. I found the sequel more entertaining and lighthearted because it seemed like it wasn’t taking itself as serious as the original did.” Eric Shirey, Moviepilot

” … more problematic than the ghoulies being so inert is how much time they spend on pointless “character development” for the supporting characters. The two main heroes – fine. But random other circus folk, some of whom we only see in said moments? Who the fuck cares? And none of it is particularly interesting anyway; its only purpose is to pad the film to an acceptable running time.” Horror Movie a Day

“Ghoulies II is an improvement on just about every level, including a soundtrack that features “Scream Until You like It” by W.A.S.P. OK, so “improvement” might not be the right word — it’s still quite bad — but at least it’s self-aware enough to be entertaining in its badness.” Adam Frazier, Geeks of Doom

” …production values alone do not a great movie make and the truth is that Ghoulies II shows very little sign of life until around an hour in… Peter Manoogian, Empire of the ‘B’s: The Mad Movie World of Charles Band

Buy Empire of the ‘B’s from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Filming locations:

Empire Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Trailer:

“Rats” clip:

Toilet clip:

IMDb

Transformations – aka Alien Transformations – is a 1988 American sci-fi horror film directed by Jay Kamen from a screenplay by Mitch Brian (Night Screams; Presence of Mind).

On March 1, 2016, Kino Lorber release the film on Blu-ray in the US. Extras include:

• Audio Commentary by Director Jay Kamen
• Interview with Star Lisa Langlois
• Interview with Director Jay Kamen

Buy: Amazon.com

Main cast:

Rex Smith
Lisa Langlois – Deadly Eyes; The Nest)
Patrick Macnee – Incense for the Damned; The Howling; Lobster Man from Mars
Christopher Neame – Lust for a Vampire; Dracula A.D. 1972; Species III
Michael Hennessy
Cec Verrell
Benito Stefanelli
Donald Hodson
Pamela Prati
Ann Margaret Hughes
Loredana Romito

Plot:

In the furthest reaches of the galaxy, a lone transport pilot, Wolfgang Wolf Shadduck (Rex Smith), locks in his destination, switches onto automatic pilot and retires for the night. Little does he know that events will soon steer him onto a collision course with gruesome horrors of Transformations where a horrifying evil lurks behind seductive facades.

When Wolf awakens from a nightmarish slumber, he finds himself in the hospital ward of a prison colony; his ship has crashed with its cargo intact. Soon, he finds himself gripped with a grotesque and mysterious disease that transforms him into a horrendous beast and only the purity of the beautiful Miranda (Lisa Langlois) stands between the deadly disease and the rest of mankind…

Reviews:

“Unfortunately, the whole prison planet thing doesn’t really get explored much. Transformations is a low-budget affair, so while we get a look at a few hallways and some prisoners, there is a definite lack of scale … The love angle doesn’t work well at all, but it does lead to some fantastic moments of B-movie hilarity.” Will Kouf, Silver Emulsion

” … Transformations holds off on the gooey, gory goods for much of its running time, making you wish Empire had recruited Stuart Gordon to overhaul the script. By the time a man’s spine is ripped out in the last 10 minutes, it all feels like too little, too late. Patrick Macnee also tries his best as a priest fearing a plague, but even he can’t save this failure.” Alan Dorich, Letterboxd.com

“Ultimately, Transformations is way up there with Empire’s earlier Vicious Lips and Necropolis as an immediate requirement for all lovers of Z-flick endurance tests. Those without such masochistic tendencies should duck and cover , well away from this bomb.” Empire of the ‘B’s: The Mad Movie World of Charles Band

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Lisa Langlois chase scene:

IMDb | Image thanks: Video Museum

‘By knife, by rope, by axe. Bye bye!’

The Dark Side of Midnight – aka The Creeper – is a 1984 psycho thriller co-produced, written, edited and directed by Wes Olsen (who also stars). The film was distributed by Troma Entertainment in the US and overseas. The German title is Blood City.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Main cast:

James F. Moore, Wes Olsen, Sandy Schemmel, Dave Bowling, Dan Myers, Dennis Brennan.

Plot:

Specialist private detective, Brock Johnson is called in to investigate a series of murders in Fort Smith, committed by a killer, known as ‘The Creeper’. His investigation is hampered by the corrupt local mayor, who has bought reams of local land as he is attempting to attract a new university to set up campus…

Reviews:

“ … a pure exercise in ineptitude at every level. Local theater actors with little to no in-front-of-camera experience shout their dreadful dialogue, move their eyebrows and bob their heads a lot, amplifying every nuance in case the people at the back can’t see it – oh wait, it’s a film, not a play.” Vegan Vorhees

“You just can’t fake bad acting like that seen in this film. Such a thing requires a certain level of earnestness — the poor people are just trying so damned hard — to make the awkward delivery and unnatural rhythms truly funny. Also: mustaches! If you like mustaches — and who doesn’t like a mustache? — you’ll love this mustache-filled film.” Kernunrex

“In 1984 Wes Olsen wrote, directed, produced, edited, and starred in The Dark Side of Midnight. Since he had so much on his plate he obviously forgot his lines a bunch of times and cast a lead who slurred his lines so bad your television practically turns into smell-o-vision with wafts of booze strong enough to get you buzzed.” Hollie Horror, Letterboxd

Choice dialogue:

“Rough spot isn’t the word for it, Bill”

Filming locations:

Modesto and Oakdale, California, USA

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The ultimate seduction’

Dance of the Damned is a 1989 American vampire horror film directed by former actress Katt Shea (she also directed Stripped to Kill; Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls; The Rage: Carrie 2) from a screenplay co-written with her then-husband Andy Ruben. It was executive produced by Roger Corman.

Shea recalled filming to TV Store: “Corman wanted to use a strip club again and he had a haunted house set that he had left over from another film. So Andy Ruben and I came up with an idea to shoot in those two locations. Of course we changed the haunted house into this really modern, amazing, great house.”

Cast:

Starr Andreeff (Skullduggery; Out of the Dark; Ghoulies II), Cyril O’Reilly (Bloody Birthday; Carnosaur 3), Debbie Nassar, Maria Ford, Athena Worthy, Tom Ruben, Chuck Rhee.

Plot:

A suicidal stripper (Starr Andreef) spends an evening with a sympathetic vampire (Cyril O’Reilly)…

Reviews:

” … it’s well done. A nice feature is that the camera is occasionally viewing the scenery through the vampire’s eyes and the whole picture then is filmed in dimmed violet colours. It’s another low-budget movie, but one worth watching.” Vampyres Online

“The suicidal stripper and mulleted vampire are two very desperate souls and they connect in a most interesting way. There may be no real dinner other than some blood sucking, but their conversations are unique and the dialogue rings with a real truth and sadness.” Cinema Du Meep

“… Dance of the Damned is the worst type of picture to undertake with a B-movie budget and cast — a terrifying two-headed talkathon. Even under the best conditions, movies of this sort are tricky to pull off and, to put it kindly, Dance falls far short of the mark.” TV Guide

“There’s little here but mood, and there’s tons of mood.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Choice dialogue:

The vampire: “You’ll never understand the emptiness of living forever.”

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Some things never rest in peace.’

Funeral Home – aka Cries in the Night – is a 1980 Canadian horror film produced and directed by William Fruet (Death Weekend; Spasms; Killer Party) from a screenplay by Ida Nelson.

First assistant director Ray Sager played Montag the Magnificent in The Wizard of Gore, was in The Gore Gore Girls and produced American Nightmare (1981).

Main cast:

Kay Hawtrey [as Hawtry] (Love at Stake; Haunted by Her Past; American Psycho II), Lesleh Donaldson (Happy Birthday to Me; Deadly Eyes; Curtains), Barry Morse (Asylum; The Changeling), Dean Garbett, Stephen Miller, Alfred Humphreys (Death Weekend; My Bloody Valentine), Peggy Mahon and Harvey Atkin.

Plot: 

A young woman, Maude Chalmers, arrives at her grandmother’s house, which used to be a funeral home, to help her turn the place into a bed-and-breakfast inn. But soon after they open, guests begin to either disappear and/or turn up dead…

Reviews:

“The movie brings forth a spooky tone and psychological mystery that most slashers simply do not, and yet it still maintains all the wonderful cheese you expect from an 80s slasher. Funeral Home is Canada’s Psycho!” Brett H, Oh, the Horror!

“Unfortunately, just as the film builds up to an enjoyable and campily frenetic climax it blows it all with a complete dramatic damp squib of an ending- it’s one of those, you know the ones, where you exclaim to yourself, “Oh,…. is that it?”. Hysteria Lives

“Some hack n’ slash tendencies are present but the consistent level of pacing and atmosphere here is usually unseen in the wave that came after Carpenter’s Halloween. Definitely recommended however; don’t come in expecting to see a body count or an emergence of an unheralded slasher icon.” Jayson Kennedy, Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

“[spoiler] … ultimately it’s the drunken abuses of the absent grandfather that are blamed for the murderous rampage well, kinda-rampage. Here, the poisonous male character is a mere spectre, and Fruet shows us that even in death, dudes are potent saboteurs. Too bad he couldn’t explore that idea in Ida Nelson’s script with a lot more punch.” Canuxploitation!

“Several standout scenes are spooky, but you can feel a spirit of fun behind the whole thing. It could have had more flashbacks and better dialogue, and the end should have been campier, but it’s worth watching if it comes your way.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“William Fruet’s direction is workaday, and Ida Nelson’s script is too derivative of Psycho to stand on its own. Good track by Jerry Fielding.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Release:

The film was released in Canada in 1980 by Frontier Amusements and in America in 1982 by MPM.

It was released on VHS by Vouge Video in Canada in 1982 and Paragon Video in 1983 and again in 1986 as a big box reissue. Subsequent DVD releases have all been transfers from poor quality VHS.

Offline reading:

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

• Kay Hawtrey as Maude Chalmers
• Lesleh Donaldson as Heather
• Barry Morse as Mr. Davis
• Dean Garbett as Rick Yates
• Stephen E. Miller as Billy Hibbs
• Alf Humphreys as Joe Yates
• Peggy Mahon as Florie
• Harvey Atkin as Harry Browning
• Robert Warner as Sheriff
• Jack Van Evera as James Chalmers
• Les Rubie as Sam
• Doris Petrie as Ruby
• Bill Lake as Frank
• Brett Matthew Davidson as Young Rick
• Christopher Crabb as Teddy
• Robert Craig as Barry Oaks
• Linda Dalby as Linda
• Gerard Jordan as Pete
• Eleanor Beecroft as Shirley

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘A return to the most dangerous house in the world’

The Amityville Curse is a 1989 Canadian-American horror film directed by Tom Berry (director of Blind Fear and producer of Scanners II and Screamers) from a screenplay by Michael Krueger (Mindkiller; Night Vision; Lone Wolf), Doug Olson and Norvell Rose. It was edited and produced by Franco Battista for Allegro Films.

It is the fifth instalment in the Amityville series and was released on video in May 1990.

The film was loosely based around Hans Holzer‘s 1981 book The Amityville Curse. Even though the setting of the film is supposed to be in Amityville, it is not 112 Ocean Avenue, the setting for the previous Amityville films. The house used here is a different house. A brief reference is made to the DeFeo murders and to the town’s supernatural history.

Main cast:

Kim Coates (Red Blooded American Girl; Dracula: The Series; Innocent Blood), Cassandra Gava (The Black Room) and Jan Rubes (Dead of Winter; Blood Relations; The Kiss) and David Stein.

Plot:

Marvin and Debbie buy an old house and begin to renovate it with the help of three friends: Frank, Bill and Abigail. However, they are unaware that the former housekeeper, Mrs Moriarty, and priest were murdered there twelve years earlier when the house was a rectory…

Reviews:

“Long scenes of conversations and very little action make this film much too boring to warrant any sort of recommendation. Despite the film’s pretensions towards suspense and mystery, it fails to offer any red herrings, all but giving away the identity of the murderer in the first fifteen minutes.” Canuxploitation!

“Most of the scares are by the book, and even when they try doing something new it doesn’t work – I’m sure “a dog menacing them only to be scared off by a crucifix” sounds eerie on paper, but in a poorly directed, blandly acted, late 80s Canadian horror movie, it doesn’t quite hit that mark.” Horror Movie a Day

“This is definitely one of the weakest of the series (not that any of them are particularly good that is), which in my view was very reminiscent “The Changeling” (I also noticed one or two similarities with “Demons 3 : The Ogre”) and to be honest this could have been made as a standalone horror film, as it really seems to owe nothing to any of the previous films…” Realm of Horror

Cast and characters:

• Kim Coates as Frank
• Dawna Wightman as Debbie
• Helen Hughens as Mrs. Moriarty
• David Stein as Marvin
• Anthony Dean Rubes as Bill
• Cassandra Gava as Abigail
• Jan Rubes as Priest
• Scott Yaphe as Thin Boy
• Mark Camacho as Krabel

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: VHSCollector.com

Larry Drake (February 21, 1950 – March 17, 2016) was an American actor and was best known to horror fans as the titular Dr. Giggles in the 1992 film of the same title. To the general public, he is best known for his portrayal of developmentally disabled Benny Stulwicz on the TV show L.A. Law from 1987 until the show’s end in 1994.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Drake’s fledgling acting career began in 1971 in Herschell Gordon Lewis’ moonshine exploiter, This Stuff’ll Kill Ya playing Bubba, a character name he also played in Frank De Felitta’s well-regarded 1981 TV movie adaptation of his own novel, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, although the role necessitated him wearing a sack over his head.

Another adaptation of a novel, Peter Benchley’s Beast (filmed in 1996 as TV mini-series The Beast) gave Drake the role of Lucas Coven, who kills a giant squid. Unfortunately, there’s an even bigger monster squid lurking in the ocean.

He was particularly memorable as ruthless mobster, Robert Durant in Sam Raimi’s superhero action horror film Darkman (1990) and its first sequel, Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995).

Genre TV series roles included Tales from the Crypt – episodes “And All Through the House” and “The Secret” and as the voice of Moss T. Meister in the What’s New Scooby-Doo? episode “Recipe for Disaster” (2004).

Besides minor parts in dark thrillers such as Paranoia (1998) and Pathology (2008, as the unfortunately named “Fat Bastard”), Drake’s other notable horror role was in Dark Asylum (aka Maniac Trasher, 2001) as The Trasher.

However, for horror aficionados, it will be as Dr. Giggles that Larry Drake – who died on March 17, 2016 – will be most affectionately remembered as.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia | IMDb

Amityville: The Evil Escapes is a 1989 American television supernatural horror film produced by NBC. It was written and directed by Sandor Stern (Pin) from a novel by John G. Jones.

Stern previously wrote the supernatural possessed house TV movie The Strange and Deadly Occurrence (1974) and the original Amityville Horror film (1979) that began the series.

The film is also known as The Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes and Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes.

Main cast:

Patty Duke (Night Gallery: “The Diary”; She Waits; Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby; The Swarm), Jane Wyatt, Fredric Lehne, Lou Hancock, Brandy Gold.

Plot:

A stormy night at the infamous Amityville house: Six priests, led by Father Manfred (Norman Lloyd) start to exorcise it. Father Dennis Kibbler (Fredric Lehne) is in an upstairs bedroom and begins to bless it when he sees a glowing brass floor lamp.

A burst of energy emerges from the outlet, through the cord, and into the lamp sending the priest flying.

A demonic face appears in the large round bulb…

A few days later, Father Manfred believes that the evil spirits are finally left the house and the real estate agency decides to have a yard sale. Helen Royce (Peggy McCay) comes across the lamp and buys it for $100. She sends it to her sister as a birthday present, explaining that ugly gifts are a running joke. While checking the lamp, Helen cuts her finger. As the day goes on, Helen’s finger begins to get infected and discoloured.

A week later, the lamp arrives at Helen’s sister, Alice Leacock’s (Jane Wyatt) house, in a small Californian town called Dancott…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“… Jane Wyatt’s household is terrorized by all the horror clichés from the previous Amityville entries. Patty Duke looks totally lost as she joins with priest Frederic Lehne to fight the wicked lamp.” John Stanley, Creature Features

“What’s most interesting here is that… well… this TV Movie doesn’t suck NEARLY as much as it could (and possibly should) have. Let’s face it, in spite of its name-recognition and longevity, the Amityville Series isn’t exactly a saga packed with great films. It’s hard to believe that the fourth in the series (and a made-for-TV-movie at that) would be more logical and better-made than the theatrical releases that preceded it.” World’s Greatest Critic

“Many of the scares have to do with other appliances – such as tea kettles to chainsaws and disposals – that turn themselves on. Stars Patty Duke and Jane Wyatt are spared the most embarrassing moments.” Mike Mayo, Videohound’s Horror Show

“But it’s not too boring, which I had feared, since the Amityville films aren’t known for their body counts (and, as I mentioned, the villain is a friggin lamp). Stern (or novelist John G. Jones) at least had the good sense to add a whole bunch of peripheral characters to the movie, since Duke and her 3 adolescent children certainly wouldn’t be killed (Wyatt was fair game though).” Horror Movie a Day

Buy: Amazon.com

Release:

In the US, the film was released on home video by Vidmark Entertainment, then released on DVD twice by Allumination Filmworks in 2003 and 2007.

Cast and characters:

• Patty Duke as Nancy Evans
• Jane Wyatt as Alice Leacock
• Fredric Lehne as Father Kibbler
• Lou Hancock as Peggy
• Brandy Gold as Jessica Evans
• Zoe Trilling as Amanda Evans (as Geri Betzler)
• Aron Eisenberg as Brian Evans
• Norman Lloyd as Father Manfred
• Robert Alan Browne as Donald McTear
• Gloria Cromwell as Rhona
• James Stern as Danny Read
• Peggy McCay as Helen Royce

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

Posted in tribute to actress Patty Duke who died March 29, 2016.

‘Til death do us part.’

Honeymoon Horror is a 1982 American slasher horror film written and directed by Harry Preston (Blood of the Wolf Girl) from a story by L.L. ‘Jack’ Carney.

This was one of the first direct-to-video films purchased by Sony Home Video and released to the fledgling video rental market. It allegedly made millions of dollars for Sony who bought it for $50,000 from the Texas film makers.

Main cast:

Paul Iwanski, Bob Wagner, Cheryl Black, Philip Thompson, James Caskey, Bill Pecchi, Jerry Meagher, William Clarke, Margi Curry, Mary Lou Wittman, Leslie McKinley, Kathy Johnson.

Official synopsis:

‘Imagine every newlywed’s fantasy, a rustic secluded lover’s paradise- Honeymoon Island. What starts as a weekend of love, turns into a nightmare of blood and terror for three young innocent couples. What lurks in the shadows of Honeymoon Lodge? Is it the caretaker, or perhaps something more fiendish and deadly? Honeymoon Island, where newlyweds joined in holy matrimony spend their wedding night screaming in terror!’

Reviews:

“Honeymoon Horror is a poorly put together movie, but looks much better here than in the most common print available. Preston has said that the production was so awkward that most of his ideas were devoured by the lack of budget and the film does look shoddy and cheap. For a slice of regional filmmaking with a cool maniac though, it at least deserves to be seen.” A Slash Above

” … even with the slow pace I was never really bored. The horrid dialogue kept me laughing throughout; I particularly liked the guy who told his wife he had to go practice his weightlifting on their wedding night (which in any other movie would result in the now isolated man being clubbed to death with his own barbells, but not Honeymoon Horror!” Brian W. Collins, Horror Movie a Day

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

“Honeymoon Horror is helplessly bogged down with talky scenes and nudity, not to mention absurd characters, particularly the Cockney maid (!). When it actually shows up, the gore is pretty plentiful and the special effects not too bad, but the cast are uniformly awful.” Jim Harper, Legacy of Blood

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Filming locations: 

Austin Patio Dude Ranch in Grapevine, Texas, USA

Clip:

IMDb

‘Brothers to the end… the very end.’

Pledge Night – aka A Hazing in Hell and Death Night – is a 1988 (released 1990) American supernatural slasher horror film directed by Paul Ziller from a screenplay by producer Joyce Snyder. The film is notable for the antagonist, Sid, played in a brief flashback by Anthrax lead singer Joey Belladonna.

Main cast:

Todd Eastland, Dennis Sullivan, Craig Derrick, David Neal Evans, Robert Lentini, James Davies, Lawton Paseka, Michael T. Henderson, Arthur Lundquist, Steven Christopher Young, Tony Barbieri, Will Kempe.

Plot:

In order to become a member of a college fraternity, the applicants have to go through initiation rituals to show their loyalty.

Way back in the 1960s, someone played a nasty trick on the student Sidney Scheider: He had to take a bath in a tub filled with cornflakes and coffee grounds, vinegar and even more disgusting substances. Nothing unusual so far but someone had replaced the water with pure acid. Sidney was seriously wounded and died a horrible death.

This year Acid Sid returns with a vengeance, killing everyone who comes his way. One by one, they are slaughtered…

Reviews:

It’s refreshing to see a supernatural killer here – particularly as it’s so unexpected, given the movie’s straight-up Porkys-by-numbers first half. And once the facially-disfigured Sid is on the loose, he racks up a fair few killings, some of which are quite well presented, with a fair gore level, although many (such an egg whisk down the throat) are off-screen.” Slasherama.com

“The first hour plays out like a piss poor riff of Animal House. Drunk groping of chicks, fugly stripper boobs, ass paddlings, ass cheek cherry races, and all that done-to-death crap. When the killing starts; it’s not frightening in the least with the first possessed laughing like a hyena as he kills.” Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

“This time the killings are done by a supernatural psycho named Acid Sid. These and other oddities more than make up for the lazy, amateurish feel to the movie. But the ample amounts of the red stuff, and the obvious toilet humor (just loot at the VHS cover), gives this one the Beavis and Butthead seal of approval.” The Trashy Horror Charlie Show

Filming locations:

Rutgers University – 7 College Avenue, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Critical Condition

‘Dining out can be a permanent experience!!!’

Goremet: Zombie Chef from Hell is a 1986 American comedy horror film directed by Don Swan from a screenplay co-written with Jeff Baughn and William Highsmith. It was shot on Super 8 film and promoted as Gore-Met, Zombie Chef from Hell.

Main cast:

C.W. Casey, Charles Barger III, Jeff Baughn, Cindy Castanio,  Chuc Clubb, Loy Dellinger, Theo Depuay, Bob Highsmith, Johnny Howie, Kelley Kunicki, Alan Marx, Joy Merchant, Woody Mitchell, Michael O’Neill, Rocky Oliviero.

Plot:

1386: Priests from “The Ancient Order” place a indefinite curse on a man named Goza that requires him to feed off human flesh.

1986: Goza is now running a seafood restaurant and deli…

Reviews:

“… nearly all of the potential fun is stripped away quicker than a deli slicer can cut through a plastic foot. This doesn’t take itself too seriously and seems fully aware of how dumb it is, but that still doesn’t help matters. The one-liners and gags are lame, there are tons of scenes that seem to go on for an eternity, the continuity is awful and nearly all of the murders take place off-screen.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“For a movie with such a deliberately exaggerated title there’s very little gore and no real “zombie”. Customers complain about hair and jewelry being in their food so I wouldn’t really call him a “chef”, and “hell” isn’t even really a factor at all. All of that considered, somehow (despite what other reviewers may say) Gore-Met delivers.” Atomic Caravan

” … reeks of weed, Doritos, and old Reebok high-tops in the best of ways. It was made by adults on Super 8, but most likely influenced by ninth-graders playing Dungeons & Dragons while watching Evil Dead. Plus it’s only 67 minutes. Bonus!” Joseph A. Ziemba, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

“The whole film is an exercise in padding. Out of its already brisk 70 minutes, about 20 minutes of that is actually plot. The rest is filled up with impromptu dance sequences featuring a few nude girls, a jazzy musical number of “Down to the Boardwalk”, shots of people drinking beer, and an extended sequence of someone trying to make a phone call.” The Zed Word

“Some call it a parody, but everyone agrees on one thing – it’s really, really unwatchable … features a distracting synthesizer score, and it’s inept in every other possible way.”

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Filming Locations:

Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

Dance party:

Whole film:

IMDb | Related: The Synth of Fear: Horror Films with Synthesizer Scores – article by Steve Thrower

‘They killed her but she refused to stay dead’

Night of Terror aka Escape from the Insane Asylum is a 1986 American horror film directed by Felix Girard from a screenplay by producer and lead actress Renee Harmon (Frozen Scream).

Main cast:

Renee Harmon, Frank Neuhaus, Henry Lewis, Lynn Whitmire, Lauren Brent, Arline Sprecht, Steven Neuhardt, James Lewis, Jan Vanderberg, Marian Wayne, Ivan Corda,  Joni Barnes, Graham Galloway, Tania Anatole, Noel Stron.

Plot:

After being committed to a sanatorium by her wealthy husband, a rich heiress is on a race against the clock to prove her sanity and to expose the savage medical experiments that are being performed in the asylum…

Reviews:

“Despite some unintentional laughs here and there, especially the opening asylum scenes full of cliched nuttish behavior, it’s mostly just dull, inept and confusing. The acting’s pretty awful, the story’s all over the place and it’s mostly just talk and very, very tame.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Another Renee Harmon mashup job, part SOV and partly cribbed from Frozen Scream. A crummy world of ugly interiors, stilted acting, baffling flashbacks (or are they hallucinations?), harsh key lights slicing through indecipherable night scenes, and corrupt doctors who casually toss around the word ‘retard’.” Matt Lynch, Letterboxd

“Utterly incomprehensible and amateurish piece of crap with enough weirdness to satisfy fans of low-budget trash.” Humanoid of Flesh, IMDb

Clip:

IMDb | Image credit: Australian VHS Covers

‘Join Vincent Price on a suspense-filled journey to the supernatural!’

Escapes is a 1986 American fantasy horror film made for TV. It was written, produced and directed by David Steensland. The ‘film’ is actually an edited together anthology of six supernatural video shorts, each originally produced separately and shown on HBO and the Sci-Fi Channel: “Something’s Fishy,” “Coffee Break,” “Who’s There,” “Jonah’s Dream,” and “Think Twice.”

Wraparound footage of Vincent Price, who allegedly received $10,000 for a few minutes of work, was later added to link the individual tales together to provide an overall running time of 69 minutes. A “director’s cut’ with sixteen extra minutes was also released on VHS.

Buy VHS: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Young Matthew (Todd Fulton) receives a mysterious videotape in the mail titled, you guessed it, Escapes. Hey, it stars Vincent Price, he figures, so how bad can it possibly be? As it turns out, pretty damn bad.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“I can’t fault Vincent Price for anything, as he’s on screen for a grand total of maybe four minutes, but if he hadn’t been it at all, I would definitely not have suffered through till the end. There is no violence or gore, no outright scares, weak scripts, a pitiful budget, etc.” Satanic Pandemonium

“Overall, this anthology is more tame than the entire series of Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark and possesses even less creative storytelling. If you pass this one over, you’re not missing much, but if you’re an anthology buff, you may want to suffer through it.” Hollie Horror, Letterboxd

“Five stories in the tradition of The Twilight Zone but not as satisfying.” John Stanley, Creature Features

“The end concept is copied from Dead of Night … Price wasn’t choosing his projects with much care at this point.” Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

Whole film:

IMDb | Image credits: Video Wasteland

‘… Pray you never meet them!’

The Children – aka The Children of Ravensback – is a 1980 American horror film co-produced and directed by Max Kalmanowicz from a screenplay by co-producer Carlton J. Albright (Luther the Geek) and Edward Terry. Harry Manfredini provided the score, which he subsequently tweaked for his seminal Friday the 13th soundtrack.

The film stars Martin Shakar (Blood Bath; The Dark Secret of Harvest Home), Gil Rogers (Luther the Geek) and Gale Garnett (Mad Monster Party?; Friday’s Curse [TV episode]), Shannon Bolin, Tracy Griswold.

Plot:

Jim and Slim, a couple of workers at a nuclear plant in the fictional New England town of Ravensback, decide to call it a day and head for a bar. Unfortunately, a large buildup of pressure leaks from one of the pipes, forming a yellow toxic cloud that drifts across the ground.

Meanwhile, a school bus is taking children home. Suddenly the bus passes through the toxic cloud…

Reviews:

“The disgusting idea that adults must go out with machetes and cut off the kids’ hands gives this a perverse twist. Producer Max Kalmanowicz directs it like a monster flick of the ’50s.” John Stanley, Creature Features

“Wisely, our filmmakers realized that such an audacious idea deserved not seriousness but camp.The first 20 minutes seem serious, but it gets funnier as it goes, especially in the final third when it purposefully copies Psycho and Jaws in the score.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

“A cheap but fun take on the killer kids genre, with the producer’s children cast as some of the zombie kids.” Brian Albright, Regional Horror Films, 1958 – 1990

“So if 8-year-old kids with cheap 99-cent Halloween makeup and black fingernails are your thing, then check out The Children and maybe it will give you a creep or two. If you’re more about the modern times though, it wouldn’t hurt to check out the 2008 UK non-remake of the same name.” Dirty Horror

“Like Crash! or some other low budget horror movies, it’s essentially a moebius strip film, where the same two scenes more or less repeat in succession for the bulk of the running time.” Horror Movie a Day

“The Children pretty much mixes up what went down in Village of the Damned with a dash of Night of the Living Dead‘s killer zombie child, but this low-budget offering at least offers up an amusing twist to the standard formula.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

Cast and characters:

• Martin Shakar as John Freemont
• Gil Rogers as Sheriff Billy Hart
• Gale Garnett as Cathy Freemont
• Shannon Bolin as Molly
• Tracy Griswold as Deputy Harry Timmons
• Joy Glaccum as Suzie MacKenzie
• Jeptha Evans as Paul MacKenzie
• Clara Evans as Jenny Freemont
• Sarah Albright as Ellen Chandler
• Nathanael Albright as Tommy Button
• Julie Carrier as Janet Shore
• Michelle Le Mothe as Dr. Joyce Gould
• Edward Terry as Hank
• Peter Maloney as Frank
• Jessie Abrams as Clarkie Freemont
• Rita Montone as Dee Dee Shore
• John P. Codiglia as Jackson Lane
• Martin Brennan as Sanford Butler-Jones
• J.D. Clarke as Jim (hardhat)
• James Klawin as Slim (hardhat)
• Arthur Chase as Cyrus MacKenzie
• Suzanne Barnes as Leslie Button
• Diane Deckard as Rita Chandler
• David Platt as Chauffeur
• Ray Delmolino as Bus driver
• Michael Carrier as Bob Chandler
• X. Ben Fakackt as Newscaster voice

Release:

The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by World Northal in 1980. It was subsequently released in the US on VHS by Vestron Video. The film was released on DVD in a 25th Anniversary edition by Troma Entertainment in 2005 and then posted free-to-view online in 2012.

Buy: Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

Sanford Butler-Jones: “Apparently you’re new here… I’m Sanford Butler-Jones!”

Sheriff: “I’ve never seen anything like it. They were burnt. But mutilated. It, it, was horrible!”

Filming locations:

Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA

TV trailer:

Whole film online:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: The Bloody Pit of Horror

Related: Hell of the Living Dead

‘Human beings stripped raw in a savage orgy of splatter and lust!!’

Flesh Eaters from Outer Space is a 1989 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Warren F. Disbrow (Invasion for Flesh and Blood; Scarlet Moon; Hate’s Haunted Slay Ride). The film’s original title was A Taste for Flesh and Blood and it is currently being distributed by Troma Entertainment

Main cast:

Greg Scott, Kathy Monks, Lena Hunter, Samantha Scott, Stephen Mezo, Tim Ferrante, Roy Dipietro, Douglas S. Kalinowski, Allen Stanier, Jack Predale, James D. Manley, Gary L. Meier, Savino Cuppari.

Reviews:

“Disbrow knows exactly what he’s trying to achieve with his limited budget and limited acting abilities of the main cast … and he manages to meld two intertwined stories with a rubber suit, fake blood, numerous death scenes, numerous still photographs inserted to create dramatic moments (the space shuttle being my favourite)… wow” Calgary Movies

“The alien is an over-sized costume that looks more like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Images are fleeting and it is kept in darkness for the most part. Every attack has this repeating shot of its face up close with this irritating noise it makes. By the end of the film that noise will be the only thing you really remember and you’ll wish you didn’t.” Games, Brains and a Head-Banging Life

“The picture quality is dreadful, but the special effects are so bad it doesn’t matter. The dialogue was obviously dubbed in after the fact and it doesn’t always mesh. There’s a woman who has visions of the deaths in her dreams. The victims are invariably jerks who aren’t bright enough to run away.” Games & Movies

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Filming Locations:

Keyport, New Jersey, USA

Whole film:

IMDb | Warren F. Disbrow official site

Friday the 13th: The Series – also known as Friday’s Curse – is an American-Canadian supernatural horror television series that ran for seventy-two episodes over three seasons, from October 3, 1987 to May 26, 1990 in first-run syndication.

The series follows Micki and Ryan, owners of an antiques store, and their friend, Jack Marshak, as they try to recover cursed antiques, to put them into safety in the store’s vault.

Originally, the series was to be titled The 13th Hour, but producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. thought this would turn away viewers and instead took the name Friday the 13th to deliberately draw in audiences using “the idea of Friday the 13th, which is that it symbolizes bad luck and curses”.

Despite this title, the series has no story connections to the film series of the same name, as Jason Voorhees does not make an appearance, nor does any character connected to the films.

The series and the films have several cast and crew ties, however. The show’s producer, Frank Mancuso, Jr., was producer of the movie series from Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) until the final instalment distributed by Paramount, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan in 1989. The show’s star, John D. LeMay, went on to appear in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, guest star John Shepherd played Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, and episode director David Cronenberg appeared in Jason X. Fred Mollin, Rob Hedden, and Tom McLoughlin worked behind the scenes of both series.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Premise:

“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store… and with it, the curse. Now they must get everything back and the real terror begins.” — prologue that opened each episode

An antiques dealer named Lewis Vendredi (“Friday” in French), played by R.G. Armstrong (Race with the Devil; Evilspeak; The Beast Within) has made a deal with the Devil to sell cursed antiques out of his shop, “Vendredi’s Antiques”, in exchange for wealth, magic powers, and immortality. In the show’s first episode (“The Inheritance”), he rebels against the Devil and breaks the deal. The Devil kills Vendredi and claims his soul for breaking the deal.

After Lewis’ death, his shop is inherited by his niece, Micki Foster (Louise Robey) and her cousin by marriage, Ryan Dallion (played by John D. LeMay). They decide not to keep the store, and sell off many of the cursed antiques before being stopped by Jack Marshak (Chris Wiggins). Jack was Lewis’ friend, a retired world-traveller and occultist who originally collected many of the antiques for Vendredi before they became cursed.

The series follows the protagonists as they hunt down the cursed antiques, which are usually in the possession of people who have discovered their magic powers and are unwilling to give them up. In some cases the object is in the possession of the one who originally discovers the curse (“The Inheritance”), while in others (e. g. “Tales of the Undead”, “A Cup of Time”, “Vanity’s Mirror”, “Read my Lips”, “The Mephisto Ring”, “The Prisoner”) another person has learned of the object’s power and obtained it before the object is recovered.

Since the cursed antiques are completely indestructible, they must be locked away in a vault beneath “Curious Goods” (the rechristened antique store) that is designed to magically render the objects inert. A manifest, written by Lewis, holds the records of all the cursed objects sold by him. The city of this antique shop is unidentified, the series mostly being vague about whether it is in the US or Canada, but in the third season episode “My Wife as a Dog” showed the local fire department crew wearing the US flag on their uniforms and a bar’s cash register filled with US currency.

Most of the stories in the series deal with people using the cursed objects’ magic for personal gain or for revenge. To use the objects’ magic powers, a human sacrifice is required, with the victim being killed by the object itself or in some particular manner reflecting the object’s history.

Buy music: Amazon.com

Typically, the person using the cursed object ends up becoming a victim of the object’s curse after failing to meet its demand for more and more human sacrifices. Some objects are sentient and intelligent, such as the doll (“The Inheritance”) and the radio (“And Now the News”). Others do not actually speak but demonstrate intelligence and awareness in other ways (“Spirit of Television”, “The Playhouse”) or confer intelligence on other inanimate things (“Read My Lips”, “Double Exposure”, “Wax Magic”). Still others function without intelligence, mechanically dispensing a certain benefit in response to human sacrifice (“Root of All Evil”, “The Mephisto Ring”, “The Prisoner”). Occasionally, there would be an object-free episode in which the trio would confront their uncle’s spirit or some other Satanic evildoer (“The Prophecy”, “Hellowe’en”, “Wedding in Black”).

Like some other sci-fi/horror shows in syndication in the late 1980s, such as War of the Worlds and Freddy’s Nightmares, Friday the 13th: The Series pushed the limits of “acceptable content”, featuring violence on par with that of the R-rated horror movies of the time. Certain episodes such as “Night Prey” also depicted a level of sexuality that was taboo for network television.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Coming Soon: new and future releases

Season 1 (1987–1988)

Season 2 (1988–1989)

Season 3 (1989–1990)