‘Was it a nightmare? Or was it for real?’

Black Devil Doll From Hell is a 1984 American blaxploitation horror feature film written, produced, and directed by Chester Novell Turner (Tales from the QuadeaD Zone), in his directorial debut. The movie stars Shirley L. Jones, Gladys Ames and Bernard Brown.

Helen Black is a religious young woman who is determined to abstain from sex until marriage. This all changes once she purchases a doll from a thrift store, which turns out to be possessed, after which point Helen’s sex drive becomes insatiable…

Review:

Charles Novell Turner’s Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984) may possibly be the Citizen Kane of atrocious shot-on-video movies, but that’s really hard to tell, considering most SOV movies rank somewhere below processed cheese in terms of quality.

Written and directed by Turner, the blame for this ignominious refuse rests solely with Turner himself. He could have written a coherent and engaging story, but chose not to; he could have shot tighter, more relevant scenes, thus upping the tension from nothing to at least a little something, but chose not to; he could have guided the actors in their acting choices, or he could have gotten people capable of acting in the first place, but he chose not to; he could have upgraded to a Yamaha synthesizer instead of using a Casio keyboard with its cottony percussion riffs to do the music, but he chose not to; he could have left his Zuni fetish doll homage a distant dream, but chose not to and chose to infect the world with his rubbishy ineptitude.

In a way, it’s a good thing he chose not to in all of those situations, because the movie is fun precisely because of those flaws. It’s a ridiculous and, yes, at times gruelling endeavour, but its frequent absurdities, and Turner’s remarkable ability to make Ed Wood look like a talent on the level of Alfred Hitchcock, that make the movie worth a watch. If you’re a glutton for punishment, enjoy preposterous scenarios and outlandish scenes with a little juice, Black Devil Doll from Hell is a good option for the facetiously minded.

Ben Spurling, HORRORPEDIA

Other reviews:

“The monotonous (and loud) Casio soundtrack, hallucinatory pacing, profane script, and amateur performances combine to create a Black Devil Doll from Hell DIY video project so far removed from anything remotely resembling normality that most wondered how it ever escaped onto commercial VHS release at all.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“It revels unashamedly in its own misogynistic mindset and utter incompetency, and I can’t imagine an uglier, more unbelievably inept piece of rotgut. Difficult to endure, impossible to forget, and loads of fun to discuss afterward…” Shock Cinema, 1991

” … reminds one strongly of a low rent Chucky only it’s the carnal he’s interested in rather than murder, which in effect sees Helen raped into believing once you go puppet, you never go back […] Absolutely dreadful by any estimate, but difficult to look away from (and listen to, thanks to the piercing and droning soundtrack).” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“Is it all as deliberately offensive as it sounds, playing up every negative racial and sexual stereotype imaginable with no apparent concern, much less conscience? Why, yes, it is — but it’s also blatantly obvious that Turner himself isn’t taking things very seriously, so there’s not much point in us doing so, either.” Trash Film Guru

Cast and characters:

• Shirley L. Jones as Helen Black
• Obie Dunson as Preacher
• Thalia Holloway as Second Buyer
• Jeanine Johican as Church Friend
• Ricky Roach as First Lover
• Marie Sainvilvs as Saleslady
• Chester Tankersley as Second Lover
• Kathleen Turner as Barbara’s Voice
• Keefe L. Turner as The Doll

Trivia:

Turner wrote the script over a period of three and a half days, however filming took place over several years on a budget of about $10,000.

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Trilogy of Terror – USA, 1975

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William Lustig’s 1980 cult classic Maniac is being re-released by Blue Underground on on November 13, 2018, as a three-disc Blu-ray + DVD + CD set, with the movie having been remastered in 4K from its recently discovered 16mm original camera negative.

Special features:

• New! 3-Disc Set includes Blu-ray with New 4K restoration of the film + DVD + CD
• New! Collectable Booklet with new essay by author Michael Gingold
• New! Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD with MANIAC score by Jay Chattaway
• New! Maniac Outtakes Featurette
• New! Returning to the Scene of the Crime with William Lustig
• The Joe Spinell Story (49:12 )
• Audio Commentary #1 with Co-Producer/Director William Lustig and Co-Producer Andrew W. Garroni
• Audio Commentary #2 with Co-Producer/Director William Lustig, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini, Editor Lorenzo Marinelli, and Joe Spinell assistant Luke Walter
• Maniac Publicity: ‘Paul Wunder’ Radio Interview with William Lustig, Joe Spinell, and Carline Munro (19:11), William Lustig on ‘Movie Madness’ (47:18), Joe Spinell at Cannes (0:44), Joe Spinell on ‘The Joe Franklin Show’ (13:13) and Carline Munro TV Interview (2:54)
• Maniac Controversy: A selection of archival broadcast TV news clips, interviews and reactions to the film. (41:15)
• Mr. Robbie: ‘Maniac 2’ Promo Reel (7:28)
• Maniac Men Interview with Songwriters Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky (10:38)
• Dark Notes Interview with Composer Jay Chattaway (12:13)
• The Death Dealer Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini (12:11)
• Anna and the Killer Interview with Star Caroline Munro (13:08)
• Theatrical Trailers
• TV Spots
• Radio Spots

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Patrick Still Lives – original title: Patrick vive ancora – is a 1980 Italian paranormal horror feature film directed by Mario Landi (Giallo in Venice) from a screenplay by Piero Regnoli (Nightmare City; Malabimba; The Playgirls and the Vampire). The Stefano Film production stars Sacha Pitoëff, Gianni Dei, Mariangela Giordano and Carmen Russo

It is a unauthorised sequel of the Australian horror film Patrick (1978) and is known primarily for its scenes of nudity and gore.

Review:

Of all the rip-off sequels the Italians have ever quickly rushed into production, this follow-up to Richard Franklin’s Patrick remains the oddest. Sleazier and far more compulsively enjoyable than it’s somewhat more sombre Australian model, the late Landi’s final work for the big screen is a far cry from the many episodes of Inspector Maigret he directed for TV.

While not as pathologically violent as his previous Giallo a Venezia, there is no shortage of grisly moments, each prefaced by an hilarious pair of staring eyes tackily superimposed onto the print. Villa’s photography is cleanly functional, mixing the occasional high-angled shot with some atmospheric day-for-night exteriors, all filmed at the Villa Parisi in Frascati, the same mansion used in Blood for Dracula and The Nights of Terror.

As with other Gabriele Crisanti-produced horrors, Patrick vive ancora manages to create an eerie feeling of claustrophobia, effectively enhanced by Berto Pisano’s soundtrack music which mixes a sub-‘Tubular Bells’ melody with doom-laden bass guitar notes, discordant electric paino and the Eno-like synth beeps from the soundtrack of The Nights of Terror.

This cut-price carnage pic also scores heavily in the thespian department: Gianni Dei, who had been the boyfriend of Femi Benussi and the husband of Magda Konopka, and was rumoured to be very well endowed, was a regular face in Z-grade features; Franco Silva has acted in every popular genre the industry had to offer; John Benedy had graduated from tawdry Sixties photo-novels; Paolo Giusti was the handsome hunk in sleaze dramas such as Red Light Girls; and Sacha Pitoëff was outrageously slumming it after his work with Resnais and Argento (Inferno).

To ice the casting cake, the movie serves up plenty of gratuitous nudity from Carmen Russo and Anna Veneziano, and the ever dependable Mariangela Giordano – then producer Gabriele Crisati’s girlfriend. Of her infamously over-the-top death-by-long-poker scene she has said, “It took two days to film that scene, and because the poker had to keep thrusting between my legs before it came out of the top of my head, it got more and more painful as we kept going. And it was cold and freezing. I don’t know why Gabriele insisted on making these movies during winter.” One sequence Giordano remembers with affection, however, is a drunken catfight with busty glamour puss Carmen Russo: “That was fun, all my pent up rage towards Gabriele is in that brawl.” As usual she wore all of her own outfits too…

Patrick vive ancora may be little more than bottom-of-the-barrel schlock but compared to much of the conveyor belt fodder that gets passed off as A-grade cinema these days, it’s one cheesy little treasure that deserves to be cherished. Viva Patrick!

Mark Ashworth, HORRORPEDIA

Other reviews:

“Even with a half dozen gruesome deaths, Patrick Still Lives moves almost as slowly as Patrick did. Except the mesmerizing quality of its bizarreness becomes so consuming that the film’s plentiful shortcomings melt into being part of its odd appeal.” Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt

“There are five women in the movie and every single one of them spends a good chunk of time in the nude. One of them appears nude more often than clothed, in fact. Even a scene that shouldn’t really have any nudity – a girl walking around the spooky courtyard prior to her obvious doom, for example – has more full frontal shots than just about any other horror film I can recall…” Brian W. Collins, Horror Film a Day

“The nudity is so gratuitous and so excessive that it actually becomes amusing. By the time the film’s male lead (who, it should be noted, had quite an impressive p*rnstache) was standing naked at a dresser and casually lighting a cigarette while ominous music played on the soundtrack, I simply could not stop laughing.” Lisa Marie Bowman, Through the Shattered Lens

” …like Burial Ground it’s hard to look away from the craziness. Everything is so inept, so totally unstylish it works in it’s own confined space of silly filmmaking. It might be crap but it’s not boring at all, even if it never comes up in the same entertainment value as Burial Ground.” Fred Anderson, Schmollywood Babylon

Cast and characters:

• Sacha Pitoëff … Dr. Herschel – Inferno
• Gianni Dei … Patrick Herschel – Giallo in Venice
• Mariangela Giordano [as Maria Angela Giordan] … Stella Randolph – Giallo in Venice; The Nights of Terror
• Carmen Russo … Cheryl Kraft – Ring of Darkness
• Paolo Giusti … David Davis
• Franco Silva … Lyndon Kraft
• John Benedy … Peter Suniak
• Anna Veneziano … Meg
• Andrea Belfiore … Lydia Grant

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Giallo in Venice – Italy, 1979

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‘Yes Mother… I’ve done my homework, cleaned my room, and buried Dad!’

Epitaph – aka Mommy’s Epitaph – is a 1987 American horror feature film written, co-produced and directed by Syrian-born Joseph Merhi (producer of Death by Dialogue; director of The Newlydeads; Fresh Kill). The movie stars Natasha Pavlovich, Delores Nascar, Jimmy Williams and Flint Keller.

The soundtrack synth score was composed by John Gonzalez.

A family has to keep moving from town to town because the mother is a psychotic murderer who keeps flipping out and murdering people…

In the most infamous scene, a female psychiatrist is tied up and a metal bucket with a rat inside is tied round her waste. The psychotic mother heats up the bucket with a blow torch and so the rat gnaws into the poor woman’s stomach to escape, only to emerge shortly afterwards.

Reviews:

“By most standards Epitaph is not a good film. The production values look cheap, the acting in extremely over-the-top and campy, and the plot extremely implausible. Still, as crazy as it may be, this film remains one of my guilty pleasures and I thoroughly enjoy each viewing.” Fright Meter

“Not much in the way of gore but the blood flows freely here. The kills are simple but work for the story using very minimal practical effects. Overall, Mommy’s Epitaph is one of those films that isn’t special but is still a fun watch. You may not remember watching it a few weeks from now but you will still enjoy yourself.” Horror Society

Choice dialogue:

Wayne: “You’re only three hours late. What are they gonna do, spank you?”

Martha: “You can’t dance when you’re pregnant!”

Martha: “What the hell did you expect me to do? Let the bastard take you away from me? Huh!”

Cast and characters:

• Natasha Pavlovich [as Natasha Pavlova] … Amy Fulton
• Delores Nascar … Martha Fulton
• Jimmy Williams [as Jim Williams] … Forrest Fulton
• Flint Keller … Wayne
• Liz Kane … Virginia
• Linda Tucker-Smith [as Linda Tucker Smith] … Shirley – MurderLust
• Richard W. Munchkin [as R.W. Munchkin] … Warren
• Paula Jamison … Melanie
• Mike Mendoza … Restaurant customer
• Ed Reynolds … Painter

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‘Keep telling yourself – it’s only a nightmare!’

Midnight – re-released as The Backwoods Massacre – is a 1982 American feature film written and directed by Night of the Living Dead co-writer John Russo.

The movie was shot on location in rural Pennsylvania for a mere $71,000 and stars Melanie Verlin who would also feature in George A. Romero‘s Monkey Shines as Nancy, and Martin lead actor John Amplas as Abrahan. The film was produced by Donald Redinger and features makeup effects by Tom Savini.

Nancy is alone on the road, hitchhiking to California, away from the clutches of her sleazy stepfather. She makes friends with a pair of petty crooks on a road trip, and things take a turn for the worse when they are killed by a pair of backwoods ‘cops’. Nancy is then in danger of being sacrificed to Satan himself by the wayward lawmen and their twisted siblings, in a psychotic attempt to resurrect their mother’s decomposed corpse…

Reviews:

‘The narrative is constantly shifting gears which makes the film pleasantly unpredictable: it begins as a dysfunctional family drama and touches upon religion, the corruption of innocence, and authoritative hypocrisy; then it becomes a coming-of-age road movie about the generation gap and racial bigotry; and eventually descends into a grimy rural horror story…’ Christopher O’Neill, 10k Bullets

‘The film successfully conjures up an atmosphere of dreary and sleazy desolation, but this isn’t enough to save such a stupid film from the trash compactor.’ Shaun Anderson, The Celluloid Highway

” …crass, junky, and deeply uninterested in appealing to any sort of human logic or moral compass—and that’s fine. It would perhaps be more fine with a more inventive, imaginative hand at the wheel, though, since Russo’s stodgy, lethargic direction renders the schlocky climax into a bit of a bore.” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

“Russo makes the most of the bleak settings and the redneck style works well, but the narrative is driven by overlong, hammy expositions rather than action. There’s also little insight into the psychosis of the killer family other than the corpse of the mother held at blame, sis taking control, and why their sacrifices are exclusively teenage girls.” Vegan Voorhees

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Image thanks: Basement of Ghoulish Decadence | Serious Miami Horror

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‘It preys on human fear. It feeds on human flesh.’

Without Warning is a 1980 American science fiction horror feature film produced and directed by Greydon Clark (Uninvited; Wacko; Satan’s Cheerleaders). The movie stars Tarah Nutter, Christopher S. Nelson, Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Neville Brand and Ralph Meeker. Cameron Mitchell makes a cameo appearance.

Many observers have noted that thematically, this movie predates yet is similar to Predator (1987). In fact, the same actor, Kevin Peter Hall, plays both aliens. It is also known as It Came… Without Warning, The Warning and Alien Shock, its German title.

Special effects designer Greg Cannom, who was later involved in major studio productions such as Jurassic Park, Hook and Titanic, created the memorable aliens. Cinematography was provided by Dean Cundey (The Thing; The Fog; Halloween).

Plot:

A father and son go into the mountains. Before they can begin hunting, which the son does not want to do anyway, they are killed by flying starfish-like creatures, which penetrate their skin with needle-tipped tentacles.

Some time later, four teenagers, Tom, Greg, Beth and Sandy, hike in the same area, ignoring the warnings of local truck stop owner Joe Taylor (Jack Palance).

A group of cub scouts is also in the area; their leader (Larry Storch) is killed by the alien creatures, while his troop run into an unidentified humanoid and flee…

Reviews:

” …Landau and Palance are both highly entertaining, both because it’s fun to watch younger versions of these venerable actors slumming in such silly material, and because they bring some dignity to roles that are, admittedly better-developed and deeper than most horror-movie-death-fodder characters. That said, it’s an awfully slow, dry ride between meaningful scenes…” Tasha Robinson, AV Club

“Despite its many shortcomings, it nonetheless has a goofy charm all its own that at least makes it worth one viewing for the peculiar creatures. Old school horror fans will also get a big kick out of spotting many of the familiar faces from TV and movies.” Cool Ass Cinema

” …Clark does a nice job of building up tension […] With its impressive cast and retro style (retro in that the film itself harkens back to 1950s sci-fi and that its oozing special effects are of the organic kind in the days before modern CGI was the norm), Without Warning is now perfectly ripe for rediscovery…” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“Without Warning is an interesting little horror picture not only because of thematic consistency but because it also adopts without question the slasher paradigm […] Some reviewers have complained about the special effects, but given that they’re 1980 vontage, the creatures in Without Warning remain pretty frightening.” John Kenneth Muir, Horror Films of the 1980s

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“Without Warning may not be a lost masterpiece but it is a really entertaining low budget horror picture that makes the most of its effects set pieces and a few notable cast members. If it takes a little while to get going, the last half makes up for that…” Ian Jane, DVD Talk

“It starts off OK enough, with some little alien things (that look like the result of a mating between Alienfacehuggers and starfish) flying around and killing folks like Mitchell, but then it just falls apart after they find Caruso’s body (poor sod doesn’t even get a death scene). The alien frisbees all but completely disappear until the closing reel…” Horror Movie a Day

“Without Warning’s biggest enemy is its pacing. Director Greydon Clark never latches onto a tempo to help build momentum or suspense. Sure, he creates a foreboding atmosphere here and there, but true terror is never achieved. (The most effective element is composer Dan Wyman’s spooky blend of piano tinklings and early ‘80s synth). FilmFather

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“Greydon Clark never does much to generate suspense and tension out of scenes […] Moreover, the alien is only an intermittent menace – for much of the middle of the film, Martin Landau’s bug-eyed crazy becomes far more of a threat than the alien. We only ever get to see the alien’s appearance in the last ten minutes and for the rest of the film it is represented by its discs.” Richard Scheib, Moria

“The gags are effectively gooey and gory, plus the actual alien (who is withheld until the climax, so Clark at least has some understanding of showmanship) feels like a cool throwback to 50s B-movie monsters with its bulbous head and blue skin. Clark never quite finds the right tone, though—there’s a certain severity to his handling of the film…” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

“Perhaps the trouble here is that later in the decade something like this would have been injected with an air of fun, but here it’s played too straight: fine for unintentional humour, but not much for real thrills.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“Greydon Clark directs from a script with no less than four writers listed for some reason. He gives the flick a rather pedestrian pace but, he treats his material seriously as do the cast, especially Palance and Landau who properly chew up the scenery with Landau especially cranking up the nuttiness.” Tomb of Nostalgia

Cast and characters:

• Tarah Nutter … Sandy
• Christopher S. Nelson … Greg
• Jack Palance … Joe Taylor – Alone in the Dark; Tourist Trap; Craze; Bram Stoker’s Dracula; Torture Garden; Man in the Attic; et al
• Martin Landau … Fred ‘Sarge’ Dobbs – Ed Wood; Sleepy Hollow; The Being
• Neville Brand … Leo – Evils of the Night; Eaten Alive; Killdozer
• Ralph Meeker … Dave – The Food of the Gods; The Dead Don’t Die
• Cameron Mitchell … Hunter – The Tomb; The Demon; The Toolbox Murders; Blood and Black Lace; et al
• Darby Hinton … Randy
• David Caruso … Tom – Session 9
• Lynn Thell … Beth
• Sue Ane Langdon … Aggie
• Larry Storch … Cub Scout Leader
• Kevin Peter Hall … The Alien – Predator; One Dark Night; Prophecy

Filming locations:

Paramount Ranch – 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California
Malibu Creek State Park – 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California

Running time and aspect ratio:

97 minutes (restored) | 1.85: 1

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Park Circus is re-releasing Sam Raimi‘s original The Evil Dead on the big screen at selected cinemas across the UK this Halloween, in partnership with Sony Pictures Releasing.

“Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons. Raimi’s seminal horror made a cult icon of Bruce Campbell and turned its director into hot property. Much imitated, The Evil Dead was the birth of an independently-spirited, viscerally-minded new wave in low budget horror cinema.”

The Evil Dead (1981) will be screening at selected cinemas from 31 October across the UK, including Cineworld, BFI Southbank, Tyneside Cinema, Home Manchester and in selected international territories: details here

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‘They couldn’t wait to grow up. To kill.’

Bloody Birthday is a 1981 American slasher horror feature film directed by Ed Hunt (The Brain; Halloween Hell). It was the first film to be produced by Gerald T. Olson (The Slayer; My Demon Lover; The Hidden). The Judica Productions movie stars Lori, Lethin, Melinda Cordell, Julie Brown and Susan Strasberg.

In Meadowvale, California, on June 9, 1970, three children are born at the height of a total eclipse. Due to the sun and moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, these children become heartless and uncaring, with no feelings of remorse for their awful offences.

Ten years later, in 1980, they begin to kill the adults around them and are able to escape detection because of their youthful and innocent façades. However, when a young boy and his older sister discover their crimes, they find themselves as the targets of the evil children…

Review:

There were two kinds of slasher movies that appeared in the wake of Halloween and Friday 13^th at the start of the 1980s. On the one hand, there was the ‘respectable’ films – the ones that, if hated by critics, had mainstream releases to mainstream audiences. Films such as He Knows You’re Alone, Prom Night, Terror Train etc.

And then there were the more disreputable, lower budget films, typically banished to drive-ins, grindhouses and the home video market. It’s here that you might find the more entertaining and gleefully excessive films of the genre, and Bloody Birthday is a great example. There were no glossy set reports in Fangoria or major distribution deals for this film, which came and went without many people noticing, cropping up on video to be seen by no one but the most fanatical horror fan, until its recent rediscovery.

Bloody Birthday doesn’t waste any time, moving rapidly from killing to killing, and the film strips its story down just as effectively as it does the remarkably nubile Miss Brown (later to find success as a comedienne and recording artist), whose topless dance stands as some sort of benchmark in the gratuitous nudity stakes. It doesn’t waste time on explanations, keeps the general plot development down to a minimum, and ensures that the film never becomes dull.

The cast, including a blink-and-you’ll-miss him Jose Ferrer, Susan Strasberg and Michael Dudikoff, play it all with a straight face, Lori Lethin is a somewhat more rounded ‘final girl’ than in many of these films (you even get the impression that she isn’t a virgin, God forbid!) and Arlon Ober’s soundtrack score, which at one point is directly ripping off the Jaws theme, entertains.

Interestingly, despite the no-nonsense exploitation approach of the film, it’s pretty light on gore. However, the whole child killer / kids in peril theme ensures enough material to make the film a challenge for more delicate audiences. This sub-genre has always hit home because it plays on societal taboos – not only the idea that those oh-so-innocent children might actually be evil monsters, but also because of the inevitable scenes of violence against children – though Bloody Birthday manages to side-step the latter to a large extent, avoiding the genuinely shocking imagery of Who Can Kill a Child?. It does, however, show what would happen if a wussy kid pointing a gun at another child who hates him suddenly runs out of bullets…

Bloody Birthday is, in terms of genre history, somewhat inconsequential. Yet it’s also a lot of sleazy fun and well worth a look for fans of early Eighties slashers and taboo cinema in general.

David Flint, HORRORPEDIA

Other reviews:

“Bloody Birthday borrows its ingredients liberally from the hastily-developed slasher movie cookbook, but it owes its inspiration just as much to Village of the Damned and any number of other “killer kid” flicks. It’s a movie that takes full advantage of the freedoms of the time, as far as nudity and violence are concerned, while not being concerned one whit about social responsibility.”  Twitch Film

“It’s a shame that this film didn’t make much of an impact during its initial release, since Bloody Birthday is a fun little popcorn movie that threw a few curveballs into the slasher pool. Child killers were (and still are) a reasonably taboo subject, with a few exceptions (The Bad Seed and Village of the Damned come to mind). Filmmakers generally steered clear of the dark side of children.” Retro Slashers

“Even though Andy Freeman didn’t do much as Steven, the other two child actors [Elizabeth Hoy and especially Billy Jayne] did a really bang-up job bringing evil to life as Debbie and Curtis. Hoy played the innocent little girl-next-door type, even though she was obviously the mastermind of the trio. Jayne played the brains of the group and probably the most evilest of the three, as he seemed to enjoy hurting people.” Full Moon

Release:

Arrow Video is releasing Bloody Birthday in the USA on Blu-ray on December 4, 2018, from a new 2K restoration from original film elements. Special features:

• Audio commentary with director Ed Hunt (new)
• Audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues (new)
• Interview with actress Lori Lethin (new)
• Bad Seeds and Body Counts – Killer kid subgenre video appreciation by film journalist Chris Alexander (new)
• Interview with executive producer Max Rosenberg
• Theatrical trailer
• Collector’s booklet with new writing by Lee Gambin
• New cover art by Timothy Pittides with the original poster on the reverse

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Booklet

UK exclusive audio commentary with Justin Kerswell, author of Teenage Wasteland

Audio Interview with director Ed Hunt (51:10)

Don’t Eat that Cake: Interview with actress Lori Lethin (9:50)

‘A Brief History of Slasher Movies’ featurette (15:11)

Trailer

Reversible Sleeve Incorporating Original Artwork

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Bloody Birthday was given a belated limited release theatrically in the United States by Rearguard Productions in 1986. It was later released on VHS by Prism Entertainment in 1986 and Starmaker Entertainment in 1990.

The film was officially released on DVD by VCI Home Video in 2003.

Cast and characters:

• Miss Viola Davis – Susan Strasberg
• Doctor – José Ferrer
• Joyce Russel – Lori Lethin
• Mrs. Brody – Melinda Cordell
• Beverly Brody – Julie Brown
• Mr. Harding – Joe Penny
• Sheriff James Brody – Bert Kramer
• Timmy Russel – K.C. Martel
• Debbie Brody – Elizabeth Hoy
• Curtis Taylor – Billy Jayne
• Steven Seton – Andy Freeman
• Duke Benson – Ben Marley
• Annie Smith – Erica Hope
• Madge – Ellen Geer
• Willard – Michael Dudikoff
• Paul – Cyril O’Reilly
• Girl in van – Sylvia Wright
• Guy in van – John Avery
• Classmate – Shane Butterworth

Filming locations:

Glendale, California, USA

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‘There’s no place like home, bloody home.’

Next of Kin is a 1982 Australian horror feature film directed by New Zealander Tony Williams from a screenplay co-written with Michael Heath. The movie stars Jacki Kerin, John Jarratt, and Alex Scott.

The synthesizer soundtrack score is by German composer Klaus Schulze (Angst; Barracuda).

The movie featured in the documentary Not Quite Hollywood where it was praised by Quentin Tarantino.

On 24 September 2018, Severin Films revealed on Facebook that Next of Kin is slated for a Blu-ray release in 2019.

Linda Stevens (Jacki Kerin) inherits Montclare, a country mansion which was turned into a retirement home by her late mother and her sister, Aunt Rita. Strange events described in her mother’s diaries – lights and taps turning on by themselves, voices in the night – seem to be recurring. Linda suspects long-serving Montclare housekeeper Connie (Gerda Nicolson) and local physician Dr. Barton (Alex Scott) of hiding details of Montclare’s finances and the death of Aunt Rita. Turning to boyfriend Barney (John Jarratt) for help, Linda attempts to unlock the mysteries of the mansion…

Reviews:

“Although it doesn’t quite deliver the full-blown terror the patient build-up promises, and the old folks in the house are used mainly for hit-and-miss comic effect, Next of Kin is a nifty little film with a consistently uneasy ambience and sturdy work by a cast including Jacki Kerin and a young John Jarratt of Wolf Creek (2005) fame. Technically polished and highly imaginative…” Richard Kuipers, Australian Screen

“Next of Kin is a bit jumpy at times, but is very slowly paced. It seems like the film is attempting to build and build, but the viewer has to be able to stay awake in order to get built up. I’m not against slow burns per se, but this is way too slow to ignite, and the finale is neither a surprise or very hot. And while a home for the elderly isn’t necessarily a bad setting for a horror film, I quite enjoyed Bubba Ho-Tep for example, it fails here.” Devon B., Digital Retribution

“Linda unravels the mystery of Montclare at a less than breakneck speed, but ultimately, if you have patience, it works. As an audience we are drawn into her quiet, waking nightmare. The slow pacing is easily forgiven, as the premise is so intriguing and director, Tony Williams, imbues the film with a creepy feeling of dread throughout. Also, Next of Kin  has one hell of a payoff.” Hysteria Lives!

“Certainly, Next of Kin is directed with a good deal more atmosphere than usual for a slasher film – like the moment when Charles McCallum unwittingly steps on a drowned face as he goes to get into the bath, or the image of an eye being stabbed through a keyhole. However, the reliance on an elliptical story, which unfolds slackly, makes Next of Kin slow moving. An inexpressive electronic score does not help either.” Richard Scheib, Moria

“It sounds like a decent, suspenseful little movie the way I describe it, doesn’t it? Well don’t let me fool you. It should have been, but it is prevented from turning into one by a number of poor scripting and directorial decisions […] The tone is so low-key during the first three quarters of the film that we in the audience can’t for the life of us understand why Linda is becoming so alarmed at the goings-on in the old mansion.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“It’s definitely a movie on the slow simmer but once you cotton on to the giallo roots then you are good as gold, assuming you can dance to the giallo beat […] There’s some sidetracking to be got through, just what did happen to Carol, but Williams leaves nothing unanswered and adds in enough relish to keep fans of quiet horror happy with their viewing decision.” Scary Minds

“Well-crafted, with decent production values and a delicately slow pace, this ghost-cum-slasher film explodes in the final third, with all the events of the past catching up with the amiable leading lady. Worth seeking out.” The Terror Trap

“Atmosphere plays the best role here though, with some top notch cinematography making the most of its creepy old house setting. Taps run on their own and garden fountains spurt blood, and there’s a lot of rain! A bit of a lost classic and deserving of a revival; Next of Kin is a neat gothic mystery where the clue is in the title!” Tina Aumont’s Eyes

“Director Tony Williams tosses in a bunch of quotes from films and literature in an apparent attempt to elevate the proceedings, but proves yet again that the evocation of great artists’ names and works does not guarantee a film of the same quality.” TV Guide

“Moments familiar from Halloween, The Shining, and Psycho help with the somewhat rushed climax (where the sound of the running down the halls is used to great effect). The finale goes a bit awry although Linda finally kicks-ass, there are still several loose ends that are never made any tighter, but this is one little gem that has somehow remained out of circulation for a while.” Hudson Lee, Vegan Voorhees

Cast and  characters:

• Jacki Kerin … Linda
• John Jarratt … Barney – Boar; StalkHer; Wolf Creek and sequel; TV series; Needle; Dark Age
• Alex Scott … Doctor Barton – The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Twins of Evil; The Asphyx
• Gerda Nicolson … Connie
• Charles McCallum … Lance
• Bernadette Gibson … Rita / Mrs Ryan
• Robert Ratti … Kelvin
• Vince Deltito … Nico
• Tommy Dysart … Harry
• Debra Lawrance  … Carol
• Kristine Marshall … Linda – aged four
• Simon Thorpe … CFA Speaker
• David Allshorn … Service Club Man
• Alan Rowe … Service Club Man
• Matt Burns … Mr. Collins

Filming locations:

Clarkefield, Melbourne and Sydenham, Victoria, Australia

More Australian horror

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Shocking Dark is a 1989 Italian science-fiction film directed by Bruno Mattei (Snuff Trap; Rats: Night of Terror; The Other Hell; et al)from a screenplay by Claudio Fragasso (Troll 2). Produced by Franco Gaudenzi, the movie stars Christopher Ahrens, Haven Tyler, and Geretta Geretta.

It has also been released as Terminator II, Terminator 2, Aliens 2, Aliennators, and Contaminator.

Although the film was promoted as an offshoot of James Cameron’s The Terminator, it is actually mostly a rip-off of Aliens, also directed by Cameron.

Venice, Italy: A team of Mega Force marines, a tough female civilian and an orphaned girl battle monsters beneath the Venice canals while being chased by an indestructible killer cyborg…

Reviews:

“Shocking Dark doesn’t have much of a plot, at least not of the coherent variety, and it rips off movies that are much better. It also features lots and lots of shouting and some of the most hysterical line readings in the history of cinema. And there’s plenty of cheap, fun gore — it is a Bruno Mattei film after all.” Chris Coffel, Bloody Disgusting

“Shocking Dark is just bat guano crazy a lot of the time, bolstered by hyperbolic line readings, lots of screaming, and a production design that is equal parts Ed Wood and not quite ready for prime time Star Trek: The Original Series.” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com

“Basically this is just an hour and a half of non-acting entities running around darkened corridors blowing mutants away with pump action shotguns and screaming incessantly […] Aliens, Terminators, shotguns, gore, absurdness and Bruno Mattei all together in one low budget shlockfest of awesome.” Cool Target

“Shocking Dark’s biggest asset is its blatant plagiarism; if it didn’t hew so close to Cameron’s world it would be just another cheap knock off released at a time when the cinematic universe was littered with them. The film’s audacity sets it apart and gives it a sheen that others simply don’t have; the viewer has no choice but to compare, and the end result is a compulsion to praise it rather than admonish.” Scott Drebit, Daily Dead

“Don’t expect to see anything but men in gooey rubber suits menacing the cast, but there’s a charm to the effort that made me love these ugly suckers. Mattei doesn’t hold them back for the finale, either; these things are the xenomorphs of the film and they are shown often and, perhaps unwisely, in good lighting.” Anthony Arrigo, Dread Central

” …one must admire a movie which has the audacity to name a character “Samuel Fuller”. On the other hand, there’s some racist statements here which probably wouldn’t fly today. From the costumes to the locations to the acting to the dialogue, everything here is Grade-Z, but if you think that you’ve seen the bottom of the Italian barrel, prepare to be shocked.” Mike Long, DVD Sleuth

” …one hell of an entertaining fright flick in it’s own right, due mainly from a game performance from the legendary Geretta Geretta, fun creature suits, amazingly cheesy (yet amazingly awesome) costuming… the whole thing plays out like a bizarre, alternate reality…” Horror Fuel

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com

“Anyone familiar with Mattei and company should have a basic idea of what to expect here: stilted acting, nutty plot twists, lots of padding with actors roaming dark sets, and screaming. Lots and lots of screaming. The rubbery, Sid and Marty Krofft-style monsters are actually fun when they pop up and show more variety than you’d expect, and it actually becomes a fun game trying to catch every single lift from other movies…” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

Cast and characters:

• Christopher Ahrens [as Cristofer Ahrens] … Samuel Fuller
• Haven Tyler [as Geretta Giancarlo Field] … Dr. Sara Drumbull
• Geretta Geretta … Koster – Demons
• Fausto Lombardi [as Tony Lombardo]… Lieutentant Franzini
• Mark Steinborn … Captain Dalton Bond
• Dominica Coulson … Samantha Raphelson
• Clive Riche [as Clive Ricke] … Drake
• Paul Norman Allen … Kowalsky
• Cortland Reilly … Caine
• Richard Ross … Price
• Bruce McFarland … Colonel Parson
• Richard Berkeley [as Richard Bercheley] … First Scientist
• John Champion … Second Scientist
• Massimo Vanni [as Alex McBride]… First Soldier
• Elain Richmond … Speaker

Release:

Until 2018, the film had never been released on video in the United States for legal reasons. However, it was been released on VHS in countries such as Japan, Brazil and Italy itself.

Severin Films released the film on Blu-ray on May 29, 2018.

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Saturday the 14th is a 1981 American comedy horror feature film written and directed by Howard R. Cohen  based on a story by Jeff Begun, who also co-produced with Julie Corman. The movie stars Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Kari Michaelsen and Kevin Brando.

A belated sequel, Saturday the 14th Strikes Back, was released in 1988.

An all-American family inherits a deceased uncle’s house. John (Richard Benjamin) and Mary (Paula Prentiss) together with their daughter Debbie (Kari Michaelsen), and son Billy (Kevin Brando) then move into the house. Waldemar (Jeffrey Tambor), a vampire figure, and Yolanda (Nancy Andrews), his wife, want desperately to get into the run down house because it contains a book of evil.

Billy finds the mysterious book Waldemar and Yolanda are after. He opens it and reads of a curse hanging over the date of Saturday the 14th. As he turns the page a monster is unleashed, and with each turn another disappears from the page and is materialized within or outside the home. The house is soon swarming with monsters.

Soon, strange things start happening: eyes appear in John’s coffee, sandwiches are eaten, the television tunes into The Twilight Zone only, dirt is found in Mary’s bed, dishes get done by themselves, neighbours disappear. As this is happening, neither John or Mary suspect anything, blaming things on a lack of curtains…

Saturday the 14th will be released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory on January 15, 2019. Special features will be announced nearer the release date.

Reviews:

“Unfortunately Saturday the 14th’s humour feels like it should be more zany, and more madcap than it actually is. Most jokes fall flat against deadpan performances (with the exception of the incredible Jeffrey Tambor) and uninspired direction from Howard R. Cohen. It is a dumb movie, but a harmless one.” Ken Wynn, Attack from Planet B

“There are a few pleasing notions […] but the humour is for the most part pitifully juvenile and the film itself crude.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

“Many folks worked on the effects but men in rubber monster suits still look like men in rubber monster suits and most of the jokes fall as flat as corpses.” John Stanley, Creature Features

“Like Love at First Bite, it’s nothing spectacular, but it’s a harmless little movie that breezes by, feeling even shorter than its 75 minute run time. It takes roughly 3 minutes from the time they move into the house for the first monster to show up, and it rarely slows down too much from there.” Horror Movie a Day

“The acting in this movie rates somewhere between flat and dead. Richard Benjamin is humorous as John and Severn Darden is mildly entertaining as the exterminator, Van Helsing. The rest of the cast is quickly forgettable. The plot is forgettable too. And, so are the laughs.” Movie Metropolis

“There is an on running joke, with regards oblivious John and Mary, about any noise at night, including a monster falling through a window, being owls (and the fact that Mary can’t tell the difference between an owl and a bat) that is severely overplayed. The rest of the film fell really flat laughs wise…” Taliesin Meets the Vampires

” …a pathetic farce which will seem frail even on TV, for which it probably should have been made in the first place.” Variety

Choice dialogue:

Van Helsing: “Selling the house now would be like closing the barn door after the horses eat your children.”

Waldemar: “If you weren’t immortal, you’d kill yourself.”

Cast and characters:

• Richard Benjamin … John Hyatt – Witches Brew; Love at First Bite
• Paula Prentiss … Mary Hyatt – I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House; Mr. & Mrs. Dracula TV series pilots; The Stepford Wives
• Jeffrey Tambor … Waldemar
• Severn Darden … Van Helsing
• Kari Michaelsen … Debbie Hyatt
• Rosemary DeCamp … Aunt Lucille
• Kevin Brando … Billy Hyatt
• Nancy Lee Andrews … Yolanda
• Stacy Keach Sr. … Attorney
• Carole Androsky … Marge, the Real Estate Lady
• Roberta Collins … Cousin Rhonda – School Spirit; Eaten Alive; The Witch Who Came from the Sea; Death Race 2000; Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV series; Sweet Kill
• Paul ‘Mousie’ Garner … The Major
• Annie O’Donnell … Annette Muldowney
• Thomas Newman … Cousin Phil
• Allen Joseph … Uncle Bert
• Craig Coulter … Delivery person
• Renee Braswell … Stunt person
• Elizabeth Charlton Davey … French Maid
• Irwin Russo … Truck Driver
• Michael Miller … Ernie Muldowney, the Cop

Running time:

75 minutes

Release:

Saturday the 14th received a limited release theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures in August 1981 yet took $4 million. It was released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment.

The film was released on DVD by New Concorde Home Entertainment in 2001.

Scream Factory announced a Blu-ray release of the film for release on January 15, 2019

Further reading:

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Branded in the 80s overview with masses of screen grabs

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The New York Ripper – original title: Lo squartatore di New York – is a 1982 Italian giallo horror feature film directed by Lucio Fulci (A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin; Zombie Flesh Eaters; City of the Living Dead; et al) from a screenplay co-written with Gianfranco Clerici, Vincenzo Mannino and Dardano Sacchetti. The score was written by Francesco De Masi. The movie stars Jack Hedley, Almanta Keller, Howard Ross, Alexandra Delli Colli and Paolo Malco.

The film was banned in many countries or only released after heavy editing. Whilst most of Lucio Fulci’s other films have been released uncut in Britain, The New York Ripper remains censored to this day, even for its 2011 DVD and Blu-ray releases, although it can be easily bought uncut via Amazon.com

In 1982, real-life British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, nicknamed ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’ had only recently been apprehended, so any film about a serial killer with the word ‘Ripper’ in its title became even more contentious, had it not already been rejected by the British censors, the BBFC.

Plot:

New York: After the dismembered body of a local prostitute is found by an old man walking his dog it becomes clear that a maniacal killer is on a killing spree.

Dispatched to investigate is grizzled, bitter Lieutenant Fred Williams (British actor Jack Hedley) who after visiting the young woman’s landlady is given his only lead; the victim had recently been talking with a man who had a voice like a duck (presumably an in-joke reference to Fulci’s 1972 rural anti-religious giallo Don’t Torture a Duckling?).

Before the world-weary detective can investigate these bizarre claims, another young woman is viciously attacked and killed aboard the Staten Island ferry, providing the audience’s first introduction to the killer who not only sounds like a duck but a very famous duck – Donald.

Warned by the Chief of Police (Fulci himself in one of his common appearances onscreen) not to reveal details to the public for fear of causing mad panic, Williams learns that the quack-voiced foe has been trying to contact him, leading to plot-length taunting by the killing after each victim is slain.

Director Lucio Fulci in a cameo role with Jack Hedley

Further hideously lurid murders take place – including a nasty green-lit fatal bottle assault on an adult entertainer – and suspicion falls on well-known drop-out called Mickey Scellenda, already convicted for drug and moral offences and with tell-tale missing fingers. Fay Majors (Almanta Keller) becomes the lynch-pin to the case, surviving an attack and confusing the issue by believing the killer is actually her boyfriend.

The Ripper’s attacks become ever-more frenzied and increase in regularity but just as the net seems to be closing in on the killer, has Williams got the wrong man/duck?

Buy uncut Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Review:

Having already covered many genres with often stunning results (the tour-de-force western, Four of the Apocalypse, and landmark living dead film Zombie Flesh Eaters to name but two), Fulci returned to the giallo genre for the first time since 1977’s The Psychic (aka Sette Note in Nero) but with a considerably colder heart and with outrageously graphic sexual violence, most of which is shown on-screen, though graphic stills suggest that even the director excised some scenes from the most intact prints.

Containing just about everything that then head of the BBFC, James Ferman, objected to in films, he allegedly ordered the print sent for certification in the UK to be escorted back to the airport where it could be flown to safety, away from sensitive British eyes. The Ripper remained uncertified for cinema screenings and unreleased on VHS. Ferman never let go of his hatred for this and several other controversial films, and years later in a Channel 4 documentary entitled Sex and the Censors, he declared it to be ‘irresponsible’.

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com

The move away from Fulci’s early ’80s gothic template (City of the the Living Dead, House By the Cemetery; The Beyond) and relocation to the urban squalor of New York permeates the resulting film with an atmosphere of despair and filth (reminiscent of The Driller Killer and Maniac) before the killer and his motivations even begin; it’s a cinematic sickie that is utterly without remorse.

Accusations of misogyny were flung at Fulci and his co-scripters way as the graphic scenes of womens’ bodies slashed and mutilated under the veil of what can only be described as a very thin plot, rather pointlessly winds its way to a revelation that is the cinematic equivalent of a shoulder-shrug.

The New York Ripper is one of Lucio Fulci’s most frustrating films. A sometimes gifted artist behind the camera, he resorts to slasher men-as-brutes/women-as-victims sensationalism and crudeness at the expense of a hole-filled plot and unremarkable acting and electing to ruin any tension (and promote unintentional guffaws) by giving the killer the voice of a cartoon duck.

On a first viewing this trashy giallo is actually rather entertaining, more due to novelty than genius – repeated viewings show it to be increasingly baffling and desperate. Though other films of the 1970’s and 1980’s were similarly morally dubious and little more than excuse to titillate an easily pleased audience, few do it with such brazen garishness.

On the plus side, we are given an excuse to listen to a score by Francesco De Masi, usually to be found as the writer for euro-crime poliziotteschi films (Napoli Spara) or Italian westerns (Arizona Colt). Although great fun and an excellent listen (click below for a sample), it’s an odd mis-match to a film that though required viewing for gorehounds, is essentially a ‘greatest hits’ of sexist splatter effects with Donald Duck quacking away in the background.

Daz Lawrence, HORRORPEDIA

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast and characters:

• Jack Hedley as Lt. Fred Williams
• Paolo Malco as Dr. Paul Davis
• Almanta Suska as Fay Majors [credited as Almanta Keller]
• Howard Ross as Mickey Scellenda (Mikis)
• Andrea Occhipinti as Peter Bunch [credited as Andrew Painter]
• Alexandra Delli Colli as Jane Lodge
• Cosimo Cinieri as Dr. Lodge [credited as Laurence Welles]
• Giordano Falzoni as Dr. Barry Jones, Coroner
• Daniela Doria as Kitty
• Cinzia de Ponti as Rosie – Ferry victim
• Zora Kerova as Eva – Sex show performer [credited as Zora Kerowa]
• Josh Cruze as Chico [credited as Johs Cruze]
• Antone Pagan as Morales [credited as Anthon Kagan]
• Chiara Ferrari as Susy Bunch
• Barbara Cupisti as Heather

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‘Sorry, your party is dead…’

Eyes of a Stranger is a 1981 American slasher horror feature film directed by Ken Wiederhorn (Shock Waves; Return of the Living Dead Part II) from a screenplay by Mark Jackson and Eric L. Bloom. The Georgetown Productions movie stars Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Disanti and Peter Dupré.

Review:

Bad things are happening in the city of Miami. There’s a serial killer on the loose. He’s chopping off heads and leaving bodies on the beach.

Local new anchorwoman Jane (Lauren Tewes) is particularly upset that there’s a killer roaming the streets of her hometown. She even talks about how upset she is during a local newscast, which takes everyone at the station by surprise. I don’t know why they’re so shocked. Don’t they know that Jane has a younger sister named Tracy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and that Tracy’s been blind, deaf, and mute ever since she was attacked by a maniac?

One day, Jane is returning to the apartment that she shares with her sister. As she’s parking her car, she sees her neighbor, Stanley (John DiSanti), stuffing what appears to be a bloody shirt in a trash can. Oh my God, could he be the murderer!?

Well, yes, he is. The film actually makes no attempt to hide the fact that Stanley is the murderer. Stanley is one of those movie murderers who is either hyper competent or totally oblivious, depending on what the scene demands. For instance, despite being a rather heavyset, middle-aged man, he can still sneak up behind people without them ever hearing and chop off their head with one wave of a meat cleaver. On the other hand, when he kills a couple on the beach, his car ends up getting stuck in the sand.

Anyway, Jane is pretty much instantly convinced that Stanley is the killer and she immediately starts doing stuff like taunting him over the telephone. (Despite the fact that she’s on TV every night and her voice is apparently heard by everyone in Miami, she makes no effort to disguise her voice whenever she calls Stanley.) She also breaks into his apartment to look for clues.

As I watched this film, I found myself thinking about how much more interesting it would have been if Stanley hadn’t been the killer and if Jane felt so guilty about what happened to her sister that she ended up harassing a totally innocent bystander. But no, Stanley is the murderer so naturally all of this leads to an extended sequence where Stanley breaks into and then follows Tracy around Jane’s apartment.

So, Eyes of a Stranger is a fairly mediocre film, one that would probably be totally forgotten if not for the fact that it’s also the debut film of Jennifer Jason Leigh. While the film is obviously meant to showcase Lauren Tewes (a TV actress who gives a rather wooden performance), Jennifer Jason Leigh steals every scene in which she appears. Her total commitment to her character shines through and she even manages to sell a rather implausible plot twist that occurs towards the end of the film.

John DiSanti also deserves some credit for his performance as Stanley. Again, it’s hard not to feel that the film would have worked better if it had tried to keep us guessing as to the question of Stanley’s guilt.

Eyes of a Stranger was directed by Ken Wiederhorn, who also helmed the far superior zombie movie, Shock Waves (which can be seen playing on TV in one scene). It’s interesting to note that both Lauren Tewes and Jennifer Jason Leigh would subsequently appear in Twin Peaks: The Return, though Leigh’s role was significantly larger.

Lisa Marie Bowman, HORRORPEDIA – guest reviewer via Through the Shattered Lens

Other reviews:

“There are a lot of clever ideas here, but most of them were done better in earlier movies… If not for the nudity and gore, this could have easily been a made for TV movie. True slasher fans will most likely find Eyes of a Stranger disappointingly tame. On the other hand, fans of older suspense/thrillers will find the gore overdone and the nudity gratuitous. It seems this movie was made to disappoint everyone.” Exclamation Mark

“There’s uses for a meat cleaver, a switchblade, and bare hands. In the uncut version, there are at least four notable deaths, bloody as can be. A singlehanded decapitation is fun, and flows all over Debbie’s apartment, where she will later find her boyfriend’s head in the fish tank. It seems Night School has a cousin.” Oh-the-Horror!

” … the script gives too much time to the psychopath and he doesn’t get characterised as well as say, in a movie like Maniac. There are no real shots of him behaving like a loon and instead we just see him sitting down to have his dinner and with all due respect to John DiSanti, he just doesn’t ooze scariness.” A Slash Above

“The film shuffles from one suspense-free scene to another – bathed in the pastel nihilistic look that typified many early 1980s genre flicks, the result of blistering Miami sunshine, cheap film stock and subsequent bad video transfer.” J.A. Kerswell, Teenage Wasteland: The Slasher Movie Uncut

Buy Teenage Wasteland from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Censorship:

The film was originally cut for an ‘R’-rating, removing many instances of violence including a decapitation, leaving only the final head shot uncut. As a result many of Tom Savini‘s gore effects were removed or censored. The uncut version has since been released in Warner’s Twisted Terror Collection on DVD with an ‘R’ on the packaging.

Cast and characters:

• Lauren Tewes … Jane
• Jennifer Jason Leigh … Tracy
• John DiSanti … Stanley Herbert
• Peter DuPre … David
• Gwen Lewis … Debbie
• Kitty Lunn … Annette
• Timothy Hawkins … Jeff
• Ted Richert … Roger England
• Toni Crabtree … Mona
• Robert Small [as Bob Small]… Doctor Bob
• Stella Rivera … Dancer
• Dan Fitzgerald … Bartender
• Jose Bahamonde … Jimmy
• Luke Halpin … Tape Editor
• Ru Flynn [as Rhonda Flynn] … Woman in Car

Filming locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Trivia:

At the movie theater there is a poster for Dawn of the Dead (1978) for which Tom Savini also created special makeup-effects.

Buy Eyes of a Stranger uncut + Dr. Giggles + Deadly Friend + The Hand + Someone’s Watching Me + From Beyond the Grave on DVD from Amazon.com

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‘Who will survive opening night?’

Blood Theatre – aka Blood Theater and Movie House Massacre – is a 1984 American comedy horror film written and directed by Rick Sloane (Hobgoblins). The movie stars Mary Woronov, Jenny Cunningham, Jonathan Blakely, Andrew Cofrin and Joanna Foxx.

The film includes many bizarre movie house related deaths, such as being fried inside a popcorn machine, stabbed in the ticket booth, electrocuted by a film projector, decapitated by a projection booth partition, stabbed while a movie is playing on screen, smoke inhalation from burning film and a telephone receiver which breaks apart while a dying girl screams hysterically into it.

Reviews:

“Visually this film far exceeds expectations and the murder set pieces are well executed. Without a doubt, when it comes to Z Garde cinema performances are the area where these films suffer the most. Fortunately, when it comes to performances, all is not lost for this film. With it’s greatest asset being Mary Woronov (Sugar Cookies, Eating Raoul)…” Michael Den Boer, 10K Bullets

“Inexperience powers most of the picture, which offers pronounced parody and criticism of the burgeoning multiplex environment of theatrical exhibition, but fails mightily whenever Sloane gets around to arranging murder set pieces. Blood Theater has a lot of issues, a lack of coherency being a major problem…” Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

“Blood Theatre clocks in at a scant 75 minutes, but it feels like much longer. It could benefit from cutting about 30 minutes of filler to make a decent slasher short, but the picture would still be painfully slow even if the pacing weren’t hampered by irrelevant subplots.” Alex DiVincenzo, Broke Horror Fan

” …if you appreciate incredibly ‘80s hair and clothes, and the uniquely bizarre, very intentional humor of director Rick Sloane (Hobgoblins; the Vice Academy series), there is much here that will warm your heart.” Chiller

” …it’s painfully bad, with some of the most uninspired killings you’ll ever witness in a slasher film. The pacing, dialogue and acting (not one likable character in the whole show) are also horrid and not even cult icon Mary Woronov (as a very stuck-up secretary) or lame attempts at film-within-a-film humor (Clown Whores of Hollywood, yikes!) can save this turkey.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

” …one schizophrenic little cheapie. Rare is the film that fails so resoundingly in two separate genres at the exact same time.” Scott Weinberg, e-FilmCritic.com

“People wander into the cinema and get killed – that’s about the size of it. This geriatric in a tuxedo waddles up to them and stabs them bloodlessly when they aren’t looking- rarely does it get anymore adventurous than that. Yep, the film has no special fx -apart from perhaps the worst decapitation ever committed to celluloid; and maybe half a bottle of ketchup.” Hysteria Lives!

“A truly baffling experience, Blood Theatre is completely ineffective as a horror film (even the gore disappears almost entirely after the opener) and is approached as an impoverished spoof that appears to have been largely improvised during filming and even in the editing room. The exact nature of the threat is fuzzy to say the least, but there’s a lot of amusement to be had in both the tacky nature of the, ahem, “production design” and the silly performances…” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“This bonafide bore is 100% incompetent and yields no surprises; one by one the cast deliver a lifeless performance (especially lead dud Darcy as Tonya Harding lookalike Jennifer). There’s some truly enthusiastic overacting by the bitchy Selena, which manages a titter here and there. But otherwise all but the most adventurous should probably avoid this flaccid (and basically bloodless) drivel.” The Terror Trap

” …Movie House Massacre is incredibly inept. Only the presence of veteran low-budget star Mary Woronov, as the manager’s assistant, makes this film even remotely tolerable.” TV Guide

” …this is an almost stunningly dreadful film with awful acting, set pieces, no apparent story and a horrible plinky-plonky score.” Vegan Voorhees

Cast and characters:

• Mary Woronov as Miss Blackwell – Chopping Mall; TerrorVision; Death Race 2000; Silent Night, Bloody Night
• Jenny Cunningham as Jennifer / Ellen
• Jonathan Blakely as Original Owner
• Andrew Cofrin as Adrian
• Joanna Foxx as Selena
• Stephanie Dillard as Darcy
• Rob-Roy Fletcher as Dean Murdock
• Daniel Schafer as Malcolm
• Cynthia Hartline as Jamie Hart
• Lisa Lindsley as Lisa
• Joni Barnes as Dee-Dee
• Carl Bressler as Pimp
• Troy Martin as Pie Victim
• Tony Goldman as Police Officer
• Paul Schubin as Police Officer
• Bruce Nangle as Ellen’s Lover
• Barrie Metz as Multiplex Employee
• David Millbern as Original Owner (Younger)

Filming locations:

The majority of the movie was shot at the historic Beverly Warner Theater in Beverly Hills. It was later demolished and the site became a bank building.

Running time:

75 minutes

Trivia:

All the movies that play at the Spotlite Theater Multiplex in this film, were short films made by Rick Sloane while he attended Los Angeles City College. They include Clown Whores of Hollywood, Chainsaw Chicks, Amputee Hookers and Nightmare of the Lost Whores.

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‘You’ll just have time to scream… before it tears you apart!’

Q – also known as Q: The Winged Serpent and The Winged Serpent – is a 1982 American horror feature film written and directed by Larry Cohen (It’s Alive; God Told Me To; The Stuff). The movie stars Michael Moriarty, Candy Clark, David Carradine and Richard Roundtree.

Pre-production for the movie lasted just one week. The film was conceived when Larry Cohen was fired from I, the Jury, which was shooting in New York. Cohen, was apparently determined not to waste the hotel room he had paid for, so hired the actors and prepared a shooting script within six days. This was the first production for the new AIP (Arkoff International Pictures).

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Review:

Q stands for Quetzalcoatl, a winged-serpent that was once worshiped by the Aztecs. In 1982 New York someone has been performing ritual sacrifices, flaying victims of their skin. As a result, Q has flown all the way to the city and has taken residence in the iconic Chrysler Building. She’s also laid an egg, from which a baby Q will soon emerge.

Apparently, it’s next to impossible to surprise a New Yorker as living in the city means that you’ve seen it all. And that certainly seems to be the case in this film because no one in New York seems to notice that there’s a winged serpent flying above the skyscrapers.  Somehow, Q manages to snatch up all sorts of people without anyone noticing. When Q beheads a window washer, Detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree) aren’t particularly concerned by the fact that they can’t find the man’s head.  Shepard just shrugs and says the head will turn up eventually.

Q is really two films in one. One of the films deals with a winged serpent flying over New York and killing people. This is is a throwback to the old monster movies of the ’50s and ’60s, complete with some charmingly cheesy stop-motion animation. The movie is silly but undeniably fun. Director Cohen is both paying homage to and poking fun at the classic monster movies of the past and both Carradine and Roundtree gamely go through the motions as the two cops determined to take down a flying monster.

However, there’s also an entirely different film going on, one that feels like it belongs in a totally different universe from the stop-motion monster and David Carradine. This second film stars Michael Moriarty as Jimmy Quinn, a cowardly yet charming getaway driver who would rather be a jazz pianist. Quinn may be a habitual lawbreaker but he always makes the point that he’s never carried a gun. He does what he has to do to survive, however he’s never intentionally hurt anyone. In Quinn’s eyes, he’s a victim of a society that has no room for a free-thinker such as himself.

So, when Quinn stumbles across Q’s nest, he suddenly has an opportunity to make his mark. As he explains it to the police, he’ll tell them where to find the serpent and her eggs. But they’re going to have to pay him first….

In the role of Quinn, Michael Moriarty is a jittery marvel. Whenever Moriarty is on screen, he literally grabs the film away from not only his co-stars but even his director and makes it his own. Suddenly, Q is no longer a film about a monster flying over New York City. Instead, Q becomes a portrait of an outsider determined to make the world acknowledge not only his existence but also his importance. After spending his entire life on the fringes, Jimmy Quinn is suddenly the most important man in New York and he’s not going to let the moment pass without getting what he wants. Thanks to Moriarty’s bravura, method-tinged performance, Jimmy Quinn becomes a fascinating character and Q becomes far more than just another monster movie.

It makes for a somewhat disjointed viewing experience and yet the film still works. With its charmingly dated special effects and it’s surprisingly great central performance, Q is definitely a film that deserves to be better-known.

Lisa Marie Bowman, HORRORPEDIA – guest reviewer via Through the Shattered Lens

Other reviews:

“Compared to most horror films of this decade, Q – The Winged Serpent looks a bit more dated and of its time due to the stop-motion Claymation effects. But it’s so strange and so very Cohen that it makes sense that it would gain a cult following.” Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting

“Q is also genuinely unsettling, despite some creaky special effects, and few movies have ever utilised the towers of the New York skyline so effectively as a nauseatingly three dimensional landscape that regularly induces vertigo in the viewer.” The Quietus

‘Both Quinn’s hard-luck crime story and the presence of Q overhead really capture the imagination, but the subplot about a high priest performing human sacrifices on the ground is a useless appendage. It’s hard to imagine developing any sort of emotional investment in that business, and it’s the part of the film that feels the most like a run-of-the-mill horror scenario.’ Film Freak Central

‘ …Q is mostly a good-natured lark that’s only occasionally energized by the director’s characteristic social outrage and despair, and so it pales in comparison to Cohen films as deranged and provocative as God Told Me To, It’s Alive, or even the goofy The Stuff. Q feels slight and sketchy in relation to those other films…’ Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Trivia:

The film’s shooting title was Serpent

Related:

King Cohen

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‘Some may pass the test… God help the rest.’

Final Exam is a 1981 American slasher horror feature film written and directed by Jimmy Huston (My Best Friend is a Vampire) who apparently wanted to go against the norm and decided to feature little on-screen graphic violence. The MPM movie stars Cecile Bagdadi, Joel S. Rice and Ralph Brown.

Plot:

Late at night, two college students (Carol Capka and Shannon Norfleet) are busy making out in a parked convertible. Ignoring the girl’s frequent objections, her boyfriend pushes on. Outside, a shadowy man jumps on top of the car, slicing his way through the fabric roof. Reaching inside, the lunatic grabs the young man and pulls him up and out onto the car’s hood. Brandishing a blade, the killer stabs the young man to death.

Sleepy Lanier College is nearing the end of Final Exam week: a frenzied semester cap time of grades, goodbyes, and pranks. As the students prepare for their tests as well as the coming vacation break, little do they suspect a murderer is stalking them one by one. Plain but amiable Courtney (Cecile Bagdadi) is completing her exams and studying hard. Averse to hitting the books, her roommate Lisa (DeAnna Robbins) is busy packing and getting back to the city.

Meanwhile, Gamma Delta fraternity pledge Gary (Terry W. Farren) has pinned his girlfriend Janet (Sherry Willis-Burch)… and paid for it by being treed by his brothers, stripped to his briefs, awash in shaving cream and ice cubes shoved down his underwear.

As night falls on Lanier, a freezing Gary hopes his beloved Janet will free him from his humiliation. Untied from the tree by an unknown figure, Gary is relieved but is stabbed to death by the man that killed the couple in the convertible…

Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“With the exception of its few minor annoyances, Final Examis entertaining, unique, and makes you wait for the kills. The satisfaction you get from watching its more awful characters die, and the emotion from watching the more likable ones go? It’s earned. Final Exam works for every scare and makes the viewer work for it, too – sometimes, the wait is almost agonizing.” Horror Honeys

“In the annals of early 80s slashers, it’s both one of the worst (worst killer ever, for certain) and one of the best (due to its unparalleled levels of unintentional comedy).” Horror Movie a Day

” …this is hardly the best of the often derided slasher craze but certainly far from the worst as well; it’s a reasonably witty and unpredictable film that compensates for its lack of blood with some peculiar characters (especially the chatty horror fan student named Radish who predates Scream by a couple of decades) and a couple of fairly energetic shock sequences.” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

” … Final Exam seems uninterested in the killer as a living human being and instead uses him as a tragic, mysterious force that moves into the lives of those at Lanier College and changes them forever […] The killer actually manages to generate a few decent scares, thanks in part to Huston’s clever direction and Raynor’s minimalistic, yet menacing performance. ” Oh, the Horror!

“A few problems keep Final Exam from being a really good slasher. The first half is more of a college drama. The only soap opera elements missing are a pregnancy scare and an outbreak of venereal disease on campus. Killer (Timothy L. Raynor) has no name, background, or motivation. He’s just a big guy with a knife. This lack of character development really robs the film of suspense and tension.” Retro Slashers

“A slow burner for sure, but fun all the same, Final Exam may not come to mind when thinking of famous slasher movies, but it manages to deliver some good atmospheric moments. Missing is the superhero element frequently present in slice ‘n dice films, like the unstoppable Michael Meyers, or the zombie-like Jason Voorhees, which gives it a bit of originality in an often stale genre.” Todd Jordan, Rock! Shock! Pop!

“By any stretch of the imagination, Final Exam is not one of the stronger early ’80s slashers. The pace of the first half is rather sluggish, the gore effects are minimal and the characters too cardboard – even for such formulaic stalk pics. But Final Exam does possess a certain charm.” The Terror Trap

“The only kill that has a little flair is when the idiot frat boy gets strangled on a workout machine. Other than that, the murders aren’t much to brag about. Even worse is that most of the kills are weighted towards the last half hour of the film.” Mitch Lovell, The Video Vacuum

Release:

US theatrical release was on June 5, 1981. Following VHS releases, Final Exam was released on DVD in 2008 and has been available on Blu-ray since May 2014 via Shout! Factory.

Cast and characters:

• Cecile Bagdadi … Courtney
• Joel S. Rice … Radish – Christine
• Ralph Brown … Wildman
• DeAnna Robbins … Lisa
• Sherry Willis-Burch … Janet
• John Fallon … Mark
• Terry W. Farren … Pledge
• Timothy L. Raynor … Killer
• Sam Kilman … Sheriff
• Don Hepner … Dr. Reynolds
• Mary Ellen Withers … Elizabeth
• Elijah Christopher Perry [as Jerry Rushing] … Coach
• Shannon Norfleet … Student in Car
• Carol Capka … Student in Car
• R.C. Nanney … Mitch

Filming locations:

Boiling Springs, Gaffney, Shelby and Spindale, North Carolina

Trivia:

Final Exam is referenced in Scream 2 along with other college-themed slasher films such as The House on Sorority Row, Graduation Day, The Dorm That Dripped Blood and Splatter University.

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The Witches is a 1989 comedy horror feature film based on the book of the same name by Norwegian-British author Roald Dahl (The Night Digger). It was directed by Nicolas Roeg (Don’t Look Now) and produced by Jim Henson Productions for Lorimar Film Entertainment and Warner Bros. The movie stars Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling and Rowan Atkinson.

The soundtrack score was provided by Stanley Myers (Paperhouse; Incubus; Schizo).

The Witches is about a young boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher) whose parents have died in a tragic accident, and whose grandmother (Mai Zetterling) takes him to a posh hotel in England, where a secret coven of witches is holding its annual convention. The Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston, in a scene-stealing performance) has decreed that all children in England be turned into mice, and Luke and his pal Bruno (Charles Potter) are the first victims on the list…

As well as being the last film that Jim Henson personally worked on before his death, this was also the final theatrical film produced by Lorimar Productions (who went bankrupt, hence its delated release in 1990 by Warner Bros.) and the last film made based on Dahl’s material before his death in 1990.

“The Witches is a film that genuinely takes one aback with its gleeful malice, especially so when placed in comparison to the blandly G-rated inoffensiveness of other children’s films. Nicolas Roeg serves up some marvellously horrid images of decapitated fingers and witches malevolently pushing baby carriages from cliffs. There is a tour-de-force of makeup grotesquerie…” Richard Scheib, Moria

“The visual creations from Jim Henson Productions are great, the look of Eva when she removes her hair and mask is stunning but it is too scary for children. Yet the comedy of Luke spying on the witches, scampering through the kitchen as a mouse is the stuff which young children will enjoy. Throw in a whole 70s vibe and “The Witches” ends up being a mismatch and one which doesn’t work.” Andy Webb, The Movie Scene

Buy The Witches by Roald Dahl from Amazon.co.uk

” …the movie is often downright scary, which makes the experience feel surprisingly potent and engaging. There’s a real sense of poignancy and danger that accompanies the entire movie, and the whole thing is a tense, funny, grotesque and delightful way to spend ninety minutes.” Julien Houle, Pop Culture Thoughts

“The transformation scenes where the grand high witch takes off her human face and becomes her true self are beautifully executed. It really looks as though Anjelica Huston’s face is a mask. There are nearly no cuts in the scene, which makes it even more impressive. The Witches is a great family friendly horror film that delivers the scares without being too graphic.” Tyler Doupé, Wicked Horror

Cast and characters:

• Anjelica Huston … Miss Ernst / Grand High Witch – The Watcher in the Woods; The Cleanse
• Mai Zetterling … Helga
• Jasen Fisher … Luke
• Rowan Atkinson … Mr. Stringer – Scooby-Doo
• Bill Paterson … Mr. Jenkins
• Brenda Blethyn … Mrs. Jenkins
• Charlie Potter … Bruno Jenkins
• Anne Lambton … Woman in Black
• Jane Horrocks … Miss Irvine
• Sukie Smith … Marlene
• Rose English … Dora
• Jenny Runacre … Elsie – Son of Dracula; The Creeping Flesh
• Annabel Brooks … Nicola
• Emma Relph … Millie
• Nora Connolly … Beatrice

Filming locations:

Bigfrith Lane, Cookham, Berkshire, England
Headland Hotel, Newquay, Cornwall, England
Old Bergen Museum – Nyhavnsveien 4, Sandviken, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway

Trivia:

Michael Palin (Ripping Yarns; Monty Python) played one of the witches incognito.

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‘Be it ever so humble, there’s no place to HIDE’

Home Sweet Home is an American 1981 slasher horror feature film directed and edited by Nettie Peña (who also worked on Dracula Sucks) from a screenplay by Thomas Bush. It was produced by Don Edmonds (Terror on Tour; Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS).

The movie stars Jake Steinfeld, Vinessa Shaw, Peter De Paula, Don Edmonds, Charles Hoyes, David Mielke, Leia Naron, Lisa Rodríguez, Colette Trygg, and Sally Young.

Co-executive producer Alex Rebar was the actor who played The Incredible Melting Man and writer of To All a Goodnight (1980).

The Bradley family and their friends gather at an isolated country home to celebrate Thanksgiving. But unknown to the Bradleys, they have an uninvited guest.

A giggling, PCP-addled, homicidal maniac has escaped from imprisonment to satisfy his pent-up lust for murder. And he has singled out their home for his psychopathic killing spree. One by one, the revellers will be methodically stalked and served up in the butcher’s holiday blood feast…

Reviews:

“It’s entertaining to watch the stereotypical bad acting, the flimsy plot and the absurd set-up and characterization going on. After everything is in place, though, the movie is just boring as hell for the final hour. The kills certainly are not very inventive. You don’t care one way or the other about a single character.” Bloody Popcorn

“The guests at the Thanksgiving get-together manage to accomplish only one thing; they manage to make you hope for their demises within seconds of meeting them, and this goes triple for the mime/magician with the portable electric guitar. The dialogue is horrendous and the acting is on par with the dialogue.” Dave Sindelar, Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings

“As expected, Home Sweet Home delivers a cornucopia of slasher clichés: sex, nudity, goofy characters, terrible acting (here compounded by bad dub jobs), poor logic, cars that don’t work, chauvinism, and plenty of blood. As such, it’s obviously not really good in any sense of the word, but it’s a fun little slasher in its own right.’ Oh, The Horror!

“A film with a complete lack of political correctness mixed with an abundance of mean-spirited glee is always welcome in my home. I mean, an old lady gets splattered across a windshield during the opening credits. You know that’s worth a look.” Horror Movie a Day

” …a poor script and even weaker directing and a hysterical performance from Steinfeld and with Mistake – perhaps the most annoying character in cinematic history – does sort of help Home Sweet Home become a so bad it’s almost good.” Last Road Reviews

” …the film has heart. Sure, it’s a kind of mindless and confused heart, but the acting is decent and there’s a real feeling that the filmmakers were shooting for something. Sometimes it just takes that little extra edge to make a movie work.” Retro Slashers

“Home Sweet Home is a truly terrible movie. It’s bad to the very core; but if you are in just the right mood and you’re an aficionado of cheese then you might get a few kicks out of this fetid stinker” Hysteria Lives

“This worthless holiday slasher builds zero suspense, due in part to one of the splatter genre’s most unsympathetic casts (need proof? Exhibit A: offkey crooner Rodríguez, and an electric guitar-playing mime vie for who can be the most irritating). Muscle stud wannabe Steinfeld clearly tries his best…and comes up with a quirky, cackling, grunting imitation of a psycho that’s neither scary nor interesting…” The Terror Trap

“The family of largely unsympathetic, barely named characters provide the meat content for the first hour, until the floor caves in for supposed ‘tension building’ […] Crappy acting abounds as people fail to react convincingly to anything and don’t seem to care about the rash of disappearances.” Vegan Voorhees

” …Home Sweet Home was pretty boring and was full of stuff that we’ve seen countless times, but that isn’t to say that there aren’t some hilarious things in it. The killer himself, Jake Steinfeld, just straight up looks nuts. Not necessarily insane, but he’s got this weird afro mullet thing going on and wears a shirt made for a child.” The Wolfman Cometh

Cast and characters:

• Jake Steinfeld … Jay Jones
• Vinessa Shaw … Angel Bradley – Stag Night; The Hills Have Eyes
• Peter De Paula … Mistake Bradley
• Don Edmonds … Harold Bradley – see above
• Charles Hoyes … Wayne – Effects; Haunted Maze; Malibu Horror Story
• David Mielke … Scott
• Leia Naron … Gail
• Lisa Rodríguez … Maria
• Colette Trygg … Jennifer
• Sallee Young … Linda – Demented; Pandemonium
• J. Kelly … Cop #1
• R. Fouts … Cop #2
• Victor Paddock … First Victim
• Rochelle Constanten … Old Woman
• Anne Cribbs … Witness

Alternate titles:

Slasher in the House
BloodParty – Germany

Image credits: Tapatalk

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‘They’re not human. But they hunt women. Not for killing. For mating.’

Humanoids from the Deep aka Monster: Humanoids from the Deep is a 1980 American science fiction horror film directed by Barbara Peeters from a screenplay by William Martin [as Frederick James], based on a storyline by Frank Arnold and Martin B. Cohen. The movie stars Doug McClure (At the Earth’s Core), Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow (The Evictors).

Roger Corman served as the film’s (uncredited) executive producer and it was distributed by his New World Pictures.

The soundtrack score was composed by James Horner (Wolfen; Deadly Blessing; The Forgotten and many Hollywood blockbusters).

The movie was originally offered to Joe Dante  (Piranha, The Howling) but he turned the project down. Shooting commenced in October 1979. Barbara Peeter’s version of the film was deemed to be lacking the required exploitation elements needed to satisfy the movie’s intended largely male audience.

It is reported that second unit director James Sbardellati, who would eventually direct Deathstalker, was brought in to spice up the movie, and it was he who was reportedly responsible for filming the infamous nudity and gore scenes. Other sources claim that Jimmy T. Murakami (Battle Beyond the Stars) shot the additional exploitation material.

Several people who went on to bigger things worked on the film, including aforementioned composer James Horner, make-up artist Rob Bottin (who designed the humanoid costumes), editor Mark Goldblatt, and future producer Gale Anne Hurd (Aliens, The Walking Dead TV series) who worked as a production assistant. The actress who portrays the Salmon Queen (Linda Shayne) later became a film director.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

In 1996, a remake of Humanoids from the Deep was produced for Showtime cable TV by Corman’s production company, Concorde-New Horizons, starring Robert Carradine and Emma Samms. Although it included some special effects footage from the original version, the sex and gore aspects — the very elements that had distinguished the first film — were toned down for TV and it was not a success among fans or critics.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Review:

Some people really hate clowns. Personally, I really hate ventriloquist’s dummies.

Seriously, those little wooden things totally freak me out. You know how some of you feel about the painted smile on the clowns ‘face? Well, that’s how I feel whenever I see the big eyes of a ventriloquist dummy or that mouth with the fake teeth. And don’t even get me started on those tiny little legs that some of them have. Agkh!

I mention this because there is a ventriloquist’s dummy in the 1980 film, Humanoids from the Deep. There’s really no reason for it to be in the film but suddenly, out of nowhere, there it is. It belongs to a teenager named Billy who, when we first see him, is relaxing in a tent on the beach, trying to get his girlfriend to undress for him and the dummy. Of course, they’re promptly interrupted by a seaweed-covered monster, who rips open the tent, kills Billy, and chases after his girlfriend. The whole time, the dummy watches with a somewhat quizzical expression on his face. It’s a strange scene.

Now, I’ve done some research and I’ve discovered that Billy was played by David Strassman, who was (and still is) a professional ventriloquist and his dummy was named …. I do not kid …. Chuck Wood. So, the whole tent scene was kind of a celebrity cameo. It is as if Roger Corman, who (uncredited) executive produced the film, said, “You know what? This movie has blood, nudity, killer fish-men, and rampant misogyny but it’s still missing something! How about that ventriloquist that I saw on the Tonight Show last night!?”

Anyway, Humanoids from the Deep is basically about what happens when you try to mutate toxic salmon. You end up with a bunch of pervy fish monsters swarming the beach and trying to make like human/fish babies. Plus, a lot of dead teens and unplanned pregnancies.

You also end up with the local redneck fisherman (led by Vic Morrow) blaming the local Native Americans, accusing them of killing all of the dogs in town. Jim Hill (Doug McClure) and his wife, Carol (Cindy Weintraub), try to keep the peace but their efforts are continually tripped up by the fact that almost everyone in town is an idiot.

For instance, despite the fact that there’s been a countless number of murders and rapes and that they’ve all been committed a group of monsters that nobody knows how to fight, the town still decides to hold their annual festival on the pier. Of course, as soon as the obnoxious DJ starts broadcasting, the humanoids from the deep show up and basically, the entire festival goes to Hell.

And here’s the thing. The film itself is ugly and mean-spirited and misogynistic but the attack on the festival is totally and completely brilliant. I mean, it’s one of the greatest monster sieges of all time, largely because the monsters are apparently unstoppable and that humans are so obnoxious that you don’t mind seeing them all die. If nothing else, the monsters deserve credit for taking out that DJ.

It all leads to a “surprise” ending, which isn’t particularly surprising but which is so batshit insane that it somehow seems appropriate. Humanoids from the Deep is an incredibly icky movie, one that has some effective scare scenes but which is way too misogynistic to really be much fun. Oh well. At least the ventriloquist died.

Lisa Marie Bowman, HORRORPEDIA – guest reviewer via Through the Shattered Lens

Buy Blu-ray Disc from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

• New high-definition transfer of the Uncut international version presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1)
• Never-before-seen deleted scenes
• Trailer, TV and radio spots
• Leonard Maltin’s interviews with Roger Corman on the making of the film
• The Making of Humanoids from the Deep,” featuring new interviews with composer James Horner, second unit/assistant director James Sbardellati, editor Mark Goldblatt

Other reviews:

“ … a fast-paced and energetic camp classic that should please horror and sleaze fans with its graphic gore, abundant female nudity, and sardonic humor. The creepy humanoid costumes were designed by makeup legend Rob Bottin (The Howling, Legend). They look pretty slimy and cool, especially for such a low-budget film, and in fact the production crew only had three of them!’ GoArticles.com

“Whatever Peeters’ vision might have been, it’s inarguable that the grotesque and silly “assaulted by sea creatures” moments make this movie, elevating it from talky pseudo-sci-fi yawner to something akin to exploitation classic.” Tom Becker, DVD Verdict

“It’s particularly disturbing when one woman’s corpse is found and it’s clear she’s been the victim of more than just murder – it sort of darkens the tone of what should really be a silly, entertaining film. Thankfully, by the end of the film the rapey bits are out of the way and anyone still craving some baps can be happy with the classic “shirt getting ripped off as they try to escape” technique instead.” That Was a Bit Mental

“Humanoids from the Deep has everything that I like about horror movies. There is a decent story, cute girls get naked, gory monster attacks abound (especially during the chaotic finale), and the cast consists of a number of name actors spouting off cheesy lines.” The Video Graveyard

“Finally, lets not forget the effects by the soon-to-be-legendary Rob Bottin. While they may just be creatures in rubber suits, they’re impressive looking rubber suits for a low budget flick. The attacks that take place also have some decent makeup effects.” Horror Digital

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

Dr Susan Drake: “It’s my theory that these creatures are driven to mate with man now in order to further develop their incredible evolution.”

Cast and characters:

• Doug McClure … Jim Hill
• Ann Turkel … Dr. Susan Drake
• Vic Morrow … Hank Slattery
• Cindy Weintraub … Carol Hill
• Anthony Pena … Johnny Eagle
• Denise Galik … Linda Beale
• Lynn Theel … Peggy Larsen
• Meegan King … Jerry Potter
• Breck Costin … Tommy Hill
• Hoke Howell … Deke Jensen
• Don Maxwell Don Maxwell … Dickie Moore
• David Strassman … Billy
• Greg Travis … Mike Michaels, Radio Announcer
• Linda Shayne … Sandy, Miss Salmon
• Lisa Glaser … Becky
• Bruce Monette … Jake Potter
• Shawn Erler … John, Hill Baby
• Frank Arnold … Old Man
• Amy Barrett … Amy
• Jo Williams … Herself on Piano
• Henry T. Williams … Bass
• Lyle Isom … Banjo
• Jonathan Lehan … Fiddle

Trivia:

Footage from Humanoids from the Deep was recycled during the monster-filled opening credits sequence for Jim Wynorski’s Not of This Earth (1988).

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The post Humanoids from the Deep – USA, 1980 appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.

James Karen – November 28, 1923 to October 23, 2018 – was an American character actor. He was best known by horror/fantasy fans, and probably by the wider public too, for his roles in Poltergeist (1982), The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Invaders from Mars (1986). He died, aged ninety-four, having appeared in over two hundred TV and movies roles including a cameo appearance in 2018 comedy horror Cynthia.

Karen was born Jacob Karnofsky in Wilkes-Barre, in northeastern Pennsylvania, the son of Russian-born Jewish immigrants Mae (née Freed) and Joseph H. Karnofsky, a produce trader. As a young man, Karen was recruited into a production at the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre. He later attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.

His big break came when he was asked to understudy Karl Malden in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Beyond theatrical roles, Karen went on to play numerous characters on popular TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch, The Bionic Woman and The Rockford Files. He once remarked: “People don’t know my name, but they know my face because I’ve done so damn much work.”

His first notable film role, billed as Jim Karen, was in 1965 in the low-budget Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster playing Dr. Adam Steele. Often cited as one of the worst movies of all-time, Robert Gaffney’s sci-fi pic is undeniably great fun for fans of trash cinema.

As previously mentioned, one of Karen’s best-known roles were in the low-budget horror comedy The Return of the Living Dead, in which he starred as the manager of a medical warehouse who inadvertently releases a military gas that re-animates the dead. Karen and Thom Matthews proved so popular with audiences, they both returned for the sequel in 1987, playing different roles because their characters were both killed in the first movie.

In the original 1982 Poltergeist he played Mr. Teague the greedy real-estate developer who built the Californian community of Cuesta Verde on the site of a former cemetery.

In a 2006 interview about The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Karen said that he helped write most scenes of his character: “It was the deal where he figures out he’s becoming a zombie and decides to incinerate himself in the crematorium…He kisses his wedding ring as he goes in. It was a very emotional scene, but it also got me out of being one of the rain-drenched zombies milling around outside the place at the end of the film. I didn’t really want to do all that muddy stuff”

Selected filmography:

Cynthia (2018)

Bender (2016)

America’s Most Haunted (2013)

Dark and Stormy Night (2009)

Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Piranha (1995)

Congo (1995)

Future Shock (1994)

The Unborn (1991)

The Willies (1990)

Girlfriend from Hell (1989)

Return of the Living Dead Part II (1987)

Invaders from Mars (1986)

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Jagged Edge (1985)

Time Walker (1982)

Poltergeist (1982)

The China Syndrome (1979)

Capricorn One (1977)

The Bionic Woman (TV series, 1976)

The Invisible Man (TV series, 1975)

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)

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The post James Karen – actor appeared first on HORRORPEDIA.