Director: Joseph Zito

Screenplay by: Barney Cohen
Story by: Bruce Hidemi Sakow

Starring: Kimberly Beck, Erich Anderson, Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover, Barbara Howard, Peter Barton, Lawrence Monoson, Joan Freeman, Clyde Hayes

Music by: Harry Manfredini

Special Makeup Effects by: Tom Savini

Taglines: “Three Times Before You Have Felt The Terror, Known The Madness, Lived The Horror. But This Is The One You’ve Been Screaming For.”

“Jason’s Back, and this is the one you’ve been screaming for.”

“This is the one you’ll be dying for…”

“Friday April 13th is Jason’s Unlucky Day”

STORY

Jason is once again not quite dead, and determined to kill anything that moves. After escaping from the morgue, he turns his attention to some nearby houses. In one, a family of three prepare for their evening, while in the house across the street, a group of college kids start to party.

OPINION

It seems a little silly from this vantage point where there are at least 10 Friday the 13th movies (12 if you count Freddy vs. Jason and the remake), but this really was intended to be the final movie in the series at one point. The reasons were pretty clear – there was a glut of interchangeable slasher movies on the market, with very little difference in quality between the minor independent entries and those from major studios. The press in the US was starting to create a backlash against what they saw as reprehensible trash, while the “video nasties” controversy brewed fiercely in the UK. On top of that, the series was starting to become a little embarrassing – how many times can Jason come back from the “dead” and continue killing, and why do people stay around the Crystal Lake area?

So, this was to be a stellar send-off. The poster just showed a bloody, damaged hockey mask (already iconic even though it only appeared in the last half of the 3rd movie) and was clear in its message – Jason is going to die for real. To help realise this, the studio hired Joseph Zito, who had made one of the better slasher movies a couple of years before – The Prowler (a.k.a. Rosemary’s Killer). The cast was also pretty decent, staying away from the staple cast of teenagers with appearances from a mother, a young child and even adult authority. Finally, as a piece de resistance, we had the return of Tom Savini. In the years after the original Friday, Savini had made a name for himself as the master of gore, and it was his involvement in movies like Maniac and The Prowler that really got them noticed.

However, two things happened. First of all, the movie became the most successful in the series by quite a long margin. This inevitably led to Paramount making 4 movies before they finally had a flop with 1989′s 8th movie (after which, they sold the rights to New Line, who made 3 more until their own demise). The second is that the movie, quite simply, isn’t very good. While the direction and acting are fine, and the gore is excellent, the script is frankly awful. It has its fans, but I find the film by turns dry, boring and silly.

We start the movie proper with Jason’s body being carried to the morgue, ready to be autopsied and buried. Unfortunately, since this is a slasher movie, not only is the killer not actually dead, but he’s taken to a nearly deserted hospital with a couple of horny interns, one of whom is trying to get it on within spitting distance of the gurney with his body on it. Needless to say, they both end up dying gory deaths.

We flash from there to a house where a group of teenagers are preparing for a house party. At a nearby house, young Tommy Jarvis and his sister and mother are going through their usual routines… at least until Jason turns up to continue his killing spree.

Despite what I said above, the film does manage to be interesting and does attempt to revamp the formula slightly – both by introducing actual child characters for the first time (strange for movies about summer camps!) and by following multiple storylines. The result leaves me a little cold, but it’s still a worthwhile watch. Savini’s effects are excellent as always, even the animatronic dummy representing Jason’s demise is impressive despite being clearly what it is.

Personally, I’m glad that the film didn’t represent the end of the series. It marks the end of a particular cycle, with the next 4 films in the series having a noticeably different look and feel to the first 4. The next few films are variable, but my personal favourite (part 6) is a real standout in my opinion, mainly because it avoids the pretence of plot and goes mainly for the body count!

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

CENSORSHIP

By this point in the slasher cycle, the MPAA were routinely cutting films in the series in order to achieve an R rating. Similarly, Paramount were becoming increasing embarrassed by the series, and didn’t really fight the MPAA’s demands. So much so, that most of the films remain in their cut forms, even in the DVD era that would allow uncut unrated movies to be sold quite easily.

The main cuts were to gore – director Joseph Zito is on record as saying that virtually every Savini effect was cut, sometimes at multiple points. Inevitably, a few further cuts to Jason’s impressive demise were also demanded by the BBFC for the VHS release, although both the original cinema release and the current UK DVD release are the same as the US R rated version. Full details can be seen here. Here’s hoping that Paramount finally see sense and release the uncut footage…

TRAILER

Directed by: Juan Piquer Simón
Written by: Dick Randall & John W. Shadow
Starring: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Ian Sera, Paul L. Smith, Jack Taylor

Taglines: “You Don’t Have To Go To Texas For A Chainsaw Massacre!”

“Pieces… It’s exactly what you think it is!”

STORY

In 1942 Boston, a young boy is caught playing with a jigsaw puzzle featuring a naked woman. His puritanical mother is disgusted and orders him to get a bag so she can burn any objectionable material she finds, but he returns with an axe and dismembers her instead.

40 years later, a series of strange murders begins on a college campus, with a piece of each victim missing, the killer apparently putting together a new jigsaw puzzle…

OPINION

Pieces is a movie that I’d come across in vague ways over the years, but it never made much of an impression. Perhaps some of it has to do with the relatively obscure nature of the film in the UK, as it didn’t appear on the “video nasties” list due to a heavily cut pre-cert release that spared it (but presumably disappointed anyone who watched it enough for it to disappear into obscurity). Perhaps, it’s just because the film has a reputation of being utterly atrocious. Perhaps because the director went on to make the utterly disappointing adaptation of British gore maven Shaun Hutson’s debut novel Slugs, a book I enjoyed a lot at the time.

Either way, there’s 2 reasons why I finally got around to seeing the film. First, some of the podcasts I listen to mention the film on occasion, usually with a tongue-in-cheek, “it’s so bad it’s good!” mentality. The other reason, and the main reason I now own a copy, is because Arrow Video have released a copy on DVD. Arrow are a company I’m currently a little obsessed with collecting releases from, and for them to give their sterling treatment to such a minor entry in the slasher genre piqued my interest. The result – well, it’s definitely an experience!

The fun starts straight away, as the “Boston” locales are actually shot in Madrid and the opening prologue, set in the 1940s, contains a hilarious number of anachronisms. The scene is overacted with shrill zeal, the character interactions are illogical and the whole thing renders the supposedly shocking scene (a woman being dismembered with an axe by her young son) absolutely hilarious. I can only imagine what the reaction of early audiences were to this, but for anyone interested in bad cinema, it’s a good start.

Cut to the modern-day, and we get one of the more infamous sequences, where a girl roller skating is distracted and ends up riding straight into a large mirror being carried across the street in front of her. Supposedly, this sequence was meant to set up the killer’s return to killing as this triggers memories of his mother and the girl ends up being his first victim, but the scene explaining this was left on the cutting room floor. Even so, we still see the girl’s death by chainsaw while she’s sunbathing, but she looks so different it’s not until you look at the cast that you realise she’s meant to be the same character.

This level of coherence and competence continue throughout. The major plot includes a detective working on the case who sends a colleague into the school to pose as tennis instructor, although she clearly can’t really play the game. Pretty much anyone who wants to get involved in the case seems to without difficulty, including one of the students and a professor, even though both are considered suspects. We get some of the most hilariously obvious red herrings ever, including a gardener who constantly uses a chainsaw. There’s a hilarious scene where the professor is asked whether the gore-soaked chainsaw could have been used to dismember the body in front of it, a scene where a girl doesn’t notice the guy coming into the lift with a chainsaw behind his back (!), and the hilarious “bastard!” scene. We also get one of the most gloriously random scenes ever, where a Chinese professor suddenly appears and attacks the policewoman, only to stop after being hit and apologise, blaming the attack on “bad chop suey”.

Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, the film is highly entertaining. There’s enough gore to keep any fan happy, while the twisty plot never lets you get too bored. The identity of the killer is fairly obvious (there’s only a handful of characters even close to being old enough), but the red herrings can be fairly entertaining even if they’re pretty obvious. The cast do their best, although they’re clearly battling against a poor script and direction that can’t even keep them looking and acting like rational human beings, let alone rounded character. It’s all topped of with a hilariously out-of-the-blue and ridiculous coda that would make any sane human being shake their head in confusion.

I’m glad I finally got to watch this little gem, although its reputation does precede it somewhat. Like Zombie Lake and Burial Ground, it’s the kind of movie you can derive a lot of pleasure from if you’re in the right mood, preferably with a few beers and like-minded friends. You’ll be disappointed if you go into this expecting wall-to-wall gore or anything remotely tense or scary, but on the right level it’s well worth seeking out.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

CENSORSHIP & CONTROVERSY

Pieces is a funny film to comment on in a number of ways. Not only does its ineptness and unintentional comedy value deflect any real attempt at criticism, it seems to be quite difficult to pin down on exact details. For example, I have it on good authority that it was heavily cut on its initial UK release, but I can’t seem to find any concrete confirmation on what was cut.

Similarly, the documentary on the Arrow DVD suggests that the film was quite controversial in some areas on its first release. With its lurid advertising and its themes, it apparently incited protests from people who were tired of the ebbing slasher craze (who had predictably not opted to see the film in question first), and this in turn gave a little bit of a bump to the film’s box office. However, I can’t seem to find anything concrete online to support exact what happened.

Both major DVD releases currently available (the US Grindhouse release and Arrow’s region 0 UK release) are uncut, with the former having supposedly better features but the latter (IMHO) having the better cover art.

TRAILER

Directed by: Lamberto Bava
Written by: Lamberto Bava & Dardano Sacchetti
Starring: Valeria D’Obici, Leonardo Treviglio, Paolo Malco, Lara Wendel, Lea Martino, Eliana Miglio

STORY

A killer is on the loose, who seems to be using the same M.O. as a rapist/murderer who died in a fire years before. A police officer comes under heavy suspicion after his wife is found to be the latest victim following one of their numerous violent arguments. Fleeing to his psychologist mistress, he tries to hide and prove his innocence. Meanwhile the daughter of one of his colleagues become the latest target.

OPINION

A long way down from its heyday, the quintessentially Italian genre of the giallo struggled on into the late 90s. 1987 was really the last year that brought forth any classics – Dario Argento’s Terror at The Opera and Lamberto Bava’s Stagefright. Even at this point, the giallo was looking somewhat tired, the Italian film industry was in trouble and even its American progeny, the slasher movie, was declining.

In many ways, You Will Die At Midnight is a great showcase for both the good and bad of the genre at this stage. The setup is very much typical of the giallo formula – an innocent man hunted for a crime he didn’t commit, a killer clothed in black coat, gloves and a hat. The psychologist mistress allows for some mumbo-jumbo cod explanations of who the killer might be, while the reveal of the killer is both silly and unbelievable.

Between times, it’s a rather routine movie. We follow the cop as he’s implicated in his wife’s death, his mistress both trying to protect him and helping the murder investigation, and the detective’s daughter who becomes the latest potential victim. There’s a bunch of little asides along the way, from the detective who’s constantly more concerned about the chaos caused by his department’s move to a different office than the case at hand, to various little nods to classics of the giallo genre.

Apparently produced for Italian TV, this is still a rather more bloody and perverse film than you’d get from US or UK TV stations, and it generally holds up pretty well. It’s pretty fast paced, directed with some style and there’s definitely a few standout moments (such as when on victim tries fending off the killer with an electric whisk – until she pull the cord out of the wall!). If you’re a fan of the giallo cycle, this is certainly one of the lesser entries but certainly worth checking out. However, as with any film in the genre, if you demand logical character interaction and believable endings, give it a miss!

TRAILER

AVAILABILITY

Sadly, there only seems to be an Italian DVD release at the moment, which doesn’t contain English subtitles. I’ll update this when that changes, but for now either source your own subtitles, or get it from your usual online / grey market retailers.

After a night’s sleep, I was rested enough to stay awake properly during this day’s films! This was probably helped by a more solidly entertaining line-up of films and a general high quality overall. There was a varied and interesting line-up of movies today, ranging from sci-fi themes through a brief slasher and torture phase, right down to straight-up action movie for the finale. We also had a sneak preview of Federico (Shadow) Zampaglione’s upcoming giallo tribute Tulpa, which is still in the process of shooting. The 7 minutes we saw were excellent, very much capturing the spirit of the genre it’s referencing, with enough sleaze and mystery to make the full film appealing. It should hopefully be screened at the main event in August, assumning Zampaglione can get the film finished in time.

As ever, I left myself with little time for anything other than movies, with no sleep before the early morning flight back after the festival and just enough time for a couple of drinks, food or shopping in between the films. It was all worth it though, roll on August for the big 5 day event in London!

EVIDENCE

The second and last found footage movie this year, and oh my what a great film during the last half hour! The first half of the movie pans out pretty much as you’d expect. A guy has convinced his friend to camp in the woods for a weekend and be the subject of a documentary he wants to film. Along with his sister and girlfriend, he takes them out into the woods in an R.V., then camping out in a remote location a little way into the woods. Initially, they just get drunk and stoned, but are increasingly unnerved by strange sounds and other events in the woods. There seems to be something out there, and it’s not friendly…

To start with, this seems to be just another attempt (albeit above average) to be a late cash-in on The Blair Witch Project. Like last year’s pointless A Night In The Woods, it starts by following the same beats – people in the woods, no communication, strange noises, internal fighting between the campers, and so on. There’s a couple of unique moments involving what appears to be a strange animal, but otherwise so far so standard.

Where the film really takes off is once one of the group is found dead, but which point things keep going and going into a crescendo that lasts right until the end of the closing credits. I don’t want to spoil anything here, but there’s a number of unique directions taken by the script, some excellent and innovative uses of the format and some truly tense sequences. These continue right to the end of the credit, the credit sequence itself being an impressive short film in its own right.

If you can see this film, do it, but stick with it through the first half. It will be worth it!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

PENUMBRA

A young Spanish woman on assignment in Buenos Aires is taking time from her busy schedule to take care of an apartment inherited by herself and her sister. She hates both the apartment and Argentina itself, but agrees to hang around for the estate agent after he implies an offer too good to be true. She becomes increasingly suspicious, especially after more people turn up, and she makes some unfortunate misunderstandings that don’t ingratiate her with her neighbours. But, what is really going on?

This was a real surprise, both funny and tense, ratcheting up both the tension and uncomfortable humour until we finally work out what’s going on. While it’s obvious very early that the “estate agent” the woman lets into the house is anything but, she remains oblivious until well into the proceedings, by which time she’s managed to alienate enough of those around her to find little help in her ultimate predicament. The cast is largely very good, and the script plays off not only on the comedy-of-errors inherent in the setup, but the conflict between local Argentineans and the Spaniard who never tries to hide her contempt for the nation she’s staying in.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

RITES OF SPRING

Every Spring, young women have been disappearing in the area surrounding a small town. This year is no different, with two young women being abducted and hung by their arms in a barn awaiting their fate from their mysterious captor. Meanwhile, a deparate couple have teamed up with a man they don’t necessarily trust to take part in a kidnapping that doesn’t go as planned…

Rites Of Spring is an uneven, but very well made, melding of thriller and slasher genres with a number of other elements thrown in. Originally conceived as part of a trilogy (the second would have been produced back-to-back with this had funding not disappeared), there are some plot holes in the middle act that don’t get resolved. However, this doesn’t really spoilt enjoyment of the film as a whole. When he appears, the killer is a very good addition to the genre, with some intriguing questions left open for the sequel as to his origin and motives. I, for one, will be looking forward to that film.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

L’ARRIVO DI WANG (WANG’S ARRIVAL)

A translator is summoned for a special job. Someone, apparently being held by the Italian government, needs to be urgently questioned but despite being in Rome he only speaks Cantonese. The job is highly mysterious, with the translator being first blindfolded and then forced to work with her subject in pitch darkness. She eventually demands to know the full situation, but is shocked by the truth of what she is witnessing, and faced with some difficult choices.

One accusation levelled against this film was that it felt like an over-long episode of The Outer Limits, and indeed its structure is very much like that. Much of the film takes place in a single location during the interview, and with its sci-fi trapping and paranoia, the comparison is very apt. Having said that, the film works very well as a feature, with some nice twists and likeable characters, although the main protagonist does seem hopelessly naive at times.

Apparently, the version we saw has since been worked on with some special effects having been cleared up considerably. When released outside of Italy, the title may well be changed to avoid the obvious jokes, although I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate while watching the film.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

CASSADAGA

The film opens with a young boy castrating himself with scissors after being caught cross-dressing by his mother. Following that, we follow a young teacher who gets a residence position is a university in Cassadaga in Florida. She’s taken in largely due to her conquering of adversity – not only has she lost her hearing to meningitis, but her young sister she was responsible for was killed in an accident she blames herself for. One night, she agrees to go to a local psychic to try to communicate with her dead sister. But, the seance invite a more vengeful spirit into their lives, which seems to be associated with a local disappearance and a strange man who likes to build dolls from real flesh…

If the above seems a little disjointed, that’s really one of the biggest problems with this film. Coming from the director of Dread, this movie suffers greatly from many of the same problems. We have far too many subplots and distractions, the film never seems quite sure what it wants to be – one moment a supernatural thriller, the next a serial killer movie, the next a drama about a romantic relationship.

As with its predecessor, there’s some interesting ideas to be explored here, from the relationship between a deaf woman and a man going through a divorce, to the story of the killer who mutilates women to become life-sized dolls. However, the script is so muddy, messy and unfocussed that it’s hard to keep interested in anything other when the end credits are coming. the direction is pretty good, as are the performances, maybe this team just needs a decent script editor to come in and keep them focussed on telling a tighter story.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

THE RAID

Jakarta is a city of crime, with gangs having completely taken over a large apartment building. A group of cops launch a raid to take back the building, but are soon betrayed, outnumbered and fighting for survival.

Frightfest is an interesting festival at times, as despite being billed as a horror festival, they’re not shy about sneaking in good films with only a tangential relationship to the genre. Here, we have an Indonesian action/martial arts movie directed by a Welshman with no business being in the festival apart from the high level of gory violence. But, dear me, is it a good one!

The film gets going rather quickly, with a basic background given while the cops prepare for the the raid. From there, the film is essentially one long siege thriller with the initially confident cops being split up and massacred. When they realise that not only have they failed, but there’s no backup and they will die if they remain, all hell breaks loose when they try desperately to escape. Directed by Welshman Gareth Evans, this is an honestly astounding piece of work, with a high level of brutal violence. Gunplay and martial arts are in evidence, but turned up to 11 with all the gore and savagery you’d expect from a film that not only has people wielding machetes as easily as fists, but never shies away from the results of the carnage. Having said that, the film never dwells on the gore, the camera always moves on to the next shot very quickly, often giving you only enough time to recover before the next astonishing shot.

While it almost pains me to agree with this, the best and most impressive film at this horror festival was not even a horror movie! Watch it when it comes out.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

This year’s Frightfest segment of the Glasgow Film Festival was as enjoyable as ever, now expanded to 11 films over 2 days (there was even talk of making next year’s event a 3 day event!), and a huge success as ever. While I was less than wowed by the year’s lineup beforehand – only The Raid has much hype from my POV, and that wasn’t even a horror film! – it turned out to be very solid with only 2 films I thought were bad, and even then they were more entertaining than much of the dross we could have seen. The formerly scheduled The Devil Inside was advertised on GFF literature, but thankfully that movie (which has terrible reviews) found a replacement beforehand.

So, without further ado, let’s get to the films!

CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Not Quite Hollywood and last year’s Machete Maidens Unleashed comes this similar documentary focussing on the work of legendary producer/director Roger Corman. Using the set of the recent Corman production Dinoshark as a launchpad, the film goes back and tracks Corman’s career through his early work with AIP, through his productions with New World and New Horizons. Inevitably, the film is more focussed on his genre material and early successes, littered with interviews with stars, fans and footage of more obscure work such as The Intruder.

Overall, it’s a pretty decent look at the career of a man who has produced an insane number of movies. It contains enough interesting information to keep existing fans of Corman happy, while providing a reasonable primer for those new to his career. A decent little documentary, not groundbreaking but a good start to the festival.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

TAPE 407: THE MESA RESERVE INCIDENT

The first of two found footage movies at this year’s event, and sadly not a particularly good. We start with some pretty tiresome footage of people boarding a plane, being filmed by a precocious young girl who loves playing with her older sister’s camera. She films our main cast as they prepare for their flight from New York to L.A., ranging from an annoying fat man who tries demanding alcohol before the plane even takes off, to a ex-war photojournalist who is only too happy to help the girls use their camera properly.

For some unknown reason, the plane experiences problems during the flight, and crashes in an apparently isolated desert location. Struggling to work out what happened, the survivors in the tail section of the plane regroup and try to organise a way of contacting help. However, there’s something in the desert stalking them…

The idea for this movie is pretty solid – imagine an 80 minute version of Lost filmed in a found footage format, stripped down to bare bones. However, the film soon suffers from a number of problems, some inherent in the genre, some just poor execution in this instance. the characters are fairly annoying, and we spend far too long with the characters before anything interesting happens. People make large numbers of highly questionable decisions, there’s really no reason for the filming to continue for the most part, and the best moments actually come right at the end where the nature of the attacker is revealed. Sadly, that’s not enough to save the film, which was in turn tiresome, annoying and laughable. In fact, some sequences are downright annoying, where the person behind the camera has a habit of filming people looking out into the desert at things, rather than trying to focus on what they’re looking at.

Certainly not the worst film I’ve seen in the genre, and a number of the film’s sequences are rather effective (such as the plane crash). However, it’s a rather mediocre effort overall, with little to really recommend.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

CRAWL

A Croatian hitman is hired by a bar owner in a small Australian town to take out an old friend who has become a liability. One of the waitresses at the bar returns home from work to await her boyfriend, who she expects to propose to her following a trip to his parents’ house where she thinks he went to collect an heirloom wedding ring. The two threads collide violently, and the girl has to fight to survive.

This is more like it! Heavily inspired by the Coen brothers (especially Blood Simple), this is an assured piece of direction from the China brothers, a pair of British directors working out of Australia. There’s very little you can really discuss about the plot without major spoilers, but like the Coen’s work it’s as much about character and atmosphere as it is about the events of the story. The story truly takes its time, taking long pauses and moments to breath in between some often quirky moments of character interaction. The film is alternately funny, tense and intriguing with some moments of violence.

Very much worth seeking out, this is a very good film from a team that should be one to watch closely in the future.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

THE DAY

Ah, Frightfest, what would you be without the traditional technical problems? The Day suffered a problem with the soundtrack similar to last August’s Urban Explorer, where the soundtrack was audible but the dialogue from the characters couldn’t be heard for the first 5-10 minutes of the film. There’s a not a huge amount of dialogue in the film, so this problem wasn’t noticable until a few minutes in. I’m not sure if we missed anything important or I was just tired at this poijnt, but I found it difficult to follow some motivation, or the exact nature of the world they live in.

From what I can gather, what we have here is a small group of survivors of some unspecified infection that’s taken out most of humanity. As well as the survivors, there exists similar groups of cannibalistic killer who appear to have found some form of immortality. The two groups fight each other to the death, but there may be at least one of these enemies who has infiltrated the group of survivors as well.

Despite this problem, the film was quite enjoyable and well made, with some strong performances ranging from Dominic Monaghan and Shawn Ashmore to lesser known actors like The Last Exorcism‘s Ashley Bell, putting in a strong performance as a newcomer to the group.

Well worth a watch, though I may have to check it out again to see if the technical problems really affected my enjoyment that much.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

WAR OF THE DEAD

The final film of the day, and to be honest I was starting to drop off to sleep at this point due to my travel schedule. The plot is relatively simple – secret WWII experiments have backfired, leading to Nazi soldiers becoming infected zombies and Allied soldiers have to fight against the odds to stop them. It’s pretty much as you’d expect, lots of cheesy moments, lots of guns and explosions, but nothing you haven’t seen before.

Again, I may have to check this out as my tired nature made me miss some things, but it seemed to be a solidly entertaining movie.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Directed by: Charles E. Sellier Jr.
Written by: Michael Hickey (based on a story by : Paul Caimi)
Starring: Robert Brian Wilson, Linnea Quigley, Lilyan Chauvin, Toni Nero, Britt Leach, Nancy Borgenicht, Charles Dierkop

Taglines: “You’ve made it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas”

“Santa’s Here!”

“He knows when you’ve been naughty”

“Shocking… disturbing… The movie they tried to ban.”

“If “A Nightmare on Elm Street” gave you sleepless nights, or if “Halloween” made you jump in every shadow or if every “Friday the 13th” was more frightening that the others… THEN BEWARE!”

SYNOPSIS

Billy is a boy who has had a number of traumatic experiences as a child. After a strange encounter with his institutionalised grandfather, he witnesses his entire family getting slaughtered by an escaping criminal dressed as Santa Claus. His subsequent upbringing at the hands of the nuns in a Catholic orphanage are equally traumatic and abusive, especially when events bring the memories of the murders flooding back.

At 18, Billy gets a new job in a toy store and seems to have adjusted very well to normal life. However, he still retains a phobia about Christmas and Santa particularly. One day, he’s forced to act as a last minute replacement for the store Santa… which may prove too much for his fragile mind to handle…

OPINION

If ever you needed a prime example of how censorship is both wrong-headed and ineffective, this is probably it. On its first release, a pretty standard advertising campaign was launched to promote the film across America, essentially cashing in on the holiday-themed trail set by other seasonal slashers such as Halloween, New Year’s Day and My Bloody Valentine.

Unbeknownst to the filmmakers, however, there seems to be an almost fanatic devotion to the “purity” of the secular aspects of the Christmas season in the US. The original poster (shown above) with Santa holding an axe is simple and effective, but also somehow blasphemous to some Americans at the time. A massive wave of objection was launched (despite the existence of other Christmas slashers before it, such as Black Christmas and Christmas Evil), with the film pulled and being effectively banned while they came up with a new advertising campaign. Of course, when the film was eventually released, it was not only successful (especially later on via video once its notoriety had been secured) but spawned 4 sequels.

This is all the more amusing because the film itself isn’t particularly exploitative, and the main objection to the film (“it depicts Santa Claus as a slasher!”) isn’t really true at all. Billy’s mind cracks when he wears the Santa suit and wears it during his rampage, sure, but it’s hardly the tale of Kris Kringle himself dropping down from the North Pole to slaughter naughty children.

There’s actually quite a strange structure and focus to the film. We follow the eventual killer throughout his life – we don’t see him as an adult until 25 minutes in – as he goes through a number of traumatic experiences related to Christmas. My favourite part of this early sequence is the scene where young Billy visits his grandpa. He’s in a catatonic state, not speaking or moving – until Billy is alone with him. He cackles and grins while regaling the story of how Santa punishes naughty children, then immediately goes back to his catatonic state when the parents re-enter the room. It’s a silly sequence and ultimately fairly pointless, but it’s a great and quirky scene that lends a different atmosphere to the movie.

This is ultimately what saves the film from being a totally run-of-the-mill slasher. Its unusual structure and quirky moments keep the film moving until the slaughter starts for real, and by then we’re halfway through the running time. Rather than the genre’s usual parade of characters we don’t care about getting screen time while we wait for them to be killed, we often only see the victims for a few moments before they’re dispatched. The kills themselves are OK, with some fun scenes among some rather average kills (the best being an impaling on deer antlers and a decapitation of a sled rider).

Overall, the film certainly isn’t brutal enough to have deserved its controversial status, but it’s an above average slasher movie, perfect for a seasonal viewing!

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

CENSORSHIP

Silent Night, Deadly Night became instantly infamous due to the American “family group” reaction to the poster artwork, featuring Santa with an axe climbing down a chimney. Protests soon started, fuelled by some ridiculous reactions from mainstream critics, and soon resulted in TriStar pulling the film from cinemas. It was successfully re-released a few years later by an independent distributor with an ad campaign that focussed on the controversy rather than the subject of the film itself.

Given this controversy, along with the video nasty witch-hunt being in full swing, the film was not picked up by a UK distributor at the time. It wasn’t until 2009 that a UK release was secured by cult DVD label Arrow Films, who were able to release the film totally uncut.

AVAILABILITY

Although technically out of print, the region 1 DVD seems to be readily available. However, the best version is the UK Arrow Films release (PAL region 0), which contains some excellent artwork and an interview booklet as well as their normal reversible sleeve.

Directed by: Jack Sholder
Written by: David Chaskin
Music by: Christopher Young

Starring: Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler, Clu Gulager, Hope Lange, Robert Englund

Taglines: “The first name in terror returns…”

“Someone is coming back to Elm Street!”


SYNOPSIS

Following the events of the first film, Nancy and her family have left Springwood. Their house is bought by a new family, whose son Jesse starts to have strange dreams about Freddy Krueger, who wants to use Jesse to return to the real world.

OPINION

With the original Elm Street being a phenomenal success, the sequels would seem to be inevitable. So it was, although original creator Wes Craven wanted nothing to do with it at this point. New Line upped the budget slightly and brought in Jack Sholder to take over directorial regins. While not as legendary as Craven, Sholder is a decent director with a few good movies later under his belt (including The Hidden and 12:01 although later descended into DTV hell) and a well-received debut (Alone In The Dark, not related to the games or Uwe Boll atrocity of the same name).

However, the script later brought the film some notoriety in ways that Sholder and producer Robert Shaye claim to be unaware of (although Robert Englund claims to have been fully aware) – writer
David Chaskin’s script is chock full of homoerotic subtexts. I can kind of believe their ignorance, if only because when I first watched the movie I was only about 13 years old and too young to grasp the subtexts. Now, especially armed with the knowledge that they’re there, it’s very difficult to avoid them!

The most obvious of these are the central theme of the movie. For whatever reason, Chaskin had decided to jettison the central themes familiar from the original (and later movies) – it seems to be the house rather than Freddy’s desire for revenge that allows his return. Latching on to Jesse, he essentially appears as a split part to Jesse’s personality, with Jesse himself not knowing if Freddy is killing those around him in dreams he happens to share, or if he’s actually committing the murders. With Jesse trying to repress that part of him that’s connected to Freddy and the idea that Freddy wants to “come out” into the world, it’s not hard to pick up on the subtext.

There’s many other things that suggest this – the almost homoerotic relationship between Jesse and his best friend, the leather bar he has an encounter with his gym teacher (and the later whipping the teacher gets), the fact that he seems to relate so much more to the male rather than female characters, the stupid dancing in his room scene (to the original version of Touch Me (All Night Long), no less!). With the knowledge it’s there, the subtext is hard to avoid, but I could imagine a less clued-in director could miss those themes in the script, especially in the mid-80s.

But, enough of that, what about the movie as a horror film? Overall, it’s not bad. It’s certainly one of the weaker films in the series (though I would still class part 5 as the worst by a long shot). Part of the problem is that we’re already heading away from the pure surrealism of Craven’s original into something more conventional. I have read that there were meant to be a lot more weird moments, but that the money started to run out and compromises had to be made. Some moments are actually more funny than anything (the exploding parrot!). Even so, Freddy is in the film for a disappointingly short amount of time. When he’s there, it’s great – he rips part of his head off to reveal his brains (“You’ve got the body, I’ve got the brains!”). The shower sequence is pretty horrific, and the scene where (spoiler!) Freddy actually comes out of Jesse’s body and starts slaughtering pool party attendees is fantastic.

But, there’s really not enough here. The script meanders, it deviates so far from the central mythos that it’s almost a parallel universe story than a legitimate sequel, and it’s not that interesting for the most part. After a slight peak with the pool party sequence, the script again becomes muddled with a particularly weak ending. Had this not been an Elm Street movie, it might have been interesting with another villain, but it almost has to disappoint when compared with most other films in the franchise. It’s worth a look if you’ve already seen the better movies in the series, but I’d definitely recommend watch almost any of the others before this one.

AVAILABILITY

There’s numerous releases of this film, sadly all pretty much barebones. The US Blu-Ray is a barebones release containing parts 2 &3, while the film is available either separately or as part of a box set with a feature set outside of the US. Worth a buy, if only for the superior part 3, which I’ll get to soon!

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Director: Michael A. Simpson
Written by: Fritz Gordon and Robert Hiltzik
Starring: Pamela Springsteen, Renée Estevez, Tony Higgins, Sean Whitmore, Valerie Hartman, Brian Patrick Clarke, Walter Gotell, Susan Marie Snyder, Terry Hobbs

Taglines: “When you go camping just take the essentials”

STORY

Years after the original film, Angela is little more than a legend used to scare kids around the campfire. Unfortunately for the kids at Camp Rolling Hills, their new councillor happens to be Angela. She’s not only real but as ready to kill as ever.

SYNOPSIS

Actually my favourite of the original Sleepaway Camp films (I still haven’t seen the apparently disappointing Return To Sleepaway Camp), this sequel takes a turn away from the serious tone of the original. Now that the action isn’t being played for suspense (the killer’s identity is obvious, of course), director Simpson chooses instead to play the action mostly for knowing laughs.

It’s an approach that mostly works. The film has a good time playing with the usual conventions, playing up the more puritanical motivations often associated with the genre. Anyone who gets naked (and they do, there’s a lot of nudity, topless at least!), stoned or just doesn’t act politely enough is soon dispatched in various ways.

Springsteen (yep, Bruce’s sister) does a good job as Angela, ranging from far too “good” in some scenes with a ’50s-ish sweetness, to psycho killer in the next. There’s plenty of nice little nods to her character, such as a scene where she decides to off one girl and spends her time trying out various possible murder implements.

The victims themselves are mostly a decent bunch as well. There’s a few stereotypes such as the stoner girls and the bitchy slut, but there’s mostly people who you don’t want to see die, but the light comedic tone ensures you won’t mind when they do. The stand out is probably Renee Estevez (sister of Emilio and Charlie Sheen) as well as camp councillor T.C. (whose mullet should probably have had a separate credit!).

For such a lighthearted film, the murder scenes are actually quite brutal, ranging from the requisite stabbings to decapitations, battery acid and even a latrine drowning. The gore’s decent if not overplayed, and the climax featuring a room full of victims is a little cliched by this point but played very well.

All in all, this is an excellent little movie, benefitting from coming so far at the end of the slasher cycle, it can afford to have a bit more fun with the well-worn cliches of the genre. Shot back-to-back with the 3rd film and targeted at the video market, it’s not going to win any awards for originality but it’s very enjoyable. If you need an example of the film’s sense of humour, there’s a scene referenced in most of the advertising, where kids dress as Freddy and Jason to try to scare Angela, but there’s soon dispatched by her… dressed as Leatherface, complete with chainsaw!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Director: Tom Holland
Written by: Tom Holland
Starring: William Ragsdale, Roddy McDowell, Chris Sarandon, Stephen Geoffreys, Amanda Bearse, Jonathan Stark, Art Evans

Taglines: “There are some very good reasons to be afraid…of the dark.”

“There are good reasons to be afraid of the dark.”

SYNOPSIS

Charley Brewster is a fairly normal high school kid with a penchant for cheesy horror movies, much to chagrin of his girlfriend Amy and the amusement of his geeky best friend “Evil Ed”. His favourite show is Fright Night, introduced by Peter Vincent, a washed-up host who stars in many of the movies. After spotting some strange activity at night next door, he starts to become convinced that his new neighbour is a vampire.

Following some altercations, he approaches Vincent for help, who is sceptical at first but willing to go along after Amy offers him money. Unfortunately, Charley’s suspicions are correct and threaten to destroy him and his friends.

OPINION

Fright Night isn’t quite a perfect film, but it’s definitely one of my favourite horror movies of the 80s to rewatch regularly. There’s two major reasons for that. First off the characterisation is extremely good, with almost all of the cast putting in fine performances. The central character of Charley is played as a likeable kid, Stephen Geoffreys puts in an excellent performance as Evil Ed (almost career defining, or it would have been had he not switched to hardcore gay porn in the 90s!), and Roddy MacDowell is perfect as the Vincent, the cynical hack who is forced to confront an inconvenient truth. The supporting players are equally great, with special note going to Sarandon as a charismatic yet despicably evil vampire.

As fitting any movie made in the mid-80s, the second thing that makes this stand out are the excellent and surprisingly explicit effects. Beyond the typical vampire effects (which have some shocking twists in and of themselves), there’s a werewolf transformation and a standout scene in which a ghoulish companion dissolves in to green goo!

Plot-wise, there’s a similar playing with conventions. Just like most 80s horror movies featuring monsters, we have the opening where one person suspects the truth but the are brushed off by sceptical authorities and friends. We have some interesting twists on typical vampire lore, from the effect of crosses and holy water (“You have to have faith!”) and the nature of the vampire’s familiar.

In many ways, there’s not much more I can say here that not repeated in my review of the recent remake or in other discussions. While not a perfect film, this is an entertaining ride full of neat moments, enjoyable characters and memorable set pieces. This is still the king in my mind of all of the three films (I’m sure I’ll share my feelings about the sequel at some point soon). Is it the king of all of 80s vampire movies, though? Watch this space…

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Director: Ray Cameron
Writers: Ray Cameron & Barry Cryer
Starring: Kenny Everett, Vincent Price, Pamela Stephenson, Gareth Hunt, John Fortune, Don Warrington, Barry Cryer

Taglines: “The movie it took a lot of guts to make!”

SYNOPSIS

A diverse group of scientists converge on Headstone Manor, which was the site of a massacre years before. However, they soon start to fall victim to the forces responsible for the original massacre. Among these is a mysterious power wielded by Vincent Price and his satanic worshipping minions.

REVIEW

When I finally got to see this movie a few years ago following its belated DVD release, I was somewhat disappointed. As a horror spoof starring some of the cream of the time’s British TV comedy talent (including Everett, one of my favourites as a kid), a cameo by Vincent Price and a wide range of targets from slasher movies to black magic cult movies, this should have been a gem of a movie. I remember seeing the video cover in my local video stores as a kid, but somehow missed it.

Sadly, the movie tends to miss the mark by quite a large margin in most of its scenes. While it’s obvious where they wanted to go with this – wildly spoofing every movie from The Haunting to Friday The 13th while spoofing every tired genre convention (e.g. the tavern scene with sceptical/fearful natives), it’s rather too broad to be funny. I had the strange feeling while watching this that while I knew where I should have been laughing, I simply wasn’t.

That’s not to say it’s all bad. Vincent Price offers his usual high class presence in what would be his final appearance in a British film. There are a few jokes that hit home quite well, such as a decapitation by a can opener in a Carrie-inspired flashback. However, for every one like that, there’s jokes that completely fall flat or actually become slightly offensive, such a the scene where a woman is raped by an invisible man, but soon enjoys it…

Then there’s the structure. The film is very messy, starting almost serious before going to a simple series of sketches by the time they reach the mansion. Entire characters are there simply as jokes, and most of these quickly outstay their welcome, from the blind man to the unambiguously gay couple.

A massive disappointment, and although it’s certainly worth a watch for fans of either Everett or British TV comedy of the era as a whole, don’t expect much.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

TRAILER