JUST BEFORE DAWN (1981)

JUST BEFORE DAWN (1981) (R) Dir. Jeff Lieberman
90 mins.

This is a gem. It's got the same tropes and stereotypes as every other slasher film of the era, but it's just executed so effectively. Five kids head into the mountains of Oregon, as their de facto leader Warren has acquired a plot there, and they plan on camping on the land, you know, just to check it out. It is established early on that Warren, an experienced scout, is the key to the others surviving in the deep, impenetrable forest.

 

Along the way they meet a ranger played by veteran actor George Kennedy, who warns them not to proceed further. In true early slasher fashion, they ignore his warning and head up the mountain anyhow. Further down the road they meet a drunkard (Mike Kellin of Sleepaway Camp) who's just witnessed his nephew's murder. He begs the group for help, but in his incoherent mumblings, they ignore him and drive away.

 

 

They set up camp, play some jokes on each other, and whilst dancing (to some swanky electro-funk)around the campfire their first night, they are visited by an old backwoods man, shotgun in hand, along with his wife and daughter. He ominously threatens the group with the gun, saying that if they do not leave that night, they will wake "the devil". This is three warnings, folks. THREE. Yet the group remains defiant and stay on the mountain.

 

 

Well, some 300 pound oafish motherfucker in a checkered shirt and mask starts eliminating the group. Go figure. There are however, many twists in this movie, which I won't spoil, that are from left field and thus highly welcome in this sort of film.

 

The score was achieved as the composer whistled and blew into his microphone, and though its used sparsely throughout the feature, it is imposing and spooky. Added to the lush cinematography and wonderful location scouting, it creates the kind of atmosphere that DEFINES good horror. Gloomy, claustrophobic, and oppressive. The editing is pretty poor, I have to admit. The script is meh, pretty much standard fare for this sort of thing, and the acting, for the most part, mimics this. However two actors stand out: Gregg Henry as Warren and Deborah Benson as Constance. These two characters start at one point and end up completely transformed by the end. It's a great narrative arc, and seeing their gender roles slowly erode in the shadow of an imminent threat is truly unique.

 

 

Despite its clichés, Just Before Dawn is one of the finest, if not obscure, examples of the slasher genre. One part Friday the 13th (though the director has shown nothing but disdain for that film) and one part Deliverance (from which its inspired), this is a great addition to the hixploitation slasher subgenre. 7/10

 

 

SPOOKIES (1986)

SPOOKIES (1986) (R) Dir. Genie Joseph, Thomas Doran, and Brendan Faulkner
aka TWISTED SOULS aka GOBLIN
85 mins.

This movie has quite the cult following and just a cursory glance at the reviews of it on IMDB are overwhelmingly positive. That being said, it really, really sucks. Maybe if one grew up watching this as a kid, like age 6 or 7, I could see why as an adult one could consider this to (nostalgically) be a good movie. It is however, at least for me, utterly bad. Acting, writing, directing, lighting; god!

 

The film's logo in the title card, is a ripoff of the Goonies logo. The ending is a ripoff of Night of the Living Dead. The main plot and direction are a complete ripoff of The Evil Dead, sometimes shot for shot. Imagine if, you will, that The Evil Dead was written and directed for kids by R.L. Stein. That's this. No real gore, just slime and little blood and loads of monsters... Why is this an R-rated Video Nasty??? I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

Oooooo.... Spookies.

 

Some kids get thrown out of a party, but the night is still young and the alpha male of the group is an insufferable dick, so yada yada yada, they go to an abandoned mansion, yada yada yada, MONSTERS. All sorts of strange monsters. There's zombies, gremlin like things (that look remarkably like Jason's worm-incarnation in Jason Goes to Hell), a wolfman-ish lackey, a Spider-woman and her giant spider baby, mud-men that fart but are destroyable by water (doesn't mud CONTAIN water?), possessed Evil Dead demons, the Grim Reaper, an immortal wizard, his reincarnated son, a ghost.... There's no point in describing the film's characters or the plot at length. There's no logic or consistency, there are just set pieces and FX, to which the story itself serves as an almost screwlessly loose diving board.

 

Here you are folks: the best part of this movie.

 

The monsters are many, and some the effects work would be quite good, if they were puppeted, lit or filmed right. Instead we get brightly lit rubber dripping Vaseline and awkwardly attacking the actors (who know they're in  a bad movie... so don't even try to be more than one-dimensional stereotypes). Though there are implied and on-screen deaths in this (meaning it wasn't "technically" made for children), they goreless and leave much to be desired, hell I had to rewind the movie at the climax because I had missed the deaths of three characters. Don't blink, or you'll miss them "die" by psychic lightning attack.

 

Inept on all levels. I'm sure it doesn't help that Genie Joseph pieced this film's new footage with footage from the other two previous directors, who were initially filming it under the title Twisted Souls. what's left is essentially a kid's movie. Maybe it's a disasterpiece, but unless there is a seasoned heckler or three in the audience, and copious amounts of recreationals, its not worth it, at least to me. I know myriads of 80's kids disagree.  I CAN however say it was still better than Home Sweet Home, though. 3/10

 

 

ROOM 237 (2012)

ROOM 237 (2012) (UR) Dir. Rodney Ascher
102 mins.

 

 

This documentary examines Stanley Kubrick's The Shining in excruciating detail, oft frame for frame, to highlight the narrations of several Kubrick conspiracy theorists. Background ephemera is pointed out, rug patterns dissected using Freudian theory, dissolves analyzed, continuity errors explained (some of the most interesting material, in my opinion) and the film is even played superimposed over itself forwards and backwards at the same time--and the results are pretty fucking awesome.

 

 

The many narrative theories include that Kubrick faked the moon landing, that it is a film about the European slaughter of indigenous tribes, that its Kubrick's cryptic way of discussing the Holocaust, and others. Some of these theories are synchronistic, some unintelligible and others really do you make you think.

 

 

This film is as much a psychological study of human observation and its effect on the observed as is actually about The Shining. It does not exploit (well, not too much) its narrative participants, but instead gives them reign to try and prove their theories. Will you think some of them are batshit crazy? Inevitably, but a lot of the ideas expressed do make me see the original film in a new light.

 

 

The pacing of the film is bit shaky, and it can be a bit overlong, but if you enjoy speculative and critical theory, and you love the source material, its worth a watch. 6/10

 

No link, but it's very easy to find.

CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980)

CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980) (R) Dir. Lewis Jackson
aka YOU BETTER WATCH OUT aka TERROR IN TOYLAND
100 mins.

When Harry Stadling was a little boy, his father dressed up as Santa Claus for Christmas. After delighting Harry and his brother and putting them to bed. Unable to sleep, an overexcited Harry accidently stumbles upon his mother getting frisky with Ol' Saint Nick.

 

Years later we see Harry, working at a toy factory and unhealthily obsessed with all things Christmas, year round. He is aloof and things aren't going so well, as the factory capitalists are more interested in sales than in bringing children joy.

 

Hey kids, it's Uncle Dudley!

 

Harry begins a transformation into Santa Claus, which is the main narrative arc of the film, and soon begins spying on children in his neighborhood, logging their names and behavior on his extensive naughty and nice lists. He superglues a beard to his face in an amazing scene and as Christmas nears, his murders begin. A manhunt ensues as Harry gets more and more desperate.

 

Without Billy or Ricky this lineup seems... incomplete.

 

Christmas Evil is a great and intelligent slasher, despite many production flaws. It has more depth and is creepier than the most notable Santa-killer movie, Silent Night, Deadly Night. It's not a better movie per se, just more unpredictable. It's amazing that Silent Night gained so much outcry when this was released four years before it. 7/10
 

NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981)

NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981) (UR) Dir. Romano Scavolini
aka NIGHTMARE aka BLOOD SPLASH
97 mins.

George Tatum is a very mentally unstable individual. Having committed a double murder as a child, he has been hospitalized, suffering from schizophrenia, intense dreams, and seizures. A team of doctors attempt to rehabilitate him with an experimental drug, echoing both the Ludovico technique in A Clockwork Orange, but more appropriately, the MKULTRA mind control scandal that shocked America only a shortly before this film. Considering their project a success, George it let back into society, but when his case workers lose track of him, he begins to lose his grip on reality, and the murders start rolling in.

 

The bowtie makes this look.

 

George sets his focus on an alcoholic mother and her family in Daytona, because the youngest of 3 kids, C.J., reminds George of himself as a child, and this triggers one of his many ongoing flashbacks. George then stalks the family, makes obscene phone calls, and starts killing the people around them in the six days prior to his final attack.

 

Is that a Sid Haig mask?

 

The most interesting part of the movie is George's character, played masterfully by Baird Stafford. George is horrified of the crimes he commits, traumatized, and is constantly struggling with every act he commits, rendering him sympathetic (unlike the one note killer in Home Sweet Home). It is also ambiguous as to whether his medication keeps him from killing or inspires him to. He wants to stop himself but can't, and even tries to warn C.J. before an impending confrontation. There are two twists in this ending, and while they are maybe not the hardest to predict, work really well. The gore is good, which Tom Savini apparently was not involved in creating, despite the movie's marketing campaign, and I think it shows that it isn't him as it is less Maniac and more Pieces, but his involvement to this day is still a point of contention between the director and Tom, and amongst the fans. Good pacing, well fleshed out characters, lighting and cinematography. A must see grindhouse, yet lesser known, classic. 8/10

 

VISITING HOURS (1982)

VISITING HOURS (1982) (R) Dir. Jean-Claude Lord
aka GET WELL SOON aka THE FRIGHT
103 mins.

 

This is a very well executed slasher film that probably got overlooked because of the genre's oversaturation in the early 80's. The acting is top notch, especially by Lee Grant and Michael Ironside, who's performance as the killer resembles that of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

 

The plot is very straightforward for a genre piece, Ironside hates women because his mother permanently disfigured his beloved, yet abusive father. Years later, a journalist, played by Grant, is covering a similar case in which she publicly insists on exonerating the female. Ironside, seeing her work on television, then takes his anger out on her by killing her nanny, attacking Grant, and stalking her children. He follows the injured journalist to the nearby hospital and mayhem ensues.

 

 

This movie performs at a frantic pace and really works in creating suspense an and a tense environment. Ironside is brilliant and makes some of the hammier portions of his role stunningly work. The music is decent and the film has an almost made-for-TV look to it, which actually adds to the seedy atmosphere. And yes, there is a Shatner alert in effect.

 

 

Tense, psychosexual and better than Halloween II. Overall, it's a wonder why this is overlooked; perhaps its the lack of gore or cinematic aesthetic, but it is a very decent entry to the genre, that is as intelligent as it is underrated. 7/10

 

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985)

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985) (R)
Dir. Jack Sholder
87 mins.
USA

This entry in the popular series is considered amongst many in the horror community to be the worst. I myself am one of the few that considers it to be the best. Let me explain.

 

Firstly, fans of the franchise, and even the producers themselves, have complained that ground rules set in the original were broken by having Freddy possess a boy, Jesse, and using him to kill in the real world. Yet possession has happened in other films in the series a few times, including a mental patient in Part 3, an unborn baby in Part 5 and a dimwitted stoner in Part 6. Oh, and a dimwitted stoner in Freddy Vs. Jason.

 

What makes this movie stand out to me is the monstrousness of the possession itself. It is well known by now that the original intention of the first movie was to establish Freddy as a child molester. Because of the controversial McMartin case that was making headlines at the time of the filming of the first Elm Street, the material was lightened and Freddy was referred to as a "filthy" child murderer. Still, the intent is clear.

 

With the second movie, it is evident to anyone with a modicum observational skills, that the protagonist Jesse is a repressed homosexual or bisexual teen. As Jesse struggles with this, Freddy uses it as a means of possessing his body, in essence an act of rape. Freddy knows Jesse's weaknesses, and is using it to control him, so he can murder more than just the Elm Street kids.

 

This makes perfect sense, as Freddy has attempted to expand his murdering repertoire on multiple occasions throughout the series, and is a major theme of Parts 4-6. Yet this possession also represents the villainy of sexual predators, who often exploit their victim's own sexual confusion and vulnerability to accomplish their crimes. The themes of rape and sexual repression in Freddy's Revenge were far ahead of their time and give this entry a depth unseen amongst it peers.

 

This extends itself to the killings that Jesse is made to commit. One victim, Jesse's high school gym coach, is murdered in the gymnasium's locker room, naked and tied to shower heads. When this event is mentioned at school the next day, Jesse's best friend Grady mentions that the coach had been "packed". It is a quick reference, but one that suggests that Jesse had anally raped the coach. This adds to the subtexts that are in play in this film, Freddy is molding Jesse into an image of himself, and that the cycle of violence is reproducing itself.

 

 

Freddy himself is far more frightening than in the other movies. He doesn't crack jokes. He is not yet a kid's plushie doll or a terrible NES game. He is a rapist and killer that will stop at nothing to harm others. It helps that his makeup in this is fantastic and far outshines the makeup in the others, including the original. It is more boney and angular than the first, and less streamlined as the third. He looks like a corpse. And those eyes... the contacts added a lot.

 

 

Though the movie has its flaws, such as the absence of the iconic theme song, and an absurd incident involving a combustible parakeet, I encourage naysayers to reevaluate it, is a lot better than its reputation has afforded it.

8/10

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COMBAT SHOCK (1986)

COMBAT SHOCK (1986) (R) Dir. Buddy Giovinazzo
aka AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
85 mins.

 

Thee Satanophile here, and I just discovered Troma's lesser-known 1986 cult classic, Combat Shock. Director Buddy Giovinazzo's story of a Vietnam War veteran spiraling into penury, hopelessness and madness was inspired by Eraserhead and Taxi Driver, and I wouldn't be surprised if the director had been familiar with Sean Costello's and William Lustig's earlier works as well. It's seedy, grimy, and ultra-low budget -- exactly how I like 'em. The film is a slow and even tedious burn, but it is forgivable for its wonderful score, rotted, urban atmosphere, abject nihilism, great gore effects and its full throttle ending.

 

 



The film follows Ricky, a vet living in Staten Island. He's penniless, jobless, and suffering from vivid flashbacks of his time in Vietnam and as a POW. He is estranged from his father and lives in an empty apartment with his starving pregnant wife and mutant baby, who has born as such due to the Ricky's exposure to Agent Orange during the war. He spends his days going to the unemployment office and trying to avoid a violent mobster, Paco, and his gang of thugs, to whom Ricky owes money. We see him argue with his wife, receive an imminent eviction notice, his friend overdose, and Paco's thugs terrorizing him. Needless to say, Ricky spirals into a primal desperation.

 

This might be one of the last grimy 42nd street movies. By 1986 most horror films were headed towards the humorous and cartoonish, rather than the brutal style this movie encompasses. I highly recommend this to fans of grindhouse and low-budget guerilla filmmaking. Despite its flaws, Combat Shock has immense gritty charm. Its violence is well executed, its message is simple and  clear, and the discomfort it inspires in the viewer, especially during the harrowing climax, make this a must for purveyors of the macabre.

7/10

  

 

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