For this month’s post of randomly picked movie titles where I review and observe them one by one, we’ll take a look at a few throwback horror films you’ll need for your next Halloween party. As often, trailers will precede each written summary unless otherwise. But first, here are a few random selections of my own…
For starts, a classic dystopian thriller set in (what used to be) the futuristic year of 2022. SOYLENT GREEN (1973, PG) is harrowing as it provides us with a mystery that leaves us wondering. Even my parents watched this film at the theater by the time they got married in 1973, and they agreed on one thing: it was horrifying. The overall consensus was that it’s melodramatic and understandably so, but is redeemed with steady pacing and an intriguing premise, just enough to keep viewers sitting right on the edge as it builds its way towards a powerful and stunning conclusion.
Charlton Heston is an NYPD detective who investigates the homicide of a board member of a large corporation behind a sensational food product in a world where pollution and overpopulation run rampant. Hot on the case, the trail only leads to a secret that’s far more revealing…. The film also stars Chuck Connors, Leigh Taylor-Young, Joseph Cotten, and Edward G. Robinson in his 101st and final film. Watch for Dick Van Patten (of television series EIGHT IS ENOUGH) in a brief onscreen role.
Key pointers of this film include homelessness, riot control and euthanasia, illustrating the filmmaker’s ability to feed fear and uncertainty into the minds of 70s audiences who weren’t prepared for such science fiction to become a glimpse of the “end of the world”. Admittedly, the filmmakers were partially right on the portraying of events that came to pass in the real life contrast of five decades later, but not for New York’s population of 40 million. As it is, SOYLENT GREEN remains a cinematic footnote of what our future world could be.
BUSHWHACKED (1995, PG) followed a heaping helping of numerous family-oriented comedies that were specially packaged and promoted back in the 1990s. This one is straightforward by-the-numbers cartoon fodder with mischief, adventure, and physical gags starting with a SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER parody and finishing off with a wild cliffhanger. It tends to lean towards an adult experience than as a family get-together due to the fact that it is ideally offensive while trying to go light on being offensive and absurdist.
Daniel Stern reprises the sort of role made famous in HOME ALONE as a bumbling crook. Here, he’s a delivery guy in hiding with a troop of young Ranger Scouts after committing a money laundering scheme. While leading the pack, the authorities are chasing him on his tail and hijinks ensue.
Of notice is director Greg Beeman, who brought the two Coreys together — Haim and Feldman — in lead roles for the 1988 cult teen comedy LICENSE TO DRIVE, followed by work on a number of Disney Channel original movies including UNDER WRAPS, BRINK and MIRACLE IN LANE 2.
One shall observe that the ‘Family Features’ series by 20th Century-Fox had its fair share of hits, misfires, and downright forgettable movies. BUSHWHACKED is clearly a forgotten ‘family’ flick over time that grown-up adults like myself would find it as one guilty pleasure this day and age.
The DVD only provided a teaser that runs just over a minute long. You can tell why a ‘family’ movie like this one was about to be approved for a PG-13 before getting edited for theaters, as revealed in the *official* trailer below…
BRAKE (2011, R) is an underrated action and suspense thriller that makes use of its limited potential with exciting twists and turns amidst the backdrop of post-9/11 paranoia.
An agent of the Secret Service — played by Stephen Dorff in a role that could have at least belonged to Kiefer Sutherland of ‘24’, no doubt — discovers he is held captive inside the locked trunk of a moving vehicle driven by terrorists who demand to know about the POTUS bunker. He’s subjected to methods of pain and mental torture the longer he withholds classified information.
The film ends masterfully with a surefire ‘aha!’ moment that is too catchy to believe, until…
A film that gives a shoutout to the First Amendment with the culture of Generation X, PUMP UP THE VOLUME (1990, R) daringly represents freedom of speech and expression that most teen movies had never achieved before. It wasn’t a box office hit, but it remains influential enough for those who haven’t seen this for the very first time in their lives because it still packs power.
Following his acclaimed role in HEATHERS, Christian Slater does just the same. Here, he’s a high school kid who runs a pirated radio station in his bedroom doing a nightly show where he talks about sex, drugs and rock n roll. Rebelliously standing up for words to say, he earns a lot of attraction from the students… and the FCC. The film also stars Samantha Mathis, Scott Paulin and Ellen Greene.
Highlighting the cultural aspect of this film is a rock soundtrack that pulsates, including the catchy ‘Everybody Knows’ by Leonard Cohen — ironically, it doesn’t appear on the official soundtrack album release.
Is this better than THE BRIDE? Or, is this cult classic monstrosity just a bunch of schlock? It’s been an eternity ago since I last caught this flick, and I was curious to find out what the fuss a movie like FRANKENHOOKER (1990) was all about. So I caught this playing on HBO late night sometime during 1991 while not paying attention to my sleep. My gut reaction is this was a really bombastic movie the moment I first feast my eyes on it. Basically, what we have here is a comically twisted retelling of Mary Shelley’s fabled legend set in New York City with lots of sex and mutilation in all its purpley visual grandeur, and to my utter amazement, it’s brilliantly engaging for what it is.
A young ‘mad scientist’ named Jeffrey Franken loses his girlfriend Elizabeth Shelley to a freak lawnmower accident. He wants to bring her back to life by seeking out a way to mend bodily remains from live prostitutes. When she actually does get revived, the whole story takes a strange turn.
Penthouse model Patty Mullen as the titular title character on the mend is such a lovable creature, isn’t she? Frank Henenlotter, director of this film, was the mastermind behind the silly and notoriously gory BASKET CASE and BRAIN DAMAGE, both well-known for his craftsmanship of dazzling FX, exploitation and utterly bizarre sense of humor, so it’s easy to see why FRANKENHOOKER is a horror comedy being the absolute curio among genre fanatics.
This is a ‘hard to find’ movie title but not necessarily rare. I hardly ever found a VHS copy to rent anywhere; not only was it known for its MPAA rating controversy, but that sound chip inside the box sleeve as she exclaims “wanna date?” whenever you poke around with it — didn’t know that!
Synapse put out a 4K Blu-ray limited edition with only 5000 copies in print and is presented in unrated form; mild amounts of language and bloody gore, but with lotsa nude images and spare body parts.
Some people have observed THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982, R) as yet another rehash of just about every other gory slash-and-hack show put out after FRIDAY THE 13TH. A lot of these involved the body counts of college kids played by no-name actors who fall into the deadly traps of their adversaries. But this one stands out different for its eccentricity towards women, including the writer and director. This one isn’t without gouged eyeballs, plenty of bare skin and cinema’s most unlikely serial killer for an exciting 76 minutes, as it maintained a cult following among horror fans as well as a number of ‘in-name only’ sequels.
Of course, you know the ‘drill’ if you’ve watched too many body-count slashers circa 1981. When a group of high school girls spend the night together for a slumber party, they face an uninvited guest who,happens to be an escaped lunatic whose deadly device is a drilling machine. They survive the night to stop the madness. Does that sound familiar? Of course it does, but at least the film offers some semblance of surprise. Who knows if your refrigerator is stuffed with a dead corpse inside? Personally, I think MICROWAVE MASSACRE comes even.
But talent had to start somewhere, and this low-budget film was no exception. Its producer and director Amy Jones has a startlingly good resume — years after this film’s release, she had prime success as writer of a number of Hollywood films including MYSTIC PIZZA, BEETHOVEN, and THE RICH MAN’S WIFE, as well as head co-creator of the Fox TV series THE RESIDENT (2018-23).
Pictured here is the 4K double feature of the first two installments released by Scream Factory; our summary focuses on the first feature only. The sequel is known for the casting of WINGS star (and future singer) Crystal Bernard.
As cheap and cheesy as ALIEN clones can get, PLAGUERS (2008) is one such example. It’s for anyone who loves gory late-night movies that cast predominately female actors shooting and beating the living crap out of one another while morphing into ugly looking monster zombies that ooze excess fluid.
The only well-known cast member in this sci-fi horror show is first-billed Steve Railsback (THE STUNT MAN, LIFEFORCE) as a crew member of a spaceship that transports an energy orb to planet Earth; it soon ruptures and infects everyone on board including the nurses dressed like 60s go-go girls, resulting into a hostile takeover.
Wild Eye Releasing put out a 10th Anniversary edition on Blu-ray some time ago. They’re among a vast number of independent companies with a proud reputation of putting out bats—t horror cheapies like CLOWNADO, TSUNAMBEE and SHARKENSTEIN. Just about anything goes when they’ve been going after a highly lucrative market of horror and cult movie aficionados who are the most sophisticated fans with a craving for blood and guts
If this movie was worth fifty cents, I’d steal it! 85 minutes of nonstop entertainment will satisfy me all the way to the scrolling credits.
This low-budget horror shocker called DEAD OF NIGHT is an adaptation of ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ about a Vietnam war veteran named ‘Andy’ who slowly morphs into a homicidal ‘monster’ of zombie-like proportions. Filmed two years prior, it was theatrically released with positive reviews under the title DEATHDREAM (1974 – PG, but with some unsettling and bloody violence by 70s standards). Its use of terrifying shocks gradually take us to an unbelievable conclusion.
The movie boasts some well-respected personnel in charge of production. Its director Bob Clark had been involved with the horror genre early on, until he made an exploitation comedy PORKY’S an unlikely box-office sensation, then turning up a timeless holiday classic like A CHRISTMAS STORY. And it was during this time he crafted horror features like BLACK CHRISTMAS (his first Christmas film, technically), or even the insanely whacked-out zombie comedy CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS — that one starred Alan Ormsby, an unrecognizable yet influential figure in crafting monster FX; he also directed DERANGED and write screenplays for various Hollywood projects. This was make-up FX artist Tom Savini’s debut credit as well, along with DERANGED released that same year. DEATHDREAM is an excitable collaboration of sorts in the early 70s, establishing new pathways for three talented men.
When it came to promoting horror flicks in the 70s, everything was tactical in a ‘WTF?’ kind of way. As stated in promotional ads and its original trailer, audiences were not allowed to be seated in the theatre until its five-minute intro was over — methinks it’s all about showing respect to Vietnam war veterans. Even audience members were not admitted into the auditoriums during those first five minutes. Weird times at the movies, were they not?
As far as horror anthologies go, CREEPSHOW (1982, R) is the most memorable i.m.h.o. because George Romero and Stephen King joined forces to bring the viewer “five jolting tales of horror” for a blood-curdling two hours. There isn’t a whole lot you can say about plot, since it’s designed to recreate the classic horror form in comic-book style with bloody FX and a few laughs here and there. If I had to view this one every late October, then great. The genre has a place for movies like these in a legion that includes TALES FROM THE CRYPT.
Presented in five of its stories are living corpses, cockroaches, meteors and a deadly secret locked inside a large crate, so there’s a fair amount of frights to cringe over. My favorite of them all is ‘Something To Tide You Over’ because Leslie Nielsen makes a really sinister (and downright evil…) villain, but don’t worry… he gets the last laugh at the end. Bookending the entire course of the feature is a story about a boy’s obsession with ’Creepshow’ comic books, the very thing his overzealous father doesn’t want him to read.
The ensemble cast includes Nielsen, Ed Harris, Fritz Weaver, Ted Danson, E.G. Marshall, Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, Tom Atkins, and even the ‘master of horror’ himself, Stephen King, in a memorably silly acting role as a poor loner named ‘Jordy Verrill’.
CREEPSHOW, with its aesthetically stylish tribute to the EC comics of yesteryear, enjoyed cult fanfare which was enough to spawn sequels in 1987 and 2006, as well as a 2019-23 series that streamed on Shudder.
And that concludes this month’s reviews of random selections from the vault. Next month, and as usual, more unpredictable movie titles you might be interested in.
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