poster 6

A video poster for Revenge of The Nerds, this one is interesting because it is a small sized video poster with a contest on the backside of it to win a home entertainment system from the 80's. Everyone knows this movie and the poster is just plain great. Near mint condition.

poster 5

This one is awesome, a video poster for Mortuary from 1985. The print I have does have some extensive water damage yet it does not show on the art side of the poster. I love the art on this one, it is simple yet effective, as are some of my other favorites. I have yet to see the film and I am looking forward to it, I would be very surprised if the movie was half as cool as the poster.

poster 4

The First Turn On! This movie is a Lloyd Kaufman picture starring penthouse pet of the year. This is a video poster and it is a little different than the one I posted here, overall it is in great condition, very very 70's.

poster 3

Here we have the video poster for The Final Terror, yet another film I have not seen but has some pretty cool art work. The film stars Daryl Hannah and Rachael Ward, might be worth checking out. The poster is folded and is in great condition.

Poster 2

This is a poster I have been waiting a long time to get, here we have an original 1 sheet theatrical poster in very good condition for Return Of The Living Dead 2.

The artwork is amazing, this is such an iconic 80's horror poster. I like this poster better than the original Return Of The Living Dead poster, although that one is worth a lot more. The film itself is a more comedic version of the first film, just not as good.

Poster 1

I am starting to collect movie posters of all kinds and from many generes, mainly horror and exploitation from the 80's. As I get new posters I am going to post them here. This one is the video poster for Blood Cult, I have no idea what the movie is but IMDB says that this is the first home video film to be released, and it is in good condition. The art work is kind of cool and really evil, I am sure the film is not too good.

Goodtimes

Goodtimes home video released some low buget films in the early 80's and most of them had some great cover art. Here is just a taste of what they had to offer and in my opinion these are the shining examples of eye catching art work.

The Wizard of VHS

As I continue my exploration into the vast amounts of VHS cover art in the genre, I have come across some real gems, the kind you just don't see anymore. The following covers are from Wizard Video, a staple company in the horror genre.

1000 Jaws

After Jaws was released in 1975, people were terrified of swimming in the ocean with the fear of a giant monster waiting to feed on their flesh. With the success of Jaws came tons of Jaws ripoffs including Orca, Tentacles, Devil Fish, Up From The Depths and in 1978 Joe Dante gave us one of the better films giving us just another reason to fear the water...Piranha.

This was Dante's third film and as we all know he would go on to direct such classics as Howling, Gremlins, Rock n' Roll High school, Twilight Zone the movie and the burbs. Even as an early entry to Dante's catalog, Piranha showcases the talent of a young director and the promise of great films to come.

The film opens with a couple of young backpackers, David and Barbara who stumble upon a military base that looks to be abandoned. When they discover a reservoir next to the base they make the bad decision of going for a swim, soon they are attacked by an unseen underwater predator that rips them to pieces in seconds. Barbara's parents hire an investigator named Maggie (Played by heather Menzies) to find their daughter and her traveling companion. Maggie travels to the area the two backpackers were last seen. Maggie soon meets local Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman) who is living in a cabin in the woods of the large mountainous range. He claims to know nothing about the backpackers but agrees to take her to the military facility. Once they arrive at the facility they discover the pond and inside they find a laboratory that seems to be a genetic testing area for animals. There is a strange creature living in the building that seems to be the product of a genetic test gone wrong, this little creature looks hilarious and the effects are done with stop-motion animation of which so many films of the primitive years of special effects used for creatures like this before the ease of CGI effects. Paul and Maggie decide to drain the pond and in the process they discover the bones of the two backpackers. They also meet up with Dr. Hoak (Kevin Mcarthy) who tells them that the piranha in the pond were developed by him for use in the Vietnam war, but once the military canned the operation, Hoak remained at the base to continue the research with the mutant fish. Hoak then tells Paul and Maggie when they drained the pond they released scores of flesh devouring piranha into open water. This begins the series of attacks on men, women and kids swimming in the area, in vicious attack scenes in which the victims are shredded to the bone by the fish with the razor teeth. The underwater shots are well done and make the viewer feel as though they are being attacked. The attack scenes are also very gory including a man getting his feet chewed off and a man eaten in half. Paul and Maggie are on a race to stop the killer fish before they reach the summer camp where Paul's daughter is.

Shot for 660,000, Piranha is a low budget film that is a lot of fun proving you don't need a big budget to make a fun summer movie. The acting at times is a bit cheesy but in a way works within the film. Barbara Steele makes an appearance as Dr. Mengers. Universal Studios attempted to sue New World for spoofing Jaws, but when Stephen Spielberg saw the film and loved it Universal dropped the lawsuit. This was Rob Bottin's first movie he did special effects for, later he would go on to create special effects for many classic film including what many consider a special effects masterpiece, the remake of the Thing. Piranha has become a cult film and has quite a large fan base, and deservedly so.

There is a good DVD of Piranha which includes all kinds of extras like making of featuretts and commentary with director Joe Dante.

Piranha is far from a perfect film but it is so much fun. There are so many Jaws ripoffs, some good and some bad, and Piranha really stands out as a must see if you are a fan of "Water Terror" films. There was a part two called Piranha: The Spawning, steer clear of this poorly made sequel. The final word is you should check out Piranha if you are a fan of low budget horror films that don't take themselves too seriously.

Rating: C+

Review by Jason.

Masters of Terror

In 1982 two of the greatest minds in the horror genre came together to create a movie anthology that would forever change the way we see horror films, Stephen King and George Romero collaborated for this creepy project durring their prime. In the early 80's King wrote some of his best books and Romero had finished Dawn of the Dead years earlier and would soon be making Day of the Dead, making it the perfect time for the two to create a terrifying horror anthology like no other...Creepshow. King has admitted to being a huge fan of the classic E.C. comics from the fifties like Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror and Haunt of Fear and it is pretty obvious that those comics were a huge influence on King and Romero while creating the style of this film. There are many comic book-like scenes throughout Creepshow with the use of bright neon lights and dramatic background colors in the shocking moments in each episode.

The film begins with with a prologue as Billy (played by Joe King) is being yelled at by his father Stan (played by Tom Atkins) for having a "Creepshow" comic book. After smacking Billy, Stan throws the comic into the garbage. As Billy sits on his bed in his room, he suddenly sees the "Creeper" at his window smiling at him and suddenly the scene becomes a fantastic animated sequence as we go into the main credits.

The first story in the anthology is Father's Day, a frightening tale of revenge and cake. Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Linfors) returns to her Fathers home on Fathers day to pay her respects like she does every year. The rest of her relatives wait for her arrival as Bedelia goes straight to her fathers grave and passes out drunk. Her bottle of whiskey tips and the wiskey pours into the ground down to her dead father waking him from his slumber. There is a flash back to the Fathers death and we find out Bedelia killed him with an ashtray (the ashtray used in this scene can be seen in all of the storys that follow if you watch close enough). First to be killed by the zombie of their dead father is Bedelia, and then the others one by one. The maggotts used in the zombies eyes were rice krispies mixed with real maggotts. Ed harris plays one of the victims in this episode who gets crushed by a tombstone. In the end the returned dead father finally gets his cake in an excellent end scene that is probably the best shot in the film. Fathers day is one of my favorite stories in the entire movie and the zombie looks great.

On to the second story in which Stephen King himself plays a lonesome man named Jordy Verrill who gets a nasty disease from a meteor in "The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill." As Jordy is sitting at home one night a meteor crashes into his backyard. The first mistake Jordy makes is touching the meteor which starts a moss like growth on his finger tips. Jordy pays no mind to the groth and is more concerned with the money he will recieve when he sells the meteor. Soon Jordy cannot ignor the moss like growth as it spreads to his face and even his tounge. The ghost of Jordy's dad appears in his mirror and warns Jordy of the danger of getting in the bath tub to releive the constant itching, but Jordy doesn't take the advice from his father and jumps in the water which is the worst thing he could have done since the alien growth thrives on water. In the end Jordy does not even resemble a human anymore and has to deicide his fate. The last few shots in the film show Jordy's appartment covered in the alien moss and it is even sprouting throughout his yard as we heard on a radio the weather man predicting a lot of rain for the summer. I really love this ending, It is very much a Stephen King ending letting us know this are only going to get worse. Also at the end of this segment there is a shot of a sign leading to "Castle Rock", Stephen Kings ficticious town used in many of his books. King did a great job as Jordy, a simple minded country bumpkin and brings some real comedy to the character and does an excellent job as the only character in the story which can be a hard, some of his facial expressions are unforgettable. This is probably King's best acting performance and his longest. The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill is a fun story in the anthology and is a nice lighthearted change from the terrifying first story.

The third story is my personal favorite titled "Something to tide you over". Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is awakened by a knocking at his door while sleeping. He answers it only to find Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielson), the husband of Becky (Gaylen Ross) whom Harry is sleeping with. Richand explaines to Harry that he has Becky and if Harry wants to see her alive again he has to get in his jeep and go with him to his beach house. With no other choice Harry goes with him and finds that Richards beach house is very private. Richard takes Harry down to the beach and then pulls a gun on him and tells him to dig a hole. Once again, with not other option Harry digs the hole. Then Harry is buried up to his neck rendering him completelydefensless. Richard comes through with his promise of letting Harry see Becky once this is done by setting up a TV on the beach. Harry sees becks also buried up to her neck on the beach and the tide is rapidly coming in splashing in her face as she calls out for Harry's help. Harry at this point realizes he is screwed and is going to drown just like Becky when the tide comes in. Richard returns to his multi-million dollar beach house and begins to unwind with a drink and a shower, but soon becomes very paranoid as he begins to hear strange noises. He has cameras all over the house yet sees nothing and tries to calm himself of his own paranoia. In a really terrifying scene Richard realizes his fears are real as Harry and Becky return from their watery graves to get their revenge. The make-up done on the zombies is great, they really look rotted and waterlogged, thanks to the creative special effects artist Tom Savini who is the best zombie designer of all time, and many other effects. Even Harry and Beckys voices are creepy as hell as they sound all gargley and demonic. This scene is sure to get under anyones skin. In the end Richard is sent to the same watery grave as Harry and Becky in a perfect tale of revenge very much like a Tales from the Crypt story. Leslie Nielson does an excellent job as the jeallous millionair husband who is not working with a full deck of cards, even though he is mostly known for his comedy roles in The Naked Gun and movies like it, he proves that he is a well rounded actor who can pull off a role that is a bit more serious. Ted Danson also does a good job and is very convincing, in an interview he stated that his young daughter was on the set while he had to be done up as the zombie with all the seaweed on him and tried to avoid her as much as he could. "Something to Tide You Over" is just a fun little tale of revenge and is very creepy and achieves the comic book feel more than the others.

In the fourth story "The Crate" we are introduced to Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook) who is married to quite possibly the meanest, bitchiest woman on the planet Wilma Northrup (Adrienne Barbeau). One day Henry and a co-worker discover a crate under the stairs and deicide to take a look. They quickly discover that opening the crate was a bad idea as Henry's friend is dragged into the crate by some beast. On the set Romero lovingly gave the nickname to the monster in the crate "Fluffy". Henry quickly locks up the crate before the beast can get loose and cleans up the blood. After a series of scenes involving Wilma yelling at Henry and just plain degrading him, Henry gets the idea that if he can just get her close enough to the crate, whats inside will take care of Wilma once and for all, and thats just what he does. "The Crate" is a fun story but not the best in the anthology. Hal Holbrook and Arienne Barbeau both are great actors and are great in this tale as a disfunctional married couple. The two characters at the faculty reception "Tabitha" and "Richard" were named after Tabitha King and Richard Bachman (King's ghostwriting name).

The last story is apropriately titled "There Creeping Up On You" starring E.G. Marshall as Upson Pratt, and rich old man living in a super sanitized apartment who is scared to death of bugs...especially cockroaches. Just like King in "The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill", Marshall has to act alone and hold the story all on his own, and he does a great job acting. The cockroaches start off as only a few here and there as Upson armed with bug killer spray takes them out one by one. His apartment is completely white making it easier to see the little bastards so there is nowhere to hide. In Kings original story Upson lived in a plush carpeted apartment but had to bechanged so the roaches would work. You really get the feeling that Upson is so paranoid of bugs it has taken over his whole life to the point where he doesen't ever leave his apartment. The cockroaches begin multiplying quickly as Upson does all he can to kill them all, grinding them up in the garbage disposal and a blender making a bug shake, but the roaches start comming in the apartment in hoards and soon there is nothing Upson can do. In the end Upson is litterally filled with roaches as the come pouring out from every orafice. This was a great story and may be a bit unsettling to anyone to hates bugs.

In the epologue to the film, Billy gets his revenge on his father for taking away his Creepshow comic with a voodoo doll.

There has been only one DVD release of Creepshow in a super bare bones edition with a cardboard cover. Hopefully someday soon this film gets the special edition it deserves.

There have been a lot of Tv and Movie anthologies within the horror genre such as Tales From The Crypt, Twilight Zone, Tales From The Darkside, Bodybags, Amazing Stories, Chillers and many, many more. Creepshow really stands out as a great example as one of the best of all the anthologies, Creepshow 2 is also a great film. Creepshow 3 made many years later from the first two and unlike those was not written and directed by King and Romero, is the weakest of the series and holds none of the charm that the first two had. The poster art for Creepshow 1+2 are both good examples of the great poster art movies use to have back in the day created by Johann Costello. Jack Kamen inked the comicbook seen in the film. Kamen is one of the original artists for E.C. comics, King asked if he would do it and Kamen accepted since the film was really based upon those comics that King and Romero both have fond memories reading in their youth. Tom Savini plays the garbage man at the end of the movie. The main theme in the film "Gaudeamus Igitur" was preformed by Christian Wilhelm Kindleben and fits the film perfectly. Most of the film was filmed in Romero's home state Pennsilvania with a few sections filmed in New Jersey.

Creepshow was budgeted at $8,000, opening weekend it made $5,870,000 and has since grossed $20,000,000.

Creepshow is a truely original movie made by real masters of the horror genre. There is a remake in disscussion right now and wether it's good or bad the original will forever remain not only my favorite anthologly of all time but possibly on of my favorite films of all time.

Rating: A

Review by Jason

Green eyed devil

Centuries of evil erupt from the tomb!

Mausoleum was released in 1983 and was lost among the hundreds of other
horror movies released during the early 1980's making it somewhat of a obscure film. Directed by Michael Dugan and starring former Playboy bunny Bobby Bresse (Ghoulies, Surf Nazis must die) as Susan Walker Farrell who is slowly becoming possessed by an evil spirit that once haunted her mother who died when Susan was 10 years old. Susan now in her thirties has inherited the family fortune and also the ancient family curse. Susan is a beautiful young woman who suddenly becomes possessed and kills those and all in her way. Whenever she is under the spell her eyes light up florescent green and she speaks with a demon like tone. On the commentary for the DVD Bobby reveals that she had voice training by none other than Mercedes McCambridge who did the voice for Reagan in the Exorcist, and it shows because when she is possessed her speech is very unsettling and scary. Also the contacts she wore to achieve the green glowing eyes effect ended up damaging her eyes resulting in some of the scenes shot with out her eyesight. Those around her begin to feel that things are not all right with Susan, especially her husband played by Marjoe Gortner. Susan begins seeing a psychologist who hypnotizes her and contacts the ancient demon within her. One by one people are killed off by the demon for no reason but pure sport and one man has the power to stop the demon and release Susan from its grip and to stop the Nomed family which becomes a race to the very end in this terrifying film.

I really liked Mausoleum for the terrifying scenes of possession and frightening levitation scenes that were like nothing I have ever seen before, the story stays interesting and the horrifying elements are highly entertaining, most notable the telekinesis. Mausoleum has a lot of elements I look for in a good possession film including atmosphere, good acting and scary demonic voices, and Bobby hits high on the demonic voice bar, she may be one of the most convincing if not the best case of possession acting, she really gets under your skin with her facial expressions and inhuman like noises. The kill scenes are done really well and there is a fair amount of gore throughout the film, but it's not overdone. There are a few levitation scenes by telekinesis where one guy is levitated over a railing at a mall and dropped onto a large spike, also Susan's maid meets her demise when she is dropped from the second story. When Susan becomes possessed her face transforms into a hideous demon face that looks ok for the early 80's but nothing groundbreaking. Mausoleum feels more like a 70's film due to the subject matter and the film quality which gives it a nice grindhouse feel.

BCI was going to release Mausoleum on a single disc but while trying to hunt down the original prints were nowhere to be found which means there were no original elements to fix up so we could get a nice transfer of the film. So what we get is a damaged print that does have a lot of scratches, cigarette burns ect. throughout the movie. Since BCI could not provide us with a nice new transfer of the film they put it on a double feature with Blood Song. I personally did not have a huge problem with the damaged print, it almost gave it a more authentic feel. By far the best thing about the DVD is Bobby Bresses' commentary.

Mausoleum may not be a great film but it is a fun possession film with some truely scary moments and a lot can be said for Bobbie Bresses' acting, although a bit over the top at times I thought it worked well. This is no Exorcist but it does have it's own charm, just don't go in to this one expecting the greatest horror movie ever.

Review by Jason

Rating: C

All Aboard... If You Dare!

When a group of college students rent out a train for a New Years Eve party, six of them become the target of a masked psycho who has decided to join the party. What we find out at the beginning of the film is that these six students we're all involved in a prank that went horribly wrong three years earlier. As the masked man man kills them off one by one he replaces his costume with the ones from each victim. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Alana Maxwell who not only is aboard the train of death but she was one of the six involved in the prank. The party resumes into the night and the students party it up completely oblivious to the terror going on around them. David Copperfield also stars as the magician hired to entertain the drunk students on their trip. There are some decent kill scenes throughout the film and as Alana discovers some of the deaths she is determined to find out who the killer is in a tension filled ending between Alana and the killer. There is a twist ending and with many movies from this time period that contain twist endings usually end up poor and predictable, this one turns out pretty good. The acting from just about everyone including Copperfield is good, and Jamie Lee does a great job in the scream queen role as she did in Halloween.

Terror Train was released in 1980 and was directed by Roger Spottiswoode as his debut feature. Writer Dan Grodnik came up with the story in a dream after watching Halloween and Silver Streak. The first title he came up with was Terrible Train and later decided Terror Train was more effective, he calls it "Halloween" on a train. The movie was actually filmed on a train and a car from the train can be seen today at the Arizona Railway Museum. Jamie Lee Curtis shot this film back to back with Prom Night, both we're shot in Canada.

The DVD release of Terror Train is pretty bare-bones although it does contain both wide screen and full screen versions of the film.

There was a ton of slashers released in the early 80's during the heyday of the slasher genre and in my opinion the greatest period for slashers ever. With the amount of bad slashers in the early 80's (Literally thousands) there is also a good amount of great ones including some of the all time greats, and Terror Train is defiantly one of the greats. It may not be better than Halloween or Friday the 13th but it does have it's own charm and is pretty original. Any fan of slashers for this time period will enjoy this movie as it has everything you want like boobs, booze and a fair amount of slashing. This Dvd is a recommended purchase, just remember "Don't waste money on a return fare. You won't be coming back!

Review by Jason

Rating: C

Blood, Boobs and Beast

Don Dohler has been a true inspiration to low budget filmmakers everywhere, and although his films never went main stream there is no denying the heart, soul and love for the genre in each of his pictures. Dohler directed seven films in his career including The Alien Factor, Fiend, Nightbeast, Galaxy Invader, Blood Massacre, Alien Factor 2 and Dead Hunt. Each one of these films is a lot of fun in their own way and you can tell Dohler had a lot of fun making them. Dohler was born in 1946 and at a very young age began to show interest in sci-fi and horror, he was a huge fan of the classic magazine "Famous Monsters in Filmland" and by the age of twelve he was shooting his own little movies. Dohler began experimenting with stop-motion animation and acquired a do-it-yourself mentality which added a lot to a small budget film. He took his knowledge of special effects and started a great magazine called Cinemagic that ran until 1979. Dohler inspired artists and filmmakers such as Rober Crumb, J.J. Abrams and Art Spiegalman with his films and his comic character Projunior. Don died December 2, 2006 at the age of 60, he was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. Don was a really talented filmmaker and his love for his craft really came through in his films.making movies was not Don's job but it was his life and his films will forever remain his legacy.

The first disc in Blood, Boobs and Beast is a documentary on the life and films of Don Dohler. It is an in depth look into the mind of Dohler and what drove him to make such films. The movie begins with Dohler talking about when he was robbed and had a shotgun held to his head, from then we learn that after this experience he looked at life a different way. Video clips from his films are shown throughout the documentary including his early works as a young boy. The Filmer's follow him on the set of Dead Hunt and we get a inside look at all of the troubles of making a film. Dohler speaks in depth about each of his films and the experiences he had making them. It is a very comprehensive documentary and gives the viewer tons of information on the legendary filmmaker, by the end you feel like you have know Dohler for years. Don was not only an amazing director, writer and producer, he was a nice person who had a lot of friends and touched many lives and left his fingerprint on the cinematic world forever.

Disc 2 contains Dohler's film Nightbeast, a fan favorite. Filmed in Baltimore in 82', some of it was filmed in Dohlers backyard. The story is pretty simple, an alien spacecraft crashes in a small town and the alien "Nightbeast" escapes the crash to wreak havoc on the citizens. Nightbeast has a laser gun and anyone unlucky enough to get zapped by it is instantly vaporized, these scenes are especially awesome not only for the special effects of the laser but the vaporized humans are just hilarious. The citizens eventually fight back in a epic battle of alien vs. human. The film is considered an updated version of "Alien Factor" with only one alien. The mask Dohler made for the beast is simply awesome and is the star of the show, you just don't see this kind of effort and talent put into a lot of independent features today. This movie is highly recommended for fans of independent horror films and fans of Dohlers work.

Troma released this 2-dvd set and I have to say it may be the best thing they have released yet. The film Nightbeast also contains a feature-length commentary with Don Dohler, behind-the-scenes outtakes and bloopers and more. The documentary also contains a commentary with director John Paul Kinhart.

This is a excellent set and any horror fan or upcoming filmmaker should check it out. The documentary is top notch and contains everything a fan of Dohler's would want to know, extensively informing and touching. The film Nightbeast is a wonderful addition to this set and by far my favorite film in his catalog. Check it out, you don't want to miss this one.

Some excellent tag lines for Nightbeast: The Sci-Fi Thriller Made in Baltimore!, His Hands Tear Through Flesh and Bone!, Nothing Can Save You Now... and If you have guts...HE WANTS THEM!

Review by Jason

Rating: B+

He's a stranger in an even stranger land... Suburbia

Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) is a regular guy living in a regular suburban neighborhood and it is his week off from work. Ray plans to just lounge around the house for a week, drink a couple hundred beers and smoke an occasional cigar...outside, but his plans are quickly disrupted due to his curiosity of his strange new neighbors the Klopeks as he and his buddies Art Weingartner(Rick Ducommun) and Mark Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) who live on the same street are determined to find out just what the hell is going on in the Klopeks (Henry Gibson, Brother Theador and Courtney Gains) basement.

There are many clues that make Ray think his new neighbors are killers such as he sees them digging in their back yard at night, the strange noises coming from the basement, The old man who is a neighbor to them all goes missing, they never come out of the house and their last house burned to the ground. Rays wife Carol (Carrie Fisher) thinks Ray is loosing his mind and heads off with their son to the lake for the week. Ray becomes obsessed with the Klopecks and when they leave town for a few days Ray, Art and Mark decide the best way to get to the bottom of the mystery is to go to the source...the Klopeks house. They begin by digging in the back yard and come up with nothing. Next they break into the house and end up in the basement where they find a giant furnace that goes up to 5,000 degrees just as the Klopeks return home. Will Ray, Art and Mark discover the truth about the Klopeks in time? As all of this madness is going on, Marks neighbor Ricky Butler (Corey Feldmen) is home alone for the summer painting his house and gets involved with helping the guys with their mission. Corey Feldmen also starred in another Dante film years before this one known as Gremlins, and was directly the cause of the gremlins outbreak in the movie.

The Burbs is a true late 80's comedy at heart, and it's a great one at that. There are too many memorable scenes in the movie to cover in one review. Some of the great scenes are when Ray dreams he is invited over to the Klopeks for dinner only to find out he is the main course. Another great scene is when Ray, Mark and their wives are invited into the Klopeks house and we get to meet the strange Klopeks as Art is caught trespassing. The scene where Art and Ray are reading books on black magic in Rays basement is hilarious, and in this scene is one of my favorite quotes from the movie "I'm telling you these people are Satanists. As I sit here, they are satanists. Look, look, the world is full of these kind of things - black masses, mutilations. Mutilations. The incubus, the succubus - I'm tellin' you, Walter was a human sacrifice." Art is one of the best characters, confirming all of Rays suspicions and egging him on.

My all time favorite director Joe Dante directed the Burbs in 1989 which is just another on the large list of excellent films Dante has been involved with. Dante is responsible for such classics as Gremlins, Piranha, Rock n roll High school, The Howling to name a few. One thing I love about his films which he brings to a lot of them is the theme of something strange happening in a normal setting, or in the Burbs case, normal street. Gremlins had a similar theme as a normal small town is overrun with little creatures and a box of Gremlins cereal can be seen in the Burbs as a great little nod to the fans.

The Burbs was filmed on the famous back lot of universal Studios where they shoot a lot of Tv shows and movies, The Klopeks house in the film can be seen in many others and is an iconic old house. The show Leave it to beaver was filmed on the same lot and was also called Mayfield Place. You can take a tour of the street during a visit to Universal Studios.

Rick Ducommun who plays Art and his brother started the legendary skateboard company skull skates which can be seen on Ricky Butlers friend Steve Kuntz' shirt. The excellent actor Dick Miller can be seen in a lot of Joe Dante's films plays a garbageman in this one and is really funny.

The Burbs deserves a good DVD release instead of the bare-bones release we got back in 1999. A commentary would be great with some interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, maybe someday. The DVD does include the alternate ending which is just as good as the theatrical.

The Burbs is my all time favorite comedy and even serious horror fans will get a kick out of it, it may not be a straight up horror film but it does present some elements from the genre. All of the acting is great and the quotes are endless. For some reason this film was not a big hit at the box office and since has become somewhat of a cult favorite. If you are a fan of comedies from the 80's you really can't go wrong with the Burbs.

Review by Jason

Rating: A

The Night Andy Came Home

Deathdream (aka Dead of night and The night Andy came home) was directed by Bob Clark and written by Alan Ornsby and released in 1974. Alan Ormsby directed some great horror films such as Popcorn and Deranged and actually did special make-up effects for the great Nazi zombie favorite Shockwaves. Bob Clark is a well respected director who has given us such classics as Black Christmas (the first slasher), Children shouldn't play with dead things, Porkys 1 and 2 and the beloved Christmas film A Christmas Story. He had quite the range of talent from the horror genre to the family genre, and making great films in both. Sadly Bob Clark and his son we're killed in a car accident on April 4 2007 by a drunk driver, he will be missed and fondly remembered for his influence on comedy and horror directors alike. Deathdream is the fourth film by Winston and my personal favorite horror film by him.

The film opens with the family of Andy Brooks (played by Richard Backus)receiving a letter of Andy's death in the Vietnam war, then we follow a man hitchhiking his way home and killing a trucker along the way. Soon we realize it is Andy, and as he arrives home his family is happy and confused at the same time of his arrival. Andy gives no real explanation as how he got home and something defiantly seems off about the way he is acting, there is a dead look in his eyes and his family soon finds out he is not the same boy they remember. Andy spends all of his time in his room in a rocking chair which slowly drives his father (played by John Marley) insane. Andy starts displaying some strange behaviors and it becomes all too clear that he is completely out of his mind while hanging out with some younger kids in the neighborhood he kills the family dog right in front of them. Andy's father has had enough at this point and makes Andy see a psychiatrist to find out what is really wrong with him. Andy's sister informs his girlfriend that Andy is home and they arrange a date at the drive-in that goes horribly wrong, and as the rest of the film plays out we discover what is really wrong with Andy and what he needs to survive.

It is pretty obvious the social commentary Bob Clark is making with this film and the effects the Vietnam war had on the soldiers sent into battle. that works really well into the story without banging the viewer over the head with it, kind of like early Romero films.


Richard Backus who plays Andy does an excellent job in the role and comes off really cold and psychotic in subtle ways, he was picked for the role because of his psychotic stare he was able to give the casting director, which is seen throughout the movie. Christopher Walken was considered for the role as Andy which would have been great as well but I think Backus was born to play this role. John Marley is a wonderful actor and also does a great job in the film playing Charles Brooks, his most recognizable role probably being the guy who wakes up with a horse head in his bed in the Godafther. This was also the first film that Tom Savini, the legendary make-up effects master, worked on in his career.

In the final scene Richard Backus and a stunt man are driving in a car and apparently the fire from the front of the car sucked into the back seat igniting the inside of the car, luckily the two men were able to escape unharmed.

Blue Underground released a great edition of Deathdream on DVD with some great extras like two adio commentaries with the director Bob Clark and with writer Alan Ormsby, a featurette on Tom Savini's early work, an interview with Richard Backus, alternate opening titles, extended ending sequence, poster art, stills and theatrical trailer. This DVD is a definite purchase.

Deathdream is one of my all time favorite horror films from the 70's mixing elements of a psychological thriller and and gore piece. This is a must see for any horror fan for it's subtle terror and commentary on the Vietnam war, and for Richard Backus' performance.

Review by Jason

Rating: B

Pure as venom

Stan Winston was the greatest special effects artist in the film industry...ever. He has created some of the greatest creatures ever to grace the big screen including Aliens, predator, Leviathan, The Monster Squad, Ironman and many more. He also helped out on John Carpenters amazing film The Thing when Rob Botin needed a break due to exhaustion. In 1988 Stan took the directors chair for what has become a cult favorite...Pumpkinhead. Lance Hendriksen stars as Ed Harley, a store owner who lives the simple life with his son Billy in the country. At the beginning of the movie there is a flashback to when Ed was a young boy living with his family and they are terrorized by some creature in the shadows, we never really get a good look at the beast. Flash forward to present day, a group of city kids show up at Ed's store for some dirt biking, things take a turn for the worse when one of the bikers catches some air and lands on Billy. The city kids freak out and instead of leaving they decide to stay couped up in an abandoned house. When Ed finds his son Billy he rushes him to a local family living deep in the woods for advise. The advise He is given by the father is not what he wants to hear, "You go home and bury your boy!" As Ed is leaving one of the boys who lives there tells him of an old woman who may be able to help him. He guides Ed deep into the woods to the house of the old woman who is known locally as a witch. The setting of the witch's home is fantastic, as Ed arrives the film literally darkens and the fog rolls in, very creepy. Inside the witch's home is an array of trinkets, an owl and many other unrecognizable obgects. The woman is decrepit and looks dead. Ed is determined to get revenge on the people who took his son's life, and does everything the old witch tells him to soon realizing he has resurrected the demon of revenge, and unleashes total hell upon the city kids. As the kids get killed off one by one by Pumpkinhead in very inventive ways, Ed does get his revenge and much more than he bargained for. Soon it becomes a battle between Ed and the demon Pumpkinhead to the end.

Lance Hendriksen has been in a lot of genre films including Teminator, Near Dark, Aliens and over 150 others, and he is absolutely great in the role as Ed Harley, he is thoroughly convincing with the range of emotions he has to portray. Pumpkinhead himself is a pretty cool looking monster, director Stan Winston did not have a hand in creating the monster and focused all of his attention on directing. Tom Woodruff jr played Pumpkinhead and had to walk on stilts to achieve the size of the monster Stan wanted, on the special edition DVD there is some behind the scenes footage including the making of the monster which is fascinating, a must see for any fan of the film. The alternate title for the film is Vengance-The Demon.

MGM released a collector's edition DVD of Pumpkinhead with some excellent features including commentary with co-screenwriter Gary Gerani and creature creatures Tom Woodruff jr and Alec Gillis, seven featurettes, behind-the-scenes footage and more. This DVD is a must own for any type of horror fan.

Pumkinhead is a great film that is completely unique and atmospheric in it's own way. This is a great first directing effort from Stan Winston and probably my favorite in his career as a director. Although it can be a bit slow at the beginning it really picks up steam by the second half of the film and never lets up. The monster that is Pumpkinhead is really creepy and brutal with his vengeance. This is one of my true favorites and I would be surprised if any fan of the horror genre did not love this movie. Recommended as a late night viewing with the lights off to get the right effect.

Review by Jason

Rating: B

Buy a one way ticket to hell

In the 80's horror anthology's were a dime a dozen, some good, some bad. Films such as Creepshow really set the bar high while others such as Deadtime stories struggled to succeed and gain any time of fan base. There was also some great TV anthologies like Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Darkside that were fun in their own right and very popular among horror fans. Chillers was released in 1986 and never really gained the popularity that other movies did and to this day not too many people know about Chillers. The film did win science fiction, fantasy and horror films' prestigious silver scroll award and deservingly so, it is quite the fun anthology.

The infamous Troma studios released this low budget gem and it has become one of my favorite Troma movies. Written, produced and directed by Daniel Boyd, Chillers begins with five strangers are stuck in a bus station and begin to swap stories of their worst nightmares. The first story is my personal favorite about a girl who's day at the local pool turns into a nightmare as she is haunted by some really creepy ghosts. The second story follows some young kids who decide to go camping in the wrong part of the woods. The kids soon find out they are being stalked by a demented psycho cannibal willing to do anything for a taste of their flesh. In the third entry a woman who's obsession with a local news anchor turns into a real relationship she soon finds out why he is only on the late night news. In the fourth story a man finds out he has the power to raise the dead only to find out it may not be a good thing when he brings his recently deceased brother back to life. Part five involves a young high school girl who turns into a possessed demon in class and raises some serious hell. When the strangers finish telling their stories to each other the bus finally arrives and as they board the bus they find their nightmares have become reality.

Troma released Chillers in a slim disc DVD in the box set Blood Bank with nine other great and not so great films, most of them from the 80's.

Chillers is a fun super campy and at times humorous anthology horror movie that has a lot of heart. If you love movies like Creepsow 1/2, Twilight zone, Tales from the crypt/darkside and Body bags you will love Chillers, it has everything I want from an anthology including cheesy gore effects, interesting stories, fast pacing and dark humor. Each tale has it's own quirky charm that holds your attention, and when the movie ends you will find yourself wanting more. I really wish they made more movies like this, or even a TV show would be great. Recently after two seasons the great horror show Masters of Horror was pulled due to not enough viewers, as horror fans we need to support shows like this if we want it to stick around. Hopefully in the future we will get some more anthologies, they are somewhat of a lost art.

Another great horror anthology to check out is the original Tales from the crypt, Tales from the hood and Nightmares.

Review by Jason

Rating: C+

In Fulci's brain

Lucio Fulci has some disturbing films in his catalog, and one has to wonder what goes on in the mind of such a prolific director of such epically strange films. Cat in the brain is kind of a look into Fulci's mind and the effect some of his films could have on a weaker mind. Fulci stars in this masterpiece as himself, a director who is slowly loosing his mind and being driven insane by his own movies. Fulci decides to see a psychiatrist, Professor Egon Schwarz (David L. Thompson) who hypnotizes Fulci for the worse sending him deeper into the downward spiral of insanity, ultra violence and nightmarish world that is devouring his life. Soon we find out that the professor is a psycho killer bent on murdering people in the same manner as in Fulci's films. As each victim is killed one by one in some of the most graphic ways I have ever seen, Fulci starts to believe he is the one committing the murders. The film uses a lot of already-shot scenes from other films placed throughout such as Ghosts of Sodom, Massacre and Bloody psycho. Fulci is not a great actor but works well in this film since he is playing himself. After viewing Cat in the brain you can't help but wonder what really did go on in Fulci's head and was he ever on the brink of insanity as in this movie. The gore presented in this film is almost unbearable and really beats you down, this may be Fulci's masterpiece of gore, an exercise in terror, madness and brutality.

Cat in the brain was released in August 1990, and for years was rejected for a proper video release and was finally passed and released fully uncut in 2003.

Lucio Fulci is known as the "Godfather of gore" has influenced many film makers in the horror genre, and this movie works as almost a lesson in making a gore film that works. Older and newer directors such as Eli Roth and Rob Zombie have watched Fulci's films and state him as a major influence on their work and a true icon of the horror genre.

Cat in the brain really strays from Fulci's other films in storytelling and plot. Classics such as The Beyond and City of the living dead are strange movies in their own right, it seems that Fulci really tries to make every film as unique as possible, and with "Cat" he goes off the richter scale of strangeness and gore and just through as much gore in the film as he possibly could while still maintaining a somewhat cohesive story. I consider "Cat" to be the best Fulci film post-1982.
Some of his later films such as Demonia, Zombie 3 and Aenigma to name a few, really suffer in quality compared to some of his earlier stuff. Fulci also claims that Wes Craven ripped off the story of "Cat" when he made New Nightmare, wether or not this is true you can see the similarities in the two stories.

One of the best DVD companies released an awesome 2 disc special edition of Cat in the brain with some great extras including a new hi-definition anamorphic digital restoration of the uncensored director's cut, a never before seen in-depth interviews with Lucio Fulci and star Brett Hasley, a great Q & A with Fulci at the 1996 NYC fangoria weekend of horrors, trailers, stills, liner notes and more. This one is a definate purchase for the Fulci completest.

This is by far the goriest film directed by Fulci and if that's what you want, that's what you get and you get a lot of it. If you are a Fulci fan check this one out, if you are a casual fan of horror films this one may not be your bag. Fans of Fulci seem to be divided on this one and for what it's worth I really enjoyed Cat in the brain in all it's gory glory.

Review by Jason

Rating: C+

The Doctors in...sane.

As I continue to explore some Horror films from the 90's, I find for every fifteen bad ones I find a gem like Dr. Giggles, the essence of 90's horror in every way. Directed by Manny Coto ( known mainly for directing an episode of Tales from the crypt)in 1992, Dr. Giggles hits all the marks that make some of the 90's horror films so fun, for example it does not take itself seriously at all, it stays entertaining from beginning to end, it combines gore and gags perfectly and it just feels very 90's with the fashion and the attitude of some of the High school students.
Larry Drake plays Dr. Even Rendell, the son of a psycho mass murdering doctor who was finally killed after a long reign of terror. Even Rendell is placed in a mental institution but escapes when he is older to seek revenge on the town that brought his father down in unique and memorable ways. The film moves along like a freight train of frightful fun and never gets boring. Dr. Even Rendell is really creepy and "giggles" before and after each kill adding his own unique stamp to the slasher genre. Along the way we get tons of medical puns from the doctor like "get ready to take your medicine", "Take 2 and call me in the morning", "If you think that's bad, wait until you get my bill","I haven't discharged you!" and many more. There are many awesome kills throughout the film and in the end the body count is at 18. The acting by Drake and most of the other actors in the film is pretty good and never gets too campy. In some of the sequences director Coto did a great job of making it feel like a dream, and in that respect at times it feels like it's own strange version of Nightmare on elm street.
Warner home video released a DVD of Dr. Giggles in 2007 with absolutely no extras, which is too bad because this one deserves it. It's just another example of how the studios could care less about horror films and their fans.
Dr. Giggles is a complete blast from beginning to end and merges the comedy and horror perfectly, in the end it's pure entertainment. I feel that this film is highly underrated and if you are a horror movie fan you will probably love it just as much as I did. So make a appointment with the doctor, you won't be sorry.

Review by Jason

Rating: C+

Eye Scream!

The 1990's was the worst decade for horror movies, there were a couple of gems like Dead Alive, Blair witch project and others but for the most part it was a sad time for horror fans. The horror movies that did come out were not serious films but very tongue and cheek, almost a parody of all those that came before them. Ice cream man is no exception to the not-so-serious horror film and it follows the standard blueprint of those films very closely. Clint Howard stars as Gregory Tudor, an ice cream man with a bit of a shady past just released from a sanatorium where he was held for a while after witnessing the murder of his best friend "The Ice Cream King". Gregory just wants to give back to the community by offering up some tasty treats to the kids of the neighborhood. There is one catch though, the kids that are not nice to the ice cream man end up the flavor of the day as Gregory lures them into his truck for free ice cream and then kills them, cuts them up and adds the parts to the vat of ice cream.
Lee Majors II plays detective Maldwyn who is hot on the trail of the killer, and in one scene buys a "eyece" cream from Gregory after questioning him, not knowing Gregory is the killer all along. Some of the kids in the neighborhood figure out Gregory's secret and try to expose the truth without becoming the next tasty frozen treat.
Some of the other actors are Sandahl Bergman, Olivia Hussey, David Naughton, Jan Michael Vincent, David Warner and Steve Garvey who all bring some pretty weak performances and some hammy acting.
The film was sponsored by Converse shoes which can be seen on many actors throughout the movie.
Ardustry put out a bare bones DVD in 2004 with no extras, I would like to see a nice release with commentary and so on, The Ice Cream Man deserves it.
Clint Howard is perfect as the crazy ice cream man because he looks so damn crazy anyway, and he really hams it up for the role in this movie and a lot of movies he is in. Clint has had quite the career with 190 films under his belt since 1963. Clint has been through drug addiction and has had other problems throughout his life, and while living in the shadow of his brother Ron Howard he has really made a name for himself. The director, Paul Norman, has directed a lot of "adult" films with Ice Cream Man being one of the few films that does not fall into that genre in his career.
Ice Cream Man is just a really fun movie not to be taken seriously, for example about half way through the film we are treated to a fantastic scene where Gregory serves up the Ice cream with a mans decapitated head on a huge cone to the man's wife which is so over the top it serves as almost pure comedy rather than horror. You get the feeling that there was a lot of laughing and joking around on the set of Ice Cream Man. Comedy films were huge in the 90's so it is no wonder why most of the horror films from that decade are humorous with a few exceptions. I personally have a affection for these kind of horror movies, and although Ice Cream man would not make my top ten horror movie list, it is still a blast to watch with some like minded friends for a good laugh. I recommend this movie on a triple bill with Killer Klowns From Outerspace and Dr. Giggles.

Review by Jason

Rating: C