Hell Night (1981, Tom De Simone)

Hell Night is a film I remember seeing the video box for many times when I was younger. I knew of Linda Blair from the Exorcist and had read that her career pretty much spiraled into a series of lame horror films, cameos and spoofs of her most famous role. At the time I was into horror movies but mostly slashers and zombies and Hell Night looked like a crappy haunted house movie. I used to actually get this movie mixed up with Motel Hell, another one I had seen on the video shelves numerous times but never had much interest in. I can't remember what made me finally watch this but I found an out of print Anchor Bay double feature with Fade to Black and figured I couldn't go wrong.

Alpha Sigma Rho fraternity is taking four pledges to old Garth Manor to spend the night. The manor was the site of the brutal murder/suicide of the Garth family. The only remaining Garth was made to watch his murderous father's suicide as the only fate worse than death. When the Police arrived though, only three bodies were found. The gates to the property are locked and they are too high (and spiky) to be climbed. If the pledges make it through the night, they will be accepted into the fraternity. The pledges, which include rich boy Jeff (Peter Barton), surfer Seth (Vincent Van Patten), slutty May (Jenny Neumann) and outcast Marti (Linda Blair), start hearing and seeing weird things but soon realize they are being spooked by the fraternity president and his friends. Or are they?

Hell Night has a lot going for it. A great setup, fun characters, realistic and gory deaths/makeup effects. The dialogue is pretty silly and just plain bad at times, but the movie is still enjoyable. Linda Blair, who is always fun to watch and looks very cute in this film, proves her acting skills....or lack thereof (sorry Linda). The rest of the cast are decent, including Friday the 13th part 4's Peter Barton and Rock N' Roll High School's Vincent Van Patten. The film has lots of surprises and the fate of some of the characters is surprising too. So despite a few flaws, this is a real fun midnight movie that should please fans of slashers, monsters and haunted houses.

RATING: 4/5

Fade to Black (1980, Vernon Zimmerman)

Not to be confused with the more well known Jay-Z film (which I keep coming across whenever I look for any info about this film). Fade to Black is a movie that I read about in an old issue of Fangoria about a year and half - two years ago. I had seen Breaking Away a few years before that and loved it, especially Dennis Christopher's performance as the "Ity-in training" Dave Stoller. Fade to Black's plot about a film fanatic losing touch with reality was not like any other film I had ever seen before and there was just something about it that peaked my curiosity.

Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) likes movies. Okay, he LOVES movies, more than anything in the world. He works as a movie reel/poster delivery boy and lives with his Aunt Stella (Eve Brent Ashe), who thinks of him as a worthless loser. He is taunted by co-worker Richie (Mickey Rourke) and yelled at for his constant screw ups by his boss (Normann Burton). His life starts looking up when he meets Marilyn O'Connor, a Marilyn Monroe-lookalike (Linda Kerridge), who agrees to go out with him. When she doesn't show up, Eric goes over the deep end and starts becoming the characters in his favorite movies to get revenge on those who wronged him.

Fade to Black is not a perfect film. It has some flawed characters and the story jumps around a lot. Despite these shortcomings, this film is brilliant. I really connected with the story (myself being a film nut) and Dennis Christopher as Eric Binford is probably my single favorite character from any movie ever. When he starts his first transformation into James Cagney, the result is amazing. Christopher is so unbelievably talented that he single handedly carries the entire film. The people in Eric's life who give him grief (his Aunt Stella, Richie, his boss, Marilyn) are a fun lot of characters and all complement Binford perfectly. A special nod to the stunning Linda Kerridge as Marilyn whose disjointed character proves to be a perfect match for Eric. The main problem with the movie is the subplot about the police chasing Eric, including a burnout psychiatrist (Tim Thomerson) helping the cops and his new partner/love interest (Gwynne Gilford). Though these scenes hamper the film, the rest of the film is great. To me, this film is a joy and a must see despite its flaws.

RATING: 5/5

Halloween Mix 2009 - DOWNLOAD NOW!

Ok folks. Here's the moment you've all been waiting for: Starmummy's annual Halloween Mix! This year was tough because I had exhausted most of my obvious choices for Halloween mixes already so I had to scour my vast music collection and look for some hidden, haunted gems. What I came up with I am very satisfied with. Hope you enjoy it.

Tell me what you think. You can download it here as a zipped folder: https://download.yousendit.com/Z01NclVNR3NVbS9IRGc9PQ

1. Mad Puppet's Laugh (from Profondo Rosso)
2. The Damned - Restless
3. Grim Grinning Ghosts (theme from Disney's Haunted Mansion)
4. Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
5. The Rezillos - Flying Saucer Attack
6. Goblin - Witch (from Suspiria)
7. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Carcass
8. Roky Erickson & the Aliens - Night of the Vampire
9. Halloween - Trick or Treat
10. Japan - Halloween
11. The Cure - Subway Song
12. Red Cross - Linda Blair
13. John Zacherle - Coolest Little Monster
14. King Diamond - Halloween
15. Elvira - Full Moon
16. X - Devil Doll
17. Pseudo Echo - His Eyes (from Friday the 13th: A New Beginning)
18. Frantic Flintstones - Jack the Ripper (Nekro Blues)
19. David Hess - Now You're on Your Own (from Last House on the Left)

Italian Horror Blog-a-thon!

So I stumbled upon this great review site called Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies which is running an Italian Horror Blog-a-thon until Halloween. Reviewers are encouraged to send in their reviews of Italian Horror movies, which will be linked on the site. You can see a mention of my blog with my Fulci and Argento reviews linked here.

He Knows You're Alone (1980, Armand Mastroianni)

HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Did that sound sinister? Well I tried. This film has one of those titles that alone is kind of scary. You figure the movie must be too. He Knows You're Alone came out right at the dawn of the slasher films and definitely took a lot of inspiration from Halloween. I remember renting this movie from my beloved Blockbuster and being very disappointed after. I thought the film was way too slow and talky with not enough of the red stuff. I found a copy at my local library and decided to give it another shot after recently reading a write up in an old issue of Fangoria.

Amy (Caitlin O'Heaney) is about to get married and while her fiancee is away for a weekend bachelor party, she notices someone following her. Her friends try to convince her she is crazy while her ex boyfriend Marvin (Don Scardino) tries to convince her to marry him instead. Is she imagining it or is she really being followed?

Well, watching this movie again several (roughly 11 or 12) years later unfortunately didn't change my opinion of this crappy slasher wannabe. It was way too talky and slow. The killer is revealed early on so there is pretty much no mystery whatsoever. Many scenes directly ripoff Halloween and the only really cool thing about the movie was the opening scene. The head in the fish tank would have been a nice touch if it didn't look like a mannequin. Oh, also this is Tom Hanks' film debut and unfortunately he's the only one with the slightest bit of likability (even though his character is pointless). In the sea of early slashers, this film is a turd amongst sharks.

RATING: 2/5

Roadgames (1981, Richard Franklin)

Roadgames is not your average slasher, as the poster above would make you believe (that was not a dig, I love the poster). It is one of those movies that's really hard to categorize. I guess it's a suspenseful road movie. As most people know, Jamie Lee Curtis' movie career started in horror and this was one of those early horror movies that she was in (along with Halloween 1 & 2, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train) before becoming super famous. Though, as I said before, this isn't just another horror film.

Stacy Keach plays Pat Quid, a truck driver delivering a trailer full of meat across Australia. The night before he sets out on his long haul, he notices a man in a green van pick up a female hitch hiker and then puts out a few suspicious big bags of trash at their hotel the next morning. Quid then hears on the radio about a suspected killer going around and dismembering women. He puts two and two together and tries to prove that this man in the green van, whom he keeps seeing digging holes on the side of the highway, is the killer. Along the way he picks up a hitchhiker named Pamela (Jamie Lee Curtis) and together they try to follow the suspect and catch him in the act.

Roadgames has a lot going for it. First and foremost is Stacy Keach. Never would I think I would be so entertained by a movie that has a truck driver talking to his dingo (the ones that eat babies) in the cab of his truck for a good chunk of its running time. Keach is just so damn likable in this film that you can't help but root for him on his dangerous quest that at first seems like nothing more than a crazy hunch. Jamie Lee, though she doesn't really show up until about halfway through and then disappears until the end, is a real treat too. Australian director Richard Franklin, a Hitchcock devotee who even directed the (excellent) first Psycho sequel, adds a fair amount of mystery and tension to this very unique film. I've watched this movie 3 times in the past two years and though I may not call it a perfect film, I don't think I could ever get sick of it. It's just very well made and entertaining.

RATING: 4/5

Tourist Trap (1979, David Schmoeller)

Here's a neat little horror film that many people haven't heard of. I had read something about it a few years ago and it sounded like something I would like. When I saw the cover art I knew instantly it was something I had to watch. It looked like a cross between Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.

A young group of five friends get a flat tire on a rural road in the middle of nowhere. One of them goes to find a gas station to put some air in their spare tire. He stumbles upon a secluded house and ends up getting trapped inside by some unseen force. Suddenly, shit starts flying at him and he ends up getting impaled by a metal bar. The other four friends eventually stumble upon an old deserted tourist wax museum owned by recluse Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors). They are warned not to go near the house next door but they don't listen and are soon stalked by Slausen's masked brother, who has extra sensory powers and can control his wax figures with his mind.

Though not really bloody or gory, Tourist Trap has many really creepy scenes. It was rated PG when it first came out but the DVD says its rated R, even though I've heard it's the same version. The killer, with his emotionless white masks, is a classic, underrated horror villain. As I stated before, he looks like a mix between Michael Myers and Leatherface. When he dresses up as a little girl and is seen playing with dolls, the creepiness meter goes to 10. The young cast is likable (including Tanya Roberts in one of her first roles) and Chuck Connors is great as Slausen. Also props to Pino Donaggio's frightening score.

RATING: 4/5