Day 18: The Silent Scream

The Silent Scream was actually an episode of Hammer's televison series, House of Horror. House of Horror was an anthology series that ran 13 episodes in 1980. The episodes were an hour long. Since yesterday was my birthday party, watching something short was completely necessary. I also had people coming in and out of the house and talking to me, so if I missed any key points I apologize.

A recently released convict goes to a pet shop to visit with Peter Cushing. It is explained that Cushing frequently visited this man during his incarceration, sympathizing with his plight due to his own imprisonment in a Concentration Camp. Cushing offers the man a job and reveals his back room filled with exotic animals (mostly dangerous jungle cats). He explains his goal is to find a new method of training and create the first no cage zoo ever. It all turns out to be a ruse however and after a botched robbery attempt the man is captured in an underground room. Now trapped in the room, the man has apparently been Cushing's target this entire time.

This film is surprisingly twisted for it's time. There is literally a scene where an adorable Boxer puppy is destroyed on screen! Peter Cushing does an excellent job playing the villain here. He is supposedly a former Nazi soldier, but he has no hint of being German at all. Despite that, it's easy to suspend your disbelief as he just does a marvelous job portraying outright creepiness. The ending reminds me a lot of horror film endings of today and is another highlight. Other than that it's pretty boring to average. Luckily it's tolerable because of the short run time.

Body Count:0 (and one super cute puppy...RIP)

Side Note: I've really wanted to get into Hammer Movies but never end up putting in my VCR. Maybe I should try to squeeze more into this month.

Day 17: From Beyond

As a huge fan of a lot of people involved with this film, it's always bothered me that I haven't seen From Beyond. Screen shots of extremely over the top creature effects have taunted me for years. Finally, I've received a shitty cut box of it today. The decision of what to watch for the day hasn't been so obvious for me since The Brain.

Jeffery Combs plays a physicist assisting in the creation of a device called the Resonator. The Resonator is supposed to stimulate the pineal gland. The theory is that the pineal gland has a dormant 6th sense that will be awoken by the Resonator. The experiments are a success, but unexpected creatures appear and attacks the physicists. Combs' superior is beheaded and he is subsequently accused of murder and institutionalized. But when a new doctor takes over his case, he may get a chance to prove his innocence and destroy the Resonator once and for all.

From Beyond is a no nonsense roller coaster of a film. The special effects are slightly dated in some portions but absolutely breathtaking in others. These effects really make you think that anything can happen in this movie.

Jeffery Combs shines as usual. This time he's joined by Ken Foree (Dawn Of The Dead) as well. Foree is hilarious in his role as a no nonsense tough guy cop. One scene in particular has him doing battle with creatures while clad in only a speedo! It's great fun!

From Beyond is a top notch addition to the body horror sub genre. The special effects really steal the show here and any fan of practical effects should consider this required viewing. Great work from the cast doesn't hurt either (Guys I'm a really big Jeffery Combs fan)!

Body Count:4

Side Note: I forgot to mention Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator) reunites with Combs in this one. She has a good topless scene and an extra good scene clad in leather bondage gear!

Day 16: Don't Open The Door

It's happened to every lover of the VHS format. Lured in by great cover art, a cheesy tag line, and even some creepy looking screenshots on the back. Lured in only to be disappointed by the actual film within. Don't Open The Door is an awesome looking Big Box release that's been staring at me
from the shelf for a long time. The worst part is the amount of potential this film actually has, but fails to realize.

A young girl finds her mother's dead body in bed and is subdued by a mysterious figure. Years later the girl, now a young adult, learns that her grandmother is ill and returns to her grandmothers house. While trying to get her grandmother admitted to a hospital she stays in the house and begins receiving strange phone calls. As the calls become more frequent the bodies begin to pile up.

Don't Open The Door has a pretty good atmosphere to it. There is certainly a dark and creepy vibe to this film. The story falls far short of being able to utilize this atmosphere. There is an extremely small cast of characters, which makes the killers identity all too obvious from the very first phone call. Worse yet, he basically reveals himself to our protagonist, yet at the end of the film she still seems to have no idea who the killer is (Seriously! Try the weird guy that made a creepy mannequin of your deceased mother and showed it to you)! The killer himself is creepy, but he gets overexposed with the dragged on phone call scenes.

The music score is a mix between some pretty creepy synth and...experimental jazz? Nothing ruins a mood more than music that doesn't fit. Why couldn't they just stick with the creepier songs? Even during scenes where nothing horrific is taking place scary music would help create more suspense, something this film is already lacking. Few things bother me more in a horror film.

For all of its dragged out scenes, bad storytelling, and odd music choices Don't Open The Door still has a few very solid moments. Unfortunately every time it shows it's muscle it goes back into hiding. Each time I would believe that the movie was going to finally pick up, only to be disappointed. Oh Big Box tapes! You lie to me so much! Why is it that I love you so?

Body Count: 4

Side Note: There was an abundance of "Don't" titles in the 70's (Don't Be Afraid of The Dark, Don't Look In The Basement, Don't Look Now). So many in fact that a fake trailer entitled "Don't!" was made for Grindhouse (And a hell of a trailer it is! I hope they make it an actual film one day).

Day 15: Home For The Holidays

 

In the 70's, before the advent of VHS, there was a lot of talk about TV taking over. There was no home video format to watch major films yet. You either saw a movie in theaters or you hoped it would eventually air on television. During this time Made For TV Movies became huge. Several great titles such as Dark Night of The Scarecrow, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, and The Town That Dreaded Sundown were all produced specifically for the small screen. Home For The Holidays is one of the more popular made for television horror films of it's time.

An old man has fallen ill. Believing his second wife is poisoning him, he invites his four daughters to his home and requests that they kill her. The mystery gets deeper when the daughters begin dying off one by one. It becomes a full blown whodunit slasher film as Christine (Sally Field) tries to find the culprit.

Due to the restrictions of television at the time, there is pretty much no gore. The highlight here is the acting and storytelling. Everyone here does a good job in keeping a realistic tone. Everyone except for the overly grouchy father, but his performance is so humorous and over the top that it's hard to mark it as a downfall.

Home For The Holidays is a fine little slasher film for it's time. The biggest downfall is now in a day and age where slasher films everywhere it becomes easy to spot the killer pretty early on. After you've seen so many of these plot twist endings, the reverse psychology storytelling doesn't work too well anymore. In the early 70's I'm sure this film surprised most of it's viewers, nowadays it's still good but doesn't pack as much of punch.

Body Count:2

Side Note: The grouchy old man must have wanted boys since all of his daughters have male nicknames: Chris, Fred, Alex, and Jo. Also, the director seems to have a humorous obsession with zoom in shots.

Day 14: Junior

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this movie. It's not good, but I was somehow entertained through most of it. Junior doesn't really become a full fledged horror film until the final act. It's characters, story, and atmosphere are all really inconsistent. I really had no idea what to expect when I slid this tape in. But at least the cover art doesn't really lie. Well, the tag line lies. But I mean...

Junior opens with two prostitutes being released from prison. After a pointless fight scene with their former pimp, the two girls vow to move to the country and start a new life. They move into a small abandoned marina only to discover that it is used as a party house for the local rednecks led by Junior. After a messy confrontation the girls begin an ever escalating conflict with the group.

Most of the movie depicts the feud between the girls and Junior's pack of crazy rednecks. There are only small scenes that hint that we're actually watching a horror film. The action scenes that make up the majority of the movie really entertain with their cheese. I'm also pretty certain that one of the main girls doesn't wear a real pair of pants throughout the entire movie. Oh yeah! Did I mention we get to see more than the normal share of nudity including probably the most intense sex scene I've ever seen on film.

Fans of horror will likely be pretty disappointed when they watch Junior. Yes, it is a horror film...eventually. The build up to the climactic slasher chase/showdown scene plays out more like a really raunchy comedy. Their are several scenes that indicate that something more sinister is going on. But every time the film makes you think it's going to pull the trigger and unleash it's horror, they deliver more antics instead. It's entertaining fun for when you have some friends over, but other than that you should probably ignore the tag line and stick with Leatherface and Freddy.

Body Count: 4

Side Note: The feud in this movie is insane! They go from really bad pranks to people getting the boats blown up with absolutely no repercussion!

Day 13: The Boogey Man

In the early 80's slasher films were still coming into form. Halloween was a massive success in the late 70's and other films wanted to utilize it's formula to cash in. As a result the slasher genre still took itself seriously for the most part. The Boogey Man was part of this era. This film stands out though as one of the few slasher films to incorporate very heavy supernatural elements.

The Boogey Man opens with a flashback of a brother and sister witnessing their mother perform sexual acts with her lover. The boy eventually takes a knife to their bedroom and murders his mother's lover. The scene makes no effort at all to show that it's almost a complete ripoff of Halloween's opening sequence. Flash forward 20 years later and we begin to learn of a mysterious force that may have possessed the boy to commit murder. This force is returning to haunt them and it's gonna pile some bodies while it's at it.

This film has a really good atmosphere going for it. While I don't typically enjoy overly supernatural horror films, The Boogey Man was able keep my attention with it's tone and murder sequences. The main theme, while sounding very similar to Carpenter's Halloween theme, is creepy and really helps set the mood. The acting may not be top notch, but it's not really bad either.

Before I watched this film, I had read several review that really hyped up some of the death scenes. I found myself being a bit disappointed in them. They aren't bad, actually most of them are pretty good. But I feel like I was expecting a bit more from it. Even still we have some pretty good gore and a couple of different kills that will surely grab most horror fans' attention.

Ulli Lommel is known for directing some pretty awful movies. I couldn't really tell by watching this film. Yes, the acting isn't top notch and there are a couple of questionable decisions made in the editing room. But that is standard fare for this genre and I found The Boogey Man to be a very solid supernatural slasher film. This was my first time actually watching one of my Big Box tapes so I was half expecting something god awful. I'm walking away from this one fairly surprised by just how much I actually enjoyed it.

Body Count: 7

Side Note: Halloween isn't the only victim here. Ammityville Horror and Exorcist have also been obviously plagiarized by this movie.

Day 12: I Was A Teenage Zombie

Ever wonder what would happen if you took a pretty raunchy teen sex comedy and mixed it with a zombie film? I Was A Teenage Zombie was created to answer all your questions. The results are sort of a mixed bag. Despite being sort of funny, this film falls just short.

A teenage jock and his unusual group of friends are in the market for some marijuana. A shady drug dealer rips them off and refuses to give them any sort of refund. After confronting  the dealer, the teenagers accidentally take his life! In an effort to hide their crime, they toss him into a lake that they later find is infested with radiation. The radiation brings the drug dealer back to life and he begins seeking revenge, killing the teens one by one. Their only hope is to revive their recently deceased friend in the lake and hope that he can stop the zombified version of Cheech Marin.

Despite being a comedy first and foremost, this film has surprisingly brutal murder scenes. Sure they're cheesy, but you don't really expect someone to get their face ripped off in a teen comedy. I was expecting more typical high school situations taking place with a zombie involved. But instead they go for a more straight forward gore-fest. The kills all have a Toxic Avenger feel to them. They're gruesome, but the acting involved is awkward and cheese filled. They even make a reference to Lloyd Kaufman in a radio broadcast. The influence is definitely there.

The script is where this movie really fails though. Even though this is largely a teen comedy there aren't any really good jokes. All the humor is derived from the splattery gore scenes and the intentionally awful line delivery. This formula works well for movies like Toxic Avenger because something is always happening and the bad acting only enhances the humor of the situations. However, I Was A Teenage Zombie is filled with long dialogue scenes that are sometimes tough to hear. When there isn't anything happening the bad line delivery only hurts the conversation scenes and gets boring.

I Was A Teenage Zombie isn't an absolute chore to sit through. There are enough high quality kills here to keep you around till the finale. It's just the scenes in between these kills that will have you looking for something else to pass the time. Watch it once for the full effect, but then fast forward to the highlights on subsequent watches.

Body Count: 9

Side Note: The soundtrack is pretty good. One 80's alt rock track plays early in the movie and had me headbanging for a bit. No vocals ever come in, but I wonder if I can track down the full song somewhere.