Category: Movie Discussions
-
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
There are so many questions I have about Sleepaway Camp (1983), primarily having to do with its origin. What was writer/director Robert Hiltzik’s intention when making it? Was it supposed to be a Friday the 13th rip-off or was it supposed to be a spoof? Was it meant to be a serious horror film or…
-
The Intruder Within (1981)
The Intruder Within (1981) is Alien at sea with some terrific moments tossed as life preservers throughout a TV movie that’s otherwise drowning. At times, it has a cinematic feel, particularly when approaching and exploring Zortron Oil’s drilling rig in the ocean near Antarctica. At other times, it has a low-budget TV movie feel, particularly…
-
Fear No Evil (1981)
In 1988, Frank LaLoggia wrote, produced, directed, and composed the music for his masterpiece, Lady in White. Seven years earlier, in 1981, he did all the same things for his… well, valiant effort, Fear No Evil. Not nearly as successful an achievement, Fear No Evil nevertheless shares some characteristics with Lady in White. First, he…
-
This House Possessed (1981)
Of the two 1970s Hardy Boys, I always thought it was Shaun Cassidy who was the singer. In This House Possessed (1981), though, it’s Parker Stevenson who treats us to not one, not two, but three nearly complete tunes. When Lieutenant Fletcher (Barry Corbin) in his one scene asks him if he’s a rock musician,…
-
Satan’s Children (1975)
We don’t know that Janis (Joyce Molloy) is Bobby Douglas’s (Stephen White) stepsister when she continually harasses him sexually. As if to somehow justify her actions, she states loudly and clearly that he’s not her brother. Nevertheless, it’s uncomfortable to watch and is, for better or worse, not the most uncomfortable thing we’ll see in…
-
Lady Frankenstein (1971)
Does watching a bad transfer of a trashy Eurohorror film enhance the experience rather than detract from it? Does the darkness obscure effects that aren’t so special? Do the choppy edits cause us to blame the supplier of the print for its flaws rather than the creators of the movie? I’ve argued both ways in…
-
Scream of the Demon Lover (1970)
Dr. Ivanna Rakowsky (Erna Schurer) is an assertive woman who, in Scream of the Demon Lover (1970), regularly exercises her agency. Unfortunately, it’s at the expense of her ability to make rational decisions. Not only does she completely misinterpret what’s happening around her and misdiagnose her employer, Baron Janos Dalmar (Carlos Quiney), but she also…
-
The Seventh Grave (1965)
You must pay attention when you’re reading subtitles in a foreign film. When an inexplicably curious guest at Sir Reginald Thorne’s castle in The Seventh Grave (1965) stumbles upon a dead body, another guest asks, “Did you see something in his buttonhole,” I did a double take. I know, my mind is in the gutter,…
-
The Monster of the Opera (1964)
The Monster of the Opera (1964), aka The Vampire of the Opera, has been on my watch list for quite some time, but I’m not sure how I first became aware of it. It’s inclusion in Severin’s Danza Macabre box set provided most of my excitement for purchasing it, especially since I already owned Lady…
-
Pandemonium (1983)
As I sat through Pandemonium (1982), it dawned on me that if you took the funniest bits from all the horror comedies of the early 1980s and stitched them together, you might have a pretty good movie. (Or you could just watch Student Bodies.) With this one, though, there’s only one scene I’d bother harvesting.…
Classic Horrors Club 