Category: Slasher Age
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Wacko (1985)
Since this is the last entry into our 1980’s horror-comedy/spoof series, it’s a good time to summarize them in a way that I’ve been considering for a few weeks now. The 80’s horror spoofs can be compared to the humor magazines of the era. For example, you have Mad Magazine, the cream of the crop. In…
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Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)
For the first few minutes of Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), I had real hopes that memory wasn’t served and it was going to be better than my preconceived notions. Those were a precious few minutes that soon became a long, agonizing hour and a half that I had to split over the course of two evenings.…
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Hysterical (1982)
Does anyone remember the Hudson Brothers? Bill, Brett, and Mark Hudson were discovered by a record producer in Portland and offered a contract. They released several singles in the late 1960s under the names The New Yorkers, Everyday Hudson, and Hudson. I know them from The Hudson Brothers Show, a summer replacement for The Sonny…
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Class Reunion (1982)
Welcome back to another month of “April Fools!” After unintentionally launching a month-long theme last year at this time, I’ve located four more horror spoofs that came in the wake of the Slasher phenomenon of the 1980s. Student Bodies (1981) set the high bar, but we’ll see if any of the films this month come…
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Cave In! (1983)
Disaster Film Checklist Thoughts If When Time Ran Out… was a whimpering last hurrah for theatrical disaster films of the 1970s, then that’s the purpose Cave In! serves for television. It’s a watered-down version of earlier “hits” like Flood, Fire, and Hanging by a Thread, and concludes the third part of a thematic trilogy with…
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When Time Ran Out… (1980)
Disaster Film Checklist All-Star Cast (Oscar Winners): All-Star Cast (Oscar Nominees): All-Star Cast (Others): Multiple Lives in Danger: Warnings Ignored: Difference in Opinion about How to Proceed, Leading to a Dramatic Confrontation between Two Characters: Death of Someone Who Deserves It: Survival of Children: Daring Rescue: Characters & Relationships: Physical Handicaps: Themes: Thoughts Reputation and…
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The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1980)
Disaster Film Checklist Thoughts One thing I’ve noticed during this series is that the longer the disaster movie subgenre ran, the more unlikable its characters became. I failed to mention it twice now, but it’s unavoidable with The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1980.) Instead of cheering for heroes to survive, we’re cheering for villains…
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Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
Disaster Film Checklist All-Star Cast (Oscar Winners): All-Star Cast (Oscar Nominees): All-Star Cast (Emmy Winner): All-Star Cast (Others): Multiple Lives in Danger: Characters & Relationships: Handicaps: Themes: Thoughts One of two things may be the deciding factor for why Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) sinks. One may be that the further it comes from the…
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Hanging by a Thread (1979)
Disaster Film Checklist Thoughts There’s no reason on God’s green Earth that Hanging by a Thread (1979) should be over three hours long. It would be hard to hang in there with it (pun intended) if not for the flashbacks the characters experience while trapped in a cable-car that’s been struck by lightning and is…
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Howl of the Devil (1988)
It wouldn’t be precisely correct to say I was disappointed by Howl of the Devil (1988); however, it was not what I hoped it would be. This is not based on any preconceived notions of the film coming from word of mouth (or internet.) This is based on the movie itself’s opening dedication to Boris…
Classic Horrors Club 