Terror At Tenkiller

 Terror At Tenkiller

PLOT - After a terrible break-up at school, a young woman joins her girlfriend at Tenkiller, a lake where the two decide to spend the summer and get away from it all. It isn't long before one of the lake's residents go on a blood thirsty rampage, slowly stalking the two girls and leave a trail of dead bodies behind them.

LOWDOWN - There are certian movies, and certain VHS covers you don't ever forget. Among some of the more popular titles like Nightmare On Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors, and April Fools Day, Terror At Tenkiller was one of them. I still have a very vague memory of my mother renting this movie and watching it with her. Years passed and I tried over and over again to remember the name of this movie. All I could clearly remember was the title sounded funny, almost like it rhymed, and the artwork was a woman in torn clothing standing in a swamp reaching upward with the killer behind her. It wasn't until HorrorHound last September when my good friend Kristy Jett showed me some of the merch she had picked up. One of them was a Scream Theater double feature which had The Last Slumber Party AND Terror At Tenkiller on it. The second I saw the image all these warm childhood memories came rushing back at me. I right away asked Kristy where she had picked the movie up and sadly with some very bad luck the next day when I returned to that vendor that informed me they had just sold out of copies. Bummed up, I decided next show they were selling DVDs I would go straight to them first. Well cut to a few months later when I staffed HorrorHound in March, while walking around in a haze (I later found out I had the stomach flu.) I saw the same exact guys selling DVDs like hot cakes. Racing straight to them I picked up two double features of theirs, and yes one of them had Terror At Tenkiller on them!

It took me a while to finally find the time to sit down and re-watch this movie but I'm glad I did. The second I put this movie in nice memories of my late mother came back. I know, weird...I'm reminded of my mother when I watch slasher movies. Go figure. I guess it's because my mother was the reason I got into horror in the first place. In fact she was cool enough to take me to the video store all the time growing up and let me within reason rent almost any movie from the horror section that I wanted. I clearly remember this movie was her pick and all I really remembered was two girls sitting on a dock by the lake, that's about it.

Well the movie is VERY low budget, and very cheesy. It was 1986 where all these independent film companies were cranking out slasher after slasher to cash in on the huge boom that had taken the decade by storm. Terror At Tenkiller is a prime example of this. It's not very well made, the acting is terrible, and like I said the budget shows pretty clearly. Still, it's certian movies like this that win my heart over. What I liked about this movie was that it took it's time. As a writer, I like movies like that every once in a while. It's more realistic. It's at a slow pace that might not exactly hold everyone's attention, but it takes it's time to make you care about these two girls and the time their spending up at the lake.

I also found it clever that instead of masking the killer or keeping it a mystery, they decided to reveal who the killer was very early on. Even though the body count isn't huge, I did find the cutting off the arm bit pretty impressive. 

With a creepy reveal, and a pretty cool ending song, Terror At Tenkiller did exactly what I wanted it to be. It was good old fashion 80's cheese. It brought back happy memories, and was a fun movie to watch in the middle of the summer.

Now onto The Last Slumber Party!

2 stars!

Mark and Sarah together again!

 Mark and Sarah together again!

This weekend there's a convention called Fandom Fest held in KY. A few of my friends are working as vendors at this pretty cool event, and even though I've heard mixed reviews about the show's outcome over the past twenty-four hours, my heart was warmed when my friend Kristy Jett posted this photo on my Facebook page this morning. 

Zach and Deborah or should I say Mark and Sarah together again after twenty-five years. 

Yep, it's a mini Waxwork reunion!

"Sigh..." If I was a billionaire I totally would have flown out just to see these two guys. I have still yet to have the pleasure to meet Deborah who also starred in personal favorites of mine (Valley Girl, and April Fools Day). Zach who I feel everyone knows who's read this blog hands down has been my all time favorite guest that I've met over the many years of attending conventions. I hope very soon a local show via HorrorHound or Monster Mania will do a Waxwork reunion so I can interview these guys for my page to get the movies out on blu-ray. I've been searching high and low for any photos of these two over the weekend to post on my Waxwork page. It truly warms my heart as a fan to see Mark and the original Sarah together again after all these years. ALSO look at how awesome they still look! They truly have aged like a fine wine. I feel when I do meet the two of them in the future I'm just gonna geek out like the fan girl I am and make then react the scene where Mark drops Sarah off at her apartment building, or better yet when he saves her from being whipped. Sick...I know.

Stay tuned if I find more photos of these two. Like I said it warms my heart that Mark and Sarah are together again 25 years later. Long live Waxwork!

Amityville: The Evil Escapes

 Amityville: The Evil Escapes

PLOT- The demonic forces in the haunted Long Island house escape through a mystical lamp which finds its way to a remote California mansion where the evil manipulates a little girl by manifesting itself in the form of her dead father. 

LOWDOWN - This week after watching The Conjuring, I decided to go back and re-watch the entire Amityville series since The Warrens worked on the aftermath of the original case back in the 1970's. These past few days I have all ready watched Part II, and It's About Time. Not really having a method to the order of the movies I watch, I decided to simply watch the movies I own and tackle the ones I own first before deciding to venture out and buy Amityville The Curse, and The Amityville The Haunting. These are the only two movies out of the series I don't own on either DVD or tape. Deciding to save the original, remake, Dollhouse, and Next Generation for this weekend. I decided to dust off my DVD copy of Amityville 4 The Evil Escapes that I've owned for some time now, and sadly haven't gotten the time to get around and watch it yet. I do remember for years hearing all the negative reviews dealing with this movie, and time and time again the subject of how this was the movie that began with the films no longer taking place in the iconic house, instead it dealt with cursed objects that carried the evil spirits that caused all the trouble in the first three movies. 

Well, all I knew about this movie was Patty Duke was the lead, and that it dealt with a cursed lamp. I think two or three times before in the past I even attempted to pop this movie in but always shut it off in the opening scene for some strange unknown reason. There it sat collecting dust until just yesterday when I decided to give it a try.

The way I looked at it was if I loved It's About Time, and The Next Generation, I shouldn't have any problem with this installment since it was the first to deal with a cursed object from the house. Sitting down, I decided to go into the movie with an open mind. First off it was a made for TV horror movie which is a huge positive in my mind. Back in the 1980's and early 90's some of the thriller/horror made for TV movies were acutely a whole lot better than half the stuff released in theaters! The second was the fact it had some good talent behind it, and seemed like a cool enough object. I mean anything can't be as silly as the Dollhouse one.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. It had exactly the sort of feel I love watching in a movie, and captured the spirit of the past Amityville movies even though it did move it's location. Setting up a wonderful story, we have a group of priests enter the iconic house on Ocean Ave to do a blessing during a stormy night. Here all Hell breaks loose and one of the younger priests sees something horrible in a antique lamps sitting in one of the rooms. I feel this movie must have taken place between one and three simply because at the house is blown to bits at the end of the third one. But then again when did this series ever really pay attention to it's time line. 

Anywho, we follow a recent widowed woman and her three children. Deciding to spend some time at her mother's beautiful sea side house, they look forward to a fresh start even though the youngest daughter hasn't seemed to have gotten over the shock of loosing her father. This location is simply breathtaking. Due to some clever camera work they make it look as if it sits right on a cliff over looking the ocean. Looking up the house, it actually sits in the middle of what appeared to be a valley that either grows lemon or orange trees. Like I said it's truly breathtaking and very mystical with the tree lined road that leads to it. Hey, what can I say? I'm a location nut!

The movie shows the grandmother's sister who lives in the Amityville area and how all of the houses' belongs (who I feel must have belonged to the Luz's) are sold off in a massive yard sale. Here the sister sees the very creepy tree shaped lamp and remarks what a gas it would be to ship it to her sister who lives on the West Coast. While joking around and looking at the lamp, she accidentally cuts her finger on it. This is the part that grosses me out the most. Her friend remarks that maybe she should get a tetanus shot, but the sister laughs it off. Soon afterwards her finger looks like a dried up prune. Shipping the lamp off, she soon collapses and is taken to the hospital where low and behold the lamp gave her a rare strand of tetanus which is attacking her blood stream and no medications are responding.

Unaware her sister is even in the hospital, the grandmother on the other side of the country receives the unusual gift and places it in the living room. Just then her daughter and three children arrive, planning on spending some time at the new house. Right away strange things start to happen. That night over coffee, the grandmother lectures her daughter about not planning more for the future and her three children. The daughter becomes angry saying she had no idea her husband was going to drop dead at age forty-two, and tells her she's only staying here until she can get back on her feet. Here she confesses to her mother that she's worried about her youngest daughter since she still talks as if her father is alive.

Just then the radio starts playing what used to be the daughter's song with her husband. Feeling comforted by this, she says maybe it's her husband's way of welcoming the family here. Just then the grandmother badly burns her hand on the tea pot.

That night the daughter is awakened by her youngest one awake in the living room talking to the mysterious lamp. She insists that she was talking to her father and the next morning she seems to be running a high fever. It isn't long before strange horrible accidents begin to happen at the house.

Meanwhile the young priest who was at the original house that night learns that all of the objects in the house were quickly sold off, and instantly he tries tracking down where exactly the mysterious lamp was taken due to the fact he saw something pure evil inside it that faithful night. Fearing the worst, he follows it's bloody trail across the country where it's reeking havoc on this poor innocent family.

I was shocked that I had owned this movie for so long and honestly never gave it the chance it deserved. I'm taking years here that it just sat collecting dust being ignored simply because I had read up on some negative reviews. Sad, just plain sad. Goes to show a collector, that sometimes you have some truly hidden gems just a few feet away and it takes a while to discover what you have. I think it's pretty funny it took this long and the fact that even after all these years I can still look in my movie collection and find several movies I own but have never gotten around to watching. Amityville 4 has became one of those movies.

Now I'm not saying it's the best sequel. I'll give that title to It's About Time. In fact I really enjoy the Amityville movies. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say part II was by far the scariest and most powerful. I still remember renting this and being blown away by the effects. A pretty cool prequel, with one hell of an ending. Part III is a guilty pleasure of mine. I have fond childhood memories watching this movie over and over again, and still have my original tape from the video store still sealed in it's original packaging. In fact at my very first horror convention in 2006, I was stunned to learn Robert Joy didn't have any photos from Amityville III, which he himself admitted was stupid since over the years the movie has gained a strong fan following.

The other sequels, The Curse I remember renting years ago simply because of the cover. I mean come on, the person hanging from a tree. What eight year old wouldn't be interested in that? I re-watched it on demand a while ago and besides the lead actor being cute, really couldn't tell you much about that one. I guess I'll have to re-watch it sober and do a proper review. It's About Time is by far my all time favorite sequel.

My review here for It's About Time

In fact I was very pleased to see that John from Freddy In Space loves the sequel just as much as I do!

I also may be the only person around who loves The Next Generation as well. With a great cast, a cool cursed object I really dug the movie and the loft apartment building setting. Also we get to see the guy from American Werewolf In London look super sexy in a track suit! Amityville Dollhouse well...ehhh. I had strong memories of thinking it was the scariest movie ever growing up whenever I rented it. In fact I still remember the cover (which they photoshopped from part 4) When I bought it on line last year and re-watched it I was very disappointed. Guess it didn't hold the magic I remembered it did.

This reminds me, I need to review all these movies!

I dug the remake when it first came out simply because of a certian lead actor's insane body fresh off Blade III. As time worn on though I saw the flaws of the remake and really rather watch the original. (The only thing I do have to hand it to the remake is the scene when the daughter is walking on the roof. I honestly have never felt so nervous before in my life.) The recent installments I have yet to watch but I'm sure if I get them for a cheap buck I'll check it out.

The Amityville case has been something I've been very interested in my whole life. I've read the books, watched the specials on, and still have yet to visit the house that sadly no longer looks the same. I'm beyond pleased that at age twenty-four after growing up with these movies, I've gotten around to watch yet another sequel that I feel is underrated and that I highly enjoyed. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it not the best installment? Yes. Did I have fun watching it? Of course!

With a stunning setting, some really memorable scenes (the chainsaw in the basement, the hand going down the drain, and of course the longest cord on a lamp e-v-e-r.) I have to say Amityville 4 ranks in in the top four favorite sequels in this very bizarre series.

4 Stars!

Amityville 1992: It's About Time

  Amityville 1992: It's About Time

PLOT - Jacob Sterling brings home a mysterious clock from the infamous Amityville house, not knowing that it's haunted by demonic spirits.

LOWDOWN – Today I went and saw The Conjuring, an untold tale that both Ed and Lorraine Warren worked in in the early 1970's. The Warrens are famous paranormal investigators who are best known for looking into the Amityville case in Long Island. Well, after being highly impressed with James Wan's adaption, I decided to sit back and relax tonight watching my all time favorite and very underrated installment of the Amityville series.

Amityville 1992: It's About Time.

I really can't say when I first saw this movie. I vaguely remember renting it in the late 90's at a local video store simply because of it's VHS artwork. I also remember being sorta puzzled that it had the year 1992 in it's title, and of course that super gross photo on the back of the boy being sucked down the drain.

What I remember best about this movie was the fact that it actually didn't take place at the Amityville house itself. In fact a few of the later sequels didn't at all. Instead what they did was take objects from the house and do spinoffs of how the objects itself were haunted. We had sequels about a lamp, a mirror, a dollhouse, and in this one a clock.

Next to The Next Generation, which is the sequel that follows this one, I would say this is one of the best in the series. The first three Amityville movies are classic. The first one is beyond creepy, and besides dating itself is really a total 70's supernatural classic. In fact it's down right terrifying compared to the book. I mean besides the flashing light eye out the window, that's a really creepy movie. If vote went down for the most terrifying installment, I would do with it's sequel which is loosely based off the original who first lived in the house and were murdered by their son. The third movie which is in 3D is very cheesy, but a pretty good tale of haunting. Even though I own part 4, I've yet to get around to watching it. I feel It's About Time, and The Next Generation are highly impressive sequels for being the 5^th and 6^th in the series. Being made back to back, I really have to hand it to the people behind them. Using the cursed objects to their best advantage, they pulled away from the original story and could really be their own stand alone films. It's About Time was very well made. In fact had more horror movies in the 90's been made like this, who knows maybe the world of horror wouldn't have taken such a long break until Scream in 96.

92 was a great year for horror...ummm Waxwork II?! 

Tony Randel, the man behind Hellbound Hellraiser II, sat in the director's chair this time around. What can I say...the man knows how to make a really great sequel. I really liked the whole development housing setting that became big in the early to mid 90's. For the most part we all have a neighborhood like that. Houses after houses all exactly the same to look more modern. There's something a little unsettling about that. Just like in Poltergeist, we have this neighborhood with all these identical units and how after a clock gets brought home from Amyville, all hell breaks loose.

I liked the idea of the ex girlfriend character still being in this family's life. How her history with the father is shaken and even though she's involved with somebody else, there's still weird feelings towards him and his teenage family. She cares about the family, and the house she used to call home, yet still knows deep down inside she needs to break away.

Loved the Stephen Macht as the father. Just two years earlier he stole the show with that accent of his in Graveyard Shift. I don't know what it is...if he kept that accent in every movie maybe I would find him more attractive. His son on the other hand...Mmmmmm! Stephen does a great creepy job playing the father who gets attacked by a local dog. The leg effects were so gross!

The pacing of this movie was very well done. This is truly a great modern day haunted house story. I loved how it took it's time, but all of the scenes were very memorable. I loved the part where the teenage son is talking to his sister and the girlfriend character and gets up in the middle of telling a story to go get something, he leaves the room for no more than thirty seconds but when he returns he finds out he's been gone for hours.

I liked the old lady character who's close with the teenage son. Which speaking of the son Rusty, he's played by Damon Martin, who we all remember as being the hero in Ghoulies II. This was Damon's last role and he's gone on working on the other side of the camera. Real shame, he was cute!

Going back to what I was saying I love the old woman character and how her and the teenage son try to put their heads together and figure out what exactly is going on. There's a pretty laughable death with a fake stork falling from a truck, but that's the charm of these movies...their bizarre!

I liked the unsettling nature of the Nazi symbols, and little accidents that go on around the neighborhood. How slowly the father becomes possessed and begins changing and how he makes a whole little neighborhood of mini Amityville houses. Man I wish I could live there!

The doctor boyfriend character is laughable but a nice little addition. That kitchen scene always gets me, or when he's taking a bath with all the black slime. I loved the transformation of the shy teenage daughter who becomes a total slut. The scene of her coming onto her brother is creepy and very amusing. I love the big showdown at the end and I'll be the first to say, the ending of this movie is by far one of the most clever endings in a horror movie. Some may disagree with me, but I really liked it. I love how Rusty slowly changes into a baby and how the girlfriend tells the clock the house can't have him and he's allowed to leave. Then the super cool scene of her aging and slowly reaching the clock before bang everything comes full circle. It may take another re-watch but it's amazing. Then of course Rusty looking at each other and smiling “Pure evil.” Such a classic fun movie, that shows the 90's did have some hidden gems. 

 

Amityville 1992 is underrated, fun, and a great time to watch. I highly recommend it to anyone!

5 stars!

The road to Waxwork continues...

 The road to Waxwork continues...

As most of you know, just last week I started a Facebook page to try and raise numbers/show support in showing Lionsgate (the studio who currently holds rights to both Waxwork and Waxwork II: Lost In Time) that still after twenty-five years, the two Waxwork movies have a very strong cult following. What my mission is set out to be is to keep raising numbers and showing the support so finally, hopefully some day the studio will decide to give these two movies the treatment they deserve and release them both on SE blu-ray. With tons of help from Chris MacGibbon (The man behind getting The Video Dead released last year on blu-ray) I've started the process of spreading the work and getting fans from all over to like the page and check out what I'm doing. 

Click to show your support towards Waxwork! 

So far with the page just being up a week, we've gotten over one hundred likes, and just last night I was interviewed by Chris, Todd, and Mike from Horror Society for their show Creep Show radio where you can listen to the last night's show here...

Creep show radio 

I've expressed my passion as a huge Waxwork fan, and like I've said time and time again, my goal is modest. For the time being all I want is to show the support from the fans in wanting to see these two cult classic films released the way they deserve. 

With new updates, photos, and interviews I'll try my hardest to keep this fan page as interesting and as awesome as any Waxwork fan could want it to be. 

Also here's a quick interview from me talking about my little project in trying to raise support for these films over on Horror Society's page. Thanks guys, it's been an honor!

My interview for Horror Society 

So like I said, stay tuned for lots of updates and let's keep those numbers climbing!

Top ten underrated "teen" movies of the 1980's

 Top ten underrated "teen" movies of the 1980's.

Sure I love the Brat Pack movies. In fact I down right adore them. Still, there's some other titles that are just as classic and maybe even a little more cutting edge. Here are my very odd choices of the top ten all time favorite "teen" movies of the 1980's. Hey, nothing says the dog days of summer more than these gems!

Valley Girl

Thrashin'

Dangerously Close

Secret Admirer 

Summer School

Heathers

Radioactive Dreams

My Science Project

Dream A Little Dream

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II

Waxwork poster!

Waxwork poster!

 

Today I received a pretty awesome surprise in the mail. Finally after searching far and long, I came across a pretty gorgeous copy of a movie sized poster of Waxwork. It may not be an original sheet, but nevertheless it's still awesome (the theater used ones go for a pretty good price right now on line so I decided to settle for this gem instead for the time being). When I came home today I felt like a kid on Christmas taking it out of the poster tube. Now nicely framed in my den, I can smile proudly as yet another addition to my Waxwork collection has been added on.

Trailer of the week!

Trailer Of The Week!

Nothing says summer more than a couple of teenagers getting slaughtered!

 

Your butt is golden.

  When most people decide to go on vacation, they want to go somewhere exotic and new. They travel to beaches, campgrounds, foreign countries. It's no wonder then,when I took my vacation this last week and people asked me "Where are you going?" I received a baffled look with my answer, "Carlisle, PA". But there is a very good reason why I would travel so far to a small town I have never heard of. The answer, Christine.

Awhile back I wrote about how my dear friend Stacy had gotten me hooked on the movie Christine. I got to see her get all giddy to see the Christine exhibit at Horrorhound Cincinnati this past March, and she somehow passed this obsession to me. When I first heard there was going to be a Christine reunion in Carlisle I pushed it aside but it kept creeping in to my mind, until I decided I need to see Mr. William Ostrander again. Because once wasn't enough.

After a train ride from Chicago to Pittsburgh, a taxi to Pittsburgh Airport to rent a car, my friend Erica and I started the car ride to Philadelphia. Since Carlisle is near we decided to spend the day in Philly. We first arrived at Easter State Penitentiary. If you haven't seen it, its worth spending a few hours in. Most of the prison is in ruins, but walking the grounds your accompanied with a headset and Steve Buschemi telling you the history and tales of this castle like prison that sits in the middle of downtown.

After ESP, we had enough time to go to the Mutter Museum. Also another great place to witness the most disturbing objects. It will also make you paranoid that you may have any and all diseases lurking in your body. Sadly you can't take photos inside the museum, but we saw pieces of Einstein's brain, a wall of skulls, body cast of Chang and Eng, and other gross, very gross items.

We were going to conquer the Rocky stairs but were caught in a torrential downpour. We decided to call it a day and drive the 2 hours to Carlisle and our hotel. Unfortunately I found out to late that Christine and cast were at a local theatre that night. Damn.

We then made our way to the Carlisle Fairgrounds. The place was huge and did I mention that this was a car show. It was booth after booth of guys selling rusty parts of cars, tools, and random other car parts. 

Yes we travelled all the way from Chicago to a car show, just to meet the cast of Christine. Once we found where the cast was located we made our way to the room. It was filled with antique cars that all looked amazing. It was also pretty cool to see so many people excited to see Christine and see that the cast was also there. We jumped in line to get our stuff signed. 

First we went to William Ostrander. Did I mention that I kinda got a crush on this man. We patiently wait in line as people keep cutting because they don't understand how a line works. It's ok because I had more time to stare at him. When he's talking to on guy he ask what his favourite seen is, in which I chime in " I love it when you bark at the teacher".  He smiled at me and kinda laughed. I finally got up to him and shook his hand which he complimented me on my nice firm handshake. He asked to see my chest tattoo in which I show him some and he says that's nice too. I pull out my poster (a gift from miss still) of him standing in front of Christine. I ask him to sign his butt, and he ask what I would prefer silver or gold. I say gold because his butt is golden. I also mention that I have been watching North and South and that he has got a lot of really good shirtless scenes. He tells us the story of filming Mike's Murder in which he has to perform a striptease. He said he was embarrassed about his dad and brother seeing it, but he said his dad called him and asked if he would pop out of a birthday cake for some woman in town. Wish that was my birthday cake. I was smiling like a idiot and asked to get a picture with him. He was super nice and still looks handsome as he did 30 years ago.

Next was Alexendra Paul. She laughed that Ostrander signed his butt. She started signing my poster and copied what he wrote which was "To sexy melissa" in which she started laughing and said a girl can call another girl sexy. She also said she should draw a arrow to his butt to and I said go ahead its a nice butt.

We then talked to Malcolm Danare. I was given a question from Stacy to ask, which I did because i had to find the answer too. "How was it grabbing John Stockwell's balls" He just shook his head and said that we were bad. "Was it a handful" No answer. Just laughing.

Last was Steven Tash. All I got to say was why is he holding a picture of himself. 

 We had to get back on the road to Pittsburgh to get the midnight train back to Chicago. It was such a packed 2 days but so worth it. I can't wait for the next Christine reunion!

We started to look like homeless people with bags and wearing pajamas. 

The Video Dead (1987)

 The Video Dead (1987)

PLOT - An unlabelled crate from an unknown source is delivered to a house in the woods. The homeowner unwisely accepts the delivery, only to discover it contains a TV set that starts spewing giggling zombies all over the place. When a new family moves into the now-abandoned house, the son discovers the haunted televsion and is soon told what he needs to do to send the zombies back where they belong. Knowing and doing, however, are two very different things, and the zombies are not likely to go quietly.

LOWDOWN - I'll be the first to admit, I sadly ever saw The Video Dead before, nor remember it's iconic VHS artwork growing up as a kid. I did however decide to buy it along with Terrorvision as an amazing double feature released by Scream Factory (thanks guys for always never ceasing to amaze me). I've been slowly collecting all of Scream Factory's releases, even if I all ready own ten or so copies of the same movie. It's just something about owning all these lost gems that have long since gone out of print, now on beauitfuil HD, and for the most part in SE blu-ray, packed with extras, amazing menus, and kick ass new artwork only fans could truly enjoy.

= Bye Stacy's bank account...

Any who, there the double feature blu-ray sat in my collect sadly collecting dust before finally just last weekend while in Boston with Ms. Kristy Jett to go see Jason Takes Manhattan, I had the pleasure to meet a guy by the name of Chris MacGibbon. Chris is the man responsible for getting Scream Factory to release The Video Dead, and to show that even after all this time it still has a very strong cult following. I sat down and talked with Chris for a bit, and later on he was awesome enough to give me some pretty great advice in dealing with getting the two Waxwork movies released on blu-ray. Here he explained his process with getting The Video Dead released and that's when I sadly had to admit I hadn't seen the movie yet. Yesterday out of curiosity. Safe to say I was very pleased!

The Video Dead is what low budget horror dreams are made of. Taking a very interesting approach towards zombies, which weren't exactly that huge after, the golden age of the mid 80's where we had such classics as Return Of The Living Dead, Day Of The Dead, and even Night Of The Creeps. The end of the 80's also meant it was the end of the slasher/horror craze that had taken the decade by storm. Still, in 1987-1989 there were some really awesome hidden gems (Intruder, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3, 4, Bad Dreams, Pumpkin Head, Hellraiser II: Hellbound, and Waxwork, and many many more.) In 1987 we were given the treat to The Video Dead which was extremely underrated, and stayed low on the radar while other horror movies that were much larger and flashy got the chance to shine in the sun.  

I feel sadly nowadays, zombies are getting a wee bit out of hand. Between The Walking Dead, and the bath salts, I feel zombies are on overload. Why can't we just go back to the good old days when zombies were still done well and not to the annoying point. via 2004, Dawn Of The Dead remake.

Trust me, I could bitch about my love hate feelings towards zombies all day.

With The Video Dead, this was a golden era where zombies were still done nicely and not to death (no pun intended). The 80's were back when zombies were done with practical makeup, starred in awesome movies, and for the most part had some of the best gore to splatter the silver screen.

The Video Dead has a clever storyline, I loved the opening with the mysterious TV set being delivered out of no where, which results in whatever program is playing, comes to life and comes out of the television set and into the real world. With some very memorable lines, and moments The Video Dead is a perfect movie to watch with a group of people after having a couple of beers.

Love the toothbrush scene!

The effects are very impressive, loved all the zombies makeups, and the chainsaw death. One of my favorite moments is when the "Lady" comes to visit our lead character in his bedroom. Very creepy and loved the score. The main things that stood out to me was in the final act of the movie was the fact a main character was brutally murdered, and the idea of the mirrors and showing no fear. In fact I loved the whole showing no fear scene and inviting the zombies in for dinner. Such an awesome scene, and with pretty awesome ending.

 
I'm in the process of listening to the commentary which features Chris and I honestly have to hand it to Chris for getting such an awesome underrated classic released. The image was beautiful, and it's a new favorite of mine when it comes to low budget fun zombie movies. The Video Dead is a great movie for horror and zombie fans to enjoy. Now onto Terrorvision...

3 Stars!



 

Waxwork inspired artwork...why not?

 Waxwork inspired artwork...why not?