Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

 I just recently watched Bo Hopkins as a sheriff of a little desert town in the slasher flick, Sweet Sixteen (1983); sure enough, here he was again in a toxic water zombie flick a year later in 1984 with Mutant. His town is just up and vanishing, and no other law enforcement is available to provide extra assistance. Lee Montgomery, a regular as a child in a few of Dan Curtis 70s horror films, is Wings' younger brother, eventually disappearing after an under-the-bed "incident". Wings, in a rare heroic role, with a local played by pretty Jody Medford (her final film in a very brief film career), must figure out where everyone is at and why folks are gone missing. The toxic waste dump so weaponized in 80s horror; lots of filmmakers saw use in it as a plot device. Mutant was no different. That a chemical company would just willy-nilly hose lots of bright yellow waste "deep into mother nature" is astoundingly foolish, but thanks to Wings and Jody, their operations wi...

 Yeah, these late 80s and early 90s no-budget B-movies wear their inspirations/influences and very much reveal in every frame what little money is there in the production. Today's generation can find so much on Netflix, incredible, big-budget, high caliber science fiction, among other streaming sites. So why would I bother with a 72 minute Marc Singer Alien rip-off from 1991? I grew up with this junk. I watched it all the time. There were a lot of them, too. Admittedly, Singer is an old favorite from the days of Beastmaster and V. So I have a soft spot for him. And I have a soft spot for robot sidekicks. Bryan Cranston as a dying scientist hoping to find a cure for a deadly virus, unfortunately and tragically creating a creature out of another virus, has an early credit in this film. I'm sure this is a good giggle or embarrassment for Cranston. Singer braves bad atmospheric conditions outside the installation without a helmet which was odd. And his suit is even damaged. Probabl...

  I believe there was a whole library of MGM titles that are leaving Tubi after June, including three I watched before they "expire": After Midnight (1989), Leviathan (1989), and The Rosary Murders (1987). All three have been reviewed on this blog in the past. The first two were films my daughter wanted to watch with me, so I took care of that. I didn't realize until today that The Rosary Murders was available on Tubi and I'm kicking myself. I guess Donald Sutherland as a very solemn, rather sad priest, seemingly quite lonely and sleepy-eyed. Now Sutherland's acting style is rarely every over the top or electric...he's always been more subdued and understated. But there is just something about how Sutherland's Priest matches the dreary, overcast, cold environs of industrial Detroit, the symbiosis of the two that coincides with the depressing story of a serial killer of priests and nuns that seems to tie in with the suicide of a teenage girl. Sutherland w...

Psycho House of Usher Black Sunday Flesh and the Fiends City of the Dead Eyes Without a Face Brides of Dracula Peeping Tom Mill of the Stone Woman The Vampire and the Ballerina Jigoku  Village of the Damned Little Shop of Horrors 13 Ghosts 1-3: 5/5 4-6: 4.5/5 7-12: 4/5 13-14: 3/5 The first three are among my all-time favorite films. I believe all three are in my Top All-Time favorite horror films actually. Top to bottom, a stellar year. All the great directors: Hitchcock, Bava, Fisher, Corman, and Castle. I keep wondering if I have Peeping Tom too low...it's a great film.

 Just quickly but as a late night introduction to a film I never even heard of much less seen from a director I'm only slightly familiar with due to a film that I think is an American remake of this original (with a pre-stardom Naomi Watts, called "The Shaft") from the Netherlands: Dick Maas. Good movie about a "bio chip" that seems to have developed this artificial intelligence causing an elevator to act "psychopathic", even killing a few people. A blind man who prepared for a new apartment for his 92 year old mother falls to his death when the shaft opens with no elevator available to step into. Two couples, after a meal at a nearby swanky restaurant, get stuck on the elevator, its air conditioning shutting off, despite no signs of the unit being defective. A little girl's doll is damaged by the elevator (luckily the child is just frightened by the "malfunction"). A member of the sanitation team is pulled into the elevator, later droppe...

  Kevin Tenney wisely stuck to directing as he was mighty stiff as Devon Lauder, hiring security personnel and a paranormal team to hopefully "cleanse" a bed and breakfast haunted by the evil spirit of a warlock named Avery Lauter (J.P. Luebsen). Linnea Quigley had quick work (I wonder if she was even on set more than a day) as a videographer for Judy Tatum's team, getting a shower (of course) after setting up equipment in the house, dropping all those clothes, totally naked, taking a showerhead to the throat. And, just like that, Quigley's time in the film was done. When I watched Witchtrap the first time, after Quigley dies, I immediately responded out loud, "That's it?!" On Tubi, the cover of the film has Quigley's face, so I could see how plenty of folks itching to see her would find Witchtrap as misleading. But I can't blame the distributors for wanting to capitalize on Quigley's stardom in that particular era. James W Quinn as the sta...

 Despite the numerous "Alien" (1979) similarities (plagiarism?), substituting space for a Mojave desert lab after the release of an apocalyptic chemical leak, I did find a few specific decisions rather potent and effective. First off, Andrew Stevens gives it the best leading man shot, while Treas as the scientist just knocks it out of the park. At a certain point towards the end, Stevens is badly wounded after the mutant creature scratches his leg (he had already sustained a shoulder injury), leaving him barely able to walk, more or less having to crawl, so Treas has to assume a scary chase, provoking the damned thing to pursue her through a level of ventilation to a ladder where a fan is available to use as a weapon...but she needs Stevens to make his way, by glacial crawl, to a switchboard before the creature can get to her. Andreef seems like the actress the film will focus as the heroine to Stevens' hero, but when the creature horribly rapes her (impregnating her), sh...

That cover caught my eyes, admittedly, as I was looking through a list of films for future viewing. Now this seductive cover features a woman not in the film. That is no doubt a disappointment, because I have such an attraction to this kind of woman, the Sherilyn Fenn beauty. I will say that Pamela Ludwig really held my attention any time she's on screen. Now the twist on her being a vampire wasn't the least bit surprising. Though Wings' "holy shit" reaction when she revealed her fangs cracked me up. Pamela pretends to be a friend of the victim that Wings uses to lure Chakiris to his home and the cell to imprison the visiting vampire, allowing herself to be "caught" so she could provide Chakiris with much needed blood and rejuvenation. The Vinegar Syndrome release really clears up the print and makes those blues pop even more. But the clarity also really enriches everything on screen. I think the vampire genre is a root cause for why I have such a fetish...

 So the dialogue has a lot of Quigley just mouthing off to the cast, either telling them to fuck off or to eat shit. And Buck Flower's colorful profanity must have been a chore for the USA Up All Night crew to "fix" for even the late night crowd who understood that the "naughty bits" were left out.  Okay, so I was about to go to sleep, but I did get some Up All Night nostalgia, with some great old footage uploaded to YouTube. There was Quigley mentioning that this film had gals with skimpy outfits fighting with one another, as Rhonda Shear retorts, "Our audience never goes for those type of films." There is no telling how many times Shear had to really squeak UP during her memorable tenure on USA as host. Much like Elvira, Shear is a member of my youth I very much appreciate. Shear and Quigley, a popular pair for the Up All Night audience. The imp didn't appreciate Quigley's attitude Buck with his intellectual response to a difficult situation ...

 This is a piece where I will link my past review on this blog and my IMDb user comments from March 2008. 2012 Blog Review My IMDb User comments: Biker/thief Spider(Linnea Quigley, punked out, but still a babe), vulgar and disgruntled most of the film, has to reluctantly join forces with nerdy Calvin(Andras Jones)to outsmart a demon imp released from his bowling trophy prison(!)who is turning college kids into ghouls and victims. It all starts when three dweebs, the aforementioned Calvin(drunken thanks to his dorky dorm pals), porky Jimmie(Hal Havins of "Night of the Demons" fame, as obnoxious as ever), and Keith(John Stuart Wildman..I have a bone to pick with this particular nerd, more on this joker in a moment)caught peeping on two sorority hopefuls, Taffy(Brinke Stevens, at her most delicious)and Lisa(Michelle Bauer..at the height of her sexual powers;but shamefully underused)naked in the bathroom, getting cleaned up after their paddlings and whipped creaming. Babs Peterso...

 I was thinking as I was revisiting Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988), I do believe I did catch this one on USA's Up All Night. I'm almost positive I did. Of course, what these three are ogling and drinking all in wasn't in that cut, for sure. I couldn't help but recognize how much easier it is to access this kind of film as of now as opposed to my youth. No way I could escape with this film in hand when I was renting films at 14. Nor should I, but as a teen I did get a general idea that the film had plenty of raunchy, naughty shenanigans left out in the version on USA. Still, just the same, it would encourage an interest to eventually locate it when of age. I was shaking my head, saying to myself, "Nope, this is very much a product of an era that will stay there unless it is porn shot 'off-Hollywood'" I saw the Full Moon Features logo pop up on Shudder as I was starting up this very silly nonsense, and later I read that Band come up w...

 Yeah, I think it is easy to say I've given a lot of time and thought to this sequel. Plenty of my peers would probably tell me maybe just a weeeeeee bit too much time.  I will say that Burr's direction seems to at least keep the spirit of what made the first film so successful. Thinking about it now, I'm shocked Terry O'Quinn would ever have agreed to come back and work on a sequel. I figured he was the caliber of actor -- and a hell of an actor he most definitely is -- who would want to distance himself from a sequel of what wasn't really a slasher film in the typical sense, although this guy he portrays is so unbalanced and ripe to explode at any given moment, at any given time, he's certainly a killer archetype of the genre.  I do really think Caroline Williams gives this sequel a great secondary character, a nosy but caring friend to the blue eyed Foster (I can't help but always mention those eyes: they grab my attention EVERY FUCKING TIME and I can...

 Getting the chance to see Berserker (1987) with a decent transfer (there is even an HD transfer on YouTube) on Tubi made a slight difference in my enjoyment of the film on a second viewing. Still, I'm a bit "blah" towards the Utah shot wilderness horror film, where a good bit of padding delays any real pulse-pounding impact. I didn't despise the cast as much as wish there had been more emphasis on terror.  I think it was about 45 minutes in before the threat really makes a presence. The title "man beast" mauls striking blond Engemann first, then turns his attention to luscious Touissant (Tasha Yar's sister on "Star Trek: The Next Generation") and her boyfriend, Alan Johnson ("The Slumber Party Massacre"). I was shocked to see Touissant completely nude while on top of Johnson and later beside him, even walking naked to her clothes...there was a scene earlier where the gang is swimming, having a good time, and Touissant starts to unlo...

 I went back to my previous review back in 2014. That was a special Sunday marathon I had. I've have plenty of those in my lifetime. Plenty.  2014 Review I had watched Slugs (1988) for my creature feature fix, then turned my attention to the Tubi available, The Unnamable (1988), a monster movie in a decaying, cob-webbed house with walls deteriorating, dust caked on the floors and rooms, and creaky doors barely hanging on the hinges. Of course, any Saturday afternoon with those first two films would be ideal for 80s horror nerds like me. I'm still a bit "eh" to The Unnamable, but that torn throat the director hangs his camera on with all the viscera and blood squirting into the actor's face (he has to squint even as he lays there, the character kicking the bucket on some dirty floor in the middle of an upper story of the seemingly abandoned Winthrop house, only there because he and his buddy wanted to get laid with the newest college gals, discovered in a library) ...

So this was on Tubi (the Arrow release print, I assume), and I was in the mood for a hideous creature feature by the infamous Simón of "Pieces" and "Cthulhu Mansion". I couldn't help but remain astonished at the sheer amount of assholes accumulated in one film. It could be the dubbing, the dialogue, or the way the characters constantly yell at (and insult) each other. Is everyone in Lyons, New York, so off-putting and crude?! I'll say this: the film definitely delivers the slugs. Lots and lots of slithering, slimy, gooey, blood thirsty slugs that crawl about and gather in large swaths of human-devouring colonies. Starting from the sewers of Lyons (where Simón shot the American scenes), eventually all these slugs start to emerge to infiltrate the lives of unsuspecting locals, leaving them flesh-eaten skeletal remains gushing geysers of blood. Yes, perfect entertainment for an early Saturday afternoon! And the sound effects for the slugs with that outrageously...