When you watch a lot of horror… too much? No, never… but a LOT of horror, especially stuff from back in the 80s, when you get to my age, the memory gets fuzzy and you can’t quite remember if you have seen stuff or not.
Now I am sure I saw a cover of a VHS of The Scaremaker, and the villain of the piece looks VERY familiar, but I’m just not sure if I have ACTUALLY seen this or not. I don’t think I saw the VHS cover in person though, it may have been in a magazine or something.
This film was directed by Robert Duebel who other than some American Playhouse stuff, didn’t seem to stay in genre filmmaking which honestly, and I’m burying the lead here some what, is probably for the best.
Lynn (Julia Montgomery) looks on in amusement
Every year at Dewitt College (played by Upsala College in New Jersey which closed in 1995… probably out of embarrassment), the sorority houses engage in a scavenger hunt the night after the basketball team win their championship game, and this year is no different!
The girls are looking forward to a lot of fun, and our tale follows Lynn (Julia Montgomery), Dawn (Suzanne Barnes), Sheila (Lauren-Marie Taylor), Jane (Laura Summer) and Kathy (Carrick Glenn), amongst others on the hunt but what they don’t realise is that they are being stalked by a manic who is dressed in a modified version of the school mascot, a bear… with knives installed in its paws.
Who will survive? Is it gory? Is nudity involved? Will we be entertained?
Carrick Glenn: what happened to you?
Ok, so I won’t answer the first question for spoiler reasons, but the answer to the last three questions is n not really, no and probably not.
This film does have a bit of blood in it and the killers costume, whilst clunky, is a standout, though probably impractical. It’s does not have the 80s slasher trope of nudity, which is unusual, and made even more weird by the slutty behaviour of some of the characters: you know what I mean, those female characters who usually flash, put out and then become victims. Right or wrong is not what I’m judging here, I’m just saying it’s an odd trend buck for the period of slasher films.
The janitor is going to be disappointed with the state of the locker room
Now the Bluray does make reference to the multiple sources to make this ‘complete’ version but whether it was the filmmaking or Arrow Videos sources, I found the film to be FAR to dark and some points. I also have to say it took me several goes to get through the film as I found myself getting bored through it. Actually, I did have fun spotting actors from other films that didn’t go on to become big names, and I was constantly saying stuff like ‘that’s the guy from Creepshow 2!
Girls Nite Out is strange in that it feels like a slasher made for or by Christian Television; there is this weird ‘nice’ vibe about it. Now I understand that ‘nice’ isn’t an insult in general, but it is meant as one here. This film commits the biggest crime a film can make; it’s just boring.
At least it had Carrick Glenn in it who I loved in The Burning.
The Arrow Video Bluray menu screen
Extras: It’s Arrow Video so of course there is a fine bunch of extras on this disc.
Commentary by Justin Karswell and Amanda Reyes
Staying Alive is an interview with actress Julie Montgomery who played Lynn Conners. She talks about her acting and modelling history and is delightfully animated and really engaging. A great interview.
A Savage Mauling is an interview with Laura Summer who played Jane. More fun recollections of the making of the film.
Alone in the Dark is another interview, this time with Lois Robbin’s who played Leslie Peterson. As above, so below.
It Was A Party! is yet another interview but this time with Paul Christie, who played Dancer, still more recollections and career reviews.
Love & Death is yet ANOTHER interview but with Lauren-Marie Taylor and John Didrichson, who played Sheila and Ralph respectively.
These interviews were great but the absence of Carrick Glenn, my favourite of this film and of the film The Burning, was disappointing!
Archival Interview is another interview with Julie Montgomery but from several years ago. More of the same, really.
Alternate Title Card shows the beginning but with The Scaremaker title card instead.
Original trailers gives us both a Girls Nite Out and a The Scaremaker trailer. The Girls Nite Out trailer is a bizarre thing as it features someone not in the film, talking about being scared.
Film: 3/10
Extras: 8/10
Rewatchability: 1/10, unless like me you couldn’t get through it in one go.
This is the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that Ovidio G. Assonitis (Man from Deep River) developed into a script, initially with Roberto Gandus (Macabre) until creative differences split them and it went to Stephen Blakely (his only credit according to IMDB) to finish. Assonitis also took on the role of director for this film.
Patricia Mickey as Julie Sullivan
Madhouse, aka There was A little Girl, is probably better known as one of the films on the 39 notorious prosecuted Video Nasty films in the UK in 1984, along with better known films as I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left. There’s an amazing documentary about these films by Jake West called Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape from 2010 which really digs into the nitty gritty of the whole time which I can’t recommend enough! There’s also a sequel which furthers the history called Video Nasties: Draconian Days, also worth a watch.
Madhouse tells the tale of Julia Sullivan (Patricia Mickey) is a young and successful schoolteacher at a school for the deaf, living in Savannah, Georgia. As her birthday approaches, she’s haunted by the traumatic memories of her childhood and her violent, disturbed twin sister, Mary (Allison Biggers). The two were inseparable as children until Mary’s increasingly erratic behavior, included cruel violence and resentment towards her sister, led to her being institutionalised.
Enter porno-stached male lead, Sam (Michael MacRae)
Years later, Julia learns that Mary has escaped from the asylum.
Suddenly, people close to Julia begin turning up dead in brutal ways. As Julia’s sanity begins to unravel, she’s drawn into a terrifying game of cat and mouse, where family secrets, religious guilt, and deep psychological scars collide in a house filled with darkness.
In the final, twisted confrontation, Julia must face not only her deranged sister but the truth about her past—and survive a birthday she’ll never forget…
My first question is… how the heck have I never seen this film? It reminds me of The Burning in so much as it ignores the standard tropes of the slasher films that, at the time of release, were becoming popular and did something a little different. The story is engaging and interesting and the cast are great.
Seriously, don’t trust a dog in a horror movie
I understand why it was a video nasty as it has come violence against children and some animal cruelty, even though the animal is obviously fake, so be warned if that sort of stuff effects your enjoyment.
Not me though, I loved it. I’m sure it’s going to become a regular on my movie rewatch rotation!
The menu screen for the Madhouse Bluray
Extras: Arrow Video consistently provide good extras and this disc is no exception!
Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues
Running the Madhouse is an interview with Edith Ivey, who played Amantha (come on, is it Samantha or Amanda: pick a lane), the landlord in the film. There is some very nice recollections on the making of the film and the language issues between cast and crew.
Framing Fear is an interview with cinematographer Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli and he goes through his career and the making of Madhouse.
Ovidio Nasty talks about the film and the response in the UK in 1984.
Alternate Opening Titles and Original Trailer are nice additions.
Arrow Video’s Bluray release of David Lynch’s Dune.
I became a fan of the Frank Herbert novels of Dune because of this film. Prior to seeing this film the only sci-fi I’d read were comics, and maybe some Star Wars novels, some H. G. Wells or Jules Verne and even more comics as I mainly read crime and mystery novels prior, but this film politely took me into a dark room, sat me down and explained to me that sci-fi concepts can be so much more than just space war, invisible men, submarines, and aliens who can fly and try to help mankind.
Frank Herbert’s Dune was first published as a serial in Analog Science Fiction Magazine in 1963 but was compiled into novel form, released in 1965. It is the first part of an entire series of books set in this universe, and won both the 1966 Nebula Award and Hugo Award.
The story of Dune is incredibly nuanced and has so much involved that a simple plot synopsis is hard to explain with a 20,000 word review which would get a pile of ‘TLDR’ comments so I shall try to simplify it.
Kyle McLachlan as Paul Atriedes
In the far, far, far future, mankind has banned all ‘thinking machines’ (i.e. computers), and mankind has become reliant on two other forms of technology: machines of war and ESP. Mankind has formed its government into something of a feudal system, called the Imperium, and constant push and pulls of territory are always happening, either through diplomacy or all out war.
One planet of particular interest is Arrakis, a desert planet that has a drug called ‘melange’ on it, which prolongs life (something all kings have wanted throughout time) and when excessively taken, can mutate the body and mind, a side-effect being that individuals are able to fold space for rapid space travel.
A spice navigator seeks an audience with the Emperor
Behind the scenes of all of humanity’s politics are the Bene Gesserit, a religious order controlling everything, and this is where our story begins…
Yep, this was just the background one requires to understand what comes next… blimey!
Our film tells of the family of House Atriedes, led by Duke Leto (Jürgen Prochnow), his partner (described as a concubine) Lady Jessica (Francesca Annis) and their son, Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) who have been instructed by the Emperor (José Ferrer) to travel to the planet of Arrakis to take over the production of the spice, melange, known to extend life and give amazing powers to those who take it.
What Leto does not know is that the Emperor is intending to start a war on Arrakis between House Atriedes and the villainous House Harkonnen, presided over by the horrifying Baron Harkonnen ( Kenneth McMillan) so that he can have him killed as an act of war.
Kenneth McMillan as Baron Harkonnen
What NO ONE knows is though, is that Paul has powers of his own, hidden deep within him, and his visions of a life on Arrakis become more intense as war looms…
It’s hard to do a synopsis of this first version of Dune, directed by David Lynch, as it in itself is merely a 2 hour synopsis of a book that goes into far greater detail of the politicking and the war that happens. Lynch’s directorial work here is almost dreamlike, and realistically, like most people who saw it when it was first released, it became a tasting platter for big bold science fiction and turned so many of us onto Frank Herbert’s work.
I love the cast in the film. I feel that almost everyone is amazing in their roles but at a pinch, I must say that I think the Fremen, the people who live on Arrakis, this dry, arid world that appears to be difficult to survive upon, won’t quite look right. As much as I like Everett McGill and Sean Young, I feel they don’t look like people who have survived this weather. I feel they have just emerged from a street in Hollywood.
It’s such an unusual cast as well; a mixture of young and seasoned actors, and even a pop music star in Sting, playing Harkonnen’s nephew Feyd, all are fabulous in their roles and it almost feels at times like an elaborate stage production in its presentation.
Smoke belching chimneys on House Harkonnen’s home planet
Speaking of its presentation, the look of the film is the big win for me. Impossibly large spaceships that look torn from gothic architecture. Ships that are sleek and according to physics, would be impossible to fly on any planet with any sorts of atmosphere. Interiors that mix that gothic architecture with art deco, Victorian, maximalist and brutalism, and then also have Industrial Revolution styled smoke and gas belching from bizarre chimneys. Each of these lands match the personality of their families, and even as House Atriedes moves from a water filled world to that of Dune, the entire family structure alters: the change in environment changing them to their very core.
Ridiculously gigantic architecture in space
The problem with this film though, is something I stated earlier: it’s a summary. Films adapted from books almost always adjust little portion, both for timing and storytelling issues, and sometimes just because the screenwriter or studio thinks they should put their own stamp upon it – they should not – and the problem Lynch had here was time, and even though it’s a visual feast with a stunning choice of actors, it does suffer for it. The film has so much information in the first third, that the rest of the film speeds by at a speed that doesn’t pause to explain intentions and the ideas of the world.
I have recently been conversing with a friend who saw I was watching this film and he was surprised by how high my Letterboxd score was for it, but he did not grow up with it. He is of a post-Lord of the Rings age where people are prepared to watch almost impossibly long films that are divided up into trilogies, instead of filmmakers having to be creative and working within their time limits. Even look at the Marvel films: these aren’t individual films but are actual comics themselves with their periodical releases. As long as the whiz-bang, Disney-fied action film structure is maintained and there is no opportunity to get bored, or more importantly, craft story, people are happy, which is why cinema is in such a poor state, and why the world is a lesser place without talents like David Lynch in it.
I constantly criticise people for allowing movie companies to manipulate their nostalgia with remakes and sequels, and my score below reflects more my nostalgia for this film than its actual quantity or accuracy of translation from the book, but I stand by that score regardless.
Arrow Video’s Bluray menu
Extras:
There are two audio commentaries, one by Paul M. Sammon, author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner and former studio executive, amongst other roles in cinema production, and another by Mike White, from The Projection Booth Podcast. Between these two commentaries you don’t just get a good look at the production of the film, but a history of the De Laurentiis family, and Hollywood itself. Both fascinating!
Impressions of Dune is a 2003 retrospective on the making of the film, with input from MacLachlan, De Laurentiis, Freddie Francis (cinematographer) and Antony Gibbs (editor), Harlan Ellison (author) and David Anson (film critic).
Designing Dune talks about David Lynch and Tony Masters (Production designer) and the collaborative process they went through to achieve the look of the film.
Dune FX looks, obviously at the special effects of the film and what an effort it was to create a movie with so much necessary effects on a budget.
Dune Models and Miniatures is a piece I’m interested in as in addition to doing this glorious website, I also make and paint models. Some amazing builds for sure!!
Dune Costumes as you would expect, looks at the magnificent outfits created for the film which are still impressive today.
Deleted Scenes with an Introduction by Raffaella de Laurentiis has ten deleted scens and also talks about the mythical Director’s cut that was supposed to go for 4 hours.
Destination Dune is a hype feature from the 80s gearing people up to the release of Dune.
There is a bunch of Trailers and TV Spots and a series of Image Galleries, which normally I would criticise, but in this case there are various production designer and poster art involved as well just just behind the scenes claptrap. These image galleries are done as a slide show.
Sean Young as Chani
Film: 8/10
Extras: 10/10
Rewatchability: 10/10
This Arrow Video release Bluray was purchased from Metal Movies.
I have suddenly realised how hard it is to continue to discuss a series of films that has gone on as long as the Friday films did without repeating oneself. I will endeavour to do so.
The Friday the 13th films are staples of the horror diet, along with Halloweens, A Nightmare on Elm Sts and even Saws and The Conjurings (even though I don’t rate any of the films in The Conjuring universe, I appreciate how important they are in the horror genre) and you can almost guarantee that any horror fan with have seen one of each of the franchise, and even may like at least one as well.
Friday the 13th Part 3 was a victim of the success of the first two films though they needed a gimmick. Unfortunately, it was decided to make a 3D film rather than to make a film with a good story. For me this is an immediate drawback as I detest 3D films, mainly due to my eyesight not being fantastic and preferring not to wearing the stupid glasses, and in that preference, having to watch a film in 2D where the actors spend the whole time stick things into the camera lens to give the 3D fans something to gawk at.
Friday the 13th Part 3 was written by Martin Kitrosser and Carol Watson and was directed by Steve Miner, who also directed Part 2, and takes place the day after the events from Friday Part 2… so I guess this is ACTUALLY a Saturday the 14th film…
Dana Kimmell as Chris
Anyway, the story tells of Chris (Dana Kimmell) who is returning to her family’s country home after an absence of two years due to some trauma she encountered… which will get revealed later!
She is joined by a bunch of friends as support, but they are also secretly joined on her property by a biker gang that friends Shelley (Larry Zerner) and Vera (Catherine Parks) accidentally cross when getting some groceries for the weekend. Her country love interest, Rick (Paul Kratka) also meets up with them.
Richard Brooker as Jason
The problem is, though, that Jason Voorhees, fresh off the massacre at Camp Crystal Lake, is still hunting through the woods for more prey, and when he comes across the farmhouse, he’s ready to create more carnage.
The story is so generic it’s almost parody, but this film does have the honour of being the film that gave Jason his iconic hockey mask look, which no doubt has made the owners of the licence millions of merchandising cash over the years, not to mention the NHL-affiliated companies probably scored some extra sales as well with sports gear.
Jason’s takes a helping hand from Ali (Nick Savage)
Unfortunately I actually don’t rate this Friday very high because of all the distracting 3D rubbish. I means it’s an 80s slasher so high production values and academy award winning acting are less a priority over boobies and blood, and the story really isn’t any worse or better than any other slasher, but the fact the film almost comes to a complete halt every time someone wants to poke something at the camera. What makes it worse is that this Bluray doesn’t have a 3D option so it’s literally just a 2D version of a 3D film.
I still rewatch it regularly, but only as the pathway to part 4.
The menu screen to the Australian Bluray
Extras:
Fresh Cuts: 3D Terror looks at the reasons why they decided to go 3D with this film, with various comments from Peter Bracke, the author of Crystal Lake Memories and people who worked on the film. With the Crystal Lake Memories doco and book being such a definitive guide to the series, a twelve minute peek is barely scratching the surface.
Legacy of the Mask is about the look of Jason Voorhees, and how it evolved over the film series, including the origins of the infamous hockey mask.
Slasher Films: Going for the Jugular has a bunch of movie industry people discussing the key ingredients for a slasher film.
Lost Tales of Camp Blood Parts 2 and 3 is a couple of amateurish ‘further tales’ of Jason. Skip this junk.
There is also the trailer for the film.
Film: 3/10
Extras: 5/10
Rewatchability: 5/10
The town crazy from the previous film was just immediately replaced.
Film: So here’s the thing. I have always tried to make my reviews at minimum 500 words long so that at least there appears to be some kind of substance to my writing, but what does one write about a film that had SO much written about it over the years, not to mention countless YouTube videos and Instagram posts. I basically have two choices: start with a long preamble about what new could be written about a 45 year old horror classic to get to the hundred word mark, or just reflect on my thoughts in the film, and how much it means to me, not just as a singular film, but as a series.
Or I could do both!
As you well know, Friday the 13th was released in 1980, was written by Victor Miller and directed by Sean S. Cunningham and is one of the early slashers that spawned not just hundreds of imitators, but a load of sequels, merchandise, and most of all, horror fans.
Now I always do a plot synopsis at this point of the review and I shall here again, just in case there is that single person who has never seen Friday the 13th though i wonder why you would be here on this mainly horror and cult movie website.
(It has since been pointed out to me that this review, even though it is for a horror classic, is actually 45 years old, and how many films did I watch as a young horror fan that were 45 years old. My answer to that was bloody heaps of them, because 40 odd years before when I first became a horror fan was the 40s, when a shed load of amazing horror and sci-fi came out so there’s no excuse.)
Adrienne King as Alice
Friday the 13th tells of Alice (Adrienne King) a young woman helping to get a new summer camp open at Crystal Lake, run by her maybe boyfriend Steve (Peter Brouwer), and the other councillors (including Kevin Bacon before he was cured properly).
The final councillor who is supposed to arrive, Annie (Robbie Morgan) has disappeared on her way to the camp though, and we, the viewers, know that she has been murdered by an unidentified assailant who picked her up as she was hitchhiking on her way there.
Steve disappears into town to collect supplies after Annie is a no-show, and very quickly, the workers start getting picked off one by one. As the body count rises, we are left to wonder… who is the murderer? Is it one of the councillors? Could it be Steve? Maybe Ralph (Walt Gorney), the town crazy… who knows?
Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) cuts sick
I can’t express just how important this film is too me. I have so much Friday the 13th stuff in my house: board games, soundtracks on vinyl, action figures of multiple characters, my first Fright Rags tshirt was a Jason one, and the thing that got me interested in vinyl model kits as a teen was a really cool one from the Japanese company Billiken, and then one from Screamin’ soon after.
This is the thing, though: most of that stuff is of Jason Voorhees… and not of the killer in this film. This is it, this is an important film and it launched a whole pile of stuff that i love… but it is not my favourite Friday the 13th film. It is violent and exciting and the cast in it are fine, the soundtrack is amazing and the gore effects are heaps of fun, but its a low budget film and it does show.
Just to clarify I do not thing this film is bad or worthless as it is not, but what it is is the beginning of something that i came to love as a horror fan.
If I am to criticise this holiest of holies in the horror genre, it’s just for a few things. The acting is quite horrible here and there, not all the cast, but a few of them have a very low score in the skill marker for this. That’s ok though, it’s a cheap horror film from the 80s and realistically, we don’t always expect too much and it adds to the charm.
No matter the horror film, Annie (Robbie Morgan) always dies
My second criticism is I feel the film occasionally, in my mind anyway, posits itself as being a whodunnit insomuch as I feel like we are supposed to be guessing who the killer is, like an Argento film or even a Hitchcock, but even though we are introduced to a bunch of weird characters in town with Annie, including crazy Carl, and even have a few moments where some of the councillors seem a bit off, like after one of them kills a snake and there is a lingering look at him musing on the creatures execution, when the reveal happens, everyone goes ‘who the hell is this?’ I keep coming back to this and looking for some kind of a clue but either it’s not there or I am simply a freaking idiot.
The latter is infinitely possible.
I have a lot of affection for this film, but if somebody said to me “want to watch a Friday the 13th film? Your choice!’, this would not be my go-to flick. That’s not to say it’s not a horror classic or it deserves to be rewatched regularly either.
The menu screen for the film
Disc: There is a huge bunch of extras on this disc and whilst I appreciate the volume of content, I must admit that any extra on a Friday the 13th film is overshadowed by the amazing Crystal Lake Memories documentary and accompanying book (or vise versa). These extras are good ON THIS DISC but that doco offers so much more behind the scenes stuff that without plumbing that well, its hard to have original stuff.
Theres a decent Commentary by Sean S. Cunningham but its most of the same anecdotes you’ve heard before: hosted by Peter M. Bracke.
Return to Crystal Lake: The Making of Friday the 13th is fine, but as I stated previously, watch Crystal Lake Memories instead.
A Friday the 13th Reunion is a reunion from 2008 at a convention of Tom Savini, Ari Lehman, Victor Miller, Betsy Palmer, Harry Manfredini and Adrienne King. It’s a cute piece but it’s all the anecdotes you’ve heard before.
The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham is a short interview with Cunningham on his work.
Lost Tales from Camp Blood Part 1 was written and directed by Andrew Ceperley and it’s an amateurish take of the Friday the 13th movies: I have no idea why it’s on here.
The Friday the 13th Chronicles is more of the same with the same anecdotes but was probably of a previous DVD release.
Secrets Galore Behind the Gore is a very Quick Look at the for through the eyes of Cunningham and Savini.
Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th is again, interesting but not a great deal of fresh material.
There’s also a trailer.
Marcie (JeannineTaylor) axed the wrong question
Film: 7/10
Extras: 10/10 (with the aforementioned caveat)
Rewatchability: 10/10
This film was reviewed with the Australian Bluray release, purchased from JB Hifi.
I make massive attempts to not be a gatekeeper when it comes to horror. I am almost definitively a live and let live guy. Manos The Hand of Fate is the best horror film ever? Ok, sure thing pal. There’s nothing scarier than an Annabelle film? No worries, junior.
There is a caveat and that is Italian horror: you don’t like it, I doubt your horror cred, sorry, that’s just the way it is. Is it because I’m an arsehole? Maybe. Is it generational? Definitely.
For those who don’t know, let this Gen X dinosaur explain who Lucio Fulci was. Lucio Fulci was an Italian movie director who made his first film, a comedy, in 1959 and was in the middle of making the movie The Wax Mask in 1997 when he tragically passed away, a film eventually finished by Sergio Stivaletti.
Fulci is best know for his horror and giallo films of the 70s and 80s. Such films as the thrillers Lizard in a Woman’s Skin and Don’t Torture a Duckling, the slasher New York Ripper and what most horror films of a particular generation know him for, three unrelated in story but tonally equivalent City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and this one, The House By The Cemetery.
MacColl and Frezza
The House by the Cemetery tells of Dr Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco), his wife Lucy (Catriona MacColl, though listed in the credits as ‘Katherine’) and son, Bob (Giovanni Frezza) are moving to a strange house in New Whittby, Massachusetts so Norman can continue the work of his ex-colleague Dr. Peterson, a man who murdered his partner and then himself.
Strangely, Bob has been having strange visions of a girl named Mae Freudstein (Sylvia Collatina) who has been consistently warning him away from going to the house, something a child obviously has no control over.
Pieroni is up to no good, or is she? It’s not really explained…
Odd things keep happening though as Norman is recognised by several locals even though he claims to have never been there before, and the basement of the house is locked and boarded up… well, it was until babysitter Ann (Anita Pieroni) inexplicably removes the boards one night, but what is down there?
What is going on in the house? What do Bob’s visions have to do with it all? Is there someone else living in the house, or maybe someTHING is dwelling in the basement…
Honestly, I can’t tell you what the hell is going on in this film. There is so much stuff that’s unexplained like characters looking knowingly at each other like co-conspirators, but there time travel involved, are these ghosts… so many questions, so few answers.
Headcheese
I feel like Fulci was trying to make Norman some kind of enigmatic character like Jack from The Shining. All of the recognition from the locals is quite obvious and yet it is not even slightly explored. I kept expecting the film to end with a photo of the house from the 1800s with him standing out the front. It’s never exploited outside of the strange side-eyes and ‘have you been here before?’
There is a lot of fun gore though, and the dubbing of some characters, particularly Bob, is so laughable that it makes the movie even more fun to watch, and between those two things, all that confusion with the script washes away and it just become dumb entertainment.
Whilst this certainly isn’t top level Fulci, it IS infinitely rewatchable: I don’t know why, but it is! Yet another thing I don’t understand about this film!
The menu screen for the bluray
Disc: There’s 4 interviews and a featurette on this disc.
Back to the Cellar is an interview with Giovanni Frezza aka Bob.
Cemetery Woman is a decent interview with Catriona MacColl. Lots of memories of Fulci here.
Finishing the Final Fulci is an interview with Sergio Stivaletti and him taking over the directorial role of Fulci’s final film, The Wax Mask, after he passed away.
Freudstein’s Follies is an interview with Gianetto De Rossi, the special effects man for the film.
Ladies of Horror is a look at various Italian horror movie stars.
These are all High Riding Productions shorts which are all directed by Calum Waddell whom usually works for Arrow Video with these shorts so I am assuming they have been purchased by Cinema Cult for this disc.
All interesting but of varying lengths. There is probably a really good solid singular feature about Fulci in here somewhere, but these shorts have some great anecdotes in them.
Film: 6/10
Extras: 8/10
Rewatchability: 10/10
The real estate agent realises the housing crisis is worse than she thought!
This Australian Bluray was purchased from JB Hifi.
The main game of Psycho Killer and it’s expansions
Several weeks ago, I did a review for a fun card game called “Psycho Killer’ from Escape Tabletop Games. The kind people from VR Distribution in Australia saw this review and kindly offered me a copy of each of the expansions to review.
If you wish to read that review, you can find it here: Psycho Killer Card Game – go back and read that first before embarking in this review.
The three expansions
In that original review, I do criticise the game for being packed in a far-too-big box for how small the game is, and when I saw how small these expansions are I assumed they would fit in the box with the original cards, which they do, but only if you remove the inserts that hold the original cards in place, or you can take these cards out and throw them in the box which would be a shame, because the audio cassette/ Walkman boxes are pretty cool.
Just on that: the boxes for these expansions ARE cool, but make no sense thematically. The original game, set around slasher films of the 80s come in a video tape, which is bang on for theme, but these seem to be more about the box art theme of the original rather than the game theme. Sure they all look cool together, but I just don’t get it.
The three expansions are called Gratuitous Violence, Z and Bloody Mary.
Psycho Killer: Gratuitous Violence
Gratuitous Violence is our first expansion, and it adds a much more combative experience. There are 15 cards in this little tiny box, all marked with a ‘V’ so if you want to play the game WITHOUT these cards, they are easily removed.
First, it adds a Psycho Creature to the pile, if you draw this guy, you don’t just drop all your weapons, you also take one from each other player… yikes! Save Yourself allows you to force another player to draw your last card instead of you. Creepy Local let’s you try to steal a particular card from another players hand. I Know What You’ll Do Next Summer let’s you look at rearrange the top three cards so you can pick who gets what for the next three hands, and finally, three ranged weapons (Flame Thrower, Crossbow and Hunting Rifle (not pictured)) which have the unique ability of the player holding them being able to put them on another players weapon pile to increase THEIR score.
An example of the cards from Gratuitous Violence
As you can see, these cards add a really nasty, attack-other-players element to the game, and the word “BAST-AAAAAAAAARD” will be exclaimed often. Also, the addition of the extra cards means that the player count can be increased to 7, so you can make even more people angry!
Score: ****
Psycho Killer: Z
Z is the next expansion, and adds a zombie apocalypse to the threat of a Psycho Killer. Again, this card adds enough cards to the deck so you can increase the player count to 7, but whereas Gratuitous Violence was all about attaching other players, this is all about you as an individual.
This expansion is all about getting infected by a zombie virus, and then trying to get rid of it to another player. The weapon cards in this expansion are all zombie attacks (Bite, Scratch and Swarm) but they don’t get played when a Psycho Killer attacks, but instead they get played when you draw an Infected card, and you will keep playing those cards as long as you are infected.
Some of the cards from Z
You can get rid of the card though, with either a The Cure card, in which you shuffle it back into the deck (keeping your wounds), a Supply Run card, were the player takes one card from every players hand (maybe they’ll take that infected card) and the Patient Zero Psycho Killer card, where you distribute your cards to the other players. There is also a Shallow Grave card, which can be swapped with the top card on the discard pile; got an Infected card? Swap it with a played The Cure, if you are lucky!
This expansion is hilariously self-destructive, but the zombie injury cards are affected by the Band Aids and Stitches cards from the main game, also cards like Let’s Split, Drop Your Keys and Disarm can also be a way to rid yourself of the Infected card.
Score: ****
The box for Psycho Killer: Bloody Mary
Bloody Mary is the final expansion, and it turns Psycho Killer into a drinking game! The first thing one must do to play this game as a drinking game, is to remove all the Psycho Killers and Weapons cards from the base game, and replace them with the Bloody Mary cards, and the Drink cards. The scoring is still the same, except when someone gets a Bloody Mary card, everyone has to take as many sips of their drink as the points on the card say. For example, if you got a Bloody Mary (+3 points) and placed a Beer card with it (+1), you would take 4 sips of your drink.
This game also adds ‘Character Cards’ to the mix as well. While you have a character card in your hand, you must take on the persona of that card. For example, if you have The Bartender in your hand, it’s your job to keeps everyone’s drinks filled, The Final Girl stops you from taking a drink, and The Jock allows you to pick a member of your frat, and they have to drink whenever you drink. These character cards make for an interesting experiment in the game, and even cards like Play Dead allows you to keep a character card should the opportunity come up where a character is to be removed, which is whenever a Bloody Mary is played.
A sample of cards from Bloody Mary
There’s also other drink-oriented cards like Pass Out Under the Bed, where instead of drawing a card to end your turn, you take a drink, and Splatter, where everyone must keep drinking their drink until they finish theirs, or you finish yours!
I’d like to point out at this point of the review, that the To Watch Pile encourages everyone to drink responsibly, look out for your buddies and please, don’t drink and drive.
This box also has a bunch of blank cards do you can create your own Psycho Killers: maybe your deck needs a Cropsy (drink a flaming sambuca), or a Madman Mars (you have to spend 5 minutes awkwardly in a spa with another person while terrible music plays), or even a Norman Bates (player wears a wig and impersonates their mother until the next Psycho Killer is drawn).
I have to make the points on this one a bit lower than the others for two reasons. One, the re-jiggery-pokery of the deck on setup is never a fun way to start a game, though the makers of the game have labelled all the cards with a little Bloody Mary so they are easily removed. The other issue is that it narrows the game to drinkers only, so under-18s are immediately left out as are non-drinkers. I think games are better when they appeal to a wider audience, and this narrows it. Don’t get me wrong, the actual mechanics of the drinking in this expansion are fun, but a non-drinker in your board game club isn’t going to get anything out of it. Also, it’s a shame the character cards weren’t in other expansions with non-alcohol related things for them to do, like maybe a ‘Lovers’ card who divide damage equally or something like that.
Score: **
These expansions all have a recommended retail of about $19.95, and I think the Gratuitous Violence and Z boxes are certainly worth it, even though the contents of the box don’t seem to be much. They do add fun extra elements of gameplay with a small amount of components. The Bloody Mary expansion I probably wouldn’t worry too much about, but I do like that you can make your own Psycho Killers! People whose board game nights turn into orgies of liquor might enjoy it.
I’d just like to offer a thank you to the people at VR Distribution for allowing me an opportunity to review their product.
The cover of the 88 Films release on Bluray of Paganini Horror
Film: It’s funny how no matter how well versed you think you are in a genre, sometimes a film may just slip through your fingers.
Honestly, before the release of this soundtrack on vinyl I had never heard of this film, and I like to think of myself as a fan of writer/ director Luigi Cozzi as well, consider my affection for Contamination, The Black Cat, Starcrash and the documentary Dario Argento: Master of Horror.
(On a side note: it is a mission of mine to one day visit his horror store in Rome, Profundo Rosso)
Kate (Jasmine Maimone) sings an awful rip of of a Bon Jovi song
Kate (Jasmine Maimone) is used to writer hit songs, but has hit a dry spell that she can’t seem to come out of, and it’s suggested to her that perhaps she find someone to write her a new hit song.
Her drummer, Daniel (Pascal Persiano) makes a deal with a Mr. Pickett (Donald Pleasance, but dubbed by someone else which makes for a decidedly unsettling performance) to get a piece of unpublished music by Nicolo Paganini, the 19th century violinist who was said to have made a deal with the devil!
They decide to make an elaborate music clip in an old house owned by Sylvia Hackett (Daria Niccolodi), directed by a horror movie director, Mark Singer (Pietro Genuardi). The band are excited by the prospect of doing a Michael Jackson/ Thriller-styled clip, but very quickly things go awry.
Maimone, Niccolodi and Pleasance – triple threat
Daniel and Rita (Luanda Ravegnini) go missing and bizarre supernatural things start happening, but is it some kind of curse from the Paganini music, or is the old house somehow involved, and what does this all have to do with the murder that is committed by a young girl upon her mother that we witnessed in the prologue?
This whole thing looks like a weird, 90 minute film clip for a song like Guns ‘n’ Roses November Rain, and being totally honest, it’s so boring it took me several goes to get through it. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew Pleasance and Niccolodi appeared again towards the end, I probably would not have finished it at all, and this review wouldn’t exist.
I do normally like Cozzi’s film no matter how low the budget is, but this is just awful. The only reason to own this disc is for the excellent commentary by Troy Howarth.
Avoid.
Score: *
Paganini Horror’s Bluray menu screen
Extras: There’s some very interesting extras on this disc:
Commentary by Troy Hogarth, the writer of three volumes of So Deadly, So Perverse, a book series about the history of giallo films, so it makes him the perfect person to do a commentary about this film, and it’s a stunningly informative piece.
Bloody Violin: Luigi Cozzi on Paganini Horror sees the writer/ director reminisce about the origins of the film, and the journey to completing the production. He also discusses where his film sits in the history of gialli and Italian cinema.
Interview with Pietro Genuardi is a look back with the actor, over his career and his performance as Mark Singer in this film. Some interesting anecdotes about making films in the late 80s in Italy.
There is also a trailer for the film.
Score: ****
WISIA: Nope. I regret watching it once.
The spirit of Paganini himself haunts the grounds
This movie was reviewed using the 88 Films Bluray release.
Film: If you have been enjoying all those Marvel movies, and other movies based on comic properties you basically have this film to thank.
Tim Burton’s Batman film, released in 1989, wasn’t just a film, it was a phenomenon. Today, the idea of making a super-hero film is an easy one, especially if you have the initials ‘DC’ or the world ‘Marvel’ attached to it. Even non-superhero comic based franchises have successfully launched with things like Riverdale (loosely based on Archie comics), The Walking Dead (based on the Image comics) and the Edgar Wright helmed Scott Pilgrim Vs the World (based on Brian Lee O’Malley’s comic) all finding various degrees of success. Back then, comics were ‘still for kids’ and the idea of making a film that would be successful, based on a comic, wasn’t something taken too seriously. The first two Superman films had set a standard, that like this series of films, the final two didn’t stand up to, and Batman was also a hard character to make a serious film of because most people remembered him as the character from the campy TV series of the 60s.
When the producers had decided to make a film more like the comics rather than the TV show, that was dark, and really tapped into the ideas of justice and fear, and they accidentally found that people who had grown up with both the comics and action films of the 80s were prepared to take it seriously, even though they had director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton, both who gave us the comedy Beetlejuice. The announcement of character actor Jack Nicolson performing the role of the villain The Joker, a perennial favourite from the comics, made ‘proper’ film fans sit up and really take notice, as did the inclusion of other actors like Jack Palance, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough and Pat Hingle.
(NB: I remember being horrified by the casting of Keaton in the title role, and not until I saw him on the cover of an issue of American science fiction film magazine Starlog did I actually see that Warner Bros were taking this film seriously.)
Vicki Vale and Batman
I was already a comic fan when this came out, having been a fan since the early 1970s, and I saw it in a dingy little cinema in a small country called Orange in country New South Wales, and went in a skeptic, but emerged, reborn, as a lover, and I wasn’t alone, as Batmania hit and there possible wasn’t a man or woman on the planet who didn’t have at least one little tiny piece of Batman-based paraphernalia in their cupboards.
The film struck all the right chords at the right time, like Beatlemania before it, and Spicemania soon after… comic nerds weren’t the outcasts anymore, they became historians, and even the comic industry had a temporary boom, with new store and titles popping up all over the place.
…but what is this film about?
Well, (and I’m sure I don’t really have to tell you) this film tells of the Batman (Michael Keaton), a creature of the night who I stills fear into the heart of the crooks of Gotham City with a campaign of fear.
What no-one knows about the Batman is, is that he is actually millionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne, who has started this campaign of justice as he has suffered severe mental trauma as a child when he watched his parents, Thomas and Martha, brutally murdered in front of him.
There’s other shenanigans happening in Gotham city though, as crimelord Grissom (Jack Palance) has decided to have his second-in-charge, the extraordinarily vain Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) taken down by the police for bedding his girlfriend, Alicia (Jerry Hall).
The Joker in his finery
The tip-off goes awry, and instead of being killed by corrupt cop Lieutenant Elkhart (William Hootkins), Napier falls into a vat of chemicals which damages his face so bad that it drives him mad, and he become a self described homicidal artist, The Joker, with an intention, and the means, of killing the citizens of Gotham City.
Batman has to stop his terrible plans, but the Joker isn’t his only problem, as investigative journalists Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) and photographer Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) are hot on the tale of revealing his secret identity…
It’s a classic Batman tale, with the Joker having a nefarious scheme and the Batman requiring some detective work to figure out his game, something some more modern Bat-films have been lacking as he appears to be more a thug who beats up the mentally challenged before locking them up in an asylum where security is obviously lacklustre. It’s a shame these films don’t lean more into the Detective side, when you consider he is ‘the Dark Knight Detective’…
The cast is an interesting mix and are great together, Robert Wuhl providing some surpassingly non-annoying comedy relief, which is occasionally foiled brilliantly by Michael Keaton’s surprising straight man in Bruce Wayne: the ‘give Knox a grant’ line is a set-up that you don’t even know exists until the payoff. Great work from writer Sam Hamm.
Burton’s direction and style drips through the entire proceedings like molasses, sweet and dark, and in combination with Anton Furst’s spectacular design and Danny Elfman’s dark score, it’s like being front row and the sole occupant of a Cure concert. The juxtaposition of Prince’s songs throughout the film make for interesting pops of audible colour that suit the bright appearances of the Joker perfectly, which are both visually and rally appealing and a strange evil light in all the darkness of the good guys and the city in which they live.
One can’t comment on colour within this film without mentioning not just Basinger’s portrayal of Vicki Vale, which is not just another ‘straight man’ role for Wuhl, but also represents us in i converting Bruce Wayne’s tragic backstory. Her appearance in predominantly bright tones and white make her an Angel of salvation not just for the troubled Bruce, but a piece of forbidden fruit for the Joker also.
I could rave about this film forever. I simply love it, and it also reminds me of a time when even though a movie was based on a serialised comic book, which are essentially soap-operas, movies are more story driven and not everything needs to be squeezed into one two hour flick. Nor does it require a cavalcade of other heroes from within the comics to support the main character because they aren’t interesting enough, and most importantly, to watch one film, you don’t need to have seen 30 others and have 2 streaming subscription services to know what’s going on with superfluous characters… it’s doesn’t need to pander to the meme/ Instagram crowd for ‘lols’.
Score: *****
The menu screen for the disc
Extras: There really is an amazing bunch of extras on this Bluray disc:
Commentary by Tim Burton, which really looks at his creative process behind the film and a few little bits and pieces you may have missed upon your initial viewings. It’s an interesting look at his creative process.
On the Set with Bob Kane sees Batman creator Bob Kane on set of the Batman film, talking about his (and Bill Fingers) creations.
Legends of the Dark Knight: The History of Batman sees interviews with comic book writers and artists, like Bob Kane, Stan Lee, Mike Mignola and Harlan Ellison, and comic book historians and filmmakers, including the driving force behind this film, Michael E. Uslan, who wrote The Boy Who Loved Batman.
Shadows of the Bat:The Cinematic Saga
Part 1: The Road to Gotham City looks at the genesis of this Batman film which dated all the way back to when the first Superman film came out in the late 70s.
Part 2: The Gathering Storm looks at the difficult decisions that needed to be made as far as the script and casting is concerned, and how they managed to fulfill them.
Part 3: The Legend Reborn has Tim Burton discuss how he created a legacy for Batman, and maybe even extended the life of the characters popularity.
Beyond Batman is the section all about the making of this particular film, divided into these mini-documentaries: Visualising Gotham: The Production Design of Batman, Building the Batmobile, Those Wonderful Toys: The Props and a gadgets of Batman, Designing the Batsuit, From Jack to the Joker and Nocturnal Overture: The Music of Batman. Individually, these make for fascinating featurettes but altogether they explore everything that makes the gothic design of this film so striking and memorable.
Batman: The Heroes and The Villains looks at all the characters individually, with analyses by actors, writers and fans.
Batman The Complete Robin Storyboard Sequence is a look at the obviously removed addition of Robin to the script, that was ultimately scrapped.
In addition, there is also the Trailer and music videos for Batdance, Partyman and Scandalous by Prince
Score: *****
WISIA: Its the ultimate comic book film that didn’t just spawn one comic book movie trend, but two. The film and the extras on this discs should be watched regularly by any movie or comic fan.
Film: I’m sure in and about this website I have expressed my ‘Stephen King thing’: I love his stories but don’t enjoy his writing. This means two things, of course: first, I’m some kind of literary heathan of whom shall forever be looked down upon by the book-loving majority, and two, I can watch any film based on a King novel without getting all ‘the book was better’ about it.
This film is an exception to any horror snobbery that may exist though as this film has pedigree in the form of a man known an John Carpenter, who both directed this film and composed the score (along with Alan Howarth, who has a decent horror pedigree himself). Not sure who John Caroenter is? Well, I suggest you sit yourself down and watch John Carpenter’s The Thing, Prince of Darkness, The Fog and Halloween.
Arnie and Dennis check out Christine
Christine tells of Arnie (Keith Gordon), a nerd who is regularly beaten up and picked on by… well, by absolutely everyone except for his mate, Dennis (John Stockwell), who buys a beautiful 5os classic car who has the name ‘Christine’ from an old weirdo named LeBay (Roberts Blossom).
Roberts Blossom sells Arnie a haunted car
Unfortunately for Arnie, Christine has a secret. Slowly but surely, Arnie changes… he becomes cool and aloof, and those who have ever ill-treated him start either disappearing and/or winding up dead.
Dennis does some research about the car and discovers that LeBay’s brother and his family all died as a result of the actions of the car, and along with Annie’s on again/ off again girlfriend, Leigh (Alexandra Paul) try to find out what effect the car has over Arnie…
Christine is certainly a film of its time. The whole ‘nerd gets picked on but gets revenge due to supernatural means’ was done to death and we’ve moved on from it, and also we tend not to get men who are clearly in thirties to play teenagers any more. The thing is thoigh, I still don’t mind seeing that nerd get the hot girl and get his revenge on the jerks.
The film is entertaining throughout and some of the effects of the car self-repairing are surprisingly good considering their age.
Score: **1/2
The Australian Bluray menu
Extras:
There’s a commentary with director John Carpenter and actor Keith Gordon where they talk about their careers and the time on the set of the film.
There’s about 20-odd Deleted Scenes on this disc, some of which I, for the first time ever, do wish we’re in the film. The Bullies Trashing Christine is a particular fun one, imagine Greased Lightening from Grease, but in reverse.
The featurettes Christine: Fast and Furious, Finish Line and Ignition all look at the making of the film, from the deal made with King and how this is essentially a monster movie. They are each about ten minute and honestly I don’t know why they didn’t just make a 30 minute doco about the film. Seems like they went to the ‘quantity’ column of extras to add value to the disc.
Score: ***1/2
WISIA: John Carpenter films are always worth multi-views so I’ve of course watched this several times.
Digital Retribution 