DEAD OF NIGHT (1977)

 

(TV/NBC movie, original air date: 3/29/77. Director/producer: Dan Curtis. Screenwriter: Richard Matheson. One of the segments, “Second Chance,” is based on Jack Finney’s story.)

Review

DEAD, a macabre, tripartite American television anthology, is a PG rated work, with a minimal amount of plot-necessary blood. It aired on the NBC network on March 29, 1977.

In its opening, an unseen narrator (John Dehner) speaks while an up shot shows a dark-night storm lashing a spooky-looking house. With Tales from the Crypt gravitas, he compares the “dead of night” to a “state of mind”─one that the events of DEAD largely bring to the screen.

 

“Second Chance” is narrated by a young man, Frank (Ed Begley Jr., ADDAMS FAMILY REUNION, 1988), as he recounts how he bought and restored a vintage 1926 roadster (a Jordan Playboy), took it for a drive, and discovers that’s he’d traveled fifty years into the past.

Based on Jack Finney’s published-in-1956 story of the same name, this is an idyllic, brightly shot, dreamlike segment, with little visual or thematic darkness (relative to the DEAD’s other microfilms), a whimsical fantasy, not a scary story.

Orin Cannon (TRILOGY OF TERROR, 1975, and BURNT OFFERINGS, 1976) played the “Old Man” who sells Frank the car. Ann Doran (IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, 1958) played Mrs. McCauley. Dick McGarvin (SCROOGED, 1988) played Mr. Dorset.  

 

“No Such Things as Vampires” tells of a woman (Alexis Gheria) being stalked by a mysterious vampire that no one can find despite her husband’s best efforts. This clever, mostly well-lit, and hard-reality entry is an onscreen lesson in how lean dialogue need not limit multilayered characters and story crafting.

Patrick Macnee (WAXWORK II: LOST IN TIME, 1992) played Dr. Gheria, Alexis’s husband. Elisha Cook Jr. (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, 1959) played Karel, the Gherias’ superstitious and frightened manservant. Horst Bucholz (THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, 1960) played Michael, the Gherias’ friend.

 

“Bobby,” a variation of W.W. Jacobs’s 1902 terror tale, “The Monkey’s Paw,” is about a grieving mother who uses black magick to resurrect her recently drowned son (Bobby). Of course, things don’t go as she plans, in this dark, stormy, and terrifying night-slice of reanimated life, clever like the previous segment.

Joan Hackett (THE POSSESSED, 1977) played the titular boy’s unstable, near-hysterical “Mother.” Lee Montgomery (BURNT OFFERINGS, 1976) played the temperamental Bobby.

“Bobby” would later be reused in another Dan Curtis compendium film, TRILOGY OF TERROR II (1996).

Among the behind-the-scenes talent for this modest, multitoned, excellent telepic: composer Robert Cobert (HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, 1970), whose often-striking score matches the variable moods of DEAD, its darker elements and notes familiar to many Dan Curtis fans; Ric Waite, the cinematographer, whose work─like Cobert’s─matches the shifting tone of its stories, whether its gauzy romanticism or flee-through-a-night-dark-house panic; Dennis Virkler, whose tight editing keeps DEAD sharp and flowing at an entertaining pace; and Dennis W. Peeples (DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW, 1981), set designer, his setwork making the most of what was likely a small budget (given its television; and, of course, Dan Curtis, who maintained a mood-effective, consistent oeuvre feel and look.

DEAD is a fun, mood-variable and tightly shot hour-and-sixteen-minute film with a trickle of blood here and there, for those who care about that sort of thing. It’s worth seeking out, especially if you’re a fan of Dan Curtis or fantastic/spooky mid-1970s television fare.

THE PROWLER (1981)

 

(a.k.a. ROSEMARY’S KILLER; a.k.a. THE GRADUATION; director/producer: Joseph Zito. Screenwriters: Glenn Leopold and Neal Barbera, with additional dialogue by Eric Lewald.)

 

Review

June 28, 1945. Avalon Bay, California. On lover’s lane, away from the “Class of ’45 Graduation Ball,” Francis Rosemary Chatham (Joy Glaccum) and her amorous new boyfriend are stabbed with a pitchfork by someone in a mask and military gear. A red rose is left in her hand. Their killer disappears─it’s thought that Francis’s war vet ex-boyfriend did the deed.

Thirty-five years to the date pass without a dance in Avalon, but the collegiate class of 1980 is getting theirs. Pam MacDonald, one of the graduates, helps set up the ball along with her friends. The night of the ball, a prowler in a nearby town has been reported, and Pam worries about her boyfriend (Deputy Mark London) who’s acting sheriff while his boss, George Fraser (Farley Granger, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, 1951) goes on a fishing trip.

Murders begin immediately, committed by someone wearing the military garb and wielding weapons of the 1945 killer. This prowler also leaves roses in the hands of his female victims. Pam (Vicky Dawson) and Mark (Christopher Goutman) quickly realize what’s happening, although the shadowy slayer’s identity is a mystery. Suspects are everywhere, from the kind-of-goofy Otto to the unsettling, possible-puppet-master Major Chatham, father of killed-in-1945 Francis.

If you’re looking for a film with well-developed key characters (with their backstories and motives spoken aloud), this might not be a movie for you. If you’re looking for a film that gives you just enough─if you pay attention─information to suss out who’s likely done/doing what and why, PROWLER might be your slow-kill jam.

PROWLER, shot in Cape May, New Jersey, is solidly written and tightly edited, with a running time of eighty-nine minutes, many of its key terror shots reminiscent of FRIDAY THE 13^th (1980), not necessarily a bad thing, as PROWLER has its own look and feel. (It was director Joseph Zito’s work on PROWLER that got him hired for FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984.) Editor Joel Goodman’s choice cuts pace PROWLER’s dreamlike, gritty work in a suspenseful way, its distinctive mood aided by cinematographer João Fernandes’s intense use of light and shadow (Fernandes, billed as Raoul Lomas, was Zito’s cinematographer for FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984). Composer Richard Einhorn’s effective, sometimes playful score brings together the best elements of Bernard Hermann’s PSYCHO (1960), Harry Manfredini’s FRIDAY THE 13^th (1980), and other terror flick scores without ripping them off. And Tom Savini’s FX, occasionally over-the-top, complement the overall feel of the film and add to the brutish nature of the spree killer’s (or spree killers’) deeds.

Among its notable players: a frail-looking and barely seen Lawrence Tierney (BORN TO KILL, 1947) as the wheelchair-bound Major Chatham; Cindy Weintraub (HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, 1980) as Lisa, Pam’s flirtatious friend; and Thom Bray (PRINCE OF DARKNESS, 1987) as Ben, one of the graduate-boyfriends.

This deep-dive into multilayered horror (a ghostly town, PTSD, etc.) is especially dark and distinctive, from its dirty realism, raw, lingering-shot kill scenes, lull-then-sharp score, and overall feel, its closest thematic-companion film perhaps MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1981). Both are worth watching and owning if you’re a fan of grit-and-gore Eighties slashers.

GRINDHOUSE NIGHTMARES (2017)

(Director/screenwriter: Richard Driscoll.)

Note: NIGHTMARES, a direct-to-video double-bill anthology film with retitled trailers, was released in longer form the previous year as GRINDHOUSE 2WO (2016), also directed by Richard Driscoll (NIGHTMARES, at an hour and fifteen minutes, is eleven minutes shorter than 2WO).

Also: Tubi streaming service, on which I watched NIGHTMARES, lists it with a TV-14 rating, but given the subject matter and the amount of female nudity in it, an R rating is more appropriate.

 

Review

NIGHTMARES’s exploitation-minded ambition matches that of its 2007 cinematic inspiration, GRINDHOUSE. Unfortunately, NIGHTMARE’s screenplay─penned by director Driscoll─is a wildly uneven work.

The wraparound story centers around a blood-spattered, face-painted nurse (Linnea Quigley, also seen as a Nazi elsewhere in the film)─her character comes off as a (more) hyperactive, lower budget version of Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) in HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (2003). Quigley tries her best to make her lines entertaining but sometimes even a great B-movie actress can’t save groan-worthy dialogue.

 

Scratchy film stock, varying film quality, smash cuts, and swarming, man-hungry rats can’t save “Manhunt,” an overlong, blatant SAW (2004) rip-off whose “twists” are explicitly boosted from the much better milestone film. “Manhunt”’s long-overdue ending falls flat.

 

The between-mini-features “Prevues of Coming Attractions” are mostly fun. The better ones include: a charming bird-and-car-related cartoon for Doomsday Insurance; scenes of Bill Moseley (as Lemmas) in a TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) knock-off, TEXAS CHAINSAW HILLBILLIES; archive footage from NIGHTMARES director Richard Driscoll’s EL DORADO (2012)─this prevue is retitled ASSKICKER, featuring Michael Madsen as a tough guy and Patrick Bergin as the main villain; and the full of machine guns and hot nude women flick NAZI BITCHES MUST DIE.

“Stripper with a Shotgun,” the second half of the double bill, has strippers, nuns, gun play, Brigitte Nielsen, a cool yellow Trans-Am, and kung-fu fights in a fake-looking wrecking yard background. In it, with its own meta-wraparound story, a stripper-nun is interrogated by a cop about the events that led to their situation. “Stripper” is far superior to “Manhunt” on all levels, with intentionally laugh-out-loud, era-true cinematic clichés.

Is NIGHTMARES worth watching? Yes, if you fast-forward past “Manhunt,” enjoy Linnea Quigley (even in her lesser movies) and enjoy largely spot-on fake trailers (some of which feature footage from differently titled movies). Otherwise, you might want to skip this one. I haven’t seen the longer version of NIGHTMARES, GRINDHOUSE 2WO, so I can’t compare the two works.

RUNAWAY BRAIN (1995)

 

(Director: Chris Bailey. Screenwriter/story source: Tim Hauser.)

Plot: Mickey Mouse, having forgotten about his first date-with-Minnie anniversary, must come up with a lot of money fast to purchase that Hawaiian trip-for-two Minnie thinks they’re going on. Mickey, unaware that the ad he responded to was run by a mad, primate scientist, finds himself trying to dodge a lobotomy and a giant, slavering monster named Julius who’s tearing up the town, and after Minnie as well.

 

Review

Originally shown before theatrical showings of A GOOFY MOVIE in 1995, some in those audiences found the horror-tinged (but still goreless, light and silly) seven-minute animated short too macabre for their taste, so RUNAWAY was largely trimmed from prints of other films released at the time. At the 68^th Academy Awards, RUNAWAY was nominated for Best Animated Short, an award that was ultimately given to Wallace and Gromit’s A CLOSE SHAVE (1995).

RUNAWAY is a fun, excellent, twisty, and action-oriented cartoon, deftly moving from one frenetic scenario to another, with some good Disney in-jokes and references thrown in as well as horror references (e.g., THE EXORCIST, 1973, when Mickey stands under a streetlight outside Dr. Frankenollie’s house, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein). This being a Disney product, of course there’s great animation and a happy ending.

The voice talent is as follows: Wayne Allwine voiced Mickey Mouse; Russi Taylor (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, 1988) voiced Minnie Mouse; Bill Farmer (MINIONS, 2015) voiced Pluto; Kelsey Grammer voiced Dr. Frankenollie; Jim Cummings (ALADDIN, 1992) voiced the Monster.

Deeper film(ic) dive

RUNAWAY is available. . .

. . . by purchasing the 2004 DVD set WALT DISNEY TREASURES: MICKEY MOUSE IN LIVING COLOR, VOLUMETWO: 1939-TODAY

and

. . . as a Movies-Anywhere exclusive digital download bonus in the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection, though it isn’t part of the Blu-Ray/DVD set.

THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982)

 

(1982; director/uncredited co-screenwriter: Amy Holden Jones, billed as Amy Jones. Co-screenwriter: Rita Mae Brown.)

Plot: A girls-only slumber party gets an uninvited guest─a power drill-wielding, escaped serial killer, who turns their fun-time into a bloody, traumatic gathering.

 

Review

SLUMBER, a mostly standard slasher film, was originally penned by Rita Mae Brown as a slasher parody called SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. That changed when producers, including Roger Corman, decided it should be filmed with less humor in the mix, causing Brown to revise it, only to have further revised by others. Thankfully, some of the original script’s risible moments can be seen in SLUMBER, giving it at least a few worthwhile and truly funny moments.

As with many movies in this period and genre, bare female flesh is shown, though less than usual. This, according to actress Brinke Stevens, was because several of her fellow actresses wouldn’t appear nude.

It’s inauspicious that much of its seventy-six-minute running time is taken up with lackluster, mostly suspenseless stalk-and-slay scenes (blame producer interference and limited budget) which mar its other, better aspects─among them: solid FX, its slick-early-Eighties look, familiar and good for its low-budget and genre (thanks to cinematographer Stephen L. Posey, billed as Steve Posey); its overt attempts at feminist-minded parody; and the fact that it featured a female director and female screenwriters in a time when few productions did.

The director and actors, young and working with filler dialogue and scenes, do what they can to make it work, but this isn’t high art─it isn’t even solid entertainment. One of the things director Jones does right is end SLUMBER on a memorable moment, a striking cut-off point.

I’d only recommend SLUMBER for viewers who are curious about its smattering of (effective) humor, and fans of the laugh-out-loud bad slasher flicks, Brinke Stevens, and female-helmed and -penned films.

Deep(er) filmic dive

Eagle-eyed, in-the-know viewers may spot the title and the author of the book in Kim’s bedroom Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown.

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1974)

 

(Director: Kevin Connor. Screenwriters: Robin Clarke and Raymond Christodoulou, based on R. Chetwynde Hayes’s published stories.)

Review

This entertaining and moralistic compendium horror film was released in Britain in 1974 and stateside in 1976.

The wraparound story features Peter Cushing (THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1957) as The Proprietor of an antiques shop, Temptations Limited: Offers You Can’t Resist. Four characters─lead characters in each of the four following stories─cheat or lie to The Proprietor while negotiating purchases from him. Of course, bad things happen to them. Ben Howard played the “Burglar.”

 

In the first tale, “The Gate Crasher,” a young man (Edward Charlton, played by David Warner) buys an antique mirror for far less than its market value, takes it home, holds a séance with friends, inadvertently waking the spirit that lives in a mist-filled alternative world beyond its glass-and-fake-gold frame. When that spirit (The Face, played by Marcel Steiner) demands that Charlton murder people for their blood, the young man is compelled to do so.

 

“An Act of Kindness” begins when an unhappily married, middle-aged office worker, Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen), befriends─with what he views as a harmless fib─a war-vet match-seller (Jim Underwood, played by Donald Pleasence) on the street. This leads to an affair with Underwood’s daughter, Emily (Angela Pleasence), black magick and deaths that Lowe fails to foresee. Diana Dors played Mabel Lowe, Christopher’s derisive wife.

 

The third tale, “The Elemental,” is titled for a malevolent spirit that haunts Reginald Warren (Ian Carmichael) after he exchanges the pipe’s price tag for a cheaper one in The Proprietor’s antique shop. The elemental terrorizes him and his wife, causing him to contact a spiritualist (Madame Orloff, played by Margaret Leighton) to rid them of the pestiferous supernatural being.

 

 In “The Door,” a young man, William Seaton (Ian Ogilvy) buys an ornate, monster-faced door. The item is delivered to Seaton’s house, used to replace a closet door, transforming the closet into an antique, shadowy and blue-lit room─an alternate realm, with a strange, menacing man inside it. Lesley Ann-Down played Rosemary Seaton, Ian’s wife.

KILL LIST (2011)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter/co-editor: Ben Wheatley. Co-screenwriter/co-editor: Amy Jump. Co-editor: Robin Hill.)

Plot: A former soldier (Jay), recovering from a disastrous mission in Kyiv, joins friend and fellow soldier-turned-hitman (Gal) for a series of jobs that slowly spiral into nightmare-territory horror for them as well as Jay’s wife, Shel, and their son, Sam.

 

Review

KILL LIST’s crisp and striking images and cinematography (credit Laurie Rose) and eerie soundtrack (Jim Williams) are impressive. Director Ben Wheatley is said to have built KILL, Stanley Kubrick-style, around images, then constructed the story. This, too, is an admirably intuitive and quietly remarkable feat, especially given the depth with which Wheatley, his co-screenwriters and their cast built up their characters and their backstory.

Unfortunately, at least for this viewer, Wheatley also had his actors improvise their dialogue, which makes KILL often come off as melodramatic and overlong, notably during its domestic unrest scenes. It’s twenty minutes before KILL’s storyline appears, with more lag-time conversation and fights punctuated by focused scenes of Jay and Gal’s gory, brutal executions of their multiple targets─what should've been a major part of the storyline. KILL’s last twenty minutes are a sprint compared to the rest of the movie, its ending a variation of THE WICKER MAN (1973)─something many genre-familiar viewers may espy early on in KILL.

To be fair, I am not part of KILL’s target audience. I prefer tightly written, acted and edited works. I can, however, see how sensitive, mood-over-plot, emotionally intense movie goers might appreciate it─its cast and crew created a visually wow, gradual-build work with a few nasty, bloody scenes. KILL works in that sense, embodying the feel of its emotionally scattered characters, action and milieu. If you like MIDSOMMAR (2019) and THE RITUAL (2017), you may appreciate KILL’s languid, dark and sometimes intensely violent attractions.

Among KILL’s standout actors: Neil Maskell (THE MUMMY, 2017), for whom the role of Jay was written; MyAnna Buring (THE DESCENT, 2005) as the fiercely devoted and maternal Shel, Jay’s wife; and Michael Smiley as Gal, Jay’s friend, and business partner. And be sure to look out for a solid Robin Hill, one of KILL’s co-editors, as Stuart.