SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984)

 

(Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr. Screenwriter: Michael Hickey, his script based on Paul Caimi’s story.)

 

Review

Christmas Eve, 1971. After five-year-old Billy Chapman, baby Ricky and their parents visit their supposedly catatonic Grandpa (who says menacing things about Santa Claus to Billy) in a “Utah Mental Facility”, a roadside criminal in a Santa Claus suit (Charles Dierkop, MESSIAH OF EVIL, 1973) kills Billy’s parents while the hiding, fearful boy watches.

December 1974. Eight-year-old Billy and four-year-old Ricky are now residents at Saint Mary’s Home for Orphaned Children, run by strict disciplinarian Mother Superior (Lilyan Chauvin, PUMPKINHEAD II: BLOOD WINGS, 1993). Billy’s classroom drawings─childish renderings of his parents’ murders─indicate that Billy, quiet, is still traumatized by them, not that the strap-wielding Mother Superior cares (“Punishment is necessary. Punishment is good,” the no-nonsense nun tells Billy). Billy’s situation worsens when he, shocked, espies one of the sisters in flagrante delicto, and he─further freaked out─hits a visiting man in a Santa Claus suit.

Spring 1984. One of Saint Mary’s more sympathetic nuns (Sister Margaret, played by Gilmer McCormick) gets him a job as a stock boy at nearby Ira’s Toys. Things are going good─Billy seems nice, well-adjusted─until December rolls around, and memories of his parents’ killings return in full force.

Mr. Sims (Britt Leach, BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER, 1981), owner of Ira Toys, has Billy don a Santa suit for the store’s Christmas Eve shift. Billy is depressed but complies without complaint. He witnesses the near-rape of one of the female employees (Pamela, who he’s crushing on) and snaps, flashing back to his mother’s near-rape. He kills her assailant (Andy), then her─Billy’s town-wide murder spree has just begun, one that will eventually bring Billy home.

Shot in Heber City, Utah, this tightly edited (thank you, Michael Spence!) and controversial killer-rampage flick has a dark, focused intensity with its religious-critical, punishment theme (reiterated by “Killer Santa,” Grandpa, Mother Superior), its foreboding, humor-leavened mood reinforced by cinematographer Henning Schillerup’s effective mix of Christmas-light cheer and shadowy darkness as well as composer Perry Botkin Jr.’s unsettling, bordering-on-Eighties-cheesy score. Charles E. Sellier’s direction is solid, effective in its execution. Rick Josephson and G. Lynn Maughan’s relatively restrained FX simultaneously add a sense of fun to SILENT (with its syrupy-looking blood) while contributing to the movie’s overall mood and the effectiveness of the creative and varied kill scenes.

Its cast ranges from solid to excellent. Robert Brian Wilson is B-movie good as the trying-to-be-good-before-he-snaps Billy, while Alex Burton, in his only role (Ricky at 14), matches that B-flick goodness (a mix of cheese and sincerity) when he utters the word “Naughty.”

Other players include: Nancy Borgenicht (HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1988) as the feisty Mrs. Randall, one of Billy’s co-workers; Scream Queen Linnea Quigley (THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1985) as Denise, a lusty babysitter; and Leo Geter (HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS, 1995) as Tommy, Denise’s boyfriend.

Selliers’s workmanlike direction, along with SILENT’s creative kills, bordering-on-bleak humor and other elements, makes this a standout holiday-horror B-movie, one that spawned four sequels, starting with SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 (1987).

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

Released stateside on November 9, 1984—the same day as Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET—it made twice as much money as NIGHTMARE (SILENT was in more theaters, before being pulled two weeks later, after a group, “Citizens Against Movie Madness”, were outraged when SILENT was advertised during primetime television, terrifying children, and angering their parents). SILENT‘s ads were pulled six days later. Curiously enough, producers had expected SILENT’s controversy to stem from its potent anti-Catholic vibe, not the killer Santa theme, which had been done already.

Director Charles Sellier retired from directing because of the film’s reception—it was too hard to find work. He focused on producing instead.

PARTY HARD, DIE YOUNG (2018)

 

(Shudder Original/streaming film. Director: Dominik Hartl. Screenwriters: Robert Buschwenter and Karin Lomot.)

Storyline

Julia and her friends travel to Croatia from Germany to have the “party of their lives”─a celebration that is interrupted by a clever killer who has targeted them.

 

Review

PARTY, a Shudder Original streaming film, is a generic, sometimes entertaining Eurostylish version of I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER crossed with a rape story. (At one point, one character sarcastically namechecks KNOW.) While PARTY is visually interesting, has pretty, young people (for those who care about that), and far from the worst thriller I’ve seen, its bland, mostly suspense-less (aside from the rooftop stalk-and-slay scene) film is more of a drama with mostly one-note characters. The filmmakers clearly have the chops to deliver a visually interesting work─it’s Robert Buchschwenter and Karin Lomot’s screenplay that makes PARTY a forgettable, flashy exercise that shows off modern-day technology and attractive youth partying. The end-shot is darkly humorous, so kudos to the filmmakers for that. Worth watching, if you need something occasionally-fun-in-parts flick that you can fall asleep to midway through, without missing anything important.

PARTY is rated R for mild gore, a flash of female nudity, violence, drug use and foul language.

THE HAUNTING (1963)

 

(Director: Robert Wise. Screenwriter: Nelson GIdding. Based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 gothic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House.)

 

Review

In the supposedly haunted, ninety-year-old Hill House in Massachusetts, Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson, ZOMBIE, 1979) brings together a group of paranormal researchers to investigate the long-empty abode. In allowing him access, one of the conditions Mrs. Sanderson (Fay Compton), Hill House’s owner, places on Markway is that he must allow her nephew (Luke Sanderson, played by Russ Tamblyn, TWIN PEAKS, 2017) to be present during the investigation. It’s said that no one has stayed in the house for more than two or three days, not since its last owner—who may’ve murdered its previous owner— hanged herself by its spiral staircase inside the library.

Out of the nine investigators Markway invites, two accept. The first is self-assured, darkly funny Theodora, a.k.a. “Theo” (Claire Bloom), a psychic. The second is frangible, psychically sensitive Eleanor “Nell” Lance (Julie Harris, also said to be fragile during HAUNTING’s filming), who’s trying to escape her nasty family. Eleanor, the first to arrive and whose thoughts are voiced for the audience, is immediately drawn to the house in an unhealthy way. Theodora arrives shortly afterward, honestly telling Eleanor that Hill House “wants” her—not that Eleanor minds. She views this macabre outing as a “vacation” and “want[s] to stay, period.”

Dr. Johnson, showing up a few minutes later, informs the two women that “all the doors are hung slightly off-set, which explains why they keep shutting by themselves. . . all the angles are slightly off, not a square corner in the place."

During their initial tour of the claustrophobic, Rococo-style spook house, they meet Luke Sanderson, who doesn’t believe Hill House is inhabited by ghosts. The young man cites “subterranean water”, “atmospheric pressure”, “sunspots” and “electric currents” as the reasons its “disturbances”. The film’s tone is light, humorous, the house well-lit with no shadowy corners.

Later that night, Eleanor—around whom much of the paranormal activity centers—wakes to loud and violent pounding on the walls and her bedroom door, noises that terrify Theo as well. It’s during these scenes that darkness reappears (early scenes relating to the house’s history were shadow-drenched), a tonal, menacing shift furthered by HAUNTING’s sound department, with odd noises and the faint sound of a woman’s mocking laughter.

From there, the situation worsens with more overt manifestations (human or supernatural?), becoming more intense and dreadful. Will any of them leave the house whole, healthy?

HAUNTING, an excellent psychological (and G-rated!) film, with lots of odd tracking shots and pans, constantly roving cameras, and low angle shot, something director Robert Wise and cinematographer Davis Boulton (MODESTY BLAISE, 1966) worked out. These shots and other visual tricks heighten the effect of HAUNTING’s physical aspects (credit interior designer Elliot Scott and set decorator John Jarvis). Humphrey Searle’s well-timed, often nuanced score, along with its actors, complete the overall effect of the film.

 

All of HAUNTING’s players are excellent, from Harris’s volatile Eleanor to Lois Maxell’s ghost-doubting Grave Markway, Dr. Markway’s wife. (Many filmgoers know Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny in fourteen James Bond films, starting with DR. NO, 1962). All of these actors embody and/or lighten (when necessary) the emotional intensity of the expansive, sensory-oppressive manse, in one of the best entries in the spook house genre.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb, director Robert Wise shot HAUNTING (a title suggested by source-book author Shirley Jackson) in black and white because it added to the “rich atmospheric quality” of the film.

Julie Harris said the film censors dictated that Theo must never touch Eleanor, to downplay Theo’s lesbian attraction to Eleanor. In spite of this, they touched or sat close to each other several times in the film.

Fans of the hard rock band White Zombie might recognize their sampling of a line of dialogue from HAUNTING in their song “Super-Charger Heaven” (off their 1995 ASTRO-CREEP: 2000 album), specifically Dr. Markway’s line “Now I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.”

Russ Tamblyn, in an uncredited role, played a psychiatrist in the streaming Netflix series THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018).

Director/screenwriter Ti West is said to be a fan of HAUNTING. His first film, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (2009) is a copycat-title nod to the title given to HAUNTING when originally released in France.

BARBARIAN (2022)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Zach Cregger)

Review

Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) arrives at an Airbnb house (476 Barbary Street) in Detroit, Michigan, in the falling-apart neighborhood of Brightmoor. She’s staying there for a job interview (as a researcher for a documentary filmmaker) she has the next day. When Tess gets there, problems begin immediately—the house key isn’t in the lockbox like it’s supposed to be; the person who rent it to her can’t be reached by cell phone; she discovers that the house has been double-booked.

The other guest is Keith M. Toshko (Bill Skarsgård, IT, 2017), a gentlemanly, friendly but possibly sketchy man who causes Tess’s guard to come up, even after he confirms his Airbnb reservation and does nothing but nice things for her. Her suspicions continue for a little while, then odd things begin to happen, causing her to rethink her situation, like: why is their Airbnb, the only pristine house in the neighborhood, surrounded by such exurb ruins? What are all the weird, whispery noises she hears when she’s trying to sleep?

It’s not long before BARBARIAN, a mixed genre horror film, shifts gears and lead characters—for better or worse, depending on the viewer. The occasionally gory movie, with its deft pacing (hello, editor Joe Murphy) and touches of dark humor, well-timed reveals, effective audio effects and makeup FX, and often smart characters (usually women), initially has the audio and visual feel of a David Fincher work; later, its tone/feel is that of a Sam Raimi flick, something director/screenwriter Cregger (who cameos as Everett) has noted in at least one interview.

BARBARIAN sports some noteworthy actors, beyond its initial leads:

Kate Nichols (DOOM: ANNIHILATION, 2019) played Catherine, a documentary filmmaker Tess wants to work for;

Jaymes Butler (RESIDENT EVIL, 2002) played Andre, a street person living near the strange Airbnb;

Justin Long (DRAG ME TO HELL, 2009) played A.J. Gilbride, an abusive Hollywood actor;

Richard Brake (HALLOWEEN II, 2009) played Frank;

Matthew Patrick Davis played The Mother;

Kate Bosworth (THE RULES OF ATTRACTION, 2002) voiced Melisa, a television executive;

J.R. Esposito (DOOM: ANNIHILATION, 2019) played Jeff, A.J.’s accountant;

Söphie Sorenson (MIDSOMMAR, 2019) voiced Bonnie, a property management employee.

As I noted before, some viewers might be put off by BARBARIAN’s story shift (which comes back to its initial leads)—not only that, some might be put off by brief instances of implied/off-screen rapes and a few over-the-top moments, but given its mostly smart and sometimes clever characters, effective and fresh twists, and previously noted virtues, BARBARIAN is an above-average horror film that ably addresses societal ills (poverty, crime, the police) without speechifying or sacrificing its entertainment value.

SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE III (1990)

 

(a.k.a SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 3. Director: Sally Mattinson. Screenwriter: Catherine Cyran.)

 

Storyline

A high school girl invites her girlfriends to spend the night at her house, only to have it crashed by a murderous nutjob with a drill motor.

 

Review

In Venice Beach, California, high school senior Jackie Cassidy (Keely Christian) throws a slumber party in her parents’ house. Unfortunately, there are a few male weirdos lurking around the girls, and one of them is a psycho with a drill motor.

Considered the worst entry in the SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (SPM) trilogy, III is an in-name-only, by-the-numbers sequel that recycles a lot of its scenes from the two previous films. III was directed by Sally Mattinson, who said in a later interview she hated horror films─ she made it was because she wanted to direct her first film, and producer Roger Corman offered it to her. She probably hated III more when Corman told her she had to put an unnecessary rape scene in it, one that messes up the continuity of the film and makes the occasionally plucky characters come off as dumb(er), cruel, and cowardly, before they recover their courage.

As with the first two films, III is a brightly lit terror flick, with little suspense, groan-worthy humor, gratuitous nudity, and lots of run-knock-down-killer-run-again scenes, except this time there’s no satirical feminist bent to help III stand out from other slasher works. It does, however, move along quickly, have an impressive body count (twelve), a good, postmortem intestines-ripped-out scene (as well as a don’t-bathe-with-that scene). Not only that, SPM films are the only franchise to be written and directed solely by women (shame on the industry, a plus-point for SPM films).

The cast, who play stock slasher characters (blame the writing), sports some names which appeared in other notable horror flicks:

Maria Ford (NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD, 1993) as Maria;

Hope Marie Carlton (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER, 1988) as Janine;

Maria Claire (SOCIETY, 1989) as Susie;

Brittain Frye (HIDE AND GO SHRIEK, 1988) as preppie Ken Whitehouse;

Michael Harris (SLEEPSTALKER, 1995) as Dr. Morgan Herdman, Jackie’s pervy neighbor;

Yan Birch (THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, 1991) as The Weirdo;

Marta Kober (FRIDAY THE 13^th PART 2, 1981) as “Pizza Girl”;

Wayne Grace (FRIDAY THE 13^th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, 1984) as Officer O’Reilly;

Alexander Folk (FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2, 1988) as Detective Davis.

 

Sharp-eyed low budget fans might notice two other things about III, like that fact that the poster girls for III are not in the film, and that III’s interior set─located in Corman’s Venice Beach studio─were later used in another Corman franchise sequel, SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE II (1990).

Would I recommend III? For most people, no. However, if you’re looking for a generic, video-slick 1990s production (although III enjoyed a successful, limited-release theatrical run) with some T&A and an unnecessary, strange (though not explicit) rape scene, this might be a flick to fall asleep to.

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)

 

(Director/co-screenwriter: Dan Curtis. Co-screenwriter: William F. Nolan, their script based on Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel.)

Review

Ben and Marian Rolf, a middle-aged couple, along with their twelve-year-old son (David) and Ben’s elderly aunt (Elizabeth), rent an ornate, hundred-year-old-plus summer manse for the “entire summer” for $900. Its quirkily intense owners, Roz Alladyce (Ellen Heckart, THE BAD SEED, 1956) and her brother Arnold (Burgess Meredith, THE SENTINEL, 1977), clearly in love with the house, rent it at an amazingly good price— remember, this is 1976—on the condition that they look in on and feed their off-camera “Mother” (Mrs. Alladyce) who lives in the attic. Marian, also enchanted by the sprawling abode, volunteers to take care of Mrs. Alladyce, unseen and dead quiet.

All is good when the Rolfs move in. The house, located near a spooky, overgrown graveyard (all of its tombstones bear the surname Alladyce, none of them earlier than the 1890s). Within days, however, something sickly begins creeping into their psyches. Ben, a good and playful father, tries to drown David while rough housing in the pool; meanwhile, Marian is enraptured by an old music bo outside Mrs. Alladyce’s attic room.

The next night, Ben begins having nightmares about a grinning, creepy chauffeur (played by Anthony James, NIGHTMARES, 1983), a haunting figure last seen by Ben in his childhood at his mother’s funeral. While all this takes place, the house starts looking impossibly new again, some of it due to Marian’s manic cleaning. Something else, something supernatural, is going on—something that means to tear the Rolfs apart, in spirit and flesh, all except for Marian, whose personality changes in unsettling ways.

This steady ratcheting of unease is reflected in Robert Cobert’s shivery soundtrack. (Cobert scored many of Dan Curtis’s projects, including DEAD OF NIGHT, 1977.) The setting and its shifting mood (well-lensed and -paced by Jacques R.Marquette’s light-to-dark-toned cinematography and Dennis Virkler’s effective editing) are equally affecting. As terrifying and strange events mount in more overt ways, and the house continues to thrive (e.g., previously dead plants bloom overnight), it’s evident that the Rolfs must leave the house if they wish to survive.

BURNT, with its steady build-up and traumatizing finish, wouldn’t work as well as it does without strong acting. Ellen Heckart and Burgess Meredith are fun and borderline spooky as the Alladyces. Dub Taylor (THEM!, 1954) is hilarious as Walker, their take-no-crap groundskeeper.

Oliver Reed (THE BROOD, 1979) is great as the under-pressure Ben, who’s trying to maintain his family’s previous-to-house happiness. Karen Black (TRILOGY OF TERROR, 1975) is equally so as Marian, a high-energy woman whose affections eerily shift from her family to their rented house. Bette Davis (WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, 1962) is dead-on as the independent, affectionately spiky Elizabeth. Lee Montgomery, billed as Lee H. Montgomery, is convincing as the oft-screaming David.

BURNT is one of my all-time favorite spook house movies, a distinctly 1970s, steadily mounting PG rated horror flick with some crazy fun, briefly bloody flourishes to spice up its underlying unease. Highly recommended, this.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to IMDb, BURNT was shot entirely on location at the historic Dunsmuir House in Oakland, California. The first movie to be shot there, the house would later be used in PHANTASM (1979), A VIEW TO A KILL (1985), THE VINEYARD (1989) and SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER (1993).

According to BURNT OFFERING's Wikipedia page, the filmic ending is different than that of Robert Marasco’s 1973 novel—Dan Curtis wasn’t a fan of its open-ended conclusion.

HAUNT (2019)

 

(Directors/screenwriters: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods)

Storyline

Friends experiencing an “extreme” haunted house that preys on their starkest fears discover that the terror tour is more real than they thought.

 

Review

This Eli Roth-produced movie, said by its creators to be influenced by Tobe Hooper’s THE FUNHOUSE (1981), is a fun, clever, and often scary flick, one that mostly dodges the pitfalls of many horror works. The kids touring the Halloween “extreme” terror house, with its inventive death traps, are smart, semi-likeable and brave for the most part (except for a few Plot Convenient Stupid Moments where they flee rather than finish off their easily killed tormentors). These death traps are effective, intriguing set pieces, worthwhile as the masked killer who stalk them (Clown, Devil, Ghost, Vampire and Witch), whose motivations are mysterious─it does not matter why they’re tormenting and brutally murdering these young people, it’s enough to know (for this viewer, at least) that they’re doing it. It lends an inscrutable, force-of-evil feel to their work, a vibe shared by HALLOWEEN’s (1978) Michael Myers.

HAUNT is impressive for how it trusts their viewers like to be smart. Because of this, it jumps around between characters in different parts of the seasonal horror abode, which may be a little confusing for those not giving HAUNT their entire attention. Its slam-bang, satisfying finish makes such a jump, eschewing a spell-it-out ending, which may put off some viewers who prefer familiar, filmic finishes. Rob Zombie fans may appreciate Lissie’s cover of “Dragula” over the credits crawl.

HAUNT is a great, fresh entry in the horror genre. Worth your time, this─I’m not surprised, considering that filmmakers Beck and Woods are two-thirds of writing team that created A QUIET PLACE (2018; director/co-screenwriter: John Krasinski).