Silent Scream (1980)

Director: Denny Harris


A theme that I have covered in previous reviews is the glut of horror movies finally coming to DVD in 2009. This theme continues with 1980's Silent Scream, which was released on DVD for the first time in November of this year. Much like the other movies, you have to ask yourself "why has it taken so long?" Silent Scream is low on the body count and gore, but more than makes up for that with its atmosphere. This film has some of the same feel as 1974's Black Christmas, the genre staple Psycho, and a little hint of Dario Argento.



Silent Scream revolves around a group of four young college students who move into a boarding house right along the beach. The house is beautiful and the price is right, but there is still something off about the owners of the house. The head of the household is an elderly woman who is often neither seen nor heard and her teenage son who himself is quite odd and socially maladjusted. There is an eerie presence in the house and makes the viewer wonder if there are actually more people in the house than the owners initially let on. Once the first body turns up, the police get involved and attempt to solve the case by looking into the past of the family who owns the house.

Silent Scream is hardly one of the bloodiest entries in the slasher genre, especially during the first wave. This is perhaps why it has become so forgotten. However, it is so effectively shot and creates such an eerie and tense atmosphere, that gore and a high body count is not needed. As per slasher rules, there is some Bautti Factor and an appearance by "That Guy" Cameron Mitchell who plays Lieutenant Sandy McGiver. Mitchell has been in quite a few horror movies such as Mario Bava's "Blood and Black Lace" and 1978's "The Toolbox Murders." Silent Scream is a unique entry into the slasher genre and with its amalgamation of influences and feel (Psycho, etc.) makes it a movie that has to be seen for fans of the slasher genre.

Body Count: 5

Rating: 4/5

Trailer:

Ghost Town (1988)

Director: Richard Governor

1988s Ghost Town is obscure in more ways than one. First and foremost, it is one of the few movies to mix the horror and western genres. Secondly, it is not available on DVD. If you want to see this one you have three options: spend way too much cash on a used VHS copy on eBay, buy a bootleg DVD, or try to find a torrent. It is a shame that this one is so forgotten, because it is a pretty interesting and solid entry into the realm of horror.

The plot is about what you would expect, a woman goes missing on a desert road and the local sheriff is in charge of finding her. What Sheriff Langley (Franc Luz) does not know however, is that a band of undead outlaws have taken her to a ghost town. Upon arriving in the ghost town, Sheriff Langley is approached by the corpse of the town's previous sheriff who tells him that he has chosen Langley to vanquish the evil outlaw Devlin (Jimmie F. Skaggs). Throughout his visit in the ghost town, Langley comes across the regulars of western cinema: a blacksmith, a card dealer, and an attractive bar maiden. Sheriff Langley eventually finds out that Devlin has in fact kidnapped the women he is looking for and he must defeat him, not only to save her, but to also allow the town to rest.



The story of Ghost Town is pretty much that of the standard western, with the twist being that all of the town's inhabitants are ghosts. Devlin is a slight exception to this rule. In addition to being a ghost, he is actually shown as a rotting corpse, almost as if he were a zombie, while the rest of the townspeople appear as normal humans. The first half of the film is more interesting as you follow Sheriff Langley through the ghost town. A lot of scenes are shot in slow motion and creates a sort of dreamlike quality. The second half plays out like one would expect with gun fights and a final showdown between the two main characters. The special effects are nothing to write home about and there is very little gore, but this aside the movie still works.

This one is pretty low-budget and features no recognizable faces, but in the end accomplishes what it set out to. It is not a classic, but certainly not the bottom of the barrel. Ghost Town is worth checking out if you can come across it easily, if not for anything other than its unique crossover plot.

Rating: 3/5

Trailer:

Brain Damage (1988)

Director: Frank Henenlotter

Director Frank Henenlotter is mostly known for his ultra low-budget, b-movie staple Basket Case and its following sequels. Henenlotter would follow up the first Basket Case with Brain Damage, which is not too different from the plot of Basket Case. Both movies feature a person that has a relationship with a deformed creature. In Basket Case, the creature is the deformed Siamese Twin of the main character. However, in Brain Damage this creature is simply that, a creature who goes by the name of Aylmer.



Brain Damage is an odd film, but never hard to follow. A slug-like creature named Aylmer attaches itself to people and in turn causes them to trip balls. In return for this euphoria, the human host must provide Aylmer with food in order to survive and of course that substance is brains. In the beginning of the movie, Aylmer escapes from an elderly couple that are his hosts and ends up probing the neck of Brian (played by Rick Hearst). Once Aylmer induces his psychotropic effects on Brian, he cannot get enough. This new addiction causes Brian to alienate himself from his brother who is his roommate and his girlfriend. All Brian wants to do is get loaded off of Aylmer and walk around enjoying the new sights and sounds. Of course, this leads to Aylmer needing to feed and the bodies begin to pile up and Brian is totally unaware of this. At the same time, the elderly couple Aylmer escaped from attempts to get him back.



That is about all there is to Brain Damage. While it is certainly bizarre, there is not much to the plot and never becomes convoluted. The special effects scream 1980s and is filled with some excellent stop-motion animation and puppets when it comes to the scenes involving Aylmer. As for the character of Aylmer, he's a pretty suave little creature that sounds similar to Frank Sinatra mixed with Art Carney. Add in some pretty interesting kills (one involves fellatio) and some Bautti Factor, you're left with a pretty solid b-movie. If you enjoyed Basket Case, you should appreciate Brain Damage.

Rating: 3/5

Trailer:

Hardware (1990)

Director: Richard Stanley

This fall has seen a surplus of long overdue DVD releases for many horror movies such as The Stepfather, Night of the Creeps, and later this month The House on Sorority Row. This is how I first learned about Hardware. On various horror movie news websites I had begun to see write ups dealing with the recently released, two-disc DVD. This intrigued me and once it was made available on DVD, I had to see it.



Hardware is directed by a first time director (at the time) South African born, Richard Stanley. After watching Hardware, Stanley is the biggest reason for the film's effectiveness. Hardware falls into the branch of Sci-Fi that has horror undertones. Think Alien and Event Horizon. The plot begins with a wandering scavenger making his way through the desert in a post-apocalyptic world. Out in this desert he finds the remains of a robot. The scavenger then takes these pieces of metal into the city to sell for scrap. At a scrapyard, Mo (played by Dylan McDermott) purchases the robot's head to give to his sculptor girlfriend as a gift. Little does he know that this skull is the remains of a population control droid, the Mark 13. The droid eventually reassembles itself and from there the movie takes off, attacking Mo's girlfriend and all who come in contact with it.

Hardware is not the most original movie ever made nor is it filled to the brim with plot and dialog. However, the story is interesting enough and Richard Stanley's direction takes center stage. The lighting in this movie is beyond fabulous and is like a darker Suspiria. Part of what makes Hardware so effective is that it is very interesting to look at and this helps the film move at a blinding pace.



Aside from the interesting look and feel of the movie, the Mark 13 droid steals the show. While not the most impressive looking robot ever put on the big screen, it truly makes its presence felt and feared. The kills in Hardware are not overly abundant, but they are truly excellent in execution. The gore is well done and the deaths provide some legitimate "oh shit" moments. There is also an interesting subplot that focuses on a sleazy neighbor that lusts over and spies on Mo's girlfriend. The sleazeball neighbor is played by "That Guy" William Hootkins better known as Red Six in Star Wars. In addition to a "That Guy" there is some Bautti Factor thrown in as well.

Hardware is an incredibly effective Sci-Fi/Horror hybrid that I would highly recommend. However, upon looking at the big name movie websites (IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, etc.) it seems that this movie is of the love it or hate it type. If you're looking for an interesting movie and are not one to care about a film's budget, this is certainly worth checking out.

Rating: 4/5

Trailer:

Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Director: Amy Holden Jones

Slumber Party Massacre came out during the first wave of the slasher film, which was a time when everyone had seen how successful Halloween and Friday the 13th were and wanted a piece of the action. This was because the sole idea was that slashers were a cheap way of making money. The more and more these films were released, the more conservative and christian groups began to speak out against them. These films were classified as being perverse, sickeningly violent, and sexist. That is precisely where Slumber Party Massacre comes into play. This movie was penned by famed feminist writer Rita Mae Brown and directed by Amy Holden Jones who also agreed with Brown's ideology.



Slumber Party Massacre is standard slasher fare, even with the interesting cast of characters involved in its creation. The plot revolves around a girl having a "girls only" sleepover at her house because her parents are out of town. Unfortunately for them, this party will take place as escaped mass murderer Russ Thorn is out and about in their town. As the slumber party is in progress, people begin to be killed one-by-one. There is also a subplot that involves a girl who was invited, but did not want to go who spends the night hanging out with her sister. The two spend the night wondering what is happening at the party house. The highlight of this plot is when the younger sister borrows the older's Playgirl with Sylvester Stallone on the cover. In the end, this subplot will bore you to tears and even the slumber party itself is not that interesting.



It is clear from the get go that the goal of Brown's script is to make this film either ironic or simply comedic due to her background. This is made plain as day with the killer's choice of a weapon, a long drill. It is rather obvious that the drill is supposed to represent the killer's member and there are scenes in the movie (theatrical poster included) that support this claim. As far as the irony and comedy goes, it falls flat. I'm sure Brown thought her script was clever with its ample nudity and murder of young girls. The fact is, it is not. At its best it is ironic and more than anything is typical of the slasher genre. In the end, the attempted goal fails and is truly nothing beyond the ordinary.



The kills are rather pedestrian as well. With a particularly brutal murder weapon, one would expect interesting and gore-filled kills, this is not the case. Russ Thorn provides one of the more boring slasher villains as a guy with jeans and a jean jacket on. At the end of the day he's just some guy, which maybe they were going for. Must like the ironic plot, it does not work. At the very least, they should have at least given him a bad ass Motley Crue back patch. The worst aspect of the movie is the sheer overload of "fake" and "jump" scares. Way too often is a scare based around the horror cliches of a jumping cat or a friendly character sneaking up on someone. All issues aside, Slumber Party Massacre is a decent enough slasher, just nothing that you have not seen before.

Body Count: 9

Rating: 2.5/5

Trailer (warning, there is some nudity):

Rock 'N Roll Nightmare AKA The Edge of Hell (1987)

Director: John Fasano

Rock 'N Roll Nightmare. Jesus, where do I begin? Rock 'N Roll Nightmare is a straight to video horror film from 1987 that focuses on a haunted house and a band called Triton that rents it out to record and rehearse. Triton is lead by one of the most ass kicking front men ever, John Triton (played by John Mikl Thor, singer of the proto-power metal band Thor). I don't even know if I'm being sarcastic about him being one of the best front men ever. All I know is that he has long locks of blond hair and muscles to boot.



The house's previous tenants disappeared after a skeleton came out of the oven and killed them. Seriously. As Triton moves in and begins to rock, out come the monsters. The first thing you have to talk about is Triton themselves. With such hits as "Energy" and "We Live to Rock" they make Ratt and Dokken seem like high art. You know this is the 1980s because Triton's bassist is using one of those stupid head-less basses. Slowly, but surely the monsters in the house get each band member and their entourage one by one. After being attacked by the monsters, each person becomes one. As far as the monsters go, they are either people in costumes or these odd puppets that look like penises with eyes and mouths. At the end of the film, John Triton fights off a puppet demon who is supposed to be Satan while wearing a cod piece and nothing else. He wrestles with it for seemingly twenty minutes and BAM, Satan is defeated. I realize this is a spoiler, but you have no need to ever see this movie.



Rock 'N Roll Nightmare is a time capsule and nothing else. It is truly awful in the worst ways, but yet is strangely entertaining. I cannot help but feel if I saw this as a five year old I would think John Triton was the coolest dude ever because I loved hair bands and thought those in said bands were awesome. As an adult, not so much. This is one of the worst movies ever, but at the same time I highly recommend it as a group movie.



Rating: 2/5

Instead of the trailer, I'm providing a link to the classic Triton hit "We Live to Rock" so much better than a trailer ever could be.

Rock N Roll Nightmare (We LiveTo Rock)
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Top 10 Horror Movies of the 2000s Part II

4. Eden Lake (2008)


Eden Lake is the story of a couple who want to spend a weekend at the titular lake. Once they arrive, they come across a group of young, limey brats and the fun starts from there. Once this one picks up, it does not slow down. There's a Lord of the Flies element at play here that works particularly well. The ending seems to be a love/hate kind of thing, but I feel it worked perfectly and was well rooted in reality. Top notch.
Trailer

3. Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet (2009)


Many horror films released this past decade are often referred to as being a throwback to the glory days of the slasher. However, most of the time these films are not even close to replicating that. Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet is the closest thing to a retro slasher in the 21st Century. It is filled with creative kills, tons of disposable characters, references to older films, tons of Bautti Factor and first and foremost is fun. Bill Mosely steals the show in this one. Well worth tracking down.

Trailer

2. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)


Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is simply one of the most clever horror films ever made. Initially it is shot as a documentary of a young, up, and coming serial killer named Leslie Vernon. This one is by the fans for the fans. Behind the Mask is filled with many inside jokes and features numerous cameos by famous actors in the genre. As clever as this one is, it is as equally effective as a slasher film.

Trailer

1. Shaun of the Dead (2004)


Okay, some people might say that Shaun of the Dead is not a horror movie. In my opinion, it is a zombie movie first and comedy second. It's not like Zombieland (which is excellent) which feels more like a comedy that happens to have zombies. Shaun of the Dead works in much of the same ways Behind the Mask does, tons of inside jokes and numerous laugh out loud moments. Also like Behind the Mask, Shaun of the Dead works incredibly well as a zombie film and the last 20 or so minutes attest to this fact. The fact of the matter is, everyone should see this movie it is a true modern classic.

Trailer

That's that. Any thoughts? Did I miss anything?