The 1980s—Horror’s Greatest Decade

 

In the more than one century of Horror cinema, there have been many watershed years, years that have shaped and defined the genre.  1922 saw the first truly great Horror film—Nosferatu, directed by F. W. Murnau.  1931 marked the birth of the American Horror film, as Universal unleashed its twin titans, Dracula and Frankenstein.  1951 which marked the beginning of the era of the Science Fiction Horrors with the release of The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Thing from Another World.  And 1968, wherein one movie, George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, separated what had been considered Horror, from what would henceforth be Horror—with a line that was sharp and bright, and black and white.

But those were individual years, brief moments in time that stand out because a small, discrete number of films released in those years were transformative to the genre.  Though great Horror films may have been produced in the years preceding or following the years we have singled out, they lack the importance of those we have chosen.

But what if there were an entire decade that was, start to finish, that transformative, that influential, to the genre as a whole?  What if there was a decade that altered how filmmakers made Horror films; how distributors marketed Horror films; and how the horror fans viewed Horror films?  We’ve discussed how one or two films, in a single extraordinary year can change the way the Horror film is perceived by the public.  Can there be an extraordinary decade of extraordinary years?  There can be, and there was—the years from 1980 to 1989, the decade of the 1980s.

In the ‘80s, each year saw an increasingly rich cornucopia of Horror flooding Drive-Ins, Main Street theaters, Multiplexes, and eventually, our neighborhood video stores.  The decade began with movies such as Alligator, The Awakening, The Changeling, Fade to Black, The Fog, Friday the 13^th, Humanoids from the Deep, Maniac, Motel Hell, Prom Night, and The Shining.  It ended with La Chiesa (The Church), Leviathan, Offerings, Pet Sematary, Society, and

The Woman in Black.  In between lay a decade filled with some of the greatest Horror films ever made. 

The decade opened strong, with films such as An American Werewolf in London, Dead and Buried, Ghost Story, My Bloody Valentine, and Scanners in 1981.  1982 gave us Basket Case, Cat People, Creepshow, Pieces, Poltergeist, The Slumber Party Massacre, and John Carpenter’s The Thing, keeping the streak going.  1983 was no less impressive—Cujo and Christine, Psycho II and Sleepaway Camp.

In this spectacular decade, 1984 would have to be regarded as the standout year.  Any year that saw the release of C.H.U.D., Children of the Corn, Firestarter, Gremlins, Night of the Comet, and Silent Night, Deadly Night would be a memorable one by any standard.  However, in November of that year we would see the release of one of the most important movies of the decade, the film that launched the third great Slasher franchise, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Freddy Krueger, personified by a stellar performance by Robert Englund, redefined the Slasher genre.  The first era of the Slasher had passed its zenith, and the second era, characterized less by the silent, psychopathic, “unstoppable” slashers, and more by the smart, wisecracking, undeniably supernatural beings such as Freddy, Chuckie, or the evil Djinn from the Wishmaster films, had begun.

1985 was only slightly less remarkable than the preceding year.  Several of the best Horror films of the decade were released in 1985, films such as the conclusion to George Romero’s Dead trilogy, Day of the Dead; Fright Night, directed by Tom Holland; Tobe Hooper’s space vampire film Lifeforce; Re-Animator, directed by Stuart Gordon, and based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft; The Return of the Living Dead, Dan O’Bannon’s self-referential take on the Romero Zombie-verse; Silver Bullet, based on a Stephen King graphic novel, and directed by Daniel Attias; and Larry Cohen’s The Stuff.

1986, while not the equal of the previous two years in terms of quality, certainly excelled in terms of quantity.  Aliens, April Fool’s Day, Chopping Mall, Demons, The Fly, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Hitcher, House, Night of the Creeps, Rawhead Rex, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2—among others.  None, with the possible exception of Night of the Creeps, are great movies (and yes, that’s my opinion … but then, everything I write is my opinion).  But they’re all good—and that’s a lot of good movies for one year.

1987 was the first year of the final third of the decade.  By this point, most Horror fans would be expecting a let-down, but the ‘80s offered no real let-downs.  Yes, if you only associate ‘80s Horror with Slasher movies, then you will be disappointed as the decade wears on.  But ‘80s Horror was so much more than that.  Of the films that I consider the year’s standouts, none are Slasher films.  Angel Heart, Evil Dead 2, Hellraiser, The Lost Boys, The Monster Squad, Near Dark, Night of the Demons, John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness—they show the breadth of Horror in the 1980s.

Likewise, 1988 saw the release of some of my favorite ‘80s movies.  Beetlejuice, The Blob, The Church, Child’s Play, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Lady in White, Pumpkinhead, and Waxwork might not have been the decade’s biggest or best, but they were highly entertaining, and hugely successful.

The end of the 1980s marked the end of this period of unparalleled Horror film popularity.  Fittingly, 1989 lacked some of the excellence of the rest of the decade, though there are still gems to be had.  Three in particular served to ring out the ‘80s in style, and all three are uniquely ‘80s movies.  The ‘Burbs, directed by the great Joe Dante, and starring Tom Hanks, came towards the tail end of the actor’s forays into comedy, and this is one of his better examples, as well as being an excellent Horror Comedy.  Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary might be the best adaptation yet of a Stephen King novel.  And Society, directed by Brian Yuzna, is the perfect summation to the “decade of greed and excess.”

Were the 1980s Horror’s greatest decade?  While any use of the appellation “greatest” is by its very nature subjective, I certainly believe that it applies in this instance.  Yes, the first half of the decade of the 1930s were certainly groundbreaking, marking the birth of the American concept of the Horror film.  One could make an argument for the latter half of the ‘60s, or the opening years of the 21^st Century.  Even today, occasionally, the Horror gods smile down on Hollywood and we are blessed with a phenomenal year or two.  But never before, and never since, have we had a full decade as spectacular, as impactful to the genre, as the decade of the 1980s.

Hacking through Haddonfield: How HALLOWEEN Gave Birth to a Genre

(Originally Published in 2006)

Though my preferences usually run more in the Classic vein of Horror, every so often I feel the need to inject a little blood and gore into the mix.  Usually, I’ll pull out a Bava or Fulci film, or, depending on my mood, one of De Ossorio’s Blind Dead movies.  The European “Lost Cannibal Tribe” films of the ‘70’s are always good for plenty of blood & guts, though they aren't for most tastes.  For more recent fare, there’s no shortage of filmmakers who tend towards the gorier aspects of Horror.  Takashi Miike, director of the Japanese cult hit Ôdishon —aka— Audition, has developed quite a reputation as a director who pushes the boundaries with his films.  The Spanish filmmaker Nacho Cerdà has repeatedly blown through those boundaries, most notably with his short film Aftermath.

Domestically, the movies of Herschell Gordon Lewis never fail to keep me entertained, even if calling them “B-Pictures” is paying them an undue compliment.  I’ve always had a soft spot for bad movies, and H. G. Lewis would’ve given Ed Wood a run for his money in that department.  Romero’s Dead films are always an option for gore, as are the films of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and Clive Barker.  Currently, directors such as Eli Roth and Rob Zombie are keeping Hollywood’s manufacturers of fake blood in clover.

Of course, we also have the teen slasher films so popular in the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s … franchises such as Friday the 13^th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and the first and best of the Unstoppable Slasher movies, John Carpenter’s Halloween.

Thought of today primarily for being the film that introduced us to Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween should instead be remembered for having given birth to the uniquely American sub-genre of the standard slasher films, a curious sub-genre that I refer to as the “Unstoppable Slasher” movies.  Jason might have gotten the glory, and Freddy the best lines, but Michael beat them both to the punch.  And, in addition to being the first, he was by far the best.

Horror Fans today, long since jaded by multiple sequels, prequels, and even a cross-over, rightfully view each new iteration of these masters of massacre as nothing more than the lowest form of Horror, the cinematic equivalent of a Big Mac and fries… in truth, just more evidence of Hollywood’s contempt for the loyal fans of Horror Films.

But that overlooks just how good … just how influential, these films were when they premiered.  Halloween gave birth to a genre, and resurrected the Franchise concept that had been so successful for both Universal and Hammer Films.  Fans today might decry the never-ending parade of sequels that these films became, and not without reason.  But that fails to acknowledge that there is a reason that Halloween, and films like it, became franchises in the first place:  Because the original movie was so damn good.

If Slasher films are the American version of Italy’s Giallos, then John Carpenter is the American Bava.  One of the best directors in Horror today, as he has been since 1978, Carpenter has been responsible for some of the greatest Genre films of the past thirty years.  The Fog, The Thing, Christine, The Prince of Darkness … all have served to demonstrate the range and ability of Carpenter, and Halloween is, at least in my opinion, his masterwork.  Though not as polished and professional in appearance as his later films, the film’s raw, rough edge helped make it one of the most effective Horror Films of all-time, and the best of the Slasher genre.  The minimalist plot; the silent, emotionless killer; the teen-agers trapped in a peril they’re not even aware of, and Loomis’ absolute conviction that his patient is the physical embodiment of evil.  All of these factors combine to produce a truly suspenseful film—one that slowly builds into a frightening climax while not depending on the cheap, throwaway shocks that would become the hallmark of movies of this type.

This soon became one of the most successful films of the ‘70’s, and was, for a long time, the top-grossing Independent film of all time.  Though it gave rise to a series of sequels, none were helmed by anyone with a hint of Carpenter’s talent, and the series declined rapidly.

A year and a half after the premiere of Halloween, Friday the 13^th made its debut.  Directed by prolific producer Sean S. Cunningham, and owing much to Halloween, F13 was nevertheless a tremendously good movie in it’s own right… not up to the quality of the former film, but easily the best of a weak year for Horror.  The film was hugely successful, well beyond the anticipation of the producers, and a string of sequels soon followed.  Friday the 13^th:  Part II, released one year after the first film, introduced us to Jason Voorhees, the champion of the Slasher circuit, who’s still in business 25 years later.  Yet another sequel is currently in pre-production, with a 2007 release planned.

Four years after F13 began its domination of the sub-genre, Wes Craven gave us his take on the theme with the wisecracking, knife-gloved, ghost-of-a-psychopathic-pedophile Freddy Krueger, in Nightmare on Elm Street.

Craven, certainly the most commercially successful of the great Horror directors that arose in the late ‘60’s-early ‘70’s, predictably took the Unstoppable Slasher movies in a new direction with Freddy, and would resurrect the sub-genre 12 years later with the innovative, and much-copied, Scream.

There were other attempts to create similar horror franchises … the Candyman movies, a doll named Chucky, even a Leprechaun and a Genie.  Some of these movies were actually pretty good.  Most weren't.  But none ever equaled Halloween—the night Michael came home for the first time.

DVD Review: BLACK CHRISTMAS (2006)

Title:  BLACK CHRISTMAS (2006)

Year of Release—Film:  2006

Year of Release—DVD:  2007

DVD Label:  Dimension Home Entertainment

Bob Clark, the director who was recently killed by a drunk driver, will forever be known for what must be the best Christmas movie I’ve ever seen, 1983’s A CHRISTMAS STORY.  The tale of young Ralphie Parker and his quest for an official Red Ryder, 200-shot, Range Model Air Rifle, (with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time…) the film is one of the most humorous and heart-warming I’ve ever seen, capturing perfectly experiences that are common to most children, regardless of era.  Clark also helmed another of my favorite comedies, released in 1980—PORKY’S.  This raunchy, risqué teen sex-comedy is one that I never seem to tire of watching.

However, before he became known for his comedies, Bob Clark was one of the new breed of independent Horror directors, a contemporary of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Curtis Harrington, and Larry Cohen, that burst on the scene in the early ‘70’s following the success of George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.  Without the constraints of a major studio production, these filmmakers were able to push the envelope in ways heretofore unexplored.  Most of their efforts were, quite frankly, less than successful; Clark’s own first feature, 1972’s CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, was a thoroughly unmemorable, though mildly entertaining, rip-off of Romero’s NOTLD.  His next film however, DEATHDREAM, was much improved; and in 1974 he laid the foundation for the Slasher genre with BLACK CHRISTMAS.

Set in a sorority house over the Christmas break, as a lunatic hiding in the attic hunts those young ladies who didn’t go home for the holidays, this film laid down several of the conventions that would be developed further four years later with the masterpiece of the Slasher film, John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN.  Now, Glen Morgan has remade what is arguably Clark’s best Horror Film, with both Clark’s blessing and his imprimatur as Executive Producer.

This new version is faithful to the original, without being a shot-by-shot restaging of it.  It also answers many of the questions that were purposefully left unanswered in the 1974 version.  This has a mixed result; part of what the fans remember about the original film is the vagueness of the ending, and I think that leaving some secrets buried would have been a better choice.  But today’s horror fans seem to prefer their loose ends neatly tied together, and gathering the threads probably produced a more ‘commercial’ film.

The story of the killer, Billy, is told in a series of flashbacks to his childhood in the home that later became the Sorority House.  His abusive mother kills his loving father, setting the pattern for the young boy’s psychopathia.  As an adult, he eventually kills both her and her second husband, and is busy devouring her when the police arrive.  Committed to a mental institution, he escapes, heading back home… to what is now the Delta Kappa Alpha house.

The cast is good, though not spectacular, and the young women of the sorority are certainly beautiful.  Though most of the faces are familiar to viewers, there are no household names present, not that the material really requires much star power.  Morgan’s direction is competent; nothing inspired, but smooth and capable.

While remakes are difficult to pull off successfully, Morgan and co. do a very good job here.  Perhaps it has more to do with the lack of familiarity most fans have with the original, never a big commercial success, than with the changes inherent in this version.  Still, for whatever the reason, BLACK CHRISTMAS works, and works very well.

My disc is the special BlockBuster Video© Unrated Edition.  How this differentiates it from any other Unrated Edition escapes me, but no matter.  Dimension usually does a good job packaging their films, and this example is no different.  The audio and video quality was good, and the disc had a full selection of sound and subtitle options.

The release has several excellent features that should please viewers.  There is a very good behind-the-scenes documentary that includes comments from Bob Clark.  I would imagine these were among his last comments on his early horror films, as his death came not long after the DVD’s release.  Concerning his early films, he remarks that, in order to break into the business, you had to either “…make pornos, or make horrors.  And I didn’t want to make pornos.”  The documentary stands as a far more interesting look at this talented director than as a look at the making of BLACK CHRISTMAS.

Perhaps the best of the special features are the three Alternate endings; at least one of which would have been an improvement over the ending of the U.S. released version.  (The International release had one of these alternate conclusions…)  These are presented in sufficient depth and detail to allow a true comparison to be made, and each viewer to make their own choice.

In my “2006 in Review” column over at www.creaturescape.com, I discussed this film in conjunction with my look at the Remake of the Year, and stated that I had heard good things about this film but would reserve judgment until I had seen it myself.  Well, I’ve finally seen it, and must admit that I was very pleased.  It’s rare that I see a remake that I enjoy, and one that exceeds and expands upon the original is rarer still.  This one does just that, and does it with some flair and a dash of originality.  Not much, but enough to make a difference.

I got my copy from the four for $20 bargain bin at BlockBuster Video, (a definite recommendation, I might add…) but even at the list price it’s worth consideration.  I say give it a try… and have a scary Christmas.

DVD Review: TRICK 'r TREAT

Title:  TRICK ‘r TREAT

Year of Release—Film:  2007

Year of Release—DVD:  2009

DVD Label:  Warner Premiere

Considering that Halloween is the celebration of all things frightening and horrific, it’s remarkable that, save for the franchise launched in 1978 by John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN, relatively few Horror Films are devoted to our favorite holiday.  Halloween might get a toss-away nod here and there, but I’m talking about using the day as the central theme of the film, as does Carpenter’s masterpiece of Holiday Horror.  One recent film not only took All Hallows Eve to heart, but it did so in spectacular fashion.  So much so, that it quickly became the Unimonster’s second favorite Halloween movie.  That film is Michael Dougherty’s 2007 movie TRICK ‘r TREAT.

Written by Dougherty, TRICK ‘r TREAT is a cinematic vision of the lore, wonder, and fascination that surrounds Halloween, crystallized into a series of four vignettes interwoven into one story centered on a demonic trick-or-treater named Sam.  Sam (short for Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead that is the ancestor of our modern Halloween) is the personification of the holiday, watching over the festivities, and punishing those who lack the proper respect for the holiday and its customs and traditions.  He’s present in each of the four stories, as well as visible throughout the framing sequences.

As in most anthologies, some of the tales are better than the rest, but that variation is not nearly as marked here.  The opening sequence features a young married couple named Henry and Emma (Tahmoh Penikett and Leslie Bibb), who are returning from the evening’s festivities and their argument over the disrespect that Emma demonstrates towards the holiday’s traditions.  The four vignettes that follow are, in order:  The Principal, starring Dylan Baker as the principal of the local school, who has an odd way of celebrating the holiday; The School Bus Massacre Revisited, about a group of kids visiting the site of a mysterious tragedy thirty years before; Surprise Party, concerning a young woman’s (Anna Paquin) efforts to lose her “virginity;” and Meet Sam, in which a cantankerous, Halloween-hating old man (the always enjoyable Brian Cox) receives his just desserts.  The film’s conclusion ties the segments together nicely, as well as provides a very satisfying finish.

Technically speaking, the film is remarkably well-done, with photography by veteran DP Glen MacPherson.  Produced by Bryan Singer, director of films such as X-MEN, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, and SUPERMAN RETURNS, TRICK ‘r TREAT has a smooth, polished look that belies its $12 million budget, due in large part to Singer’s experience and guidance.  One factor in that look that I especially enjoyed is the paucity of CGI; almost all the effects work was practical.  The Unimonster is an old-fashioned kinda guy, and much prefers the magic of latex and rubber to pixels and megabytes.  CGI, when perfect, can be spectacularly effective.  Films such as STAR TREK and SUCKER PUNCH demonstrate this.  However, perfection is both difficult to achieve, and tremendously expensive.  If the result is anything less than perfection, then our eyes simply aren’t fooled.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but often a $200 latex appliance can be more convincing than several thousand dollars worth of computer time.

The DVD, from Warner Premiere, is okay—skimpy on special features, but acceptable.  The only bonus is the animated short Season’s Greetings, upon which the film is based.  The disc does include subtitles, something I always appreciate, but the lack of a commentary track on the feature (oddly, there is one for the animated short) is an unfortunate oversight on Warner’s part.  More information on the difficulties the producers had in finding distribution for this movie would be greatly appreciated.

For the Unimonster, there are certain movies that just define Halloween, movies that must be watched before the holiday ends or it’s just not Halloween.  Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN, Lugosi’s DRACULA, the original THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD—these movies say “Halloween” to me.  I do believe that TRICK ‘r TREAT will be joining that list this October … and for many Octobers to come.

Junkyardfilm.com's Moldy Oldie Movie of the Month: HACK-O-LANTERN (HALLOWEEN NIGHT)

Title:  HACK-O-LANTERN (HALLOWEEN NIGHT)

Year of Release—Film:  1988

[Ed. Note:  Jag Mundhra, the Director of HACK ‘O LANTERN, passed away on 4 September, 2011 in Mumbai, India.  The Crypt offers its sincere condolences to his loved ones.]

 

Kindly pumpkin-truck-driving Grandpa (Hy Pyke) makes a surprise Halloween visit to his young grandson, Tommy.  Grandpa gives Tommy his choice of pumpkin, a dime-store rubber skeleton and a mysteriously wrapped small package, cautioning Tommy not to tell his parents of the visit.  Later as Tommy is carving the jack-o-lantern, he cuts his finger on the carving knife and begins sucking the blood off, saying “Grandpa said it’s good for me.”  Tommy’s mother (Katrina Garner) furiously questions Tommy and, when she finds out that the Grandpa has visited, smashes Tommy’s pumpkin and warns Tommy to stay away from that man!  Later, the mother and father discuss the visit and the father, fed up with this crazy old coot, goes to warn the old man to leave Tommy alone.  Once at the Grandpa’s house, the father does not seem at all surprised to find the old man conducting a satanic ritual and confronts him.  The Grandpa’s reaction to being interrupted is to smash Tommy’s father over the head with a hammer and set him and his car on fire.  At home, Tommy opens the package to reveal a pentagram necklace.

Fast-forward 13 years.  Tommy (Greg Scott Cummings, former NFL punter for the San Diego Chargers) is now a rebellious young man, living in his mother’s basement and whiling his days listening to heavy metal and fantasizing about killing fellow heavy metal band members (featuring the band D. C. Lacroix) with laser guns.  His younger brother, Roger (Jeff Brown) is a rookie cop and his younger sister, Vera (Carla Baron) is a...well, the audience is never sure what Vera does other than wander around town with her friends.  As the mother struggles to keep both her late husband’s fruit farm going and her family together, she disapproves of anyone who comes near them.  And then there’s the Grandpa.  Despite the fact that the town’s hosting its annual Halloween party and everyone’s going, Grandpa warns Tommy that tonight Tommy will take his rightful place as head of the Coven.  The mother, sensing something is amiss, meets the Grandpa on the bridge and begs him to leave Tommy alone.  The Grandpa strokes the mother’s arms and replies that she is still a temptation to him after all these years.  And we see in a flashback Grandpa raping his own daughter on her wedding day.  Tommy is not his grandson!  He is his own son!  Bwahahahaha!  (*cough* Sorry about that.)

Allow me to pause in the narrative here.  This is where director Jag Mundhra and writer Carla Robinson begin smoking up some of Los Angeles’ favorite import.  Or so it would seem.  Up until now, this was a straight-up abet cheaply done horror movie with a decent plot that moved along at a nice pace.  We’ve had some gratuitous nudity.  And some not badly done gore effects.  It’s on Halloween night at the town dance where this movie does a complete right turn.  Because this is the part of the movie where the plot introduces the snake charmer.  And the stripper.  And the stand-up comedian (whose name is Bill Tucker and if, after watching his corny and contrived shtick, you’d like to book his act, here’s his website: [http://delafont.com/comedians/Bill-Tucker.htm].

It’s as if Jag Mundhra has put up flyers around town announcing he was looking for bit players for the party dance scene and if you had a Halloween costume and/ or some minor talent at anything, you could be in his movie!  And so the plot grinds to a halt as we watch various and not terribly talented towns-people do their “things.”  Eventually, we do get back to the plot and are rewarded with various townspeople being offed by someone in a devil’s mask and dark cape.  (I should also mention that all the women in this town are “hootchie-mamas” who are not adverse to pulling their clothes off at a moment’s notice.  Joe Bob would be proud!)

Tommy is at the coven’s ritual getting prepared to become the leader when his sister, Vera, dashes into the barn and, babbling hysterically, tells Tommy about all the killings.  Grandpa, upset that this very important ritual has been interrupted, strings the girl up and orders Tommy to kill her.  But, Tommy can’t.  After all, she’s his sister!  Furious, the be-caped Grandpa runs into the night after the fleeing girl.  And caped Tommy runs after them.  Which of these caped family members is the real killer!?!  And, we are rewarded with the double-twist ending!  (Eat your heart out, M. Night!)

Hy Pyke, who went on to do only two movies after this one, plays the Grandpa like a double order of California fruit salad.  Greg Scott Cummings played Tommy with such an aggressive nature that I feared he’d explode.  Carla Baron played Vera as a horny cipher.  And the supporting cast ... well, we’ve already covered that in a previous paragraph.  However, despite it’s obvious flaws and continuity problems, this is an unintentionally funny and fun little movie.  So, when planning your next Halloween party, which is only a few short weeks away, you could do worse than chose HACK ‘O LANTERN for the amusement of your guests.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

MSTjunkie

DVD Review: BLACK CHRISTMAS (2006)

Title:  BLACK CHRISTMAS (2006)

Year of Release—Film:  2006

Year of Release—DVD:  2007

DVD Label:  Dimension Home Entertainment

Bob Clark, the director who was recently killed by a drunk driver, will forever be known for what must be the best Christmas movie I’ve ever seen, 1983’s A CHRISTMAS STORY.  The tale of young Ralphie Parker and his quest for an official Red Ryder, 200-shot, Range Model Air Rifle, (with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time…) the film is one of the most humorous and heart-warming I’ve ever seen, capturing perfectly experiences that are common to most children, regardless of era.  Clark also helmed another of my favorite comedies, released in 1980—PORKY’S.  This raunchy, risqué teen sex-comedy is one that I never seem to tire of watching.

However, before he became known for his comedies, Bob Clark was one of the new breed of independent Horror directors, a contemporary of Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Curtis Harrington, and Larry Cohen, that burst on the scene in the early ‘70’s following the success of George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.  Without the constraints of a major studio production, these filmmakers were able to push the envelope in ways heretofore unexplored.  Most of their efforts were, quite frankly, less than successful; Clark’s own first feature, 1972’s CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, was a thoroughly unmemorable, though mildly entertaining, rip-off of Romero’s NOTLD.  His next film however, DEATHDREAM, was much improved; and in 1974 he laid the foundation for the Slasher genre with BLACK CHRISTMAS.

Set in a sorority house over the Christmas break, as a lunatic hiding in the attic hunts those young ladies who didn’t go home for the holidays, this film laid down several of the conventions that would be developed further four years later with the masterpiece of the Slasher film, John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN.  Now, Glen Morgan has remade what is arguably Clark’s best Horror Film, with both Clark’s blessing and his imprimatur as Executive Producer.

This new version is faithful to the original, without being a shot-by-shot restaging of it.  It also answers many of the questions that were purposefully left unanswered in the 1974 version.  This has a mixed result; part of what the fans remember about the original film is the vagueness of the ending, and I think that leaving some secrets buried would have been a better choice.  But today’s horror fans seem to prefer their loose ends neatly tied together, and gathering the threads probably produced a more ‘commercial’ film.

The story of the killer, Billy, is told in a series of flashbacks to his childhood in the home that later became the Sorority House.  His abusive mother kills his loving father, setting the pattern for the young boy’s psychopathia.  As an adult, he eventually kills both her and her second husband, and is busy devouring her when the police arrive.  Committed to a mental institution, he escapes, heading back home… to what is now the Delta Kappa Alpha house.

The cast is good, though not spectacular, and the young women of the sorority are certainly beautiful.  Though most of the faces are familiar to viewers, there are no household names present, not that the material really requires much star power.  Morgan’s direction is competent; nothing inspired, but smooth and capable.

While remakes are difficult to pull off successfully, Morgan and co. do a very good job here.  Perhaps it has more to do with the lack of familiarity most fans have with the original, never a big commercial success, than with the changes inherent in this version.  Still, for whatever the reason, BLACK CHRISTMAS works, and works very well.

My disc is the special BlockBuster Video© Unrated Edition.  How this differentiates it from any other Unrated Edition escapes me, but no matter.  Dimension usually does a good job packaging their films, and this example is no different.  The audio and video quality was good, and the disc had a full selection of sound and subtitle options.

The release has several excellent features that should please viewers.  There is a very good behind-the-scenes documentary that includes comments from Bob Clark.  I would imagine these were among his last comments on his early horror films, as his death came not long after the DVD’s release.  Concerning his early films, he remarks that, in order to break into the business, you had to either “…make pornos, or make horrors.  And I didn’t want to make pornos.”  The documentary stands as a far more interesting look at this talented director than as a look at the making of BLACK CHRISTMAS.

Perhaps the best of the special features are the three Alternate endings; at least one of which would have been an improvement over the ending of the U.S. released version.  (The International release had one of these alternate conclusions…)  These are presented in sufficient depth and detail to allow a true comparison to be made, and each viewer to make their own choice.

In my “2006 in Review” column over at www.creaturescape.com, I discussed this film in conjunction with my look at the Remake of the Year, and stated that I had heard good things about this film but would reserve judgment until I had seen it myself.  Well, I’ve finally seen it, and must admit that I was very pleased.  It’s rare that I see a remake that I enjoy, and one that exceeds and expands upon the original is rarer still.  This one does just that, and does it with some flair and a dash of originality.  Not much, but enough to make a difference.

I got my copy from the four for $20 bargain bin at BlockBuster Video, (a definite recommendation, I might add…) but even at the list price it’s worth consideration.  I say give it a try… and have a scary Christmas.

High School Horrors

If Horror Films of the 1970’s and ‘80’s were a reliable indicator, then it was a miracle that anyone survived the experience of attending High School.  There were Slashers roaming the hallways, mad killers in math class, even the senior prom might be interrupted by a pissed-off chick with telekinetic powers.  Forget ‘peer pressure’ and SAT scores—you just hoped you’d live to see Graduation Day.  And even that wasn’t a guarantee you’d survive to pick up that diploma.

One of the conventions of the archetypal Slasher film of the 1980’s was that the pool of victims was primarily young, good-looking teens—late high school or college age, old enough to be sexually active but certainly not adults.  Within that pool there would be the stereotypical victims:  The ‘jock’, the bitchy, stuck-up ‘pretty girl’, the ‘outcast’, the ‘good guy’, the sweet, innocent, ‘girl next door’—who, because she didn’t have sex, was often the lone survivor—and other, just as easily recognizable, characters that populated the corridors and classrooms of these fictional institutions.  Most of these were faceless rabble—body count fodder for the Slasher du Jour.

From the beginning of the Slasher craze, the late teen demographic has been targeted, not only on-screen but also at the box-office.  The teen-age male has historically been the greatest fan of Slasher movies, and they adapted early on to give the typical fan of the genre what they wanted to see.  That meant, to paraphrase the great Joe Bob Briggs, “more Boobs and more Blood.”

The earliest Slasher Films, Bob Clark’s BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) and John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978), were somewhat restrained in terms of blood and gore, particularly in comparison to the films that followed them.  Both films started out with excellent stories, strong directors with clear visions of what they wished to put on-screen, and talented casts able to execute the directors’ wishes.  They were able to build a natural suspense into their movies without relying on an overabundance of cheap scares and easy shocks.

In 1980, however, Sean Cunningham’s FRIDAY THE 13^TH would prove to be the game-changer in the Slasher genre.  Eschewing the reserved, restrained approach (and perhaps in tacit acknowledgement of the weaker script and cast with which he had to work), Cunningham, with the able assistance of make-up effects artist Tom Savini, set out to raise the bar in terms of bloodshed.  Instead of working to build real fear and suspense, they built a body count, with gallons of fake blood used as the mortar.  The fact that this approach worked, to the tune of $39 Million in domestic release, was not lost upon competing studios.

Seemingly overnight, the Slasher Film became the dominant form of Horror.  Before the end of 1981, no fewer than two dozen Slasher Films were released, several focusing their attention on the education system.  The first, and most notable, of these was PROM NIGHT, directed by Paul Lynch and released the same year as FRIDAY THE 13^TH.  Starring the first Scream Queen of the Slasher era, Jamie Lee Curtis, along with Leslie Nielsen and Michael Tough, PROM NIGHT was filmed in Canada and released by Avco Embassy on 18 July 1980, on 1,200 screens nationwide.  On a budget of $1.6 million (CDN), this tale of high school revenge for a sibling’s death grossed nearly $15 million in the US, a very respectable number.  It also spawned three sequels, and was remade (poorly) by Nelson McCormick in 2008.

Far better in terms of quality, though not as widely popular, was THE PROWLER, released in 1981.  Directed by Joseph Zito, and featuring make-up special effects by Tom Savini, this was a tale of a mad Slasher carving his way through a small college’s student body, dressed in army fatigues, gas mask, and helmet.  The film starred Farley Granger as Sheriff George Fraser, a man with a secret in his past, along with Vicky Dawson and Christopher Goutman as Pam and Mark, two young lovers who are stalked by the killer.  THE PROWLER was released in November of 1981, with little fanfare or notice.  Though Savini has stated that it contains some of his best effects work, it remains something of a ‘lost’ classic of the Slasher genre in comparison to it’s more famous brethren.

Another early ‘80’s entry in the crowded Slasher Film arena was Herb Freed’s GRADUATION DAY, released on 1 May 1981.  The story begins with the sudden death of a young female track star during a meet, and the return of her sister, a US Navy officer, to their small town, just as its preparing for the High School graduation.  Starring Christopher George, Patch Mackenzie, and Michael Pataki, the genre’s conventions are already in place less than a year after FRIDAY THE 13^TH defined them.  The unseen, unknown killer; the large body count; the inventive, if impractical, death scenes; the “Sex equals Death” motif—all are present here.  Once the formula for Slasher Film success had been discovered, it was copied—slavishly.

In 1984, Wes Craven, the director who had risen to prominence with films such as THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE HILLS HAVE EYES, decided to reinvent the Slasher Film.  Craven avoided the silent, stalking killer that typified the movie Slasher.  His creation was instead a wisecracking spectre, the ghost of a pedophilic child-killer haunting the dreams of the children of those who killed him.  That killer’s name was Freddy Krueger, and the movie was A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.

Boasting an excellent script (by Craven), superb photography, and Craven’s usually strong direction, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET became the template for a new direction in Horror over the next decade.  Less a Slasher than a supernatural demon, Krueger, played to perfection by Robert Englund, was the prototype of a new class of screen monster.  Englund was backed up by strong performances from a cast composed of veterans and newcomers, people such as John Saxon, Ronee Blakely, Heather Langenkamp, and Johnny Depp, in his first screen role.

The influence of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET continued to be felt on the genre for the remainder of the decade.  Similarly-themed creatures, hellspawns, and demons, from THE LEPRECHAUN, to THE WISHMASTER’s Djinn, to Pinhead, the leader of HELLRAISER’s Cenobites, began to push the traditional Slasher Film aside.  While they retained many elements of the Slasher Films, their victim pools typically skewed older than those for the Slashers.  As the Slasher Film waned in popularity (though never disappearing completely) through the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, High Schools and Colleges became somewhat safer, though not totally safe, from the predations of masked killers and silent stalkers.

By 1996, the Slasher Film genre was ripe for reinvention, and once again it was Wes Craven, working with a script from Kevin Williamson, who called class back into session, with the hip, witty, self-aware Slasher hit SCREAM.

Starring Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, and Matthew Lillard, SCREAM stood the conventional Slasher genre on it’s head, poking fun at the form while still managing to be a very effective Horror Film.  Released on 20 December 1996, it got off to a slow start, earning just $6.4 million of its $15 million budget in that first week.  By the end of it’s third week in release, however, it was approaching $40 million in Box-Office receipts, and, much as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET had done twelve years previously, had redefined the Horror Film.  Almost overnight fans were witness to what I refer to as the “Dawson’s Creek meets Freddy Krueger” School of Horror Films, movies which introduced a new paradigm to the Slasher Film.  Gone were the old stereotypes of the Slasher Film victims; now new models were introduced.  The average Slasher Film victim was no longer anyone most of us would have been familiar with when we were horny, stumbling, mumbling, pimply-faced youths surviving the daily pain-in-the-ass that was secondary education.  They were uniformly good-looking, uniformly wealthy, uniformly cool—and uniformly boring.

The few characters that existed outside the paradigm, be it due to lack of money, lack of looks, or lack of cool, were there to serve one of two purposes.  One, they were there to provide early fodder for the killer, and would quickly find themselves chopped, hacked, sliced, and/or diced into body count stew.

The second purpose such characters served was to provide a few red herrings as to the identity of the killer, who in the new paradigm wasn’t some escaped lunatic or mutant son of an insane camp counselor.  The killer in this new model Slasher Film came from within.  This new paradigm soon dominated the Horror genre, with SCREAM giving birth to two (soon to be three) sequels, along with numerous take-offs, such as URBAN LEGEND, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and the most original of these, FINAL DESTINATION.

However, lest one believe that the only danger to be found in the hallowed halls of academia were hook-handed Slashers and machete-wielding maniacs, in 1998 director Robert Rodriguez took us on a field trip back into the 1950’s, the heyday of the Alien Invasion movies such as IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and INVASION OF THE BODY-SNATCHERS, with THE FACULTY.

Starring Robert Patrick, Salma Hayek, Josh Hartnett, and Clea DuVall, this story of a High School where the faculty has been taken over by alien invaders was scripted by the same Kevin Williamson who had previously written SCREAM for Wes Craven.  While it did moderately well at the Box-Office, it failed to become the genre-changer that SCREAM had been two years before.

Another High School Horror Film failed at the Box-Office, but became a cult hit in video release.  2001’s GINGER SNAPS, a Canadian Werewolf movie directed by John Fawcett, and written by Karen Walton and Fawcett, saw only limited theatrical release in the US, though it did well in its native Canada.  It was also well-received by critics, and soon developed a solid fan following.  It stars Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabella as Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald, teen-age sisters struggling with feelings of depression and alienation while growing up in the small town of Bailey Downs.  The girls are obsessed with death, to the point of photographing themselves in staged ‘death scenes’ for a class project.  One night they encounter the “beast of Bailey Downs,” a creature the townspeople believe is responsible for a rash of mutilated dogs that have been found in recent days.  Ginger is bitten by the beast, and soon it becomes obvious to her sister that puberty isn’t the only change Ginger’s undergoing.

Though the genre had been trending away from the High School Horrors for several years, the recent spate of reinventions of many of the 1980’s Slasher Films has reinvigorated it to some degree.  HALLOWEEN, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, even PROM NIGHT have been remade lately, with varying degrees of success.  The audience for the Slasher Film hasn’t changed, demographically speaking, to any significant degree since the 1970’s, and in truth, neither have the long line of on-screen victims.  Both keep going strong, and that, I’m happy to say, shows no sign of changing.

DVD Review: THE PROWLER

Title:  THE PROWLER

Year of Release—Film:  1981

Year of Release—DVD:  2003

DVD Label:  Blue Underground

The early ‘80’s were the height of the Slasher movie craze, and 1981 was perhaps the high-water mark of the genre, with no fewer than thirteen different Slasher Movies being released.  These ran the gamut from the superb—PIECES ~aka~ ONE THOUSAND CRIES HAS THE NIGHT and MY BLOODY VALENTINE, to the average—HALLOWEEN II; HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, to the execrable—HUMONGOUS; HONEYMOON HORROR.  And a 17-year-old Unimonster was there in the theaters for most of them.  FUNHOUSE, FRIDAY THE 13^TH, Part II and HE KNOWS YOU’RE ALONE were just a few of the movies that I saw that year, by any measure a very good year for Slasher-fans.

But one that escaped my notice until just recently was Joseph Zito’s THE PROWLER, available on DVD from Blue Underground.  My introduction to this movie came while viewing the superb documentary on Slasher films, GOING TO PIECES: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SLASHER MOVIE [Starz/Thinkfilm].  THE PROWLER was one that the documentarians focused on, including interviews with the director and behind-the-scenes footage of the film’s special effects and make-up creator Tom Savini.  What they described was a complete unknown to me, and it intrigued me enough to begin hunting for a copy of this movie.

It’s June 1945, and the war in Europe is over.  Hundreds of thousands of GI’s are returning to the States, most to pick up their lives pretty much where they left off.  Others however, the thousands of ‘Dear Johns’ dumped by their wives and sweethearts while they fought for freedom, are coming home to piece shattered lives, and in many cases shattered psyches, back together.  In Avalon Bay, the former sweetheart of one such ‘Dear John’ is attending her graduation dance with her new beau.  They slip out to share a quiet moment alone, only to be brutally murdered, impaled together on a pitchfork by a helmeted, masked killer in combat fatigues.

Thirty-five years later, the school is preparing for it’s first graduation dance since the night of the double murder.  The Sheriff (Farley Granger, in what amounts to a brief cameo…) is departing on his annual fishing trip, leaving the town in the hands of his deputy (played competently by Christopher Goutman).  He and his girlfriend Pam (the lovely Vicky Dawson, in an underwhelming performance) discover that a killer is once again stalking the graduation dance, and that his next target might be Pam herself.

While the premise is nothing original, borrowing heavily from earlier entries in the Slasher genre, the execution is far better than most.  Zito’s direction never lets events wander too far afield, and the pacing is well managed.  The script, by Neal Barbera and Glenn Leopold, provides a better than average starting point for that direction, and the cast of unknowns does a decent job with the material they’re given.  Though the film features a pair of former stars in cameo roles, (the above-mentioned Granger and Lawrence Tierney as Col. Chatham, father of the girl murdered in 1945…) their contributions are minimal.  The true star of the film is the make-up effects of Tom Savini.

From the pitchfork murder of one young woman in her shower, to the swimming pool throat-slitting of another, to the climactic death scene, Savini’s effects work elevates this movie above it’s contemporaries.  When it comes to blood and gore exploding across the screen, no one does it better than Savini; it’s a shame that he has apparently forgotten this aspect of his career in order to pursue acting and directing.

The DVD comes with several bonuses that are worth checking out, most notably a behind-the-scenes reel of Savini’s team setting up and performing the effects shots.  Tidbits such as that are always fascinating.

THE PROWLER is a movie that escaped my notice the first time around, but I’m pleased to say that I have discovered it at last.  For those who enjoy a good, old-fashioned Slasher pic, it’s one that’s hard to beat.  I’d call it a definite rental; a buy for fans of the genre.