Slasher Studios: Top 5 Most Disturbing Horror Movie Moments

On this week’s episode of Slasher Studios, Kevin Sommerfield and Steve Goltz went over their most disturbing horror moments. Moments in horror movies that made them cover their eyes, hide their heads, or just make them think. Make sure to listen to our full show at the link below.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/slasherstudios/2011/11/07/slasher-studios-most-disturbing-horror-moments

The Slasher Studios Top 5:

1. Pet Semetary-Gage is Killed

There is one thing that every parent hopes never to witness in their lifetime and that is the death of their child. In “Pet Semetary”, the Creed family moves into a new home, close to a road where high-speed truckers often carelessly drive by. They befriend their neighbor, Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne), who tells them about a pet cemetery and the burial grounds nearby. When the family’s young son, Gage (Miko Hughes), is tragically run over by a truck on the same road during a picnic and is killed, the father, Louis, considers burying Gage in the burial grounds. All hell breaks loose when Gage comes back from the dead and the father is forced to kill his son, watching him die yet again.

Buy “Pet Semetary” at Amazon: Pet Sematary (Special Collector’s Edition)

2. Last House on the Left-Rape and Murder of Mari and Phyllis
Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel) plans to celebrate her 17th birthday by attending a concert with her friend, Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham). Her parents (Richard Towers and Cynthia Carr) express concern both at the band and Mari’s friendship with Phyllis. They let her go, giving her a peace symbol necklace as a gift before she leaves. Phyllis and Mari go to the city for the concert. On the way, they hear a news report on the car radio of a recent prison escape, involving criminals Krug Stillo (David A. Hess), a rapist and serial killer, his son Junior (Marc Sheffler), Sadie (Jeramie Rain), a psychopath and sadist, and Fred “Weasel” Podowski (Fred Lincoln) a child molester, peeping tom, and murderer. After the concert, Mari and Phyllis stroll the streets, seeking someone who might sell them marijuana. They find Junior, who leads them back to an apartment, where they are immediately trapped by the criminals. Phyllis tries to escape, then tries to reason with the criminals to let her go, but their captors subdue and rape her. Meanwhile, Mari’s unsuspecting parents prepare a surprise party for her.

The next morning, the girls are locked in a car trunk and taken to the countryside as the gang intends to leave the state. The villains’ vehicle malfunctions right in front of Mari’s house while police are in her home talking to Mari’s parents about her disappearance. Removed from the trunk, Phyllis is beaten as Mari realizes that they are near her own home while she is dragged to the woods. In the woods, the girls are untied and Phyllis is forced to urinate on herself by the gang. Mari and Phyllis are forced to have sex with each other and then Sadie performs oral sex on a weeping Mari. Phyllis runs away to distract the kidnappers and offer Mari an opportunity to escape. She is chased by Sadie and Weasel, while Junior stays behind to guard Mari, who tries to convince Junior that her father can help him, and she gives him her peace symbol necklace as a symbol of her trust. Phyllis manages to hit Sadie in the face with a rock and runs. She is then cornered, and Weasel stabs her in the back. She crawls away and manages to lean against a tree. Phyllis is then stabbed numerous times until Sadie can reach into her wounds and pull out her insides. Krug and Weasel amputate her hand and half of her forearm.

Mari eventually convinces Junior to let her go, but they are immediately halted by Krug. Sadie and Weasel present Phyllis’ severed hand and half forearm and Krug proceeds to carve his name into Mari’s chest. Krug then pulls down Mari’s pants and rapes her. Soon after this act, Mari vomits. At this point, the gang very briefly feel pangs of conscience. Mari quietly says a prayer then walks into a nearby lake. Krug shoots Mari and she floats on the top of the lake. Krug, Sadie, and Weasel wash and change out of their bloody clothes. The parents soon find the necklace and get their bloody revenge on the group.

Buy “Last House on the Left” at Amazon: The Last House on the Left (Unrated Collectors Edition)

3. Martyrs-Anna’s “Rebirth”
“Martyrs” with a young girl, Lucie (Jessie Pham), as she escapes from a disused abattoir where she has been imprisoned and physically abused for a lengthy period of time. No signs of sexual abuse are identified, and the perpetrators and their motivations remain a mystery. Lucie is placed in an orphanage, where she is befriended by a young girl named Anna (Erika Scott). Anna soon discovers that Lucie believes that she is constantly being terrorized by a ghoulish creature; a horrible, disfigured, emaciated woman (Isabelle Chasse) covered in scars.

Fifteen years later, Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) bursts into a seemingly normal family’s home and kills them all with a shotgun. Lucie calls Anna (Morjana Alaoui) to tell her that she has finally found and killed the people responsible for her childhood abuse and requests her help in burying the bodies. Upon arriving, Anna is horrified at the carnage, and worries that Lucie may have murdered the wrong people. Anna later discovers the mother is still alive and tries to help her escape, but the two are discovered by Lucie, who bludgeons the mother to death. Lucie is again attacked by the scarred creature, but all Anna sees is Lucie banging her head against the wall and cutting herself with a knife; the ‘creature’ is nothing more than a psychological manifestation of Lucie’s guilt for leaving behind another girl who was also imprisoned and tortured with her as a child. Lucie tells the apparition that she killed its tormenters and that it can rest, but it has no effect. Lucie finally realizes that her insanity will never leave her and slits her throat. She dies in Anna’s arms.

The next day, after mourning her friend’s death, Anna attempts to clean up the house and discovers a secret underground chamber. Imprisoned within is a horribly tortured woman, covered in scars with a strange metal contraption nailed to her head. While Anna attempts to care for her and clean her wounds, a group of strangers arrive and shoot the woman dead. Captured by the menacing newcomers, Anna meets their leader, an elderly lady only referred to as Mademoiselle (Catherine Bégin). She explains that she belongs to a secret society seeking to discover the secrets of the afterlife through the creation of “martyrs”. Systematic acts of torture are inflicted upon young women in the belief that their suffering will result in a transcendental insight into the world beyond this one. So far, all of their attempts have failed, and they have only created “victims”.

Buy “Martyrs” at Amazon: Martyrs

4. Cabin Fever-The Virus Spreads
While walking in the woods, a man (Arie Verveen) comes upon a dog he believes to be sleeping. After poking it a few times, he pulls the dog up and notices that its flesh is rotted, spurting blood on him in the process.

Five college friends, Jeff (Joey Kern), Marcy (Cerina Vincent), Paul (Rider Strong), Karen (Jordan Ladd) and Bert (James DeBello), have rented a cabin in the woods. While driving to it they stop at a local convenience store for food. Outside the store, Dennis (Matthew Helms), a mentally handicapped young boy, bites Paul on the hand. At the cabin, Jeff and Marcy have sex and Paul and Karen go swimming in the nearby lake. Bert goes hunting for squirrels in the woods with a BB gun, but accidentally shoots the man who discovered the rotting dog, mistaking him for a squirrel. The man’s face is badly rotted. Scared, Bert shoots at him again to repel him before running back to the cabin. Later, the friends hear a knocking at the door and discover it is the diseased man. Desperate for help, the hermit tries driving away in their car, but vomits blood inside it. After the man exits the car Paul sets the man on fire and he runs into the woods, dying in the lake.

A young deputy, Winston Olsen (Giuseppe Andrews), shows up at the cabin and tells Paul he will call a tow truck. Karen drinks a glass of water from the lake and begins feeling ill. That night she is quarantined in the tool shed once Paul discovers rotten spots on her thighs. Fearing that they will also become infected, the others argue about what they should do. The next day, Bert realizes that he is also infected with the virus, but does not tell the others. When Paul and Marcy insist on helping Karen, Jeff, wanting to avoid becoming infected, runs into the forest with the remaining beer, which is the only reliable drinking source. Bert drives off to find a doctor.

Paul finds Marcy alone in the cabin, lamenting that they will all get sick. Since they’re “gonna be dead soon, anyway,” Marcy seduces Paul and they begin having wild sex. Paul expresses his concern that they are not using a condom, but Marcy half-heartedly assures him that she is healthy and they continue. Paul is not convinced and after they finish, he secretly attempts to disinfect his penis by pouring Listerine over it. Marcy discovers suspicious red hand-shaped marks on her back where Paul had grabbed her in the heat of passion.

Bert drives to the convenience store that the group visited earlier, pleading for a doctor and showing increasing signs of infection. Dennis stares at Bert and begins yelling, “PANCAKES!!” He then grabs Bert’s hand and bites it, infecting himself. His father (Hal Courtney) comes outside, accuses Bert of infecting the boy, and tries to kill him. Bert speeds off and the father grabs two of his friends (Richard Boone and Tim Parati) who arm themselves with rifles before pursuing Bert.

Marcy admonishes Paul for being so rough when they had sex, though seeming to secretly suspect the sores on her back are really a sign she is infected. Paul leaves the cabin to search for Jeff. Soon after, the marks he made on Marcy’s back devolve into scabby wounds, revealing she has long been sick. Paul comes upon the reservoir and finds the infected hermit’s body floating in in. Marcy notices her legs deteriorating as she is shaving them. She runs out of the cabin in horror, only to be killed by a mad dog. When Paul hears Marcy’s screams he returns to the cabin to find Marcy’s body ripped to pieces and the infected dog eating Karen’s face. Paul kills the dog with Bert’s rifle, then kills Karen with a shovel to end her suffering.

Buy “Cabin Fever” at Amazon: Cabin Fever

5. I Spit on Your Grave-Jennifer is Raped and Gets Revenge
New York short story writer Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) rents an isolated cottage by a lake in the countryside to write her first novel. The arrival in town of the attractive and independent young woman attracts the attention of Johnny (Eron Tabor), the gas station manager, and Stanley (Anthony Nichols) and Andy (Gunter Kleemann), two unemployed youths who hang around the gas station. Jennifer receives a grocery delivery from Matthew (Richard Pace), who is apparently mildly mentally challenged, and befriends him. Matthew is friends with the other three men and reports back to them about the beautiful woman he met, claiming he saw her breasts.

Stanley and Andy start cruising by the cottage in their speedboat and apparently prowl around the house at night. One day, while Jennifer is relaxing in her canoe, they surprise her in their speedboat and tow her to shore. As she tries to escape, she is met by Johnny, while Matthew hides in bushes nearby. She realizes they planned her abduction so Matthew can lose his virginity. Jennifer fights but is chased by the men through the forest. Matthew refuses to have sex with her, so Johnny rapes her. They allow her to escape but track her down shortly afterward. Andy brutally rapes her anally, and after she crawls back to her house, they attack her again. Matthew finally rapes her after drinking alcohol, but he says that he can not reach orgasm with the other men watching. The other men ridicule her book and rip up the manuscript, and Stanley sexually assaults her. She passes out, but after the men leave, Johnny realizes she is a witness to their crimes and orders Matthew to stab her to death. Matthew cannot bring himself to do this, so dabs the knife in her blood and returns to the other men claiming he has killed her.

In the following days, a traumatized Jennifer pieces both herself and her manuscript back together. She goes to church and asks for forgiveness for what she plans to do. Soon after the men learn Jennifer has survived and beat Matthew up for deceiving them just before Jennifer gets her bloody revenge.

Buy “I Spit on Your Grave” at Amazon: I Spit on Your Grave

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Third Time Isn’t the Charm in “Paranormal Activity 3”

“Paranormal Activity 3” is the funniest movie you will see all year. From start to finish it is loaded with gut busting laughs that you will be eager to tell you friends about. The problem? It’s not a comedy…at all. In fact it is deadly seriously from beginning to end which only added to the fun. Once in a full moon horror audiences get to experience this sort of bad filmmaking. A film that plummets below mediocre into so-bad-it’s-good territory. This is just that film.

“Paranormal Activity 3” begins in 2005, Katie delivers a box of old videotapes to her pregnant sister, Kristi, and Kristi’s husband, Daniel. A year later, Kristi and Daniel’s house is seemingly burgled and the tapes are missing. Flashback to 1988, a young Katie and Kristi live with their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis; Kristi begins interacting with an invisible friend named Toby. Dennis notices that since Kristi’s friend appeared, strange things have been happening in the house. Dennis and Julie try to make a sex tape, but are interrupted by an earthquake. While they look for the girls, the camera shows dust fall from the ceiling and land onto an invisible figure in the room. The figure then moves and the dust falls to the floor. While reviewing the footage later, Dennis notices the strange incident. He invites his friend Randy over to view the footage, who suggests that Dennis place cameras throughout the house to capture any other incidents.

That night in the girls’ bedroom, Kristi wakes up and begins talking to someone off-camera before going back to bed. When Dennis questions her about this the following day, Kristi tells him that it is Toby. After more disturbed nights and strange occurrences, Dennis discovers a strange symbol in the girls’ closet. He finds the same symbol on a picture of women in a book about demonology. Dennis explains to Julie that the symbol belonged to a witches’ coven that brainwashed girls of child-bearing age into having sons and then forgetting about it, but Julie dismisses his claim. Because, of course, he HAS to be making this all up. Right?

Hmmm…where to start with the problems of this film:

* Sometimes there is a time stamp on the camera, sometimes there isn’t.
* Who is editing the jump cuts when there is no “flash forward” in time?
* Who was changing the tapes in the middle of the night?
* Why is the camera looking over at the parents bed when it is staring straight at the mirror?
* Why didn’t the babysitter say what had happened to her to the parents?
* Why didn’t the Randy show them his cut after he was attacked by “Toby”?
* Why was Toby never mentioned in the first two installments?
* Why didn’t Dennis show Julie the tapes before going into the stupid speech about the witches?
* Was the final scene (witches in black robes?) really meant to be taken seriously?
* Didn’t the video quality appear to be awfully good (and in HD even!!) for something that had been 25 years old and sitting in storage?
* Also did the witches edit the tapes together themselves?

The list goes on and on and on. This is quite the movie experience that really must be seen to be believed. Go in with a few beers and zero thoughts in your head and maybe you’ll have a good time. Who knows? Just don’t spend money on it…

One last thing: Watch the movie and then watch the trailer below. No less than 2/3 of this trailer’s footage is NOT even in the film. This is blatant false advertising (especially considering the trailer was released just three weeks before the film) and is deplorable.

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October Horror Challenge: Day 31: “Trick r Treat”

What better way to end a month of horror movies than taking a look back at “Trick r Treat”. Anthology horror films seem to be a dying breed. Gone are the days of Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt and in are the days of supernatural horror and torture porn. Good anthology horror films are some of the hardest horror films to make. It is hard enough for a good filmmaker to come up with one captivating story let alone three or four, or, in the case of Creepshow, five stories. So it is with this in mind that I dig my teeth into Warner Brothers’ long delayed Halloween themed anthology horror flick Trick r Treat. Is it a delicious treat for slasher maniacs everywhere? Or is it an apple covered razor blade? Well…let’s see…

“Trick r Treat” begins on Halloween night in Warren Valley, Ohio, a young woman named Emma blows out a Jack-o-Lantern in front of her home despite a warning from her husband Henry. She has a tragic surprise for not obeying the Halloween rules. Next (or earlier, you really have to see the film to know what I mean), the virgin Laurie buys a Little Red Riding Hood costume with her sister and two girlfriends as they invite some guys for a party. Meanwhile, the glutton Charlie destroys many Jack-o-Lanterns on the street. When he arrives at the house of the high-school principal Steven, the boy discovers how much the disturbed man respects the dead and the traditions of Halloween. Meanwhile four teenagers invite the outcast Rhonda to join them in their journey to an abandoned rock quarry where a tragic accident with the school bus with eight troubled children happened thirty years ago. They play a prank with Rhonda but when the mean Marcy blows out the last Jack-o-Lantern in the spot, they need the support of Rhonda to escape from the damned place. Laurie sees a stalker that follows her; while walking through the woods to the party, she is attacked and she finally has her initiation. Earlier, the lonely Mr. Kreeg lives alone with his dog Spite and is visited by a scary trick-or-treating creature named Sam.

Wow..that was exhausting. If it sounds confusing or overly complicated, believe me that it’s all part of the fun. Trick r Treat is a delicious throwback to the comic book style anthology films of the 1960’s and 1970’s. For those of you who want their gore laid on thick with extra nudity, you are going to be disappointed. Those who want a good old fashioned horror movie with a lot of twists and turns are going to be much more impressed. From the acting (top notch in just about all the stories) to the spot on directing, to the breathtaking cinematography, just about everything in this movie works. It is the Halloween classic horror fans have been waiting years for.

To order Trick R Treat: Trick ‘r Treat [Blu-ray]

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Slasher Studios: Favorite Female Villains

On this week’s webcast of Slasher Studios, Kevin Sommerfield and Steve Goltz talked about their favorite female horror movie villians. Girls who were a bad ass bitch and knew how to kill with style. Click on the link below to listen to an archive of the show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/slasherstudios/2011/10/31/slasher-studios-favorite-female-villians

Here is our final TOP SIX:

1. Mrs. Voorhees
FRIDAY THE 13TH
Pamela Voorhees is killing off camp counselors out of rage because her son Jason, drowned at that same camp in the past. This character is creeps me out the most because this is an old lady who gets the same pleasure out of killing just many of the iconic horror villains such as Jason and Michael Myers. There is an entertaining death match at the end between Alice and Mrs. Voorhhes and I’m always right there rooting for alice to kill her off. Betsy Palmer plays a really good creepy lady and with her facial expressions and the way she speaks everything comes together for this characrer. Palmer really pulled it off well, although I do feel she wasnt really acting most of the time.

2. Mrs. Loomis
SCREAM 2
So, we had the brilliant origianl SCREAM where we see Billy Loomis is killed off at the end. Then, along comes the sequel and I have to say, overall this film is just as good, if not better. Once again we have two killers, one of whom is Mrs. Loomis, played by Laurie Metcalf. First of all, I have to say that I love Laurie Metcalf. I think she is a great actor, I think she is funny, and I may be dating myself, but I loved her in rosseane and of course she did a fantastic job as the voice of Andy’s mom in the TOY STORY movies. Maybe it’s because I like her so much as an actor, but I absolutely loved her character in SCREAM 2. We meet her first as Debbie Salt. She is basically trying to portray her self as someone else, in this case a reporter, so nobaody knows who she really is. Later, at the end of the film, we find out that she was actully not Debbie Salt, but she is indeed Billy’s mother, Mrs. Loomis. Much like Jason’s mom, she is trying to get revenge for her sons death and like Mrs. Voorhees, she has the motivation to do it. She gets super creepy and some may say a bit over the top at the end, but I myself happen to love her at that point. Throughout the film, even as Debbie Salt, you can tell something just might not be right with her.

3. Angela
SLEEPAWAY CAMP
OK, so talk about weird and creepy. At the start of the film, there was a tragic accident involving a brother and sister. We are lead to believe that the sister was the only one to survive. From there, we follow her story a few years later as she attends a summer camp and sooner than later, certain people within the camp are being killed off. At the end, we find out in a very shocking way that shy little Angela was actully the killer, but not only was she the killer, she was not even a she! Angela was the brother the entire time. Im not going to go into the visuals of how we find out, but without this crazy ending, this film would not be remembered like has been.

4. Creedence
TROLL 2
Hopefully most of you have seen TROLL 2 because it is quite entertaining and on a side note, I also really, really recomend watching the documentry about this film, BEST WORST MOVIE. Anyways, whether you have seen this film or not, you should know that it has been considered one of the worst films ever. It has bad acting and a really wierd story with wierd characters and when speeking of wierd characters, you have to talk about Creedence. She is the queen of the goblins and has super dry lips and her acting is so over the top and crazy…but it works. She is pretty entertaining and I know it’s not saying much, but she’s probaly the best actor in the film.

5. Sylvia Ganush
DRAG ME TO HELL
Sylvia is not your run of the mill horror villian that kills a mass amount of people and chops them up and all that good stuff, but she is indeed an evil little old lady. She goes to her bank in hopes of recieving and extension on her home loan. Our main character, Christine, denies the extention and Sylvia freaks out. Security has to escort her out of the bank and later she ends up attacking Christine in a parking garage and places a curse on her. I really liked this attack scene as i thought it plays out really well and it was edited together nicely and has some funny moments.

6. Jill
SCREAM 4
Jill is the young teenage cousin of Sidney Prescott. We meet her as a very innocent, girl next door type. Having Emma Roberts play Jill was a great casting decision because she really does have that natural innocent look. I also feel that having Jill be one of the killers was a great writing decision. Personally I never expected her to be involved. Jill saw how Sidney had become famous in her own right and wanted that all for herself. I think her motivation to kill was very interesting and she made it believable. She really gets super crazy at the end and makes you think back to Mrs. Loomis.

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Happy Halloween from Slasher Studios!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope everyone has had their fill of horror movies and pumpkin spice coffee to last a lifetime. But, really, how can you just love the horror genre for just one month? Horror is the gift that just keeps on giving. Who doesn’t love a good death and a good scare to awaken the senses? Today, on this very special Halloween, I would like to take a little about my favorite kind of horror movie. The slasher film. Big surprise, huh?

Sometimes it’s hard being a slasher fan. Even among horror fans, slasher movies are considered to be the bottom of the barrel of horror movies. The general consensus is that it doesn’t take much effort to make a slasher movie. What do you need? A final girl, a killer with a mask, and a bunch of nubile teens ready to get hacked up? Well, I would argue that slasher films are something more than that. Something special. Something unique. In the genre of horror movies, slasher films are the “comfort food”. The double cheeseburger from McDonalds or that stuffed crust pizza that you just have to have from Pizza Hut. Are they nutritious? No, not in the least. But they serve a special craving that nothing else will fill. I’m glad to have you, readers of this website to share in my love of this guilty pleasure. May there be many, many years of delicious slasher movies to come.

So a big Happy Halloween from all of us here at Slasher Studios to slasher fans everywhere! Come out of the closet and show your love for both the subgenre that no one wants to admit to as well as the best holiday a horror fan could ask for!

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October Horror Challenge: Day 30: “Night School”

Anne Barron (Meb Boden) is a teacher’s aide at the Jack-N-Jill Daycare Center in Boston. It’s the early evening and the last child has been picked up by her mother. Anne is relaxing on the playground carousel when someone pulls up on a motorcycle, wearing a pink helmut. Anne is startled. Suddenly the stranger pulls out a machete and starts spinning the carousel. The machete is held up in the air and the terrified woman goes around and around – until she’s struck with it.

Judd Austin (Leonard Mann) is the cop assigned to the case. He is called to the scene and when he gets there, he sees a gruesome sight. The girl was decapitated and her head was put in a bucket of water nearby. The distraught director of the center tells the officer that Anne worked there during the day – and was attending night classes at Wendell College. At the hospital, Judd and his partner Taj (Joseph R. Sicari) discuss a similar case from the previous week. Another girl was found decapitated and her head was dumped in a pond. They wonder if there’s any connection between the two murders.

“Night School” is a typical run-of-the-mill early 80’s whodunit slasher with a decapitation twist. This is the kind of movie where half of the fun is trying to figure out where the detectives are going to find the missing heads. The twist ending is pretty predictable and the acting is a bit wooden (Rachel Ward, in her film debut, is all sorts of terrible here) but the film is never boring and has been directed with style. Boston looks positively wretched on film here and it gives the slasher a bit of a grungy “Departed” vibe. Overall, it’s definitely worth checking out, just check your expectations–and your head—at the door.

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Slasher Studios Exclusive: “Popularity Killer” Trailer

Check out the exciting teaser trailer below for our second slasher hit, “Popularity Killer” and make sure to order a copy today. Supplies are limited so get one while you still can!

Plot Info: “After a young girl is found murdered, a group of teens at Payton High must band together to piece together the horrifying travesty. The teens soon discover the mysterious killer is killing only the most popular students in school. As their friends die one-by-one in the most shockingly gruesome ways possible, they realize that being “in” may not get them out…alive. Every school has an it list…pray you’re not on this one.”

“Popularity Killer” stars Courtney Ellen Bay, Matty Dorschner, Mike Goltz, Jennifer Frey, Hannah Herdt, Dana Michele, and Jamie Jo Roen. Directed by Steve Goltz and Written by Kevin Sommerfield.

To order a copy click below:

Popularity Killer

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October Horror Challenge: Day 29: “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare”

After the dismal “Freddy’s Dead”, Freddy seemed to be dead and buried for at least a few years. It, however, was in 1994 that Wes Craven came up with the radical idea of bringing Freddy back for another nightmare…a “New Nightmare”. Gone was funny Freddy and the fresh looking 80’s MTV teenagers and in was a concept so unique and groundbreaking that it just couldn’t work? Or could it…

But..let us start back at the beginning. In 1984, horror director Wes Craven created “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” It was acclaimed as one of the scariest movies ever made and made unknowns like Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, and Heather Langenkamp huge stars. Ten years later, Heather is living happily with her husband, Chase, and her son, Dylan. But her life has now been turned upside down because she is being stalked by a person who sounds like Nightmare villain Freddy Krueger. Chase has just been killed in a car accident after he accidentally fell asleep behind the wheel. Dylan refuses to sleep any more, and New Line Cinema has just offered her a part in “the ultimate Nightmare.” But some other strange things have been happening, including earthquakes and Craven being tight-lipped about the script. The ultimate truth is that Freddy Krueger is actually an ancient demon breaking out into our world, but in order to do that, he must go through Heather. And he knows he can get out by harming those near her.

Sound convoluted? Pretentious? Overly meta? Shockingly, no. “New Nightmare” is that rare horror film in which everything works. The performances are pitch perfect, lead by a tour-de-force performance by the amazing Langenkamp. The script is full of twists and turns and the movie is quite possibly the best looking of the entire series. What starts out as a maze of mirrors becomes something much more than your typical nightmare. The film examines the role film plays on those who watch it. Something that Wes Craven’s “Scream” would play out to great effect two years later. I really can’t say enough about this film and homages to the original are expertly placed. It is my favorite horror film of all time and a modern classic.

Buy It Here: Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

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October Horror Challenge: Day 28: “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master”

By 1988, the Nightmare series had reached its peak of popularity. Freddy was everywhere from the late night news to hosting his own show on MTV. Freddy was no longer scary, he was marketable. So it should come as no surprise that the fourth entry in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series is the series’ least scary movie yet. That is not to say that “Dream Master” isn’t a hell of a lot of fun. Far from it. From the MTV style visuals to the use of pop music, the film is a kaleidoscope of the 1980’s. Scary, however, it isn’t.

“Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master” starts with the surviving team of “Dream Warriors” united once again to battle Freddy Krueger. One by one the surviving group are killed off by Freddy. However, Kristen (who has the ability to draw others into her dreams) wills her special ability to her friend Alice before her demise. Soon after, Alice quickly realizes that Freddy is taking advantage of that unknown power she now wields to pull a new group of teenagers into his “chest of souls”.

Truth be told, “Dream Master” is probably the most fun a viewer can have with the series. The deaths are completely imaginative, the special effects top notch, and the acting is solid on all accounts. It is also probably the most quotable entry of the series. It is entertaining as hell. Nonetheless, part of me wants Freddy scary again. As cool as the deaths are (Debbie’s cockroach death being the highlight death of the entire series for me), something here is missing that made the third installment so special.

Buy It Here: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 – The Dream Master

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October Horror Challenge: Day 27: “Highway to Hell”

Charlie Sykes (Chad Lowe) and Rachel Clark (Kristy Swanson) are a young all-American couple that decide to run away and elope in Las Vegas. On the road to Vegas, they ignore the warning of a local gas station attendant named Sam (Richard Farnsworth). They take an abandoned backroad where Rachel is kidnapped by a Zombie Hell Cop (C. J. Graham) who takes her to hell. Charlie goes back to Sam, and Sam explains what the Hellcop is and how to save her, he then gives him a shotgun with special ammo, and a car that holds a special attribute. On the highway, Charlie meets other dead people that live in Hell and even a motorcycle gang. On the road, he meets a mechanic named Beezle (Patrick Bergin), with his young apprentice. Beezle gives him tips on how to save his girlfriend and even brings him back to life. After Charlie rescues Rachel, Beezle reveals himself to be Satan and proposes a deal to let them, and his apprentice, go free if they can defeat Hell Cop in a race to the portal that connects Earth and the backroads of Hell.

“Highway to Hell” is one of the strangest horror comedies that I have seen in a long, long time. Nothing really makes sense and the script seems thrown together at the last moment but it is all part of the charm of this low budget gem. My favorite part? Hell’s “Good Intentions Paving Company”, which crushes up and spits out people into cement who offer excuses like “I just slept with the boss so he could get a promotion” or justifications for pulling the plug on life-support machines. Witty stuff all around. The movie seems a bit long in the tooth (even at only 93 minutes it seems to take forever to get to hell) but there is an energy and enthusiasm that isn’t normally seen in early 90’s horror. “Highway to Hell” is available on Netflix instant and is a solid way to kill an hour and a half.

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