- Horror Exploror! -
Seen
Seen
1980
The Ninth Configuration
Directed and Written by: William Peter Blatty
Stars: Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders,
Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell, Tom Atkins, ect.
Franchise: Faith Trilogy [The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration, and Legion]
Tagline: "How do you fight a war called madness?"
Subgenre: Existential dread
My Review: I love Blatty's Faith Trilogy, in fact, The Ninth Configuration is my favorite of those. It's comedic and cringy but also subtle and acted perfectly. It's the type of film you need to watch twice. As off as the cover is, it does sum up the them of the film.
Cruising
Directed + Written by William Friedkin (The Exorcist guy!)
Staring: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Joe Spinell, Ed O'Neill, William Russ, Mike Starr, so many people you'll recognize. Oh and I guess Karen Allen was in it...
Subgenre: LGBT - wants to be Giallo, so it's a leather slasher.
Tagline: “Al Pacino is cruising for a killer.”
My review: Cruising is an interesting film. I understand what Friedkin was doing... I don't think it is effective though. It's a truly rare case of - I do think this was problematic when it came out but I don’t think it’s problematic now. In the 2020's it plays less like gay men are killers and do weird BDSM stuff, and more like a life lesson on the dangers of going off alone with someone - in the 80's they were still learning that one. Of the gritty 1980s NYC horror movies it's certainly the best, especially when compared to the even more homophobic Windows.
Windows
Directed by Gordon Willis... a DP known for the Godfather, All the President's Men, Annie Hall and many more.
Staring Talia Shire and Elizabeth Ashley.
Subgenre: LGBT - Homophobic lesbian stalker thriller…
Tagline: “There is no privacy, there is no safety, the terror will follow you home.”
My review: Homophobic lesbian stalker thriller that came out the same year as Cruising and no one knows about, I assume because no one cares about Lesbians whether it’s a good film or bad one… so there is that.
Maniac
Directed by William Lustig (of Maniac Cop fame)
Staring: Joe Spinell and others
Make up by Tom Savini and Rob Bottin
Subgenre: New York Sleazy Exploitation + Slasher
Tagline: “I warned you not to go out tonight!”
My review: Joe Spinell plays a mannequin obsessed psycho killer. I'll give it to them, mannequins are creepy. Idk I liked him better in The Last Horror Film. Though, of the gritty New York slashers, the only grittier one is Driller Killer. So it's got that going for it. Did you know Joe Spinell was in three movies in 1980, man that guy worked! Tom Savini did do a great head explosion!
Dressed to Kill
Directed + Written by Brian de Palma
Staring: Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon and many more
Subgenre: LGBT - Transphobic Slasher
Tagline: “The latest fashion in murder.”
My review: What if Brian de Palma did his own remake of Psycho twenty years later, and made it more regressive?
The Shining
Directed by: Stanley Kubirck
Based on a novel by: Stephen King
Stars: Shelley Duvall, Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers.
Location: The Overlook Hotel
Franchise: The Shining, The Shining tv movie, Doctor Sleep.
Tagline: “He came as the caretaker, but this hotel had its own guardians - who'd been there a long time.”
Subgenre: Haunted House + Winter Isolation
My Review: ya know if it had just been Wendy and Danny alone, that mom would have gotten work done! and without any of that murder drama. smh. Men.
Altered States
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The Changeling
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Children of the Full Moon
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Alligator
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The Day Time Ended
Directed by: John 'Bud' Cardos (Mutant)
Edited by: Ted Nicolaou
Produced by: Charles Band Production
Tagline: “Their lives became a living hell... when past, present, and future collided!”
Subgenre: Aliens + Time Travel
My Review: has the feel of a 50's sci-fi horror without the parody it needed to be a 50s film in the 80s... I liked the idea, but the execution isn't interesting.
The Fog
Directed + Composed by John Carpenter
Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill
Make up by Rob Bottin and others.
(Dean Cundy did the cinematography. Tommy Lee Wallace was also involved).
Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, Buck Flower, ect.
Location: Antonio Bay
Subgenre: Ghosts, Carpenter + JLC
Tagline: “Lock your doors. Bolt your windows. There's something in the fog!”
My review: What. A. Cast! With cinematography by Dean Cundy, damn this is a beautiful looking film. OH and that fantastic score by Carpenter! Carpenter and Hill reinvented the gothic ghost story for a new decade (the 80s) in this visual masterpiece.
Prom Night
Directed by: Paul Lynch
Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, and many others I don't know
Subgenre: Slasher, Revenge - Prank Gone Wrong, JLC
Franchise: Prom Night 1, 2, 3, 4, remake.
Tagline: “If you're not back by midnight... you won't be coming home!”
My review: .... it's certainly a well known 80's slasher... and I don't get the hype. It's a 'prank gone wrong' revenge story - very common for slashers. Jamie Lee Curtis is in it, but idk, Terror Train is way better to me. This movie just isn't memorably past the beginning and that one dance scene. I guess the ending is kinda sad... I felt bad for the killer...
Terror Train
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode (of Turner and Hootch fame)
Staring: Jamie Lee Curtis, and with an appearance by David Copperfield…
Subgenre: Slasher, Revenge - prank gone wrong, LGBT?, JLC
Tagline: “The Boys and girls of Sigma Phi. Some will live. Some will die.”
My review: I came for Jamie Lee Curtis. I stayed for David Copperfield.
Shout out to Carne the Conductor. One of the best characters in a horror film ever.
ok I have questions... How long was Kenny planning this? And more to the point, Good for Kenny. Would have been better if David Copperfield was in on it...
Holidays
Friday the 13th
Directed by Sean S. Cunningham [worked on Last House on the Left]
Produced by Sean S. Cunningham and Steve Miner
Staring a lot of non-teens and introducing Kevin Bacon!
Special Effects by Tom Savini
Music by Harry Manfredini
Franchise: Friday the 13th 1-8, Jason Goes to Hell, X, Freddy v Jason, remake.
Location: Camp Crystal Lake, New Jersey
Subgenre: Slasher + Camp + Good For Her
Tagline: “They were warned... they were doomed... and on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them.”
My review: the camp horror to spark and entire subgenre! It was distributed by Paramount making it one of the widest released slashers - and the slasher that cemented The Rules (not Halloween).
New Years Evil
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Christmas Evil
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To All a Goodnight
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Mother's Day
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