TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN (1966)

THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN (1966)

Classic sixties comedy has newspaper typesetter Luther Heggs (Don Knotts) dreaming of becoming a big-time reporter. He gets his chance when his editor (Dick Sargent) reads a piece he sneaks into the paper on a local haunted house. The site of a horrible murder/suicide, Luther is now tasked with staying overnight at the Simmons Mansion and writing about it. His spooky experiences make him an overnight sensation, in his small town, but the story is just beginning for the star reporter as there is more to this haunted house than meets the eye. Can Luther solve the house’s mysteries, outwit his naysayers and win the heart of his crush, Alma (Joan Staley)?

Spooky and silly flick is directed by Alan Rafkin from a script by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum with alleged input from Knotts himself and Andy Griffith*. As everyone involved were veterans of The Andy Griffith Show, the film does resemble an expanded version of a TV show in scope and scale and in terms of its very slim story that’s told over its feature length 90 minutes. It is cute, harmless and quite charming and is a perfect showcase for Knotts’ talents. It’s obviously very modestly budgeted and there are no real scares to be had…not that we expected any in a Don Knotts movie. It’s entertaining and the nostalgia helps a lot, though it surprisingly spends very little time in the Simmon Mansion save for Luther’s brief stay and the mystery solving at the climax. Most of the flick has Luther dealing with doubters, angry Simmons relatives, rival reporter Ollie (Skip Homeier) and of course wooing Alma. It’s harmless, wholesome fluff though a little more time in the spooky mansion would have been a bit more fun and not all of the comic bits are as completely successful as others.

The cast here are all good. Knotts is fun doing his trademarked big mouth coward routine. He carries the picture well and proves he was ready to transition to movies from TV. Dick Sargent plays the cliché newspaper editor just fine, while Skip Homeier plays jerk rival/reporter Ollie equally as well. Joan Staley is cute and perky as Alma, though is given very little to do. Rounding out, Liam Redmond is fine as the newspaper janitor Kelsy, who has links to the Simmons house, and Philip Ober makes a suitable villain as Nicholas Simmons, whose plans are foiled by Luther’s story. A solid cast for this type of flick.

Maybe it’s not quite the laugh riot we hoped for, nor does it spend as much time in the haunted mansion as we’d have liked. It is still very charming, nostalgic and fun with Knotts making for a likable if not bumbling and cowardly hero. It comes across more as an extended TV show episode than a feature film, but it is harmless and amusing and is a good example of the kind of wholesome entertainment that folks went to see back then.

*wikipedia

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) ghosts!

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TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: HAPPY 35th ANNIVERSARY FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988)

HAPPY 35th ANNIVERSARY FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 (1988)

(Remember, clicking the highlighted links brings you to other reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)

Fright Night Part II might be one of the most under-appreciated sequels…at least by its distributors, as it does have a cult following…of all-time, as the film got an under-the-radar limited release back in the day, despite the success of the original and even worse treatment with sub-par full-screen VHS and DVD releases. A proper release is still eagerly awaited as this underrated sequel turns 35 today.

The sequel takes place 3 years after the original Fright Night. Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is now in college and finishing up years of therapy that has him believing Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) was only a serial killer and the delusion of him being a vampire was all created in Charley’s head to cope with the horrible events. Charley also has a hot new girlfriend, Alex (80s flick cutie Tracy Lind) and hasn’t talked to Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) in years. As for the Great Vampire Killer, all the attention has gotten Vincent his Fright Night TV show hosting job back and all seems well when the two finally get together to bring closure to their horrible experience…until Charley sees large boxes being moved into Vincent’s very apartment building and gets a chilling feeling of familiarity. And his DeJa’Vu is certainly warranted as Jerry Dandrige’s vampire sister Regine (a smoldering Julie Carmen) has come to exact revenge with her ghoulish entourage, the androgynous Belle (Russell Clark, who also choreographed Carmen’s performance art sequences), lupine shapeshifter Louie (Jon Gries, who also played the werewolf with nards in Monster Squad) and hulking, insect eating chauffeur Bozworth (genre favorite Brian Thompson). Regine’s plans are simple…turn Charley into one of the undead, murder those he loves and take over as host of Fright Night for good measure…then torture Charley for all eternity.

I have no idea why this sequel has been treated so badly over the years. It’s not quite as good as the first flick, but is actually a pretty solid follow-up and a good deal of fun. The film is directed by John Carpenter alumni Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III, Stephen King’s It) who co-wrote the script with Tim Metcalfe and Miguel Tejeda-Flores. Wallace delivers a good-looking film, having learned a lot about shot framing from Carpenter, and while it’s not quite the funhouse that the original chiller is, it mixes horror with humor well and has a number of fun/spooky scenes with plenty of action. The plot also works in giving us a second installment that isn’t forced and provides us with enough elements from Fright Night to feel like a continuation, but also does it’s own thing. Regine is a known personality, recognized as a performance artist and she moves around out in the open, as when she takes over hosting duties on the Fright Night TV show. If the film falters a bit, it’s that it’s momentum slows down somewhat in the middle act as Regine continues to seduce Charley and Vincent is institutionalized for attacking Regine on the show’s set. The film does pick up for its final confrontation, though it is not as bombastic and fun as the first film’s. Overall, the movie seems to have a slightly lower budget and thus the action is a bit scaled down, but I think Wallace makes up for it with some very clever bits and by having some ghoulish fun with his premise and characters such as Regine’s thugs having a gruesome bowling night while she is off premiering on TV. The make-up FX can be a bit rubbery at times, but that adds some charm now and Brad Fiedel returns to score, so it feels like a Fright Night film. Not sure why all the disrespect from its labels.

The cast are having a good time, too. Ragsdale and McDowall pick up right where they left off in the original, but with Charley being a slightly more mature character three years later and Vincent seems to have developed a bit more of a backbone since he last battled bloodsuckers. The two actors seem to really enjoy working together and their on-screen chemistry is infectious. Lind makes a welcome addition to the team as adorable and smart Alex. In a turn of events, it is she who comes to Charley’s rescue and proves herself a resourceful and spunky heroine in true 80s fashion. I liked her better than Amanda Bearse’s whiny Amy. Julie Carmen is smoldering-ly sexy and conveys a definite lethal quality as Regine. It is completely believable she can seduce Charley…and those scenes are hot…despite his dealings with her kind and it is a little disappointing the actress wasn’t given an opportunity to put up a bigger fight in the scaled-down climax. As her eccentric undead thugs, Clarke (whose character is mute), Gries and Thompson all seem to be having a good time, especially the nice touch of Thompson’s Bozworth reciting the Latin genus of his insect meals before consumption. Creepy fun! A good cast who all get the tone of the material and their individual characters.

So, in conclusion, I like this sequel a lot and will never understand the terrible treatment it continues to get. It is not as good as the first film but is a worthy enough second go around and the cast is charming as always, as is the 80s nostalgia it now carries with it. It succeeds far more than it fails and despite a slow mid-section and a slightly less exciting ending, it is a solid sequel and left me wanting to see a third installment back when I first saw it and McDowall was still with us. This film is crying out for a Scream Factory special edition, but apparently the label who owns it (I believe it’s Lionsgate) won’t budge in allowing it (so I am told), or do anything with it on it’s own. With it’s cult following, I don’t see how a release wouldn’t do well. The film also stars Merritt Butrick (Kirk’s son in Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock) in one of his last film appearances before his AIDS related death in 1989.

Rated 3 (out of 4) fangs.

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IT CAME FROM ASIAN CINEMA: HEROIC TRIO (1993)

HEROIC TRIO (1993)

Hong Kong superhero flick opens with a rash of baby snatchings being perpetrated by an apparently invisible kidnapper. Even crime fighting superheroine Wonder Woman (Anita Mui) is having trouble cracking the case. She finds herself reluctantly joining forces with bounty hunter Thief Catcher (Maggie Cheung) when the mercenary is hired to rescue one of the abducted little ones. They discover the invisible fiend is actually a woman named Ching (Michelle Yeoh) who is working for an evil sorcerer (Yen Shi-Kwan) and his brutish henchman Kau (Anthony Wong). They turn the conflicted Ching against her master and the trio unite to take on the powerful villain and free the infants he plans to use for his sinister purposes.

Uneven but ultimately fun flick is produced by legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Ching Siu-Tung and directed by Johnny To from a script by Sandy Shaw. It’s colorful and has some fun over-the-top action sequences combining martial arts and superhero type action. The characters are straight out of a comic book and the cast gets the material just fine. It can be a bit heavy-handed with the soap opera level melodramatics and the sometimes dark and serious tone can conflict with some of the lighter comic book moments and more humorously toned sequences. Hence being tonally a bit uneven. The acrobatic action and amusing camaraderie between the characters, especially Wonder Woman and the bratty and arrogant Thief Catcher, more than makes up for it, as does the climactic fight with the supernaturally charged Evil Master. The effects are delightfully cheesy by today’s standards and done mostly in camera, and the sets are amusingly on a TV show level. Its heart is in the right place and overall wins you over with watching these three beautiful and talented actresses give it their all kicking bad guy butt.

Anita Mui is well-cast as Tung, a policeman’s wife who has a double secret life as superheroine Wonder Woman…no relation or similarity to the DC heroine. She plays it straight but also has some fun with the part. Maggie Cheung has a blast as the arrogant Chat aka bounty hunter Thief Catcher. She is a bit more over-the-top and has more of the comedic moments and that suits this versatile actress just fine. Recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh is also solid as the conflicted Ching/Invisible Woman. Her part is dramatically the heaviest as she is starting to regret some of the questionable things she’s done in Evil Master’s service. Rounding out the cast is Damian Lau as Tung’s unsuspecting police chief husband, Anthony Wong having fun as the brutal henchman Kau and Yen Shi-Kwan delivering a creepy and powerful villain in the aptly named Evil Master.

Overall, it’s not perfect but it can be fun. There are some colorful characters, fast paced fights and action and it does achieve a comic book tone. Being a little too melodramatic at times and going from dark to camp back and forth does make it tonally uneven, but it’s three leads help overcome its flaws to a good degree. Film is a good example of the type of movie the Hong Kong cinema cranked out in that era. The Heroic Trio reunited for a sequel Executioners later that same year.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) butt-kicking superheroines.

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TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: PET SEMATARY TWO (1992)

PET SEMATARY TWO (1992)

Sequel to the 1989 Stephen King book-based movie opens with the accidental on-set death of actress Renee Matthews (Darlanne Fluegel) right in front of her teen son Jeff (Edward Furlong). His veterinarian father Chase (Anthony Edwards) decides to get him as far from L.A. as possible and moves them across country to remote Ludlow, Maine. Ludlow is still affected by the events involving the Creed family and frightening strikes twice as Jeff and his new friend Drew (Jason McGuire) bury Drew’s murdered dog Zowie in the infamous “Pet Sematary” …along with the dog’s killer, Drew’s a-hole of a stepfather Sheriff Gus Gilbert (Clancy Brown). Bad idea on both counts!

Spooky sequel is directed by Mary Lambert, who also directed the first, from a script by Richard Outten. It’s more of an over-the-top and fun movie with Clancy Brown’s diabolically evil reanimated sheriff stealing every scene and making for an entertaining and creepy villain. There are some legitimately spooky moments, some very bloody kills, too and it is thick with atmosphere, despite its somewhat off-the-wall tone. Though it is early 90s, it still feels like an 80s flick and wisely plays its carnage and more ludicrous story straight. Why no one, including his own wife, seems to realize the jerk of a sheriff is a reanimated corpse, complete with gaping neck wound from the revived and pissed off Zowie, is amusingly hilarious in itself. Even with some unintentional goofiness, it is still a dark and effective chiller all the more entertaining because it mixes the scares and more oddball moments very well. Technically it looks great with Russell Carpenter’s unsettling cinematography and is given extra atmosphere from Mark Governor’s spooky score. Flick was a box office disappointment in 1992 and was not received well critically either, but all these years later and with the proper nostalgia, it is actually a fun night on the couch with the appropriate beverages.

The cast here is good. Furlong makes a solid lead as the emotionally wounded Jeff and even he gets to play a little darkly over-the-top when Jeff decides to try to reanimate mom you know where. Anthony Edwards is good as his concerned father who is starting to realize something very weird is going on in town. Clancy Brown is an over-the-top blast as the douche sheriff reanimated as an even bigger dirtbag. He simply gives every scene all he’s got and takes the villainous ball and runs with it enthusiastically. Jason McGuire is also good and sympathetic as the bullied Drew. A boy picked on by classmates and his stepfather. Jared Rushton is also very effective as local bully Clyde Parker and Lisa Waltz is solid as well as Drew’s mom Amanda who is too afraid of Gus to defend her son against his harsh discipline. A good cast 

Whether you think this is a good movie or a worthy sequel to a film now regarded as a classic is up to you. It also depends on how serious you want to take it. If you just accept it as its own thing and just go with it, you can have a lot of fun with Pet Sematary Two. It has some very spooky and atmospheric moments, some good gore and a delightfully over-the-top and sinister bad guy, even before he returns from the grave. It has a good cast, and, with the addition of teen bully Clyde, not one but two villains who get to dial it up to 11 once they get buried in that place that Ludlow citizens should know enough to avoid…

…. but if they did, there wouldn’t be a movie and a sequel now would there?

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) drill bits!

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IT CAME FROM ASIAN CINEMA: BLOODY MUSCLE BODYBUILDER IN HELL (1995)

BLOODY MUSCLE BODYBUILDER IN HELL (1995)

Horror flick opens with a man having to kill his lover when she violently doesn’t take kindly to hearing he is to marry another. He hides her body by burying it under the floor in the basement. Thirty years later, body builder Naoto (Shinichi Fukazawa) is asked by his ex-girlfriend Mika (Masaaki Kai) to join she and a psychic (Asako Nosaka) at an allegedly haunted house. It turns out Naoto is the son of the man from the film’s opening, he now owns the house, and his father’s dead lover wants revenge on him for her death.

Hilariously bonkers Evil Dead rip-off is written and directed by star Shinichi Fukazawa with SPFX that vary from hilariously cheesy to pretty decent. It’s very low budget and it shows, but even as a blatant rip-off of Evil Dead, it can be very innovative and a lot of goofy fun. The flick takes quite a few bits from Raimi’s classic, and its sequel, and goes even further with them with delightfully absurd results. No better example than Naoto being attacked by a combination foot and hand creature after one of the three is possessed, dismembered and certain pieces go on the attack. The rubbery dead lover does eventually rise from her grave like Henrietta in Evil Dead II and gives Naoto a very entertaining fun fight for his life at the deliriously engaging climax. There is plenty of blood spattering and dismembered limbs along the way, with the muscle-bound Naoto making for a fine Ash-like hero. It’s a ridiculous good time that makes one easily forgive how much it borrows from the Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell classic.

Sure, it’s an unapologetic rip-off, but at only 62 minutes it moves too quick to wear out its welcome and is too wacky to hold a grudge against it for its plagiarism. It’s a delightfully bloody and bonkers good time with some hilariously inept SPFX and some amusing inventiveness, much like the film it gleefully imitates! Now available to stream on Shudder and Tubi!

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) axes.

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IT CAME FROM ASIAN CINEMA: THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES (1974)

THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES (1974)

In 1974, legendary Hammer Studios teamed up with the equally legendary Shaw Bothers Studios for this martial arts/horror mash-up, bringing Hammer’s gothic, vampire storytelling style together with the fast-paced martial arts action of a classic Shaw Brothers production!

Martial arts horror, also known as The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula in the United States, has Kah (Chan Shen), high priest of the 7 golden vampires, coming to Transylvania to beg Count Dracula himself (John Forbes-Robertson) for help in resurrecting the creatures he serves. Dracula betrays him and takes his form to return to China and bring the golden vampires back to life to serve his own sinister purposes instead. Lucky for us, Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) is touring China to lecture about vampires! Soon he, his son Leyland (Robin Stewart), and a rich widow (Julie Ege) are teaming with martial arts warrior Hsi Ching (David Chiang) and his brothers and sister, to battle Dracula, the golden vampires and a vampire army.

Film is directed by Roy Ward Baker, with Chang Cheh directing the martial arts sequences, from a script by Don Houghton. The flick is a delightfully well-balanced mix of gothic Hammer style horror and Shaw Brothers martial arts period fantasy. The visuals are quite spooky, and the film embraces both Western and Eastern styles in its portrayal of the undead and their supernatural hijinks. There are grotesque walking corpses armed with swords and weapons, fog shrouded graveyards, spooky castles both European and Asian, and, of course, the fanged, golden masked villains of the title. There is quite a lot of bloodshed and a surprising amount of nudity from a host of nubile young Chinese woman who fall prey to the vile villains. Add to that some fast-paced martial arts battles and you have a very entertaining mash-up that, unfortunately, was poorly received critically and failed at the box office, despite combining two very popular types of movies at the time in the 70s. The flick is simply lots of fun and has some spooky and disturbing sequences mixed in with all the bloody martial arts action. Sure, a lot of the FX are cheesy by today’s standards, but that adds to its nostalgic charm and charm is something this entertaining flick has to spare!

Speaking of charming, the film has a splendid cast of both Eastern and Western actors. Peter Cushing is his usually scholarly and dignified self as Van Helsing, a role he played many times. Make no mistake, when faced with supernatural dangers, this dapper professor can kick vampire butt with the best of them. Cushing took every performance very seriously, yet still had fun with the role. Robin Stewart is a chip off the old block as Van Helsing’s son Leyland. Dashing and handsome, while at the same time, dangerous and full of fight, like his dad. Julie Ege is pretty and spunky as the rich widow Vanessa Buren, though is utilized more as a damsel in distress. John Forbes Robertson is fine as the briefly seen Dracula, though, to be honest, Christopher Lee would have been far more imposing in what amounts to as an extended cameo. Our Eastern heroes are good as well! David Chiang is a noble warrior as Hsi Ching, a descendant of another vampire slayer, and Shih Szu is cute yet quite formidable as Mai Kwei, Hsi Ching’s sister and a love interest for Leyland. Rounding out is a properly sinister Chan Shen as Kah/Dracula. A solid cast who all get the material!

Filmed entirely on location in Hong Kong, this is a fun martial arts/ horror mash-up whose initial failure is all the more disappointing when one sees how enjoyable it is. It has the perfect blend of horror and martial arts, along with a nice mix of Eastern and Western supernatural folklore. It looks great, with some very effective visuals, along with plenty of martial arts action and bloody horror film mayhem. Sure, it’s cheesy at times, but that adds to the overall 70s charm and nostalgia. A really fun, yet sadly one-time collaboration from Hammer and Shaw Brothers Studios! Currently available on a special edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory!

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 and 1/2 (out of 4) martial arts swords.

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MONSTERZERO NJ’S MOVIE MEMORIES: HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY FORBIDDEN WORLD (1982)

HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY FORBIDDEN WORLD (1982)

The doomed research station on the planet Xarbia!!

Roger Corman’s production of Forbidden World was released 40 years ago today and I was there opening night with friends, at the now long-gone Stanley Warner Quad Theater in Paramus NJ. A big fan of Corman’s films already, I couldn’t wait to see this, especially after having seen and loved Corman’s Galaxy of Terror the previous November on Thanksgiving Night. It was an absolute blast, with its combination of babes, blood and beasts, and the energetic music video editing style was way ahead of its time! A fun flick!

Sexy space scientists perfectly dressed for a lurking genetic mutant on the loose!

Forbidden World is directed by director Allan Holzman with an almost psychedelic music video style, as it tells the story, written by Tim Curnen, R.J. Robertson and Jim Wynorski, of a soldier, Mike Colby (Jesse Vint) sent to an isolated research station on the remote planet Xarbia to deal with a genetic experiment that has gotten out of control. Colby not only has to battle a growing and hungry genetic mutant, but handle not one, but two hot and very horny female scientists (Dawn Dunlap and June Chadwick). The type of B movie they just don’t make anymore. One of the last of its kind. Crack a few beers and enjoy!

The constantly evolving mutant in its most lethal form!

-MonsterZero NJ

 

TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: UNINVITED (1987)

UNINVITED (1987)

Flick opens with a genetically tampered with feline escaping from a genetic facility and leaving a bloody body count in its wake. Meanwhile, party girls Bobbi (Clare Carey) and Suzanne (Shari Shattuck) charm their way onto shady millionaire Walter Graham’s (Alex Cord) yacht along with three guys, Lance, Corey and Martin (Beau Dremann, Rob Estes and Eric Larson respectively). The cat creature finds its way onto the craft, too, and soon a party trip to the Cayman Islands becomes a fight to survive, as the genetic mutation with poisonous venom in its fangs starts to decimate guest and crew alike.

Cheesy fun 80s flick is written and directed by Greydon Clark (Without Warning, Satan’s Cheerleaders) who made a career of these kind of movies. There is plenty of bloodshed, and the killer kitty is delightfully rubber prosthetics. Director and cast play it straight, despite the silly story, and let the looney material provide the fun. It’s unintentionally (or is it?) hilarious each time the rubber monster crawls out of its adorable feline host and gruesomely dispatches folks a good twenty times, it’s size. The effect of its poisonous bite gives the FX crew plenty of opportunity to showoff lots of rubber and red stuff. The pace moves fairly quick, and Clark has fun with his isolated-at-sea yacht setting. The gore and make-up FX are all cheesy, as the young partiers are all attractive youths, with veterans like Cord, George Kennedy and Clu Gulager adding a little star power to the amusing proceedings. This is a good example of the type of silly, cheesy and colorful horror flicks that came out in the later part of the 80s, when the decade moved away from the more somber and serious slashers that populated the first half of that era.

Sure, this technically is not a good movie, but it is a cheesy fun and blood-spattered, 80s good time. The plot is ludicrous, but Greydon Clark takes the fur ball and runs with it. None of the acting will win any awards, and neither will its nostalgically rubber creature. The veteran cast barely escape this silliness with their dignity intact and writer/director Clark adds another cheesy fun B-movie to his distinguished resume. Late 80s horror fun! Also features a cameo by Assault on Precinct 13‘s Austin Stoker as a Caribbean police office.

Flick can be watched with ads on Amazon or purchased on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome!

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) deceptively cute kitties!

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TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: DEMON WIND (1990)

DEMON WIND (1990)

Demon Wind may have been released in 1990 but it was filmed in 1989 and is an 80s horror to its gory core. Nonsensical plot has Cory (Eric Larson), triggered by his father’s suicide, journeying to his family’s abandoned farm to find out what happened to his grandparents, who disappeared sixty years earlier. Along for the ride is girlfriend Elaine (Francine Lapensée) and some friends, who soon find themselves besieged by a hoard of demons and one by one start to become demon possessed themselves.

Hilariously 80s flick is written and directed by Charles Philip Moore with a heavy dose of Evil Dead envy. This flick has everything you’d need in an 80s demonic themed horror, including rubber monsters, lots of prosthetic gore, bodily fluids, boobs and a group of attractive twenty-somethings to fall victim to the ancient forces of evil. It is a delightfully cheesy horror, with equally cheesy animation FX, and hilariously awful acting all across the board. The make-up FX are charmingly rubbery, and the film gets more and more preposterous as it goes along. There is a very 80s electronic score by Bruce Wallenstein and the farmhouse location in Thousand Oaks, California is very effective despite all the silliness. It’s goofy, gory and with the right beverages, can be a real hoot of an 80s good time!

Overall, this is not a good movie on traditional levels, but is a delightfully blood-spattered cheese-fest on another. Bad acting, rubber make-up, a nonsensical plot and plenty of colorful creatures, gore and animation FX, make this a fun midnight movie for fans of 80s horror at it loopiest. This was a first-time watch and MZNJ is delighted to now be acquainted with this cult classic horror. Flick is available in a Blu-ray/DVD combo from the awesome folks at Vinegar Syndrome!

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) delightfully rubbery demons!

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TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY to JOHN CARPENTER’S THE FOG (1980)

HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY to JOHN CARPENTER’S THE FOG (1980)

John Carpenter’s The Fog was released on February 8th, 1980, and my butt was there in a theater to see it! So, in honor of the 42nd anniversary of one of my all-time favorite horror flicks, I am re-posting this look back at Carpenter’s classic!

One of my all-time favorite horrors and one of my favorite John Carpenter flicks, in fact, since I was too young to see Halloween when it came out, this was the first Carpenter film I saw in a theater and the flick that started me on my love of his movies.

The Fog tells the story of the 100-year anniversary of the small coastal California town of Antonio Bay and as the town prepares for its centennial celebration, a dark secret is revealed. Legend has it a leper colony paid the founders of Antonio Bay a lot of gold to let them settle nearby, but they were betrayed and murdered, as their ship was lured onto the rocks to crash and sink on a fog laden night. All were lost, but now a horde of vengeful spirits returns from the sea, wrapped in a surreal fog, to make the descendants of those who wronged them, pay with their lives.

The Fog focuses not on a main character, but a group of central characters whose individual experiences during this supernatural crisis bring them slowly all together, for its tense and creepy final act set in the town church. A good cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis as hitchhiker Elizabeth, Tom Atkins as local fisherman Nick, Janet Leigh as centennial chairwoman Kathy Williams and Adrienne Barbeau as single mom and radio DJ Stevie Wayne, give life to this ensemble and make them characters we like and care about, so we fear for them when they are placed in harm’s way. Add to that Hal Holbrook as the town’s alcoholic priest and a host of Carpenter regulars—with even a cameo by Carpenter himself—and you have a film wonderfully filled with a variety of characters who are all potential victims for the marauding phantoms. As for those phantoms, let’s not forget to mention the ghostly Captain Blake (FX man Rob Bottin) and his vengeful crew who are portrayed with in-camera practical FX. This makes them quite spooky and gives them a heavy dose of menace and a lot of effectiveness when they are on the attack. There is loads of atmosphere and some very solid scares and suspense created by Carpenter, along with some great cinematography from frequent Carpenter collaborator Dean Cundey, which makes this a good, solid, old-fashioned ghost story and a fun Halloween season treat. Carpenter again delivers a score which adds chills and foreboding to his tale of ghostly revenge, much like he did for Halloween and he starts the film off perfectly, with a chillingly fun opening sequence featuring veteran John Houseman as a crusty sailor who likes to tell kids scary stories. It sets the mood for the thrills and chills yet to come. This classic was made back when there was no phony CGI, just solid make-up effects from master Rob Bottin (who went on to do The Thing’s FX for Carpenter) and some very basic down to earth smoke and mirrors style visuals, that are as beautiful as they are scary. A great flick the likes of which they rarely make anymore and one of MonsterZero NJ’s must-watch flicks during the Halloween season!

The film is thankfully available, on blu-ray from Scream Factory with all the extras from previous releases, plus a new commentary track with Barbeau, Atkins and Tommy Lee Wallace and two really fun and informative interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis and Cinematographer Dean Cundey, who also supervised the absolutely gorgeous transfer!

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 4 (out of 4) spectral sailors!

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