Tonight’s excursion into televised horror is the 7th episode of the 5th season of HBO’s Tales From The Crypt!
House of Horrors has everything that you could possibly want from a Tales From The Crypt episode! A dumbass idiot frat boy (played by Kevin Dillon) forces three pledges to enter a supposedly haunted house. Mayhem ensues. This episode is full of atmosphere, dark humor, plot twists, and unexpected turns and it features two wonderfully over-the-top performances, one from Dillon and one from Meredith Salenger as a Southern-accented sorority president who may have a secret of her own.
This episode originally aired on October 27th, 1993.
AGCK! What a scary woman! Seriously, the poster for the 1986 slasher film Mountain Top Motel Massacre is pure nightmare fuel! Unfortunately, the poster above does not feature the film’s tag line, which I happen to love.
You want to know what it was?
“Please do not disturb Evelyn. She already is!”
BRILLIANT! Of course, I have to admit that one reason why I love that tagline is because my best friend is named Evelyn and you better believe that, as soon as I came across this film, I called her up and I said, “Please don’t disturb Evelyn. She already is.”
Evelyn, of course, had no idea what I was talking about because not many people have heard of Mountaintop MotelMassacre. It’s one of the many low-budget slasher films to be released in the late 80s. (That said, the film was actually made in 1983 and sat on the shelf for three years before getting a release.) With a few notable exceptions, these films are pretty much forgotten, except for when they occasionally turn up on TV or when you come across them in the bargain bin. I found my copy of Mountaintop Motel Massacre at the Movie Trading Company. It was being sold for $1.99, which is another way of saying, “Nobody in the world cares about this damn movie.” But I bought it, because I thought the old woman was scary and I love horror movies.
Mountaintop Motel Massacre was filmed in Louisiana and it perfectly captures that whole you’re-going-to-die-as-soon-as-you-turn-off-the-lights atmosphere of the Deep South. Personally, I was hoping that all the guests at the motel would be obnoxious tourists from up north, the type who would bitch about not being able to get a good philly cheesesteak in Louisiana before being killed and dumped in the bayous. (Either that or they’d go up to the desk clerk and say, “We refuse to shop at a low class establishment like Walmart. Where is the closest Wawa?”)
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there were no Northerners in this film. Instead, all the guests at the motel were locals. For instance, there was the alcoholic preacher. And then there was the newlywed couple, determined to have a wonderful wedding night despite not being able to afford the Holiday Inn. (Why would you marry a man who couldn’t even afford the Holiday Inn? Why, God, why!?) And then there was Al, the traveling salesman. Al checked into the motel with two hitchhikers, both of whom were under the impression that Al worked for a record company. Al’s kinda sleazy but he was also the film’s designated hero.
Needless to say, not many guests survived the night. Some were killed by snakes. Some were killed by sickles to the face. All were killed by a crazy old woman named Evelyn. Evelyn owned the motel but she had previously spent three years in a mental hospital. Before she killed all of her guests, she apparently murdered her daughter as well. Except, for the fact, that her daughter was later seen walking through the woods. Was her daughter a zombie or was this just a set-up for a sequel that would never be made? Your guess is as good as mine.
Anyway, Mountaintop Motel Massacre doesn’t make a lot of sense. Like many slasher films, the film’s plot is pretty much dependent on everyone acting like a total moron. Usually, I defend the slasher genre by pointing out that, realistically speaking, most people do act like morons in the face of danger. But, compared to some of the people in Mountaintop Motel Massacre, the counselors at Camp Crystal Lake look like freaking geniuses.
However, with all that in mind, Mountaintop Motel Massacre is still an effectively creepy movie. It’s drenched in atmosphere and, as played by Ann Chappell, Evelyn is more frightening than your average anonymous 80s slasher. She spends most of the film running through a series of underground tunnels that are underneath the hotel and the sight of that murderous old woman burrowing from room to room will stick with you long after the movie ends.
So, if you happen to come across it this October, feel free to give Mountaintop Motel Massacre a shot. If you’re a fan of the slasher genre, you might enjoy it.
The Possession of Joel Delaney is a film that I watched a few years ago and it totally freaked me out. It’s a film about possession that has never gotten as much attention as The Exorcistbut seriously, this is one frightening movie.
This 1972 film takes place in New York City. Norah Benson (Shirley MacClaine) is a rich and spoiled socialite, a snob who might brag about how nice she is to her maid but who would never dream of being caught dead visiting the neighborhood where she lives. On the other hand, her younger brother — Joel Delaney (Perry King) — is a self-styled bohemian. He’s just as rich as his sister and, in many ways, he’s just as much of a snob. However, he disguises that fact by living in the “bad” part of town and hanging out with (and both idealizing and condescending to) the poor. (When people talk about the “bad” part of the town in this film, they’re euphemistically referring to any part of the city where the majority of the residents are not white.) If The Possession of Joel Delaney were made today, Norah would be Sasha Stone and Joel would be Devin Faraci.
Norah is extremely protective of Joel. In fact, the film suggests that there might be something more to their relationship than just a sibling bond. Norah worries about Joel living in a bad neighborhood. She worries about his friends. She reacts jealously when she meets his girlfriend, Sherry (Barbara Trentham).
So, you can imagine that Norah is rather upset when Joel is suddenly arrested for trying to kill his landlord. Judged to be insane, Joel is sent to Bellevue. Joel claims that he has no memory of attacking anyone. In order to get out of the mental hospital, Joel lies and says that he was on drugs.
Moving in with Norah and her two kids, Joel starts to act strangely. He starts to quiz Norah about her sex life. He plays too rough with the children. He tries to set Sherry’s hair on fire. And he starts to speak in Spanish!
Could it be that Joel has been possessed by the spirit of his friend, Tonio? Tonio, it turns out, was the landlord’s son. It also appears that Tonio was the main suspect in a series of decapitation murders. Could Tonio have moved his spirit into Joel’s body? That’s what Norah’s Puerto Rican maid, Veronica (Miriam Colon), thinks! Veronica quits her job, rather than have to deal with possessed Joel.
Norah decides to go to Veronica’s home and ask what’s happening with Joel. What follows is a mix of horror and social satire. Despite being a total stranger in Veronica’s neighborhood, Norah seems to be shocked when Veronica doesn’t exactly act overjoyed to see Norah standing in front of her small apartment. As Norah demands to know what’s happening with her brother and Veronica explains that Joel may be possessed, you can’t help but get the feeling that Norah is more upset by the fact that Joel has been possessed by someone poor than by anything else. In these scenes, Norah becomes the ultimate symbol of wealthy white privilege.
Meanwhile, Joel is going more and more crazy. It all leads to one of the most horrifying sequences that I’ve ever seen, in which a possessed Joel torments Norah’s two children. It’s an amazingly disturbing scene, one that is all the more upsetting because, in the title role, Perry King had previously done such a good job portraying Joel as being irresponsible but likable. I don’t want to give too much away, beyond saying that the scene gave me nightmares and if you’re triggered by scenes of child abuse, you should not watch The Possession of Joel Delaney.
As I said, The Possession of Joel Delaney has never really gotten the credit that it deserves. It’s always overshadowed by The Exorcist. But if you want to see a truly scary film and if you like a little social satire mixed in with your horror, The Possession of Joel Delaney is one to track down.
Hollywood’s first true horror star was the inimitable Lon Chaney Sr, ‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’. Chaney’s superb pantomime skills, having been brought up by deaf parents, served him well in silent cinema, and his grotesque makeups in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME sent shivers down 1920’s audience’s spines. Most notable were his ten bizarre collaborations with director Tod Browning, including THE UNKNOWN (with young Joan Crawford ), LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (Chaney as an ersatz vampire, now a lost film), and WEST OF ZANZIBAR (remade as the Pre-Code shocker KONGO). Chaney and Browning scored a big hit with 1925’s THE UNHOLY THREE, which Chaney remade in 1930 as his only talkie before succumbing to throat cancer later that year. While THE UNHOLY THREE isn’t an out-and-out horror film, it’s got enough weird elements in it and, since it’s you’re only chance to see the great Lon Chaney talk…
Spirit photography was all the rage in the 19th century. Long before Photoshop, photographers would use double exposures as a way to add ghosts to their pictures. Some of these photographers were honest about their technique and David Brewster even wrote a book about how to add a ghost to a picture. Others, like William Hope and William H. Mumler, made a fortune by conning the bereaved and promising to prove that the spirits of their loved ones were still with them.
Here are some spirit photographs from the 19th century:
This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 Shots From 4 Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.
Today, we finish off the 1960s!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Even The Wind is Scared (1967, dir by Carlos Enrique Taboada)
Today’s horror on the lens in 1978’s House of Evil!
When Richard Crenna buys a new house, he recruits a few friends to help him fix it up. Unfortunately, it turns out that the house is haunted by the devil himself. House of Evil — which is also known as The Evil — is an entertaining little time waster. If the idea of being in a house with the devil doesn’t scare you, just check out some of those the 1970s fashion choices!
While I was looking through YouTube for TV shows to use for this year’s horrorthon, I came across something called Darkroom. Apparently, Darkroom was a horror anthology series that aired for a few months in 1981.
So, I figured, why not share!
(Apparently, each episode of Darkroom was made up of two thirty-minute stories. For syndication purposes, it appears that the each 30 minute segment was considered to be a separate episode.)
Below is the first episode of Darkroom! It originally aired on Nov. 27th, 1981. In Closed Circuit, an aging anchorman discovers that he’s about to be replaced by a computer. In Stay Turned, We’ll Be Right Back, a man discovers that his radio can be used to contact the past and must decide whether or not to change history. The show is introduced and hosted by James Coburn.
Closed Circuit was directed by Rick Rosenthal, who directed Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween II. Stay Tuned is directed by Paul Lynch, who directed Jamie Lee Curtis in Prom Night.
Some of y’all may have noticed that, whenever I don’t have much to say about a movie, I’ll usually start things about be praising either the film’s title or its poster art.
With that in mind, the 1979 film The Dark has got a great title. I mean, what self-respecting horror film could actually resist a movie called The Dark? It’s a title that promises horror and blood and no holds barred morbidity! And really, the title is so brilliant that it almost doesn’t matter that the film itself come no where close to delivering.
And finally, just check out the poster art!
Seriously, that’s a great poster! If I had been alive in 1979, I totally would have wanted to see this movie just because of the poster. Not only is the film called The Dark but the poster literally promises that this movie is going to be — and I quote — “A chilling tale of alien terror!”
Woo hoo!
Of course, The Dark didn’t start out as a chilling tale of alien terror. The Dark is one of those films where what happened behind the camera is far more interesting than what was actually filmed. The story behind The Dark is a classic tale of low-budget, exploitation filmmaking:
Originally, The Dark was going to be a story about a zombie decapitating people in Los Angeles. The zombie had once been a Confederate soldier who ended up resorting to cannibalism. As originally envisioned, the Dark would feature numerous scenes of that dead Confederate wandering around with a big axe that it would use to chop off heads.
Tobe Hooper, who was hot as a result of having directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was brought in to direct. However, after just a few days of shooting, he was replaced. Depending on which version you read, Hooper was either fired or he walked off the set. Either way, all accounts seem to agree that Hooper didn’t see eye-to-eye with the film’s producers. (One of those producers was Dick Clark, the same guy who always used to host ABC’s New Year’s special.)
With Hooper gone, a new director was brought in. That director was John “Bud” Cardos, who had previously had a drive-in hit with Kingdom of the Spiders. Cardos finished the film but he had no emotional investment in it and that’s obvious when you watch The Dark today. Visually, The Dark looks and feels like an old cop show, the type that you might expect to turn up on a cable station that is specifically programmed to appeal to the elderly.
The film that Cardos completed featured a Confederate zombie with an axe. However, the producers showed that film to a preview audience and quickly discovered that nobody cared about a Confederate with an axe.
So, they made some changes.
At the time, Alien was the most popular film at the box office so the producers thought, “Why not add some special effects, redub some dialogue, and make our Confederate zombie into an alien?” Sure, why not?
Hastily, The Dark was reedited. All shots featuring the zombie with an axe were removed from the film. Instead, whenever the monster attacked, the film now featured a freeze frame of the monster’s face with some hastily added laser beams shooting out of his eyes. This would be followed by a freeze frame of the victim and stock footage of an explosion….
(That said, there’s still plenty of references to the alien removing people’s heads…)
Interestingly, there’s still a scene in the film in which a police detective suggests that the creature might be a zombie. “Zom-bies!?” his superior yells, “I don’t want to hear those two words again!” Well, don’t worry. It’s not a zombie! It’s an alien!
(You do have to wonder why an alien would be wearing jeans and flannel shirt but, then again, why would a Confederate zombie be wearing jeans and a flannel shirt? It’s a strange world.)
As you’ve probably already guessed, The Dark is a bit of a mess. The alien is going around Los Angeles and blowing people up. (Though a few times, he also rips off their heads because … well, we already went into that.) The father of one of the victims is a burned out writer and he’s played by William Devane. (This is the same William Devane who has played the President in nearly every movie and TV show ever made. Words cannot begin to express how bored Devane appears to be in this movie. Oddly, with his hair long and graying, Devane bears an uncanny resemblance to Law & Order SVU‘s Richard Belzer.) The father is investigating, even though the lead detective (played by Richard Jaeckel) tells him not to. A reporter (Cathy Lee Crosby) is also investigating. And then there’s a psychic (Jacquelyne Hyde) and the psychic somehow knows what the monster is and who is going to die next.
The characters do eventually cross paths. When the detective meets the reporter, the detective announces that he’s going to kill the killer. “38 caliber justice?” the reporter replies. “If he’s dead, he can’t kill again!” the detective explains and he kind of has a point.
(Making it even stranger is that, while the detective and the reporter talk, there’s a political protest gong on behind them. The protest consists of people jumping up and down.)
It’s all really messy because, while watching the movie, you get the feeling that none of the actors knew what anyone else was filming. It’s like six different films with six different tones and they’ve all been smashed together. It’s also not particularly scary because ultimately, the zombie alien is just a freeze frame with some hastily added laser beams. (It doesn’t help that the lasers occasionally go “pew pew” when they’re fired.)
I’ve seen a lot of horror movies. All the Universal classics, Hammer horrors, big budget, low budget, no-budget, you name it. THE NEANDERTHAL MAN is without a doubt one of the worst I’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s not even so-bad-it’s-good. It’s just so-bad-it’s-bad.
This totally unlikeable turkey involves a mad scientist whose experiments in evolution lead him to create a serum that devolves species. After success with turning a cat into a saber-toothed tiger (via stock footage and some really bad fake tusks), Professor Groves injects himself with the stuff and becomes Neanderthal Man. The prof goes on a pretty tame killing spree before getting his inevitable comeuppance. In a part that begs for John Carradine (or better yet, Bela Lugosi!), we get Robert Shayne of TV’s THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN fame. The erstwhile Inspector Henderson is all over the place, overacting in some spots, underacting in others. Whereas a…
Through the Shattered Lens 