4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Any days is a good day to give a little respect to Kevin S. Tenney, director of some of most best loved horror films of the 80s and the 90s! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Kevin S. Tenney Films
Witchboard (1986, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Roy Wanger)
Night of the Demons (1988, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: David Lewis)
Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: David Lewis)
Pinnochio’s Revenge (1996, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Eric Anderson)
Last year, a group of friends and I watched 1988’s Night of the Demons for our weekly #ScarySocial live tweet. Not surprisingly, everyone loved the film. This scene below, featuring a possessed Angela dancing, was especially popular. Since today is director Kevin Tenney’s birthday, it only seems appropriate to celebrate by making it today’s horror scene that I love!
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we wish a happy birthday to Kevin S. Tenney, director of some of most best loved horror films of the 80s and the 90s! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Kevin S. Tenney Films
Witchboard (1986, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Roy Wanger)
Night of the Demons (1988, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: David Lewis)
Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway (1993, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: David Lewis)
Pinnochio’s Revenge (1996, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Eric Anderson)
Sorry, Angela, the party kind of sucks. Beyond the strange guest list — like seriously, why would any of these people be hanging out together — and the weird decision to hold it in the deserted old funeral home, there’s the fact that people are getting possessed and people are dying. There’s a lot that I can tolerate from a party but once people start dying, it’s usually time to leave.
(Unless, of course, it’s a theme party. I went to a Halloween murder party last year and I had a lot of fun watching as each guest was “killed off” until the eventual killer was revealed. I drew a card telling me that I had been murdered in the master bathroom while stepping out of the shower so I ran upstairs, changed into a towel, and let out the loudest scream possible. Now, that was a party! That said, I can’t remember who the actual killer was so they’re still out there, probably breaking into your house at this very moment.)
As Jeff, Leonard, and I watched Night of the Demons last week as a part of the #ScarySocial live tweet, Jeff mentioned that this 1988 film had apparently been very popular on late night cable back in the day. I could certainly see why, what with it’s combination of boobs, blood, and Linnea Quigley. It’s about two outcasts — Angela (Amelia Kinkade) and Suzanne (Quigley) — who throw a Halloween party in a funeral parlor. It’s a pretty boring party but it’s also an 80s party so we get to see some silly dancing before the spirits end up possessing Suzanne and Angela. Angela does a wild dance. Suzanne sticks a tube of lipstick into her breast. I guess you can do that when you’re possessed by a demon. That said, that scene still made cringe just because it made me think about all of the lipstick that I shoplifted when I was in high school and how much it would have upset to me to have gone to all that trouble just to have some possessed girl waste it by shoving it inside her boob. One-by-one, the partiers die. Soon, only good girl Judy (Cathy Podewell) and good guy Rodger (Alvin Alexis) are left alive but will they be able to figure out a way to escape the funeral home? Not only do they have to climb a wall but they have to do it while dressed, respectively, like Alice in Wonderland and a pirate. Good luck, kids! You’re so fucking dead.
Anyway, Night of the Demons is pretty stupid but it’s a film that people have fun watching. There’s none of the nuance that one found in Kevin Tenney’s other classic horror film, Witchboard. Instead, this one is entertainingly over-the-top and enjoyably weird. This is a film that was made for people who enjoy making snarky comments while watching horror movies. As a result, it’s an ideal live tweet movie because it doesn’t require a lot of thought as much as it just requires a group of friends who are willing to validate your every comment by clicking the like button. It’s not a particularly scary film but both Amelia Kinkade and Linnea Quigley deserve a lot of credit for throwing themselves into their roles and, at the very least, it’s got some dancing. It’s a crowd pleaser and, I’ve recently been told, some people feel that’s the most important thing that a film can do. Personally, being a film snob, I don’t quite agree with the assessment that it’s the most important thing but, still, one should probably never discount the importance of keeping the audience entertained.
The point is, I had fun with Night of the Demons. Watch it with your friends.
Moving out of her boyfriend’s home because he doesn’t support her desire to become an artist, Paige (Ami Dolenz) rents a large studio apartment in Los Angeles. When she finds a Ouija Board in the closet, she plays around with it and is contacted by a spirit named Susan. Susan claims that she used to live in Paige’s apartment and someone in the building murdered her.
The good news is that talking to Susan inspires Paige to start painting and investigating Susan’s death not only brings Paige closer to her cop boyfriend (Timothy Gibbs) but it also allows her to make friends with her landlady Elaine (Laraine Newman!) and a photographer named Russel (John Gatins). The bad news is that Susan is a vengeful spirit and soon people start dying. One man is taken out in a boiler room explosion. Another is taken out by an axe. Trying to drive isn’t easy when Susan decides she wants to be your co-pilot. If Paige solves Susan’s murder, will that bring peace to Susan or is Susan too obsessed with killing to stop even if her killer is brought to justice?
Witchboard 2 isn’t bad. Both director Kevin Tenney and the Ouija board return from the first film and Ami Dolenz does a good job in the role of the naïve young woman who gets possessed by spirits beyond the grave. The daughter of Monkees drummer Mickey Dolenz, Ami Dolenz appeared in several direct-to-video horror films and thrillers in the late 80s and early 90s and she had a refreshing naturalness about her as an actress. She could be both sexy and innocent without ever seeming like she was trying too hard to convince you that she was either. (Everyone who watched a lot of late night Cinemax in the 90s developed a crush on Ami Dolenz at some point and anyone who says otherwise is lying.) Kevin Tenney surrounds Dolenz with an engaging cast of eccentrics, the most memorable one being Larraine Newman of Saturday Night Live fame, who provides the same sort of spacey comic relief that Kathleen Wilhoite provided in the first film.
Though Witchboard 2 is modest in its goals and its execution, it’s still a good chiller for an October night.
Terrorists have taken over the local power and water plant and are threatening to poison the water supply if their demands are not meant. Among those that they are holding hostage is a group of college students who were on what would have otherwise been the most boring field trip of their lives. While Colonel Gentry (Robert Forster) tries to negotiate with the terrorists, one college student, Lenny Slater (Corey Haim), takes matters into his own deadly hands. Lenny also finds time to ask track star Jenny (Ami Dolenz) to go to the homecoming dance with him.
How many times can the exact same thing happen to the same person? That’s what you might expect Lenny Slater to ask as he finds himself sneaking around and taking out terrorists one-by-one. Demolition University is a sequel to Demolition High, with Lenny Slater now in college and a member of the school’s football team. What’s strange is that, even though Haim is playing the same character from the first film, no one mentions the events of Demolition High. No one mentions that Lenny not only blew up his old school but he saved the entire midwest from being bombed into a nuclear ash heap. When Lenny tries to tell Prof. Harris (Laraine Newman!) that it’s obvious that terrorists have taken over the power plant, she ignores him because he has a history of playing pranks. But he also has a history of tracking down and killing terrorists! I would listen to him.
Demolition High wasn’t good but it was watchable. Demolition University is just dull. Haim actually gives a better performance here than he did in the first film, if just because it’s easier to buy him as a college student instead of as a high school student. But he’s actually barely in the film. Most of the running time is taken up with Robert Forster trying to negotiate with the leader of the terrorists. That’s kind of cool because Robert Forster was the man but the movie still seems like what Die Hard would have been if it had just been two hours of Paul Gleason standing outside the tower while Bruce Willis killed people offscreen. Even when we do get Lenny fighting the the terrorists, the action scenes feel flat and interchangeable. There’s nothing to really distinguish them from every other 90s action film that you’ve ever seen.
Demolition University has higher production values than Demolition High and it actually looks like a real movie but it’s just not much fun. I’m not surprised that there was never a Demolition Grad School.
It may be directed by the same director and have a suspiciously similar title and it might feature a ghost that seems a lot like the malevolent spirit from Witch Board but Witchtrap is most assuredly not a sequel to Witch Board! Got that? Just in case you missed thr point, this VHS version of this movie opens with a credit that repeats “This NOT a sequel to Witch Board!” On the version I saw, this was followed immediately by a trailer for Witch Board.
Witch Trap takes place in a haunted bed and breakfast. The owner wants to make a lot of money with but first he wants a group of psychics to spend the night and determine whether or not the place is really haunted by the ghost of a magician and serial killer named Avery Launder. (Avery Launder is played by J.P. Luebsen, who also played the evil spirit in Witch Board, to which this film is definitely not a sequel.) Accompanying the psychics is a former cop named Tony Vincente (James W. Quinn) and an A/V technician named Ginger Kowalski (Linnea Quigley). Ginger’s there so she can set up a tripod and take a shower. Guess who is the first to die?
Witchtrap is the type of movie that used to show up all the time on late nighy Cinemax in the early to mid-90s. There’s not much of a story but there’s boobs and plenty of blood and, back then, that’s all that a teenager secretly staying up late and watching cable really needed. Watching it today, Witchtrap is mostly dull but it does try to be about something more than just ghosts and Linnea Quigley shower scenes. The psychics spend a surprisingly large amount of time debating the universe and the concept of morality. It doesn’t add up too much but at least it’s there.
As far as Kevin Tenney horror movies are concerned, Witchtrap can’t hold a candle to Night of the Demons and rumor has it that it’s not a sequel to Witchboard. It’s forgettable but worth watching if you’re having early Cinemax nostalgia pains.
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
This October, we’re using 4 Shots From 4 Films to look at some of the best years that horror has to offer!
4 Shots From 4 1988 Horror Films
Child’s Play (1988, dir by Tom Holland)
Faceless (1988, dir by Jess Franco)
The Lair Of The White Worm (1988, dir by Ken Russell)
Oh my God, what is the thing with Ouija boards in movies?
Seriously, nothing good ever comes from using one. I have seen hundreds of movies featuring people foolishly using Ouija boards and, without fail, it always seems to lead to someone getting possessed by an evil spirit and then killing all of their friends. Whenever I see anyone using a Ouija board in a movie, I always want to ask them if they’ve never seen a horror movie before.
Then again, despite knowing all the of the terrible things that can happen as a result, I have had a few Ouija board experiences. For instance, when I was like 13, I asked a Ouija board if a boy named Diego liked my friend Jenny. The board replied that Diego liked me and Jenny needed to deal with it. Jenny accused me of manipulating the pointer and basically never spoke to me again but I suppose that’s better than either one of us getting possessed by a homicidal spirit. Myself, I don’t even believe in ghosts but I still find it difficult to resist a séance.
I guess my point is that it’s easy to laugh at movie characters who foolishly use Ouija boards but the main reason were laughing is because we know that we’re just as stupid as they are.
I recently watched one of the better Ouija board movies, 1988’s Witchboard. It’s about an angry spirit that might be named David, a skeptic named Jim (Todd Allen), a believer named Brandon (Stephen Nichols), and the woman who they both love, Linda (Tawny Kitaen). When I watched the movie, I immediately related to Linda, mostly because we both have red hair and everyone in the kept talking about how Linda hardly ever curses. That’s pretty much the way I am too, though there are exceptions. For instance, on Monday, the internet was down for 12 hours and I cursed up a storm. Linda, meanwhile, starts cursing after she has a bad experience with a Ouija board.
Jim (who is Linda’s current boyfriend) and Brandon (who is Linda’s ex) spend a lot of time debating who is to blame for Linda potentially getting possessed. Personally, I hold them both responsible. Brandon is the one who brought his Ouija board to Jim and Linda’s party. Brandon is also the one who contacts the spirit of a boy named David. At the same time, Jim’s the one who insulted the spirit, which led to Brandon’s tires getting slashed and Brandon storming out of the party. Brandon left behind his Ouija board, which Linda then used unsupervised. (Apparently, that’s something you should never do.) Basically, Jim and Brandon came together to form a perfect storm of testosterone-driven incompetence in this movie.
Soon, people are dying and Linda’s acting weird. When one of Jim’s friends is killed in a construction accident, Linda is upset to see that Jim didn’t even cry. Brandon informs her that Jim has “ice water in his veins.” For his part, Jim just wants to know why Linda is suddenly using so much profanity. Brandon brings in a medium named Zarabeth (played by Kathleen Wilhoite), who is one of those extremely flamboyant and outspoken characters that you’ll either totally love or thoroughly hate. (Personally, I liked the character. Even if she was somewhat annoying, she brought a jolt of life to the film.) Zarabeth attempts to exorcise the spirit of David and ends up getting tossed out a window as a result.
It’s tempting to just shrug and say, “Well, this is what happens when you mess around with the spirit world,” but Witchboard actually does a pretty good job of developing its characters and getting you to care about what happens to them. The fact that Jim and Brandon are both in love with Linda adds a bit of unexpected depth to the film’s story. Does Brandon really believe that Linda is being stalked by a spirit or is he just trying to win her back for himself? Even the seemingly throw-away detail about Jim’s emotional reticence pays off later in the movie. And, when that evil spirit does finally actually make a physical appearance, he’s just as creepy as you would hope he would be.
Witchboard is a definitely a film that will be appreciated by anyone who has ever used a Ouija board and felt kind of nervous about it afterwards.
“This is NOT a sequel to Witch Board!”
Through the Shattered Lens 