Fangoria Issue 175 Flipthru

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 22 Class of 1984

 

TITLE-Class of 1984

SOURCE-Airing on Joe Bob's Last Drive In

Yea you can argue this isn't horror. But if it counts as horror for Joe Bob Briggs that works for me.

Set in a high school,that in many ways reminds me of the school I went to for 9th grade,in 1984 this was one of the many high school from Hell films to come out between the mid 70s and late 80s.Written by Tom Holland the film ended up being a bigger hit than expected and ended up getting a sequel,Class of 1999.

When this came out the two biggest names in the cast were Perry King,on the left in the above picture. And Roddy McDowell,on the right. Perry plays the new music/band teacher at a run down graphitti covered high school. McDowell is a science teacher that has been there for years.

The film starts on Perry's first day. We are supposed to be shocked by scenes of the students smoking pot out in the open,having to go through a metal detector at the front door. And I'm sure back in 81 when this came out that was a bit shocking to lots of the people seeing the film. Sadly now it isn't nearly as shocking. 

McDowell,who carries a gun in his briefcase,tries to tell King that there is nothing they can do. But King wants to change the school. He gets introduced to the gang of street punks that run the school during his first band class of the day. 

In this class is a 15 year old looking Michael Fox,no J yet in his name. I looked and Fox was close to 20 if not a bit older when this was filmed. This was before he got the lead on Family Ties. 

The film is mostly King and McDowell,eventually,trying to get the street punk kids kicked out. But every time King thinks he has them caught the punks get out of trouble. Finally King and McDowell go so far that the street punks go and kidnap King's pregnant wife. 

Which leads to the last 3rd of the film. King is having the school band perform at a concert at the school at night. But before he can start the female member of the street punks delivers a Poloroid of the rest of the gang raping King's wife. King goes after them and we get him killing them in fairly violent ways all through out the school. The best kill is in the woodshop room. Where King uses a table saw to first cut the arm off one of the punks. Then since that isn't enough he shoves the punk down back first onto the running blade.

We end up on the room of the school. King vs the lead punk near a skylight. The punk had planned on hanging King's wife and throwing her through the skylight so that her body would drop down right above where the school band is playing. King of course prevents this and the lead street punk ends up being the one hung and tossed through the skylight.

Now before watching this all I knew Perry King for was Mandingo and the 80s detective show Riptide. He does a great job as our heroic lead. Roddy McDowell of course I've seen in piles of movies. And you believe him as the long time teacher who finally can't take the bullshit anymore. Michael Fox is decent as the band geek. 

Overall this was pretty damn good. I have seen bits of it before. But had never bothered seeing the entire film. So when Joe Bob was showing it as the second film of week 2 of season 3 of Joe Bob's Last Drive In on Shudder I watched it live. It is rare I watch Joe Bob live. 

Class of 1984 gets a B+

fantastic Monsters of the FIlms Gwandanaland TPB Flipthru

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 21 Dead Heat

 

TITLE-Dead Heat

SOURCE-Airing on Joe Bob's Last Drive In

I love how Joe Bob keeps showing films that I have seen but not thought about in years. Dead Heat came on in 1988,and got horrible press. Was called one of the worst films in years. Not sure why I didn't see this in a theater. Because back in 1988 I was going to see pretty much every horror and sci fi film that hit theaters.

Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo are cops and are heading to robbery at a jewel store. Bullets don't seem to effect the robbers. So Williams and Piscopo use a non-conventional way to stop them. Which of course gets them in trouble with their Chief.

A cornor friend of our leads,love that Williams is playing Roger Mortis,informs him that the robbers have autopsy scars. And she remembers performing the autopsy on them. She finds an odd chemical in the dead bodies,so our two cops goto the company that makes this chemical to see what is up. Treat ends up trapped in decompression room. Which the company uses to kill the animals they experiment on. Treat dies.

But Treat is brought back to life. And now him and Joe are trying to figure out how and why someone is using dead bodies to commit major crimes. But can they solve this case before Treat dies again? Seems the process used to bring Treat back also causes his organ to liquify over the course of a few days.

Dead Heat was made by New World Pictures. And appears to have a fairly high budget. But it only made a bit over 3.5 million at the box office. Oddly it found it's audience with home video and cable airings.

The comedy and horror in the film don't mix that well. Which sucks cause the premise is a great idea. But lots of Piscopo's one liners fall flat. Mostly cause they happen during scenes where we are suppose to be scared. Maybe if the gore factor was turned up a few notches this film would have worked better. Look at Peter Jackson's Dead/Alive. It has you laughing while at the same time grossed out.

Whoever did the FX work in this film did a great job. You got lots of puppets. A pile of well done practical effects. 

Dead Heat gets a B-.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 20 Death Park parts 1 through 6

 

TITLE-Death Park parts 1,2,3,4,5,6

SOURCE-B-Movies TV On Demand 

Back in late 2017 I finally got a ROKU. And thanks to the great DVDVR forum I had learned about B-Movies TV. B-Movies TV is a free streaming service that is only available on ROKU devices. 24/7 it is airing movies,cartoons,tv shows and even some pro wrestling. But unlike most streaming services B-Movies TV has no video on demand. You just know that every 2 hours on the top of the hour a new film will start. And each day has a theme. So for months I would check every 2 hours to see what they were airing. And got to see some rare cult movies on there. Cause B-Movies TV specializes is cult and rare film. 

Skip ahead to summer of 2020 and I learn that there is now a second B-Movies TV streaming service. This second service is titled B-Movies TV on Demand. And is all video on demand stuff. I added it and was looking through what all they offered. Besides the normal public domain stuff that piles of free services offer was 6 short horror movies titled Death Park 1 through 6.

Death Park 1 was released back in 2018.It is only 7 minutes long. Set in a state park it is about a killer running around during the day time ,while wearing a rubber full head Donald Trump mask. And this killer was killing various people in this park in fairly gruesome ways.

Parts 1,2 and 3 are all fairly short. Usually being close to 7 minutes long.And mostly just have people in the park then the killer appears and kills them. Usually by stabbing them with something sharp. Then starting with part 4 we start getting longer entries with more plot.

Part 4 is almost 20 minutes long. In this part we see a graphic kill. Where a guy gets his penis chopped off. And DAMN it looks very realistic. Also in part 4 we learn that one of the park attendents lost his eye when attacked by the masked killer. This attack happened before the first Death Park short.

Part 5 was the last segment of this series that was filmed in 2019. It is almost 30 minutes long. You can tell that by this part the cast and crew got into the groove of low budget film making. So part 5 feels like a legit short film. 

As of right now Part 6,which was released in 2020,is the newest instalment of this series.It is close to 40 minutes long. And like part 5 it is a major improvment in the series. The kills look even better. The acting is much better and it is neat to see the cast and crew get better with each part of the series.

Now sure these are amazing films. But sometimes you are in the mood for something a bit cheesy and cheap. And Death Park 1 through 6 fits that perfectly. The way part 6 ends you can tell they hope to make another installment.

Looking on IMDB I see that Death Park:The End is filming right now in 2021 and is suppose to come out soon.

I just looked and all 6 parts are now on Youtube.So if you don't have a Roku you can watch them.

Playlist of Death Park 1 through 6 on Youtube

The Death Park series is made by Ken Brewer.

Ken wrote,produced and directed all six released Death Park short films and is doing the same for the upcoming Death Park:The End.

He also wrote,produced and directed the short film Slaycation. Which is also on Youtube.

It shows that Ken loves horror. And it is always fun to watch horror films made by people that love the genre.

Death Park 1 through 6 get a C+.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 19 House by the Cemetery

 

TITLE-The House by the Cemetery

SOURCE-Joe Bob's Last Drive In airing on Shudder

Some how this Lucio Fulci classic escaped me. Never found the VHS for rent or for sale. Never saw the DVD for sale. And after a bit I just forgot about it.

Skip ahead to near the end of winter in 2004. My wallet was flush with cash from my recent income tax return. After stopping at a near by Mom&Pop electronics store,bought a 42 inch Samsung Plasma tv,I went across the street to the local mall. Figuring I would buy a few DVDs to watch on my new TV. At a FYE I saw they were having a big sale. Spend 40 bucks and get 2 free DVDs out of their clearance bin. After grabbing a few wrestling DVDs and a couple of comedies I was over the 40 buck threshold. Went to dig into the clearance bin and saw.

I knew that Horror Rises from the Tomb was a Paul Naschy film. And after seeing Fury of the Wolfman and Werewolf vs the Vampire Women I was interested in seeing more of his films. I had no clue what the other 3 films on this set was. Plus since it was 2 discs,flippers with one movie per side,FYE counted it as 2 DVDs. I thought Fuck it! It's a Paul Naschy film I had never seen so I picked it as my free DVDs.

After I got home and hooked up the new TV,this set got place on the ever growing "To Be Watched"pile. And there it sat for a few years. When I moved again in early 2007 we went a few days without cable. So that To Be Watched pile shrunk some. This is when I learned that Zombie Hell House was just a retitled version of Fulci's The House by the Cemetery. 

From what I can find online Zombie Hell House is a UK retitling of the film. I'm guessing Brentwood,who put out the Horror Rises from the Graves set,just assumed this edit of the film was Public domain and released it.

After watching House by the Cemetery I saw why it was loved and hated. You start off right with a nice kill

With a knife to the back of a lady's skull. I wasn't prepared for the next scene though. We got another place. And are introduced to Bob....

As soon as he appeared on the screen I realized two things. First I had seen this same actor before in Warriors of the Wasteland,a great Mad Max Italian ripoff with Fred Williamson and George Eastman. And secondly once Bob spoke  I saw why everybody I knew that saw this film talked about how bad the dubbing for Bob was. He sounds like a 40 year old woman trying to do a young male kid's voice. It is so bad that the actor that plays Bob has at conventions and in interviews apologized for the dubbing.

Bob and his family move into the house where we saw the woman get knife to the skull. And shit just gets weirder. For example a bat comes into the house and attacks them. The dad manages to kill it in a fairly bloody way.

It being a Fulci movie I expected gore. And I'm a bit use to Italian horror films not always making lots of sense. This film has piles of stuff that just doesn't fit or make sense. Like when the mother comes into a room,sees the nanny cleaning blood off the floor. And after being told the nanny had just made coffee the Mom never mentions the big blood stain!

From what I have read an early home video release of this film got a couple of the film reels out of order. So you would see people die,then later on they were back alive. Which I'm sure back in the day people just chalked up to Italian horror not always making sense.

This isn't top tier Fulci horror. But it isn't his worse. The best way to watch this is with a group. And never ever try to figure out what the fuck is going on. Treat it like a nightmare and allow the dream logic to just flow.

The House by the Cemetery gets a C+.

Spring Break Shark Attack DVD Showcase

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 18 Hack-O-Lantern

 

TITLE-Hack-O-Lantern

SOURCE-Joe Bob's Last Drive In on Shudder

For close to 15 years now I have heard about Hack-O-Lantern. But never wanted to pay what a VHS copy was selling for. Then the Blu ray came out and I missed out. Thankfully last year as part of his Halloween special Joe Bob Briggs showed it.

Made by an Indian director this was a money grab to get some of that sweet slasher bucks.By the time this came out in 88 the slasher fad was pretty much dead. And the film wasn't helped by it being really low budget and just odd as fuck.

A wacky grandpa is teaching his grandson the ways of Satanism. This grandson turns out to be a scummy piece of shit. Who goes around killing people while dressed up as a demon.

Speaking of the grandson. Dude has a great collection of horror movie posters in his basement. Plus added bonus his girlfriend is played by Adult Film Star Jenna Fine.

While watching the Joe Bob airing of this I learned why Jenna was hired. The director wanted women with no pubic hair. So hired a pornstar. That way they could do full frontal nudity and not worry  about having to mosaic out the hair when released in Japan.

And man is this film padded. We get two musical numbers from a band. Both times it feels like a music video was dropped into the film. Then at a Halloween Bacholer party we get a stand up comedian doing his stand up set outside. Joe Bob theorized this is because films in India are like a variety show. So the director put that aspect into the movie.

The acting is pretty bad. But the sets and FX work aren't too bad. But hey I finally got to see a film I've been wanting to see for years.

Hack-O-Lantern gets a D+.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 17 Dawn of the Dead extended Mall Hours Cut

 

TITLE-Dawn of the Dead Extended Mall Hours Cut

SOURCE-Youtube

For years now I knew of this cut of Dawn of the Dead,but never saw it. Sure I had seen the US theatrical cut. Seen the Cannes cut and the Argento cut. But this super long cut,which uses all the footage from those 3 cuts plus stuff never seen,was one I could never track down. Well never track down and not have to pay 40 bucks. Sure I've seen a few SumGuys selling copies at cons. But I wasn't going pay 40 bucks for a dvd-r. And could never talk any of the "collectors" dvd dealers down to 20 bucks. Never thought to look for it on Youtube until the other day.

Of course this film is a sequel to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.While we are never told it appears to happen a few weeks after the end of Night. Starting off in a news station,where we meet Flyboy and his girl. We see how society has started to collapse already. After this we are taken to a big ass apartment building. This is where we meet our other two leads. They are cops who are invading the building.

Eventually our four leads all meet up and take off in a helicopter. After a stop to get gas,and this scene is amazing,they end up landing on the roof of a shopping mall. The mall has everything they need so they make this into their new home.

The four clear all the zombies out of the mall. Use 18 wheelers to block all the entrances. And it seems like they are going to be OK. 

But a gang of roving bikers spots the mall and invades it. After this invasion of course the mall isn't safe anymore. And we are down to two of our leads,Flyboy got bit and became a zombie and one of the cops had got bit earlier. Our two living leads manage to make it up to the roof get in the helicopter and take off. Knowing they are low on fuel and having no idea what will happen next.

I had first seen Night of the Living Dead in about 1980,thanks to an airing one Halloween night. Not sure how but I had learned there was a sequel. It took me a few years to find a copy for rent at a local video store. Thanks to Fangoria magazine I knew there was at least 2 cuts. What I found to rent was the US theatrical cut. During the late 90s I managed to get the Cannes cut on VHS. A local K-mart was closing and had it for 5 bucks. The Argento cut I didn't get to see until I got that Anchor Bay DVD set that had all three cuts.

The quality of the Extended Mall Hours cut on Youtube is pretty good. It lists that it can be viewed in 1080p,I watched it in 720p. You can tell when it goes to footage that isn't from the US theatrical cut cause the picture quality drops a bit. But never is the picture or sound horrible.

For a long time this was my favorite of Romero's Living Dead series of films. But as I got older I started to enjoy Night even more. Dawn is a close second.

Now that I have seen every cut that is out there. I still prefer the Cannes cut. But this extended Mall Hours cut is pretty damn good. Just the film runs a bit long.

Dawn of the Dead Extended Mall Hours Cut gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 16 Santo Contra los Zombies

 

TITLE-Santo Contra Los Zombies AKA Santo Vs the Zombies

SOURCE-Bootleg DVD

Back in 90 or 91 I discovered the Santo films. I caught half of one on a Spanish channel I could sometimes get on the antenna and was hooked. So maybe 4 years ago as a birthday gift a friend gave me a DVD,turned out to be a DVD-r,of Santo vs the Zombies. Did a bit of research and learned this is the 3rd of the Santo films,but the first to get a release in the USA.

Santo was a wrestling legend in Mexico. In 1958 Santo got talked into making 2 films in Cuba. These were both huge hits so a long line of Santo films followed.

In Santo vs the Zombies a crime spree is happening. And the cops discover through fingerprints that one of the people in these crimes is someone who has been dead for years. So they call in Santo to solve the case.

Now one drawback to the DVD I have is there is no English dub or subtitles. My Spanish skills are shit. I took Spanish for 2 years in High School and did ok. But after high school was over didn't use them for years and forgot all I learned. The little Spanish I know I either picked up from watching CMLL and AAA Lucha Libre for years and the bit I learned the 10 years I lived in Texas. So when I watched the movie I was lost a few times. But these Santo films are not hard to follow even when you can't understand what is being said.

Santo vs the Zombies came out in 1961,so I predates NOTLD. Which means the zombies in this are the voodoo kind not the flesh/brain eating kind we are use to now. Still the movie has a few creepy moments. And I had fun watching it.

Santo vs the Zombies gets a C.