Directed by Jack Bravman, whose other credits include directing Adam West in 1987’s Zombie Nightmare and working as a producer on 1976’s Snuff (“The Film that Could Only Be made in South America… where life is cheap!”). Life isn’t cheap in The Dribbler, but just about everything else is. 

Released in 1990, after the zenith of the ‘80s slasher boom and before Scream ushered in an age of self-aware teenage fright flicks, Dribbler is not so much a forgotten gem as it is…. well.. forgotten. It is the story of Stanley, a waterboy with ambitions of joining the basketball team. Members of the team have a bad habit of turning up dead, and a killer in a basketball-headed mascot costume is to blame. Is Stanley the killer? Before the audience can find out, we will be subjected to numerous sub-Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker wordplay gags. I will admit, some jokes do land for me (“the last time I saw faces like yours… was on the court, about 51 seconds ago.”). But you already know if you are the kind of person who will appreciate humor exemplified by a basketball team having the unlikely moniker of The Watergate Plumbers. 

It is a rather bloodless affair, although not an unpleasant viewing experience. Gregory Calpakis, the actor portraying Stanley, would have a longer career in television, but he isn’t really memorable here. His love interest, Becky, portrayed by Flavia Carrozzi, is cute, vaguely goth, and unrelentingly supportive in a way that undoubtedly appealed to the sort of teenage boy that comprised the film’s target audience. Ultimately, she doesn’t have a lot to do other than spout out After School Special cliches. The true star of this show is TV’s Fred Travalena, playing a dual role as both the coach and the basketball announcer. It is not entirely clear if Travalena is playing two characters or if the school district is underfunded. Either way, movie seems designed as a bit-delivery vehicle for Travalena. You can decide for yourself if that is a good thing or a terrible one.

For years, this movie was a holy grail for me. While attending a slasher movie festival at the Mahoning Drive-In, I overheard another patron reference Night of the Dribbler as an example of the genre that no one else had seen. Of course, that meant I had to seek it out. When I finally found it, I was confused who this movie was honestly made for. The humor isn’t funny enough for the film to be considered a spoof in the tradition of Alfred Sole’s 1982 Pandemonium. There is not enough suspense in the kills to placate the slasher fans. There is hardly any sleaze to speak of to titillate that audience in other ways. It may be the sort of film that is most enjoyable as an oddity to inflict upon friends. There is a Code Red DVD floating around for slasher completionists. For the merely curious, the film can be found on YouTube.

Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

Today’s theme: Slasher!

About the Author: Parker Simpson is a writer and podcaster focusing on cult films and their social impacts. They currently cohost Where Is My Mind, a podcast focusing on underappreciated films from a variety of genres and countries. They have also held panels, chartered local organizations, and written articles to their blog. When not writing or studying, they like to spend time with their pets and go outside. Check out the podcast Linktree and blog.

Dang, this thing is slo- wait, is that a Confederate flag on the wall? Where does this movie take place? Ohio? That was a union state!

Girls Nite Out lives in the same vein of small town slashers, its brethren being My Bloody Valentine, The Prowler, and Sleepaway Camp. You could also safely say elements of Halloween and Friday the 13th are spliced in for good measure. The basic plot is simple: young people put in a precarious situation involving an unknown killer taking them down, one by one. Girls Nite Out’s spin on this is putting them in a scavenger hunt in this small town, and having the killer be a dude in a mascot suit (to any of my friends who are Five Nights at Freddy’s fans: DOWN BOY, DOWN! SIT. STAY. HEEL!). As someone who has lived in a small college town, how poorly attended is this university to have the student body participate in a scavenger hunt?

Nothing. Happens. For. A. Very. Long. Time. I think that’s how it normally is in Ohio anyhow, unless Joe Burrow is playing football. It’s not a terribly eventful film, relying on the small-town hijinks of several college kids. I know a lot of people get annoyed when a movie just relies on its coziness, but I never really mind it. Jess Franco does the same thing in several of his films, only the cozy is broken up by sex instead of brutal murders. I have no issue either way. The bear mascot is creepy as fuck, constantly calling his female victims “whores” and killing people via knives on his paws (proto-Freddy Krueger?), filling the requirement that there be some gore (however minimal). He’s really the most noticeable character, along with Hal Holbrook’s policeman and the radio DJ. Everyone else blurs together, being treated like meatbags (particularly the women).

Listen, I feel bad not having much to talk about with this. It’s pretty straight to the point, with little attraction outside of the slasher gimmick. Everyone clearly has a good time despite the cookie-cutter plot, setting, and character archetypes. It’s a good “background” movie, if you want to be cruel, and a good comfort movie if you’re tired and just want to watch an old-school slasher. I know my local drive-in double-billed this with Madman, in what I imagine was a very fun, old-timey screening perfect for the beginning of fall. I wonder how many people came to that after the mass exodus that Society produced the previous weekend (more on that later this month!). As for this film (and this review), just like the one meme from several years ago said, “It isn’t much, but it’s honest work.”

Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

Today’s theme: Slashers

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam Hursey is a pharmacist specializing in health informatics by day, but his true passion is cinema. His current favorite films are Back to the Future, Stop Making Sense, and In the Mood for Love. He has written articles for Film East and The Physical Media Advocate, primarily examining older films through the lens of contemporary perspectives. He is usually found on Letterboxd, where he mainly writes about horror and exploitation films. You can follow him on Letterboxd or Instagram at ashursey.

Are we sure that Fred Olen Ray’s gritty, grimy, grainy film Scalps was made in 1983? Are we sure that it was directed by Fred Olen Ray? It really feels out of place in both his filmography and the time in which it was released.

By 1983, we were on the downward trajectory on the slasher trend. Having peaked around 1981, there really was nowhere else to go but down. Still, 1983 brought us plenty of interesting slashers. Sleepaway Camp. Psycho II. Mausoleum. While the plot of Scalps is not terribly interesting in and of itself, there are some aspects worth digging into (so to speak).

There is plenty of digging in Scalps. A group of college students go out to an area in the California desert to perform some archeological research. Of course, at the local convenience store, they are warned by a Native American in his best Crazy Ralph impersonation (“It’s got a death curse!”) to not disturb the ancient burial grounds found in the Black Forest (or something like that—I should take better notes). Do they listen? Of course not, because there would be no movie if they did. Eventually, one of the guys gets possessed by a Native American spirit and chaos reigns. 

It is all pretty standard 80s slasher tropes. But the look of the film feels closer to 1973 than 1983. If I did not know any better, I would have been certain that this film fell into the proto-slasher years. It was definitely made on the cheap with a reported budget of $15,000. Fred Olen Ray himself described the film as 6 Kids, a Station Wagon, and a Tent. He is not wrong.

One aspect I found interesting is how fairly unlikable this group is as a whole. I typically find it more appealing when I like the characters. I like it when a film takes its time to develop the characters and the relationships between and among the group in a slasher. Then I feel bad when they inevitably get killed. I’m not one to root for a character’s death just because they are annoying or downright hateful. Most films in the early 80s trended toward the likable character. It is interesting to see the beginning of the trend in the other direction. Another slasher from 1983, The Final Terror, feels very similar. These two films might make a decent double feature pairing, although it is not one I would be clamoring to see. Both films feel like Friday the 13th cash-ins versus a straight-up rip-off. And both groups of campers are full of individuals I would not care to be around for any period of time.

I did like Scalps more than it may seem though. I do generally like a boring slasher. This one is plenty dull as nothing happens for at least 40-45 minutes. Maybe more. One character eats Kellogg’s Raisin Bran straight out of the box. That’s the kind of product placement I’m here for. There are some really fun practical effects here. And I secretly love Native American cultural appropriation in horror films. It’s not something I’m proud of, but that old burial ground trope hooks me in every single time. Give me a cursed talisman. I even like the “Old Chief Woodenhead” segment in Creepshow 2. I would say that I would try to do better, but I just have no self-control. I’ll just have to ask for forgiveness.

Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

Today’s theme: 21st Century Horror

Directed, written, produced, and co-scored by Zach Cregger, Weapons is a modern horror movie that people breathlessly told me that I must see. So I did. And it’s fine, but I always feel like I saw the cut that they didn’t, because I’m left with a feeling of, “Oh, that was fine.” Is this how fans of Hitchcock felt when Argento and DePalma started getting big? I really try, though, to look past my dislike of today and find something to enjoy.

Unlike so much modern horror, at least Weapons has a beginning, middle and end. So much horror from now seems to just falter to a conclusion, as if they had a really great idea for a movie, but had no idea how to close it off.

This takes place in Maybrook, Pennsylvania, a town where every child, except one, in Justine Gandy’s (Julia Garner) third-grade class has disappeared. Parents want to blame that kid, Alex (Cary Christopher). Or they want to blame Justine. But there are just no answers as school comes back. Life has to go on, but it can’t for one of the fathers, Archer (Josh Brolin), who is investigating the disappearance for himself.

As for Justine, she starts drinking and hooks up with her ex, police officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich), as the episodic film tells us her story, Paul’s, Archer’s, and even that of her boss, Principal Marcus (Benedict Wong). At the center of it all is Alex’s aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), who totally Burnt Offerings-ed her way into their house and, well, would you really want me to give the whole story away?

There’s some decent camerawork, a great chase at the end and a movie that mixes the narrative flow of Magnolia with the lost children bleakness of Prisoners. The part of this that I had the biggest problem with — the fake-sounding child narrator — was added after test screenings didn’t go well.

Madigan said of her role, “I think she’s a very misunderstood woman! For lack of a better term, I am the bad guy in the movie, but a girl’s just doing what she has to do to get through. She has a plan, but I don’t think she quite knew how that was going to unfold. She’s like an artist; she’s very extemporaneous. I think she’s moved around a lot. She’s had to go to different places, and when one’s not working, she’s kind of a creator of invention: “OK, I’m going to have to reach out to this family.” She’s really needy in the sense that she needs all these people; she can’t do it on her own, and I found that really intriguing about her. She manipulated a few people. And I understand that. But she has such confidence, and she’s charming in this really sick way. She just makes me sit up, Gladys. She just spoke to me.” She’s the best part of this.

Cregger gave her two different options for the backstory of Gladys. “Option one: Gladys was just a normal person using dark magic to cure her disease. She had to adopt this methodology that she uses out of necessity to keep herself alive. I won’t say any more than that. Option two: Gladys was a non-human creature who was using her bizarre makeup and wig in a poor attempt to mimic humans. That’s an interesting perspective to consider. I like that a lot.”

As for that hot dog meal, it’s a tribute to Trevor Moore from his skit “Hot Dog Timmy” on the TV show The Whitest Kids U Know. Cregger was also on that show and friends with Moore. I could totally eat that seven-dog dinner at any time.