WATCH THE SERIES: Friday the 13th part 1
At this point, this is the longest that we’ve ever gone without a Friday the 13th film since the break between Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X in 1993 and 2001. But at one point, these movies owned the box office, with one nearly every summer from 1980-1989. Why did people love them so much? And what were […]
Midnight Offerings (1981)
Vivian Sotherland (Melissa Sue Anderson, Happy Birthday to Me) starts this movie in front of a pentagram, conducting a ritual that will send one of her teachers up in flames and keep her boyfriend David (Patrick Cassidy, brother of Shaun and half-brother of David). Light the black candles, it’s time for witchcraft in the 1980’s suburbs! […]
This House Possessed (1981)
A rock star has a nervous breakdown and decides to recuperate in a remote house. Yet he finds himself asking, “Am I insane? Or is this house haunted?” Just by reading the title of this movie, I think you know the answer. Gary Straihorn (Parker Stevenson, former husband to Kirsty Alley and one of TV’s Hardy […]
LARRY COHEN WEEK: Full Moon High (1981)
Four years before Teen Wolf (and 24 years after I Was a Teenage Werewolf), Larry Cohen wrote, produced and directed Full Moon High, a comedic take on what it’d be like to be a werewolf in high school. Ironically, it came out in the same year as An American Werewolf in London, covering some of the same ground, but […]
FULCI WEEK: The House by the Cemetery (1981)
It’s impossible for me to be objective. The House by the Cemetery is one of my favorite films ever. I cannot defend it’s lack of story, the fact that it’s influences are pinned to its sleeve or that it makes little to no sense. The first time I watched it — at a drive-in marathon that […]
FULCI WEEK: The Black Cat (1981)
There’s a moment in The Black Cat where Patrick Magee is lying on a grave, begging a voice to speak to him while the black cat looks on with hatred in his eyes, as fog rolls across the graveyard, where you say to yourself: this is gorgeous art, far above the hack title that so many give […]
MANGIATI VIVI: Cannibal Ferox (1981)
Pre-credits disclaimer: The following feature is one of the most violent films ever made. There are at least two dozen scenes of barbaric torture and sadistic cruelty graphically shown. If the presentation of disgusting and repulsive subject matter upsets you, please do not view this film. For the rest of us, let’s watch something awesome […]
Burial Ground (1981)
I’ve often said that I prefer Zombi 2 to Dawn of the Dead — at least if I am looking for a more fun movie — because it skips the political allegory and gets right to what the zombie splatter that I really want to see. Burial Ground (also known as Le Notti del terrore, Nights of Terror, Zombi Horror, […]
Don’t Go In the Woods (1981)
Some slashers take their time getting to the first kill. Others start James Bond style, with a kill or two at the beginning before settling into the formula. Don’t Go in the Woods starts with murder and never stops. There are characters you’re supposed to get behind. But mostly, there are just random people who are killed […]
Evilspeak (1981)
Post-Carrie, we’ve seen so many films where people turn to the Devil to help them fit in or fight back against bullies. But let’s face it — when you dress up Carrie White or Sissy Spacek or Chloë Grace Moretz, they end up being attractive. But Clint Howard? There’s really no dressing up Clint. Don’t get […]
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