Director Kevin Tenney’s “Witchboard” is a spooky, but damn silly supernatural mystery that really works in the context of the eighties and really nothing else. Unlike “Night of the Demons,” you really have to consider the time period in order to enjoy “Witchboard” for its elements that will give you occasional chills, while also inspiring a few eye rolls here and there. This is a decade where the Ouija Board was still considered something of a mystic item, so director Tenney plays with such a superstition.
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Tag Archives: Horror
The Beast Within (!982) [Blu-Ray]
It’s an understatement to call “The Beast Within” one of the more unusual horror anomalies of the eighties. Director Phillipe Mora’s film garners an inherent subtext, but what kind, I’m still not sure. “The Beast Within” operates on an almost fever dream kind of narrative that takes twists and turns without ever even trying to form a coherent story thread. Even once. I’m still not sure why there’s a giant anthropomorphic bug monster roaming around, but nonetheless, it’s a pivotal plot point.
Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (2011)
Well, if the writers don’t give a shit anymore, why should we? “Gingerdead Man” has seemingly given up trying after the first film, so I’ve given up trying to make sense of anything that’s happening in this movie series. When last we saw Gingerdead Man he was trolling a movie studio killing actors and directors for some reason. Now he’s being held in a prison with other psychotic baked goods. Spoofing “Silence of the Lambs,” he meets with female detective who wants his help in a case. It’s an obvious satire sans the laughs, but we now know there are other psychotic baked goods out there.
The First Wave (2014)
Director David Frayne’s “The First Wave” is intended as a prologue for a now in the works feature film. And from what I’ve seen in the entire six minutes of this short introduction, the feature film version of “The First Wave” promises to be quite an incredible twist on the zombie sub-genre.After a massive epidemic of flesh eating zombies plagues the city and families are consumed, science has finally found a way to cure the epidemic. Now once walking dead cannibals are turning up in hospitals cured, as doctors anxiously try to move forward and maintain the steady rise of recuperated monsters.
Santa (2014)
It’s Santa! Or is it Krampus? In either case, directors Dionysis and Manos Atzarakis have a real winner on their hands with the very short but utterly creepy “Santa.” Though it’s barely two minutes in length, “Santa” garners enough of a story element and set up to become utterly horrifying; Especially considering the tropes of Santa being a welcoming and loving presence on Christmas night.
Night of the Demons 2 (1994)
It’s ridiculous how great director Bryan Trenchard-Smith’s sequel to “Night of the Demons” is. Smith doesn’t just take Kevin Tenney’s story and run with it, but he ups the ante by adding mythology, giving Angela a larger persona as the series’ official villain, and has a damn good time. And how bad ass is Jennifer Rhodes as film heroine Sister Gloria, an uptight nun whose own religious devotion becomes the only thing that can stop Angela’s reign of terror?
Night Of The Demons (1988): Collector’s Edition [BluRay/DVD Combo]
Director Kevin Tenney loves Halloween, and it’s never made more clearly than during the “Night of the Demons.” The 1988 horror film is still a fun and hilarious horror comedy that doesn’t just embrace its horror tropes, but celebrates Halloween as a whole. From the pumpkin in the opening shot to the book end sub-plots involving a crabby old man preparing for trick or treaters, “Night of the Demons” is a perfect film for a Halloween party, and just a downright fantastic summary of why the eighties were such an unabashed festival of novelties for the horror genre.