{"id":35029,"date":"2013-11-24T18:25:02","date_gmt":"2013-11-24T23:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=35029"},"modified":"2021-04-21T08:32:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T12:32:43","slug":"the-horror-show-1989-blu-ray-dvd-combo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/24\/the-horror-show-1989-blu-ray-dvd-combo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Horror Show (1989) [Blu-Ray\/DVD Combo]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Also known as \u201cHouse III: The Horror Show\u201d for\u2014reasons, \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d has a significant place in my collective memories. Back in the beginning of the nineties I vividly recall watching \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d on late night HBO with my parents. It didn\u2019t scare me like they thought it would, but it sure kept me watching with mouth agape and quite stunned. I don\u2019t care what generation you\u2019re from, Brion James is a terrifying son of a bitch even if \u201cMeat Cleaver Max\u201d isn\u2019t a household name.<\/p>\n

Detective Lucas McCarthy finally apprehends “Meat Cleaver Max” and watches the electric chair execution from the audience. But killing Max Jenke only elevated him to another level of reality, prompting him to mysteriously rise from the grave thanks to the paranormal and his lust for vengeance. Now Lucas’ family is under attack, his sanity in question, and his house haunted. Aided by a disreputable college professor, Lucas must battle to reclaim his mind, house, and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Horror Show\u201d comes from that period of moviedom when studios were looking for the next Freddy Krueger. Around 1988 he was still a hot pop culture icon and even Wes Craven was duplicating him with \u201cShocker.\u201d This time Sean S. Cunningham of \u201cFriday the 13th<\/sup>\u201d tries his hand at attempting to Xerox the success. He casts Brion James as \u201cMeat Cleaver Max,\u201d the maniac who delights in mutilating and beheading people. He\u2019s so evil not even the electric chair can take him down (they never explain how he comes back from the dead and what resurrected him), and he vows revenge on his captors while going up in flames.<\/p>\n

He does so while also horrendously scarred, to boot. \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d is pure schlocky goodness, a showcase for Lance Henrikson and James to play off of one another, and also chew the scenery on their own. James in particular plays Max in various stages of enthusiastic. Sometimes he\u2019s insanely menacing, and other times he delivers quippy one liners and high pitched laughs that would make even Krueger cringe. And what is Max\u2019s end game? Does he want to kill Lucas? His family? Why does he only go after Lucas? What threat the paranormal investigator pose for him to be taken out mid-way? Is Max really back from the dead, or is Lucas going insane the whole time?<\/p>\n

What was the point of the sub-plot with Lucas\u2019 son and his habit for conning big companies? \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d very much wants to be taken in the same breath as Craven\u2019s aforementioned slasher revenge film. The problem is that James Isaac relies too much on schlock and camp to position Max as a formidable movie maniac. The fake outs, the obvious call backs to \u201cNightmare on Elm Street,\u201d the goofy dialogue, and the near nonsensical narrative sinks \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d more than benefits it when all is said and done. \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d is mostly obscure for a reason, despite the occasional bright spots.<\/p>\n

The Blu-Ray and DVD Combo comes with a new commentary with Producer Sean S. Cunningham, an eleven minutes interview with Stunt Coordinator Kane Hodder, an eleven minutes interview with Actress Rita Taggart, and finally, the original theatrical trailer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Also known as \u201cHouse III: The Horror Show\u201d for\u2014reasons, \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d has a significant place in my collective memories. Back in the beginning of the nineties I vividly recall watching \u201cThe Horror Show\u201d on late night HBO with my parents. It didn\u2019t scare me like they thought it would, but it sure kept me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[240,477,840,950,1008,1087],"class_list":["post-35029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-crime","tag-horror","tag-revenge","tag-slasher","tag-supernatural","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35029"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35081,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35029\/revisions\/35081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}