society for a scarier planet

NIGHTMARE aka NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN , BLOOD SPLASH (1981) In this Italian bloodbath a murderous schizophrenic has nightmares about the murder of his parents (a murder he committed) . He is given an experimental drug and declared cured , he is then released from the mental hospital , but of course he is not cured and before long he is back to his murderous ways littering the east coast with bodies while stalking a mother and her three kids on a road trip from New York to Florida. This gory slasher directed by Romano Scavolini , claims that make up master Tom Savini handled the special effects on the film , but Savini disputes this and states that he worked only as a consultant to the fx supervisor . Either way the effects are good 'n gory , the style and atmosphere of the movie is reminiscent of "Maniac" and "Pieces". A little slow in some spots but i feel its a must see for gore hounds.



DEATH DREAM aka DEAD OF NIGHT (1974) A family receives a letter from the department of defense telling them that thier son Andy has been killed in Vietnam , the distraught mother cries and pleads with God to not let it be true and suddenly one night her prayers are answered when Andy shows up at the front door. But soon it seems that Somethings not right with Andy , apparently he is suffering from post war depression, he doesn't sleep or eat or communicate with his family and becomes extremely irrational and violent. We soon realize that Andy is one of the undead , some sort of zombie even though he is never really called that in the film. It makes a great statement about what returning soldiers must face when trying to leed normal lives after suffering the horrors of war . This truly frightening movie is a variation of W.W Jacobs 1902 short story "THE MONKEYS PAW" , Its directed by the late great Bob Clark( BLACK CHRISTMAS , PORKYS , A CHRISTMAS STORY) and is notable as the first film that fx genius Tom Savini worked on. Recommended .


PROM NIGHT (1980) Jamie Lee Curtis' second foray into the slasher genre in no where near the film her first was (Halloween) but it is still a fun entertaining horror movie. A group of friends are responsible for the death of a playmate while playing a hide and seek type game called the killers are coming. They all make a pact to keep the truth about her death a secret , the deception is made that much easier when a known pedophile is found in the area and is convicted for her death . Six years later on the week of their senior prom they start receiving strange unsettling phone calls asking each of them to"come out and play" . They all kind of blow it off all seeming more concerned with the big night coming up . When prom night finally does arrive the group are stalked and slashed by a killer out for revenge because he knows the truth to their secret. Pretty tame in the gore department for an 80's film , the end results of the killings are shown but not the act itself, also because of the soundtrack and extended disco dance scenes this one seems very dated. Still like most early 80's slashers its fun to watch and has a certain charm not found in today's movies.


HELLO MARY LOU : PROM NIGHT 2 (1987 ) In name only sequel to PROM NIGHT , this is a tale of revenge from beyond the grave that borrows heavily from genre classics such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Carrie. Mary Lou Malony is Hamilton high prom queen of 1957 who is killed in a prank gone wrong by her jilted boyfriend Bill. 30 years later Bill is the principal of Hamilton high and his son is getting ready to attend the prom with his girlfriend Vicki , when Vicki unwittingly releases Mary Lou's ghost from a trunk hidden at the school she is possessed by the vengeful spirit and all hell breaks loose. A totally different vibe than the original PN , this is more of a supernatural comedy/horror than slasher , I really have no idea why they even used the name , they should have just called it HELLO MARY LOU, anyway its still fun to watch for what it is .


PROM NIGHT 3 : THE LAST KISS (1990 ) Mary Lou is back in the 3rd entry in the series and this one is a direct sequel to the 2nd film . Here the film makers take the whole thing into an even more comedic direction with silly humor and corny death scenes , most of the jokes fall flat on their face however and are highly derivative of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET films with Mary Lou playing the part of the wise cracking villain. In this one Mary Lou somehow escapes from hell , returns to Hamilton High and falls for a kid named Alex , she soon starts knocking off anyone who gets in Alex's way and its up to his girlfriend Sarah to defeat the evil Mary Lou and save Alex. Juvenile and dumb , my least favorite in the series , but somehow still watchable.

PROM NIGHT IV : DELIVER US FROM EVIL (1992 ) What a franchise parts 2 and 3 have nothing to do with part 1 and part 4 has nothing to do with any of them.
Now with that out of the way this is actually a lot better than you would expect a pt. 4 to be. A priest who feels he must punish sinners , kills 2 teens on prom night in 1957 and is locked away, in 1991 he escapes and stalks 4 more teens out boozing and whoring on prom night . Its slow moving in some spots and has a pretty derivative story , but it does have some creepy and atmospheric moments , and since they moved away from the Mary Lou character and goofy attempts at humor its much better than parts 2 and 3 . Worth a watch.


THE MUTILATOR aka FALL BREAK (1985) Here's a slasher from the 80's that a lot of you probably don't remember, mainly because its not had a proper DVD release and the video was pretty hard to find .The story revolves around college friends who share a beach condo during fall break & they are killed off by a psycho who's identity is obvious but they still try to make you wonder who's behind the slayings. As with most 80's slashers the gore effects are the main highlights here , in my opinion it is one of the better slashers of the era. There is a European DVD release but other than that unless you still have a video store in your area that has old VHS stuff its going to be a hard one to find but its definitely worth seeking out .

MEGA PIRANHA(2010) This made for TV (SYFY channel) movie is ridiculous ,the acting is atrocious , the effects are really bad cgi and if your a bad movie fan as i am this is a must see! Don't think this was made by people that don't know what they are doing , the folks at THE ASYLUM who made this film knew exactly what they were doing , they made a flick to appeal to a select audience of bad cinema aficionados and they were very successful . A genetically mutated strain of piranha escape from the Amazon and eat their way toward Florida. They double in size every 2 to 4 hours and by the time they reach Florida they are the size of whales , jumping 100's of ft. into the air , crashing into hotels , eating beachcombers , battleships and helicopters , the action never lets up for a minute and the dialog is so bad its a laugh riot. Starring Barry Williams( Greg , from THE BRADY BUNCH) and former 80's teen pop star Tiffany ,this is a fun action/horror film that is totally unashamed at its cheesiness. Dumb fun that's worth a look.



CURSE OF BIGFOOT(1978) In a high school classroom a teacher and his students are having a discussion about cryptozoology , the teacher introduces a friend who tells the class a story of an encounter he and some of his students had years earlier with a creature who was responsible for several deaths and the loss of sanity for 3 of his students while on an archeology dig where they unearthed a mummy and it came back to life. This film is actually comprised of two films , the first 30 min. is the classroom lecture and some narriration about evolution , the last 60 min. is a 1958 movie titled TEENAGERS BATTLE THE THING . This has been pegged as one of the worst films ever made and rightly so, this is so slow moving its facinating to watch , the acting is wooden at best and the creature effects aint so special. If your a bad cinema fan youve got to check it out , if not you might get a headache.

MARTIN(1977) Martin is a disturbed young man who feels the need to murder and drink the blood of his victims believing himself to be a vampire. He does not however suffer from any of the supernatural trappings of a traditional vampire , garlic , crucifixes and sunlight do not have an effect on him and when he kills it is not with fangs but by injecting his victims with drugs and cuting them with razor blades.

This George Romero film is more a study of insanity and superstition than your typical vampire film , its bleek and depressing locations set a great creepy mood to the film. Some may find this a little slow and gorehounds may be somewhat dissapointed but personnally i find this to be one of Romeros best movies.