1980’s – Page 21 – Jiggy's Horror Corner

Family Reunion (1989)

Directed by Michael Hawes [Other horror films: N/A]

I hadn’t really heard of this one before watching it, and thus, had no expectations one way or the other going in. I am happy to report that despite the lower budget, this movie is something that’s probably worth watching.

It’s a bit of a slow beginning, but it’s bolstered by the fact that the actors really feel like a family in a stressful situation. Mel Novak did well as the father, and occasionally came off with an Amityville Horror vibe. A.J. Woods and Kaylin Cool did great as the bickering younger brother and older sister. Neither of them had any other roles in anything else, so it’s especially impressive. It was a well put-together cast, so despite the sluggish beginning, I was still glued to the screen.

The story itself was moderately fascinating also. At times, it felt more like one of those 70’s devil worshiper movies, and because the movie lacked much of the lighter tone normally found in 80’s films for a drier, 70’s feel, it felt somewhat authentic, in a disjointed, ‘what’s-going-on’ way.

As far as problems go, my main one is that the police subplot. It didn’t really go anywhere, despite a good twenty-five minutes, if not more, being spent on it. Not only that, but those portions at the police station were actually pretty cool, in a Storm of the Century-type way. Shame, really, that it didn’t play more into the plot.

Still, the downbeat conclusion was fun. I wouldn’t say that this film is amazing, but it felt unique. I wish it had some better death scenes, but I liked what we got. If you want a movie that’s a bit more out there, I’d recommend maybe giving this a look. I can’t guarantee you’ll love it, but I think that most would find it interesting, despite the lower budget at their disposal.

7.5/10

Veneno para las hadas (1986)

Directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada [Other horror films: Hasta el viento tiene miedo (1968), Vagabundo en la lluvia (1968), El libro de piedra (1969), Más negro que la noche (1975)]

This Mexican film, originally Veneno para las hadas generally known as Poison for the Fairies in the USA, is a lot like a film I saw earlier in the same month, a French movie called Don’t Deliver Us from Evil, albeit in a more family-friendly direction.

Which isn’t to say that the ending isn’t good – it is. Is it worth the build up, though? That’s hard to say. Much like the 1971 French film, two youths are becoming corrupted by their friendship, slowly leading up to a less-than-happy ending. Unlike that film, though, given these girls are just around ten, there’s nothing in the film dealing with their sexuality (which was a big part of Don’t Deliver Us from Evil). Instead, one of the girls is playing a game on the other that grows out of control.

It’s a very insular movie – aside from the two girls, played by Ana Patricia Rojo and Elsa Maria Gutierrez, no other character really matters, and for that matter, while their guardians appear (parents and grandparents), we almost never actually see their faces. Luckily, the story is engaging enough to allow the singular focus on these two girls, though I would have to imagine some would say the film drags deeply because of it.

Throughout the movie, there’s a growing ominous feeling, and it’s held pretty well. If you’re not asking yourself, “Where is this leading,” multiple times, then something wasn’t done right. All this said, though, with any slow-burn horror film, did the ending make up for the somewhat sluggish pace? It wasn’t perfect, but I liked how they concluded this. I didn’t love the film, but I do think it’s a lot more digestible than Don’t Deliver Us from Evil was, and I’d probably recommend this to anyone interested in checking something out with a bit more foreign flair.

7.5/10

Leák (1981)

Directed by H. Tjut Djalil [Other horror films: Batas Impian Ranjang Setan (1986), Ratu buaya putih (1988), Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan (1989), Misteri Janda Kembang (1991), Dangerous Seductress (1992), Skandal Iblis (1992), Gaun Merah (1994)]

Eh, I don’t really know what to say about this one.

There were certainly some decent things in this Indonesian horror film, originally titled Leák (pronounced Le-ak, which is apparently some kind of black magic), but known far better as Mystics in Bali, such as an ominous and threatening atmosphere, some decent special effects, and a plot that’s played pretty seriously (despite how the final product ended up coming out).

But despite some interesting scenes, about thirty, forty minutes in, I was getting bored, and really much of the movie is just a young woman becoming unintentionally aligned with a dark practitioner of an evil magic, and becoming possessed, in a way. Some creepy scenes were present, such as throwing up what seems to be green slime and live mice, along with the initial appearance of the witch-like Leák Master, but it wasn’t enough to keep my interest alive.

I don’t have much experience with Indonesian horror. I do know that much of this film is taken from Balinese mythology and folklore, which is culturally sort of cool. But the movie didn’t really do much of anything for me, and though portions were probably decent for Indonesian films back in the 1980s, some of the effects look rather hokey now. Might be worth a watch if you want to see something a little different, but I wouldn’t expect to love it.

5/10

Yin ji (1982)

Directed by Chiu Lee [Other horror films: N/A]

Probably best known under the colorful title Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave, Yin ji is decently fun, though perhaps ends up being a bit longer than necessary. Still, the movie ends up around average, I’d say.

The story was simple and to the point, with not much really going on. A son seeks revenge for his father against a tyrant who rules with the help of a black magic sorcerer. There’s plenty of zombies/ghosts (technically, I guess they’d be jiangshi, or hopping vampires), dark magic (with beautifully ridiculous effects), and even an appearance from Count Dracula (who apparently knows kung fu).

The movie’s about as ridiculous and entertaining as you could probably imagine. The multiple fight sequences are all pretty fun, and there’s even a few creepy graveyard scenes (though the lighter tone the movie has doesn’t make tension or thrills the main point).

As far as the cast goes, there were mostly all solid, with the main character, played by Billy Chong, being the one most standing out. The over-the-top acting and kung fu sequences were all done well, though, so pretty much no one in the film was particularly bad. The somewhat atrocious dubbing helped also.

I’ve not seen that many kung fu films. Of the ones I can name (with the help of trusty IMDb), I’ve seen The Deadly Breaking Sword (or Feng liu duan jian xiao xiao dao, from 1979), Killer Constable (or Wan ren zan, from 1980), The Kid with the Golden Arm (Jin bi tong, from 1979), and, if you want to count it, The Sword of Swords (Shen dao, from 1968). I’ve seen some actual Hong Kong horror films, but none that have mixed in martial arts as heavily as this one.

Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave is pretty goofy at times, and it’s more light-hearted fun than anything really terrifying. It probably could have been cut by ten minutes, perhaps fifteen, and I think they could have given off the same effect. But it is a fun movie, so they certainly got that down. If you’re into this type of Asian horror, it may be worth a look.

7/10

Delusion (1981)

Directed by Alan Beattie [Other horror films: N/A]

This flick feels so much more a product of the 1970’s than it does the 1980’s, and that, in part, drives the enjoyment that can be derived from the movie.

While sometimes lacking the style of other slasher whodunit’s, Delusion still has a fun story that both maintains mystery and suspense. The kill scenes are a bit weak, I admit, and calling this a slasher is a wee bit of a stretch, but it certainly possesses many of the elements you might expect. As I said, it feels more like a 70’s film, and that’s due to the dryer nature of the content, the whole feel of the film, and the first-person narration.

First-person narration is something I’ve mostly seen from the 1970’s, be it Let’s Scare Jessica to Death or Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. It’s sort of cheesy, of course, but at the same time, I think there’s charm in that approach to storytelling. It helps that I watched a VHS rip that was a bit scratchy and blurry – I could easily believe this to be from a decade earlier.

Patricia Pearcy does pretty good in this one. Though she appeared previously in 1976’s Squirm, she hasn’t really been in that much, which is a shame, as I think she does well in this film, particularly near the conclusion. Leon Charles (who died the shortly after this film came out) did really good as a sort of fatherly figure butler here, and ended up perhaps my favorite character. Luckily, being one of Joseph Cotton’s final movies, it does well for him, and he character got some work in at the end. Lastly, both David Hayward and John Dukakis made favorable impressions also.

Reviewing this film wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the ending. I will fully admit to having been deeply surprised during the conclusion, and I loved the film all the more for it. I didn’t see it coming, and it left me more than a little pleased once the credits started rolling.

This doesn’t seem to be a widely-spoken about film, either under the name Delusion or The House Where Death Lives (which even I will admit is a more eye-catching title). It’s a shame, because while I wouldn’t call this film a classic, and I know some of the cheesy aspects might turn some off, I had a really fun time with this.

8.5/10

Backwoods (1987)

Directed by Dean Crow [Other horror films: Father’s Day (1988)]

Filmed in Indiana (though not my birthplace, I’ve lived here most of my life), I was rather interested in seeing if this film could live up to other “city folk in the forests” type films, such as Hunter’s Blood or Moonstalker. Alas, while it has it’s positives, Backwoods doesn’t quite hit those high notes I was looking for.

The cast of this one is small – only four important characters, and two who are sort of just there at times (the fate of one of them, we never do find out). There’s nothing wrong with that on the surface, but when the first forty minutes or so focus mainly on three characters with little horror and only occasional tension, it doesn’t make for that enthralling a film.

What doesn’t really help matters is the fact that this isn’t really a slasher, which, I have to admit, were my expectations going in. The antagonist, a mentally-challenged guy named William, mainly made to strangle his victim, or grab their hair, or other stuff that didn’t involve slashing. Because of that, there’s wasn’t much in the way of a body count (given the small cast, that probably isn’t shocking) or gore. We do get a pretty solid finale, and there’s a painful-looking fishhook net, but that comes a bit late, and it’s too little, to really fix the lack of blood.

For much of the film, it plays itself more as a drama, especially when William’s father, somewhat animated (and, at the same time, taciturn) is mournfully explaining the woes his family has faced. There’s even some sad-ish music in the background. It helps build up toward the end a bit, but I don’t think I can fully forgive the light horror that the first hour of this film possesses, no matter how solid the ending was.

Dick Kreusser, who played the father of William, was probably the best out of the cast. He did a decent job showing emotion while playing a ‘man’s man’-type of guy. The two main characters, though, weren’t quite on the same level: Christine Noonan was nice to look at, but her character made some rather foolish errors, and Brad Armacost, who seems to be the only cast member of this film who is still acting, came off as an arrogant Yankee most of the time.

It’s the heavy drama, though, and the sluggish pace, not the acting, that makes this film a chore to sit through. Like I said, it does pick up at the end, and the fishhook net is pretty dangerous-looking, but it’s a case of ‘too little, too late.’ It’s a shame, as an 80’s backwoods horror film from Indiana sounds like it’d be my kind of movie. Backwoods just couldn’t make it, though.

5.5/10

Things (1989)

Directed by Andrew Jordan [Other horror films: N/A]

I have never in my life seen such an inept mess.

Really, I’m not entirely sure what to say about this one. The story, such as it was, seems incomplete. And in fact, so does the movie as a whole. Amber Lynn (who is best known for various roles in adult movies) literally just reads her dialogue off cue cards as a newscaster, adding literally nothing to the movie. Some of the dialogue is dubbed after the fact, which is painfully obvious. The lighting, the dialogue, the everything, it’s a mess.

The one thing this Canadian flick sort of gets right is the gore. Oh, most of the time, it was the blood of insect things (origins never really explained), but there was a scene of a guy being tortured (that had zero relevance to the plot, I’ll add) that was decent, and a guy lost some fingers. The gore wasn’t necessarily amazing, partially because the camera-work was so shoddy, but it still stood out in what otherwise was an atrocity of a film.

Honestly, though, this movie possesses some charm to it – the gore is, as I said, moderately solid, and while everything else fails (from the post-sync dubbing, to the lighting, acting, story, and any other element you could think to name), sitting back with some friends and watching this movie play out would be a hoot. Watching it alone? It might change you, but not really for the better.

Things is pretty much an inept, illogical mess. Some scenes don’t make any sense, there’s no context to some of the story, and everything seems pretty disjointed (at times, this felt sort of like The Suckling, but most of the time, Things defies comparison), which the post-dubbing doesn’t help with at all. Can Things be enjoyable in the right situation? Sure. But is it a film that I’m clamoring to see again? Oh God, no.

That said, anyone interested should definitely watch this, as a review can’t possibly do this bizarre film justice.

4/10

Demon Warrior (1988)

Directed by Frank Patterson [Other horror films: N/A]

This will be a bit shorter than other reviews I’ve written, because I can’t think of that much to say about this somewhat obscure flick.

Filmed in Texas, this late 80’s movie is pretty cheesy, with a demon in the guise of a Native American going around killing a group of friends who came out to some cursed land for hunting. The kills themselves are moderately fun, if a bit astylistic, such as some individuals getting shot with arrows, an okay scalping, and a pretty decent car crash (especially for a movie of this low-budget nature).

The problem is that there’s far more drama among the group of friends than there is action, or even anything mildly interesting. I was somewhat taken in some of the friend’s ongoing problems, but at the same time, boy, was it a grind to get through. There was a bit of nudity at the beginning, which was welcomed, but for much of the film, it’s just not that engaging.

Actors and actresses throughout did about as well as you might expect. There weren’t any truly awful performances, at least, but the main characters, played by Wiley M. Pickett and Leslie Mullin, weren’t dripping with amazing ability either. John Garrett’s character had some funny lines now and again, but nothing to praise that much.

I’ve wanted to see this one for some time now, and I’m not exactly surprised by the fact it’s not great. Late 80’s horror can be quite a bit hit-or-miss. Still, Demon Warrior may not be a bad watch if you’re a fan of 80’s cheese (and that ending was a good example of how much cheese this movie has). I caught a VHS rip of the film, which allowed a very retro feeling to it. I sort of doubt this hit DVD, so it’s one you might want to look out for. That said, I wouldn’t expect a classic if you do give it a shot.

6/10

2019 – Dopo la caduta di New York (1983)

Directed by Sergio Martino [Other horror films: Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh (1971), La cado dello scorpione (1971), Tutti i colori del buio (1972), Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave (1972), I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale (1973), Morte sospetta di una minorenne (1975), La montagna del dio cannibale (1978), L’isola degli uomini pesce (1979), Il fiume del grande caimano (1979), Assassinio al cimitero etrusco (1982), American risciò (1989), La regina degli uomini pesce (1995), Mozart è un assassino (1999)]

I’ve never seen either Mad Max or Escape from New York (non-horror films are not really my thing, generally speaking), but I have to imagine this Italian movie, known in the US as 2019: After the Fall of New, is quite a bit like those films. A fantastic action/science fiction/horror medley, this film is a lot of fun, and comes highly recommended.

Post-apocalyptic movies can sometimes not quite work out, but this one does, due to multiple factors, being the fun cast of characters, the soundtrack, the heavy gore, and just general fun of the action. Primarily, if you’re looking for an action-filled flick, this is it. Plenty of brawl sequences, some gun play, interesting weapons, and further helping this along is the strong gore throughout the film. Two of my favorite instances being a rather brutal eye-gouging and a multiple-person decapitation – those aside, other sequences of splatter can be found, and the special effects are decent enough to back up the ambitious gore.

A small note on the soundtrack – it’s filled with a bunch of fun Italian electronic tracks. It’s a funky soundtrack, and certainly added a little something special to the film.

Michael Sopkiw does pretty damn good as the main character, and he has a fun presence also. The same can be said for most of the cast, but in particular, Valentine Monnier, Romano Puppo, Louis Ecclesia, and George Eastman, brought most of the fun to the film. I do wish that there had been more scenes of the three central characters (Sopkiw, Puppo, and a Paolo Maria Scalondro) in what was left of New York, but what we got was still action-packed amusement.

Brought to us by well-known director Sergio Martino (if I tried to list his better-known additions to the genre, this paragraph would be at least three lines longer, so lucky, they’re listed above), 2019: After the Fall of New York is a lot of fun, and if you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic films, gory Italian movies, or just having a good time, this is a movie I’d recommend looking into.

8.5/10

Friday the 13th (1980)

Directed by Sean S. Cunningham [Other horror films: Case of the Full Moon Murder (1973), A Stranger Is Watching (1982), The New Kids (1985), DeepStar Six (1989), XCU: Extreme Close Up (2001), Trapped Ashes (2006, segment ‘Jibaku’)]

While nowhere near the greatness of classics such as Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th is a wholly enjoyable film with very little going wrong for it.

Some of the best portions of this film are due to both Tom Savini (special effects) and Harry Manfredini (who composed the music). The gore isn’t necessarily that graphic, but there are some fantastic death scenes, such as the arrow slowly being pushed through the neck, or the ax to the face (a personal favorite). The music within the film assisted in creating a decent atmosphere for the film, and at times even had sort of a Psycho feel.

Without a doubt, Betsy Palmer gets the highest praise in terms of acting in the film. Her ending scene is legendary, and I feel it’s for good reason. Adrienne King did fantastic as the final girl, and it’s a shame she never really had that many other big roles in the genre. I also really liked Robbi Morgan (who had a fun personality with her short screen-time), and Jeannine Taylor (she was quite easy on the eyes). Most of the others sort of blended in with each other, but I did sort of like Peter Brouwer also.

I’ve heard some call this film boring – maybe it’s a nostalgic thing, but I don’t see it at all. Running around in the rain, wearing slickers, looking for people who have gone missing, only to get killed, with the body being found later by another character – God, it’s a fun time. Made better by the fact that one of the characters who could possibly help out is trying to make his way back to camp, but hindered by the rain, a broken-down truck, what-have-you. I thought much of the tension toward the finale was great.

Honestly, when you’re talking about the first five Friday the 13th films, there’s very little to dislike about them. All five are varying degrees of fun, and all five are easily above average. This first film, with that iconic score and great ending (solid decapitation), is a lot of fun, and I always get a kick out of it, though with the second, third, and fourth films, elements certainly improve (and as for A New Beginning, well, some execution aside, still a solid film). Still a horror classic, despite the unfortunate existence of some mediocre sequels.

8/10

This classic was covered on Fight Evil’s seventh podcast by Chucky (@ChuckyFE) and myself, so give it a listen if you’re interested.