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Halloween Early In This Week’s Horror In Your House
Horror is back this week in a big way. Fangoria FrightFest and Phase 4 Films are releasing eight independent horror flicks. Adam Green is back again with the Blu-ray/DVD release of his chairlift thriller, Frozen. Also getting the DVD treatment is the much loved `80s flick, Dark Night of the Scarecrow. And for the horror buff that is looking to be hit with some knowledge there is a documentary about the evolution of American horror hosted by Lance Henriksen. Check out the rest of the releases below.
Horror in Your House
September 28th, 2010
THE CHAINSAW SALLY SHOW, SEASON 1 – Troma
From the Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, comes the groundbreaking series The Chainsaw Sally Show. Join Sally and her twisted brother Ruby as they act as judge, jury, and executioner in their hometown of Porterville, Maryland.
DARK HOUSE – Phase 4 Films
Traumatized by a terrifying event in her youth, Claire Thompson tries to exorcise her demons by revisiting the old house where a terrible children’s massacre took place. Now a haunted house attraction set up by impressario Walston Rey, the former foster home run by the evil Miss Darrode is set to open for the press and Walston recruits Claire and several of her fellow acting class students to perform as part of the show. Unfortunately, a series of horrible murders happen at the haunted house, generating from either the malevolent spirit of the departed Miss Darrode, or by Claire herself.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW – VCI Entertainment
When young Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe) is found viciously mauled, all hell breaks loose in her small rural town. Officious postmaster Otis P. Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) leads a gang of bigots in pursuit of the suspect: her mentally challenged friend Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake). Finding him hiding inside a scarecrow, they exact brutal mob “justice”…only to discover a tragic mistake! Now a strange apparition stalks the land seeking each of them out, as the legend of the Scarecrow begin.
MICAH SAYS: An excellent early `80s horror film. I’m finally going to replace my VHS copy this go around.
DARK WOODS -Vanguard Cinema
Caring husband Henry Branch (John Muscarnero) brings his terminally ill wife, Susan (Tracy Coogan), to a wooded retreat to live in peaceful seclusion, but when disturbed teen Alicia (Mary Kate Wiles) takes refuge with the couple; it’s Henry who’s driven to distraction. In this psychological thriller, Susan succumbs to dementia while Alicia craves Henry’s attention, and in each, the line between interest and obsession grows dangerously blurred.
FRAGILE – Phase 4 Films
After almost a century, the Mercy Falls Children’s Hospital is about to close its doors for good. A nurse (CALISTA FLOCKHART) is hired to assist in the closing process, but it soon becomes increasingly clear that there is a dangerous spirit living in the hospital, which the children call the `mechanical girl.’ This ghostly presence has a terrifying hold over them – and will stop at nothing to keep them in the hospital with her forever.
FROZEN (Blu-ray/DVD) – Anchor Bay
A typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare for three snowboarders when they get stranded on the chairlift before their last run. As the ski patrol switches off the night lights, they realize with growing panic that they’ve been left behind, dangling high off the ground with no way down.
MICAH SAYS: Will look very nice on the Blu-ray shelf next to Hatchet. Don’t forget, Oct 1st Adam Green’s Hatchet 2 is premiering unrated around the US. I’m going, are you?
GRIMM LOVE – Phase 4 Films
Katie Armstrong (KERI RUSSELL), an American woman studying criminal psychology finds herself inexplicably drawn to a bizarre murder case for her thesis. She chooses to research the notorious German cannibal Oliver Hartwin and his dead lover Simon, who had allowed Oliver to murder and then devour him as the ultimate act of love and self-sacrifice. Katie soon becomes strangely obsessed with her subjects, and as she dives deeper into her research, she makes a horrifying discovery that will change the case – and Katie – forever.
THE HAUNTING – Phase 4 Films
Francesca is a young pediatrician, traumatized by the loss of a child through crib death. When the family moves to a new home in the country, supposedly to help her recover from the experience, she begins seeing completely inexplicable things. The house in which they now live seems to hide terrible secrets. Both the cellar and the attic are locked and barred to the family – and it is from both of these places that Francesca receives nocturnal visits that are slowly driving her mad.
HOUSE OF THE WOLF MAN – Taurus Entertainment
Tells the story of Dr. Bela Reinhardt (Chaney) and the five guests he has invited to his castle to see which one will inherit his estate. He has arranged for a competition of sorts, and the victor shall be determined through a process of elimination. But it quickly becomes apparent to the five unwitting visitors that danger lurks in every corner, and that the House of the Wolf man holds a secret that could drive anyone to insanity!
HUNGER – Phase 4 Films
Five strangers awaken to find themselves trapped in an underground dungeon. They soon realize they are the subjects of one man’s sadistic experiment to test the depths of a human being’s will to survive. As the days go by with no means of escape, their hunger increases as their humanity fades away.
MADMAN – BCI Eclipse
At a summer camp for youths, cocky pre-teen calls out the name of mass serial killer “Madman Marz”. Suddenly, counselors are being maimed and slaughtered in various ways by the backwoodsman who has returned when his name was called.
NIGHTMARES IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE: THE EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN HORROR FILM – Kino International
Horror and sci-fi veteran Lance Henriksen (Alien, Near Dark) takes you through a fascinating look at the history of the American horror film, examining the earliest monster movies of the silent era up to the scariest modern-day masterpieces. Highlights include interviews with genre masters Roger Corman, John Carpenter and George A. Romero, plus clips from classic films like The Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hostel, Rosemary’s Baby and many more!
PAINTBALL – MPI Home Video
Think your video game and weekend warrior skills make you an awesome fighter? Want to bet on it? A group of strangers unwittingly do just that when they are brought together to compete in the ultimate paintball competition. Only the other side isn’t firing balls of paint, they are firing real ammo.
PIG HUNT – Phase 4 Films
When John takes his friends to his deceased uncle’s remote ranch to hunt wild pigs, it seems like a typical guys weekend. But as John and his crew trek deeper into the forest, they begin tracking the awful truth about his uncle’s demise and the legend of The Ripper – a murderous three-thousand-pound black boar!
PREY (Blu-Ray) – Weinstein Company
An American family on holiday in Africa becomes lost in a game reserve and stalked by lions.
Road Kill – Phase 4 Films
Four young friends on a camping adventure are run off the road by an erratically driven road train – a massive three-trailer truck. With their own vehicle wrecked and the road train stopped, the friends march off to vent their anger at the driver. But the truck is empty. Suddenly, the silence is broken by the sound of gunshots. To escape, the friends commandeer the road train. What they discover inside the vehicle s trailers proves more terrifying than anything out there on that lonely road. The next town is only three hours away, but will they reach it?
SUCK (Blu-ray/DVD) – E1 Entertainment
Suck is a rock’n’roll vampire comedy about a group of musical wannabees in search of immortality and a record deal. The rock band The Winners have sunk so low, they will do anything to make it big. After a life-changing encounter with a vampire, they rocket to stardom only to discover that fame and fortune are not all they’re cracked up to be.
THERE’S NOTHING OUT THERE – Troma
Three hot-to-trot couples and one goofy loner travel to an isolated country house for a weekend of debauchery, but soon they realize that they are not alone in the woods. One of them has seen this scenario before in dozens of horror movies, and he knows what it will take to defend themselves from an alien creature determined to eat the boys and mate with all the girls! The original self-referential horror comedy, There’s Nothing Out There is a highly-influential cult classic that is being celebrated with this 20th anniversary special edition DVD.
TALES OF THE DEAD – Ryko Distribution
Five friends gather on Halloween to continue their ritual of telling horror stories. Each one telling a more sinister than the next, unaware of the horror that awaits them on this all Hallows eve.
THE TOMB – Phase 4 Films
Successful writer and scholar, Jonathan Merrick, falls under the spell of the irresistible, bewitchingly beautiful, Ligeia. She’s fighting a fatal illness and she will stop at nothing to defeat death, her one true enemy. She steals other people’s souls and on her quest to immortality she tricks Jonathan into supporting her work, breaking him apart from his fiancé and pulling him into her dark, mysterious world. They settle down in an old manor by the Black Sea where Ligeia’s everlasting presence slowly drives Jonathan to madness.
SWAMP THING: THE LEGEND CONTINUES – Shout! Factory
Basing the series on the legendary DC Comics character, the USA Network commissioned a total of 72 episodes of this cult favorite that aired between 1990 93. Starring Dick Durock (reprising his title role from the popular Swamp Thing feature films), Mark Lindsay Chapman and Carrell Myers, Swamp Thing: The Series follows the tortured creature on his quest to regain the humanity that was taken from him as he purges the swamp of evildoers along the way. This DVD collection contains seven episodes from the series.
WAKE THE WITCH – Eagle One
Inspired by the masters of Japanese horror, Wake the Witch is a psychological horror/suspense feature… One hundred years ago, an angry mob, intent on justice for their murdered children, hang the woman they believe is the murderer. They brand her a witch, wrap her body in chains and bury it deep in the woods… When Deb and her friends play a childhood game on the witch’s wooded grave, they open the door to death. As her friends and family begin to change into something less than human, Deb struggles to stop the witch’s curse. But her search for the truth will reveal an evil beyond her imagination.
Night School, director Ken Hughes and writer Ruth Avergon‘s tale of a headhunting slasher on the streets of Boston, arrived in the early Golden Age of the slasher film and never quite broke through the endurance test that other films in the subgenre, like Friday the 13th, managed to pass with flying colors. Blame it on a more cerebral tone, a crowded market, whatever you like, but saying it’s a shame that the film didn’t break through doesn’t begin to cover it.
Night School isn’t just an underrated slasher, or an underseen one. For my money, it’s one of the best films the subgenre has ever produced, full stop, and Vinegar Syndrome’s new 4K UHD restoration, arriving just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, is must-have proof. Stacked with special features highlighting the craft of the film and its place in slasher history, and headlined by a gorgeous restoration showcasing the wonderfully textured production, this is Night School as it’s meant to be seen for slasher devotees everywhere.
So, what makes the film so effective? It starts very simply, with the revelation that a killer with a very cool knife and a motorcycle helmet as a mask is murdering young women in Boston, taking off their heads, and dropping those heads in the nearest body of water (no matter how small).
Solving the case falls on Judd Austin (Leonard Mann), a detective with an academic background who traces all of the victims in one way or another back to a local night school. There, suspicion falls on a womanizing professor (Drew Snyder) who sleeps around on his research assistant and romantic partner, Eleanor (Rachel Ward), whose own death could be right around the corner.
I’m doing my best to stay as spoiler-free as possible here, not just because I think plenty of slasher fans still need to see Night School, but because the film is quite determined to be a whodunit in the classic Italian giallo sense. The kills are brutal and elaborate, the killer deliberately covered head-to-toe in leather and a gleaming black helmet, the knife and the headhunting a disturbing signature. Avergon’s script is well-versed in the trappings of exactly this kind of story, complete with red herrings galore. And yet, by the time it’s all wrapping up, there’s also the sense that the answer was right there in front of you the entire time, something the very best films by legends like Mario Bava and Dario Argento could also achieve.
But on to the restoration: Like the best of the gialli, Night School is also a beautifully engineered film full of colors and delicate camera compositions and sound design. The opening kill, which takes place on a playground carousel outside of a daycare, is rich in exactly this kind of thing, from the cityscapes that lead into the scene to the sound of a motorcycle slowly rolling forward, its engine already dead. Cinematographer Mark Irwin, best known for his many collaborations with David Cronenberg, paints the film in rich reds, absinthe greens, and haunting, chilled blue-white light on wet Boston streets, all of which are preserved beautifully by the restoration team at work on this one.
It’s a movie that very deliberately evokes a specific place – the aging streets of Boston in the 1980s, and the halls of relatively low-level academia – and then takes that place into haunted territory, saturating every frame with color and shadow that suggests a killer lurking just out of view.
Night School is not a massively gore-heavy film, but it does deliver the slasher goods with a series of tense, often unpredictable kills and body discoveries that range from the darkly comic to the flat-out jaw-dropping. That’s thanks to the sound design, the score, the editing from Robert Reitano, and more, all of which add to the film’s giallo soul.
In every case, the scene’s geography is outstanding, and it’s easy to see where the simplest possible kill shot might land, but the film never goes for the obvious. Throw in a surprisingly (for 1981, anyway) feminist bent to the storytelling and some very progressive moments for an early slasher film, and this one fits right in with Black Christmas and The Slumber Party Massacre as a film with depth you can just keep unpacking.
That depth, helped along by a load of featurettes and two new commentary tracks featuring members of the crew, is what stands out the most in this new 4K set. Night School may be a niche film recognized mostly by horror addicts and the slasher faithful, but it deserves to be something more, a landmark on the roadmap of slasher cinema history. It’s one of the best in the genre, and this restoration highlights, underlines, and shouts that from the rooftops.
Night School is now available in 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome.
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