Sunday, June 2, 2019

Junesploitation 2019 Day 2: Slashers!

Everyone has nightmares about the ugliest way to die!

54 comments:

  1. Torso (1973)

    The first giallo that I had ever watched. Nice to revisit this one after about a decade. I’m a big fan of giallo films, and this one was my introduction to the genre.
    This has everything I want to see in this style of film: beautiful women, interesting kill sequences, and a head scratcher of a mystery. I only wish my dvd had subtitles, as I’m the only one awake here and I’m trying to ride the volume.

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  2. Friday the 13th (1980)

    Simple, clean and effective. Pamela Voorhees showing up in the 3rd act and talking about 'Jason' is like Nick Fury showing up at the end of Iron Man and talking about the 'Avengers Initiative'.

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    1. Spoilers! Geez. I'm kidding, couldnt resist being an internet jerkface.

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  3. Midnight Movie (2008)

    A really interesting idea executed fairly well for what must have been a low budget. Some really bad acting hinders the experience somewhat.

    A film is screening at midnight for the first time in the 40 years since the creator disappeared. Allegedly there were people really killed during it's filming. As the movie plays, theater workers and patrons begin to appear (and die) on the screen as though they are part of the movie. The audience finally gets hip to what is happening, and find that they cannot escape the theater.
    I will leave it at that in case anyone is interested.
    Not bad, and mercifully only 82 minutes.

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  4. "The Slumber Party Massacre" 1982, Dir. Amy Holden Jones.

    This gets more enjoyable every time I watch it. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It certainly feels good, but that might be bad.

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    1. This is unironically one of my favorite movies. It's everything I love about 80s horror rolled up into one awesome thing.

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  5. HORROR HOUSE ON HIGHWAY 5 (1985)
    I guess this is what you’re stuck with when you’ve seen every other slasher movie. There are a few scenes filmed with some style and some nice n’ gooey gore, but the by-the-numbers acting and dialogue are the flattest of the flat. The most notable thing about the movie is the killer’s mask. I won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say the filmmakers made a choice and they ran with it.

    Bonus #Godzillasploitation: GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1955)
    This sequel is a real oddity, in that they hadn’t figured out the Godzilla formula quite yet. The English dub tries convincing us that this is a new monster named Gigantus, despite Godzilla’s name right there in the title. Rival beastie Anguirus doesn’t look like much, but I enjoyed how much he roughed up Godzilla during the big fight.

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    1. Wait, you are going through the entire Godzilla canon this month simultaneously with Junesploitation?! You are living your best life.

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  6. The Majorettes (1987)

    Starts as lower grade slasher with all of the trimmings, including prolonged cheerleading routines that are clearly included to pad the running time. Performances are about as expected with a few people trying to throw the ball from one end zone to the other. The plot twists away and strives for Mission Impossible-level convolution but ultimately stretches plausibility even for a slasher movie. A little more than halfway through the killer is revealed and it becomes a very different, significantly crazier movie. I think it’s worth watching just to see it awkwardly switch gears and transition into a completely different genre, although I suppose it loses points for not being 100 percent pure slasher.

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  7. Happy Birthday to Me (1981, dir. J. Lee Thompson)

    Kinda fun kills, good mystery and a final twist that makes just the right amount of sense (very little). Loved it! A little over-long though.

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    1. The guy who sells black leather gloves in that town must be raking it in.

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  8. Just Before Dawn (1981, dir. Jeff Lieberman, First Time Viewing on Blu Ray)

    Pretty excellent slasher starring Gregg Henry and featuring George Kennedy. Story-wise it's very standard, but what makes it special are the spectacular locations that are well-filmed, and an incredible score by Brad Fiedel (creator of The Terminator score). Highly recommended quality movie.

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  9. Slaughter High (1986)

    There are a ton of horror movies where a wronged person comes back for revenge on their tormentors years later, and this is yet another of them. The difference here is that his classmates bully poor Marty so relentlessly for a solid 20 minutes at the beginning of the movie that I was pretty thoroughly #TeamMarty when things started turning violent. I wanted to kill most of these pricks myself so by the time Marty started doing exactly that I couldn’t help rooting for him.

    It’s actually the 10 year reunion where the mayhem takes place (though the “kids” are very clearly well into their twenties in the high school scenes), and it’s capped off with a fun hallucinatory segment that sets it apart from some of the other slashers at the time (plus the kills are for the most part pretty gruesome). I dug it, Marty coulda had a franchise.

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  10. Friday the 13th part 2 (dir Steve Miner)

    So you're a hydrocellaphic kid that gets to go to camp. Now your are only getting to go because your mother got a job there as a cook but its work for her, but you for its summer at a lake. So even though you are at camp people aren't really treating you like the other campers. The counselors are including you in the activities but they are not watching you as closely as they watch the other campers. And what happens you drown! And whats worse no one even seems to find you after the incident. They just shut down the camp and everyone leaves including your mother and your doomed to walk around the woods for years to finally you see some people back at the camp. But what happens? They all keep dying. And then you see your mother and you think wow maybe I can finally go home. Maybe she is here for me. Shes come to take me away so we can live together and be a happy fam-and WHACK! You watch in horror as some crazed teenager cuts off your mothers head. So the next morning you of course attack your mothers murderer when she is least expecting it. So using the swimming skills you have honed after all those years on your own. You swim out to the canoe she is frolicking in and leap out of the water into her boat to grab her but she gets away and back to the woods you go. For years and years and years.
    And then after all those years of making a life in those woods one day you see it. They have returned to the camp. The ones that left you after your drowning The ones that killed your mother. Well your a good boy but you can only take so much.

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  11. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988, dir. Dwight H. Little) with director's commentary
    Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989, dir. Dominique Othenin-Girard) with director's commentary

    Continuing going through the commentaries on the Halloween Blu-ray set. The Tom Atkins commentary for H3 is still without equal.

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  12. Blood Hook (1986)

    I don't know if this really needed to be almost 2 hours, but I wouldn't want to risk them having to cut out a scene of two people fighting from a distance with fishing lines. This scene alone makes the entire thing worth it.

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  13. Have A Nice Weekend (1974)

    I went proto-slasher. I hadn't seen the film in ages. Today Is The Day. (It's a charmer.)

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  14. Blood and Lace (1971)

    There aren't very many slashers that I haven't seen. This is an early incarnation of what slashers will ultimately become. It starts in the killer's POV. They grab a pair of scissors and slowly walk into a bedroom...to kill!!! It's great and you should watch it. Plus, it's got a young Uncle Leo and a girl named Bunch.

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    1. I looooooove this movie. My favourite Bava.

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    2. I think you mean Blood and Black Lace, Lindsay. It is a top-three Bava film for me.

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  15. Happy Hell Night a.k.a Frat Fright (1992) Dir. Brian Owens (his only film)

    Fairly obscure Canadian slasher which is pretty much by-the-numbers. What gives this one a slight edge is that it has some legit tension and suspense, it incorporates a supernatural element and the early 90's campus setting is always a plus.

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  16. Pieces (1982)

    I have no idea what the hell I just watched, but I really enjoyed it

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    1. That was my first reaction. I need to watch this movie again.

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    2. I had the chance to watch Pieces at a theater with a very receptive crowd. It is one the best times I have ever had seeing a movie.

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    3. @lindsay I definitely could go for a rewatch immediately haha

      @a casual listener I would LOVE to see this movie with a crowd!

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  17. Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

    Thank Junesploitation that Australia has Amazon Prime, and I finally got to see SPM finally! It's awesome, I loved it. The over the topness with the Driller Killer with the naturalness of Amy Holden Jones direction. The great cut away moments that would build up a gag. I cannot say enough good things about this movie. But I'm sure everyone on here already knows this. It's awesome.

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  18. ALICE, SWEET ALICE (1976):

    Janky, grimy, problematic, and kind of awesome. It's almost THE EXORCIST or POSSESSION meets DON'T LOOK NOW by way of SCREAM FOR HELP, maybe? I don't know. It's in that vein, somewhere. One of the strongest cases I've seen for a remake, as its...homemade...production values hold back some of the better material.

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  19. Lake Bodom (2017, dir. Taneli Mustonen)

    I don't know that any movie should have this many twists, but it did make for an entertaining slasher to watch. Even if it does feel like the movie sort of gives up at the end. It's well made, but is a very bad movie to watch during Pride Month.

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    1. Woohoo! Somebody watched a Finnish movie!

      And yeah, the ending's not great, but I really dug the tow truck sequence in particular. Did you know the backstory is a real murder case? It's probably the most famous unsolved crime in Finland's history.

      (Dennis comments every time someone mentions Xtro, I'm gonna acknowledge it every time anyone watches something Finnish.)

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    2. Yeah, I tried to google the movie and the first thing that came up was the real murders. That’s some crazy shit.

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  20. I'm Just F*cking With You (2019) Dir. Adam Mason

    A bit of a stretch to call this a slasher but it does have slasher elements. Wanted to mention it because I thought I was going to hate this movie and instead I got 90 minutes of an amazing performance from Hayes MacArthur, an actor I was unfamiliar with. Darkly funny and super creepy, this film is streaming on Hulu and I recommend it for Hayes' "Chester" character and also it's a pretty decent flick.

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  21. THE MURDER CLINIC (1966) – At a very posh mental asylum deep in the English countryside, a killer in a black cloak is loose. The preferred weapon is a straight razor. Could the killer be a patient, a staff member, the doctor who has a past, the mysterious person living upstairs? A cross between period gothic horror and giallo, The Murder Clinic has elements that would be incorporated into slashers. There are far more scenes of characters wandering through dark hallways than deaths, though. This is certainly more for the fan of old-school horror.

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  22. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

    I know I'm on record proclaiming Part VII to be my favorite FRIDAY movie, but I actually think it's Part 2. The camp counselors are almost all likable and I dig that Jason is just kind of a guy. The kills aren't great, but they're good enough. Plus Amy Steel is a good final girl.

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    1. What I read is that Part VII is your favorite Friday movie.

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    2. Amy Steel is my spirit animal. Therefore "Part 2" is my favorite (and also the best by a mile) "Friday the 13th" movie. :-)

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  23. Blood Harvest (Bill Rebane, 1987)

    Everything with Tiny Tim is great. The rest is not.

    Cool to see a young Peter Krause in his first role!

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  24. I Dismember Mama (1972)

    This movie is disturbing as hell. The killer is at least on his mid twenties, and “marries” a child of maybe 12. He is completely disconnected from reality, and “loves” her because she is the only woman he sees as being pure and untainted and not a “whore.”
    I’m guessing he votes Republican.

    The climax is off the rails, and pays off the previous 80 minutes nicely.

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    1. Though it has been a couple of years since I watched it, I Dismember Mama is not a film I have forgotten. The sleaziness of it is very impressive even in the context of the time period.

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  25. Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)

    Not as well timed as the orginal. But with a leather clad Rockabilly singing as he kills with a guitar drill, what is not to love. It's a delusional movie and I had a lot of fun. Cause her face did indeed turn into a giant pimple.

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  26. Strange Behavior aka Dead Kids (1981)

    It's like a slasher prequel to Limitless. Ok not really, but there is an intelligence increasing drug that's a big plot point. In this case though it's a gateway drug to mind-controlled murdering, so it's a bit of a trade-off.

    There's some interesting pedigree to the movie. It was co-written by Candyman director Bill Condon. Louise Fletcher is in it, as is Dan Shor (Ram from Tron and Billy the Kid from Bill & Ted). It's also a video nasty, and by at least some accounts (by which I mean a quick glance at wikipedia) is the first Horror movie produced in New Zealand.

    All in all, fairly watchable and available on Shudder.

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  27. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning

    A first time watch. I kinda loved it. It's pure id. Joey, Ethel and Junior are even weirder than I envisioned. Lana is my type (birdy looking). Van enchiladas?

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    1. Each time I watch Part V, I'm mesmerized by Violet's dance moves.

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    2. Now watch/listen to A New Beginning by Jon Lajoie! https://youtu.be/qG8iAtpavK4

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  28. Hands of the Ripper (1971)

    Apparently, every movie from 1971 starts with someone's parents getting carved up. This time, it's Jack the Ripper and it's his wife in front of their daughter. Then Jack the Ripper does something else and we follow the daughter 15 years later. This one drags on a little too much. If you are going to go with a proto-slasher, I'd choose Blood and Lace.

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    1. Nice! It always makes me happy to see someone watching any Hammer title. Yeah this one isn’t great but damn that’s one crazy premise! I’ve never seen anything else like it. And how about the Doc’s weird attraction to the young girl? It’s a weird movie for sure.

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    2. It is pretty nuts. Hammer has always been a blind spot for me. I'm working my way through them slowly. What are your favorites?

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  29. Strange Behavior aka Dead Kids (1981)

    If you're going to murder teenage boys, you should use other teenage boys. I thought that was pretty obvious. How do you convince them? You don't. You just perform illegal experiments on them. They'll do everything for you. Why am I murdering teenage boys? I didn't say I was murdering teenage boys, I said if...if I murdered teenage boys. In fact, I said you. If you murdered teenage boys. I'm not on trial here.

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  30. Maniac Cop (1988)

    Classic "New York City is a crime-infested shithole-sploitation", though the titular Maniac Cop doesn't actually go after criminals, which was the Punisheresque movie I was expecting. And Tom Atkins doesn't even TRY to get laid in this one, so that threw me off too. I don't know, I definitely liked it, but didn't quite love it and found myself getting a little dozey towards the end - still recommend it though!

    (I also watched Ernest Goes to Camp with my kid and that movie is way less satisfying than I remember (but somehow feels kinda exploitationy - Campsploitation?), though he liked it. When I was telling him it was about a camp handyman who's always messing things up, he asked me, "Does he go to jail?" Funny you should say that, son...)

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    1. Sol, "Maniac Cop 2" is the one you want to watch. It's a direct sequel to the one you watched, so consider your homework assignment (aka backstory) taken care of. It's nuts from the word go, the action scenes are intense and the (unrated) violence pretty epic for a direct-to-video flick. One of Bill Lustig's most underrated gems, IMHO, and a Junesploitation! stud. :-O

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  31. Just Before Dawn (1981, dir. Jeff Lieberman)

    Climbs higher and higher up my list of favorite slashers every time I watch it. This time I was taking note of just how quiet it is.

    Doom Asylum (1988, dir. Richard Friedman) I am not Team Turek on this one, but Patty Mullen rules. Charlotte is totally the Charlotte of that group.

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  32. Curtains (1983)

    Doesn't reinvent the wheel, but really doesn't need to. Solid cast (I'm always down for a scummy John Vernon performance), has some cool kills (the ice skating one definitely stands out) and a pretty creepy mask. Really strong ending as well.

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  33. PROM NIGHT (1980, 92 min.) on IMDB Freedrive for the first time.

    Applying 2019 movie logic to this classic early 80's slasher actually enhanced my first-time viewing. You see, I was in awe of the filmmakers cramming so many viable red herring suspects (Leonard Murch, Mr. Sykes, pretty much all the kids-as-adults, etc.) to be the likely revenge-driven murderer stalking the hallways of Hamilton High. Heck, at one point I suspected even Leslie Nielsen, Mrs. Hammond or the police inspector of being the killer. I hate whodunits that seemingly assign the killer role at random, but "Prom Night" had me intrigued until the very end... when the person I deemed too obvious to be the murderer turns out to be the one. Oh well, fun one-night stand of intrigue while it lasted. :-P

    Bookended with great set-pieces leading to a jam-packed final act, "Prom Night" really drags for the lengthy 45 minutes in-between it takes to establish its 'meh' characters (many of them 10-year-old kids that age 15-20 years in the movie's six-year time gap!). For someone whose scream queen reputation was solidified by appearing in "Prom Night" Jamie Lee Curtis is barely in it, and the story doesn't even revolve around her character. Gotta give props to "Slick" Seymour (Sheldon Rybowski) for putting up a fight on his van and making the killer earn it. Now that "Prom Night" is out of the way it's clear sailing toward "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" later this month! :-)

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