The Tops
Alone in the Dark The rare slasher film I like, although it must be said that the most generic scene—the death of a hot babysitter who previously had a (rather great, it must be said) nude scene—is for me the lamest part. Still, the film has some real strengths, including what may be the best b-movie cast of the ’80s: Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Donald Pleasance and Dwight Schultz. The film has a great cheesy set-up (homicidal nuts escape from a mental institution with perhaps the worst-designed security system ever), and a great satirical unpinning which suggests that EVERYBODY is crazy. Indeed, the sanest person in the film is Schultz’ psychologist, a gag because of course Schultz was best known for playing the screwy Murdock on The A-Team. Gore hound will probably be disappointed a bit, and the opening has been weakened by much similar material in the meantime, but this is a nifty little gem.
Basket Case: Early splatstick classic involving a guy and his rather unusual twin. Recalling the glory days of the ’70s, the movie drips with sleazy atmosphere (the setting is a skid row hotel) and great characters. Director Frank Henenlotter continued to work in the genre, including several sequels to this flick and the cheeze classic Frankenhooker, but this remains his best film.
Poltergeist: Great film all but ruined by the worst coda this side of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Q: Cheeseball monster classic from the great Larry Cohen and Michael Moriarty.
Road Games: Nifty suspenser along the line of The Hitcher, starring Stacy Keach as a trucker stalked by a killer, and Jamie Lee Curtis playing her second imperiled hitchhiker. The direction of Richard Franklin earned him the gig making Psycho II.
The Thing Arguably John Carpenter’s masterpiece, and the definition of how to do a ‘remake’ right—take the original and go in a completely different direction.
Venom Sterling Hayden, Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Nicol Williamson and a highly poisonous black mamba in a tense hostage flick. Not a classic, but pretty good stuff.
Others: The Boogens (monster flick, but a bit too gory and mean for my tastes), Creepshow (meh); Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (retarded screwing up of Nigel Kneale’s original script); The House on Sorority Row (typical cheapie slasher); Humongous (repellant flick); The Incubus (pretty good); Slumber Party Massacre (proof a self-declared feminist woman could make as gross and misogynistic a slasher flick as any guy);
I Haven’t Seen: Amityville 2: The Possession; The Beast Within; Blood Link; The Burning; Cat People; Evilspeak; Friday the 13th Part 3; Funeral Home; Hell Night; Inseminoid; House By the Cemetery; The House Where Evil Dwells; Just Before Dawn; The Killing Hour; Madman; Mausoleum; Parasite; The Sender; A Stranger Is Watching; Visiting Hours.
