Silent Night Deadly Night (Mike P. Nelson, 2025) Review

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“Just don't forget who you are and what you do.” One of the most notorious slasher movies of the 1980s, torn from theatres after a fervent protest by concerned mothers, Silent Night Deadly Night (Charles E. Sellier Jr., 1984) nonetheless survived with a sheer bloody mindedness that produced four sequels and not one but two remakes. But how far can you really stretch such a straight forward, but admittedly vivid, concept as a serial killer in a Santa suit?...

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Flavours of the Month: February/March 2021...

Spooky doings, doublethink, and an alternative history are just some of what has been setting the tone of my February and March 2021...

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Hot Dog … The Movie! (Peter Markle, 1984) Review

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“Rotate outta here, Jack!” Coming atcha from the hedonistic era of 1980s sex comedies, Hot Dog … The Movie! is, simply put, a mix of gratuitous nudity and even more gratuitous skiing. On the crisp white slopes there will be saucy goings-on and searing competition between the boozing Americans and their devious European counterparts – but who will be victorious?...

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Splatter University (Richard W. Haines, 1984) Blu-Ray Review

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“It seems to me that if you're going to kill someone you at least get to know them real well.” From the director of Class of Nuke 'Em High, Splatter University – otherwise known as Campus Killings – is a cheap as chips horror comedy in which a bunch of reprehensible, unteachable college kids test their new teacher's patience while getting bumped off during the new semester. The trailer and 'back of the box blurb' sell it skilfully, but what's it really like – a forgotten gem, a dropped turd, or perhaps a malodorous diamond?

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The Mutilator (Buddy Cooper, 1984) Blu-Ray Review...

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“By sword, by pick, by axe, bye bye!” In the wake of Sean S. Cunningham's 1980 slasher flick Friday the 13^th (perhaps the ultimate in killer franchises) there came a glut of gore-soaked low budget maniac movies in which a slew of tender teens came face-to-face with meat cleavers, chainsaws, fishermen's hooks and all varieties of sharp objects. When Victor Miller wrote Friday the 13^th, he studied prior films in the genre – most notably John Carpenter's seminal Halloween (1978) – finding the beats and working with them closely and, in the case of Buddy Cooper's The Mutilator (aka Fall Break), a similar path was taken, but with some playful tweaks thrown into the mix...

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Blastfighter (Lamberto Bava, 1984) DVD Review

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“You only get peace when you can impose it.” Lamberto Bava, son of the iconic Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, never quite achieved the creative heights of his father's catalogue of cinematic treats (Mario kick started the entire giallo movement with The Girl Who Knew Too Much in 1963), but he has nonetheless carved out a recognised and beloved niche in Italian genre cinema. Macabre, Body Puzzle, A Blade in the Dark, Delirium, and particularly Demons, will all be familiar to aficionados of European exploitation movies, but whereas Demons dispensed with characterisation and any shred of plot logic in favour of scatter gun gore, Lamberto's 1984 action thriller Blastfighter crafts a character-rich story which dispenses frequent action while still keeping the viewer emotionally invested...

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"Blood Simple" - original 'fake trailer' emerges, influenced by "The Evil Dead"...

The Coen Brother's first film - "Blood Simple" - took a some initial inspiration from Sam Raimi and "The Evil Dead", so it seems, from a recently unearthed 'fake trailer' that was used to sell the film to investors....

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Jungle Warriors (Ernst R. von Theumer, 1984) DVD Review

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“I find ways to amuse myself.” In the steamy South American jungle a group of models have arrived for a photo shoot, just as a major drug deal is about to go down. Cesar Santiago (Paul L. Smith, Crimewave) is a major producer of cocaine and all-round ruthless drug lord, while Vito Mastranga (John Vernon, Dirty Harry) is an American crime boss who's got the money and connections to shift Santiago's powder. There's a mountain of money to be made, but will their respective arrogance turn the whole deal sour?

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