Near Dark (1987)

Nostalgia 

     Every time I talk about a film that took place in the 80's a wave of nostalgia takes me back to my early childhood.  Since I was born in the early 80's I am considered a 90's kid or 90's teen, but it was in the 80's when I first starting watching horror.  Many often consider the 80's as the golden age of horror films ( and I definitley agree with them).  I believe I was 4 years old when I first saw A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I was hooked ever since.  When most people think of Vampire films that came out in the 80's Lost Boys and Fright Night are usually films most people associate with the decade (even non-horror fans are familiar with these flicks).  Near Dark was released in 1987 only two months after The Lost Boys was released, and is mostly forgotten due to being overshadowed by the extremely popular Joel Shumacher flick.

Production

Co-writers Eric Red and Kathryn Bigelow (who directed the film, and would go on to win an Oscar       for The Hurt Locker) had initially intended to write a western, with very little interest in the western genre at the time.  The partners decided to fuse the western and vampire genre's together. The

script was eventually picked up by DeLaurenitis Entertainment Group  who financed the production.  Since they were going into bankruptcy at the time of release they were unable to market this film appropriately, which played a major role in the film being somewhat of a commercial failure (following The Lost Boys couldn't have helped).  Bigelow's friend, then later husband James Cameron reason that half of the main cast of Aliens make up the most of the family of antagonist (The role of Jesse Hooker was initially offered to Michael Biehn who turned the role down).  Despite the hit at the box office, the film was loved by critics and fans.

The Plot
The film begins with small town country boy Caleb Colton meets the extremely attractive passer by named Mae.  As things get hot and heavy in Caleb's truck Mae bites young Caleb then makes an exit.  As the sun begins to rise Caleb notices smoke to emit from his skin caused by the sun.  Mae comes back with her "family" a gypsy like clan of vampires that roam about town to town looking for "food" the proverbial long-pig if you will.  The group is led by elder Jesse Hooker ( which is a badass name if I have ever heard one, is played by Lance Henriksen).  Second in command is Severen (played by the scene stealing Bill Paxton), who is somewhat of a psychotic loose canon intent on killing Caleb.  Jesse allows Caleb to join the clan but is also upset that Caleb is hesitant to kill for his food.  Mae does the hunting in his absence and allows Caleb to feed from her blood.  The bar scene (which is my favorite scene of the film) just shows how bloodthirsty and psychotic Severin is.  In the scene he picks a fight with  some patrons of the bar and ends up slitting a mans throat with a knife that sticks out of his boot then proceeds to devour his spraying artery. Caleb's father, who is extremely concerned for his son during his "disappearance" takes off in search of his missing son.  A child vampire in the group known as Homer runs into Caleb's sister and takes a liking to her and has the intentions of turning her into one of the group.  Caleb dissaproves of this and things get hot as the father confronts the clan at gunpoint.  He turns the gun to jesse who seems to spit out the bullets shot at him.  In a move of desperation Caleb's sister opens the door letting in the sunlight as the family covers a burning Caleb in an attempt to escape from the clan.  The next scene is a far cry from your typical vampire film, Calebs father gives his son a blood transfusion which somehow easily turns him back into a human.  Caleb's sister is once again kidnapped and Caleb goes to save her and is confronted by the psychotic Severen, Caleb purposely crashes a huge tractor trailer and kills Severen.  Jesse and his partner Diamondback (who is played by fellow Aliens cast member Jennete Goldstein) flee as the sun begins to rise. Mae changes her mind while they are fleeing and takes sarah out of the backdoor of the car and jumps out while Mae's skin starts to burn, Caleb approaches her and covers her.  Homer attempts to grab Sarah but is incinerated by the sun.  Mae then wakes up with healed burns and it is revealed she was given a transfusion which saved her as well. Although i love the scene when Homer bursts into flames I felt the ending a tad rushed and the transfusion thing kind of silly, but overall the film is solid and a must watch for Horror fans. While I highly suggest watching this cult classic goodluck finding it on a streaming service.  Last I checked it was not available on any streaming platform and can only be seen by physical copy.


 

   


Fun Facts

1. A remake of the film was initially planned but was eventually scrapped since the producers thought the film theme was too close to the twilight theme (kind of ironic considering this film is basically twilight but not lame).
2. The word vampire is never mentioned in the film.
3. Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen were stopped by a police officer as they went into town while still in costume in between takes.  
4. Joshua John Miller who plays the charachter of Homer, is the Half-brother of Jason Patric, who plays Michael in The Lost Boys (both films are about a family of Vampires and was released in 1987.
5. Ranked the 21st scariest movie of all-time by Entertainment Weekly.

  

Inner Demons (2014)

Inner Demons (2014) Review 

    Ever since The Exorcist dropped in 1973 ( a film deemed so terrifying that paramedics were on call to treat people who fainted and reportedly had heart attacks)  the demonic possession sub genre has had a long successful history in horror.  Although extremely popular, there have been many unoriginal films that have seemed to flood and water down the market.  Like most sub genres ( for example Zombies, Vampires, Werewolf's) once a story hits, other writers can be quick to oversaturate the artistic medium in an attempt to replicate the success of their predecessor's. Up until recently it seemed everything that could be done with the demonic possesion genre has been done.  In 2014 the film Inner Demons would come along to breath some fresh air and originality to the genre. 





    I had very low expectations going in since mockumentary style horror can be hit or miss.  The film begins with an Intervention style film crew telling the story of a 16 year old junkie addicted to heroin. Carson Moris, a religiously raised misguided 16 year old with a talent for reciting bible verses is caught in the clutches of chemical depencency.  Our lead character ( played fantastically by the relative newcomer Lara Vosberg) nails the very essense of teen angst.  Carson likes to be isolated from society having very few friends and dressing in dark clothing showing a complete contrast from her religious upbringing. On the surface her mother and father seem to be a portrait of the all american family as they are interviewd for the show.  They seem genuinely concerned and saddened to see the loss of innocence their baby girl has gon through. Early in the film Carson takes a liking to a young production assistant and camera operator named Jason, who strongly shows compassion.  Carson's conversations during the interviews reveal that she may be in the grasp of darkness. Jason brings this up to the film crew who brushes it off as some sort of joke.  The first act of the film does a very good job of slowly revealing that something more sinister than a drug addiction is at hand.    The first act comes to an end when Carson agrees to go to a drug rehabilitation program as part of the show. 






    








   The 2nd act of the story reveals the true reason for Carson's heroin addiction.  While she is in group therapy the participants in the group seem strangely fascinated by the newest member of their group (with film crew in tow).  Throughout her stay at the center she seems to be reacting strangely but the staff chalks it up to signs of withdrawal.  As Jason gets to know Carson better he becomes almost obsessed with saving Carson from whatever it is she is going through.  On a hunch he gets a priest to bless some water which burns Carson as she attempts to drink it.  Jason's growing concern causes him to take the drastic measure of injecting her with heroin to get her high to suppress the "symptoms" at the root of her situation.  Once it is found that  Jason injected her with heroin the parents remove Carson from the program with the intent of suing not only the program but the production company the film crew is involved with.  Jason, who is now out of a job decides to talk to one of Carson's friends Mckee Littlefield to try to see what went wrong.  She confesses that they tried to play a prank on her which involved a "fake" possession that apparently didn't go as planned.  Up until this part in the 2nd act nobody has been killed yet i still felt deeply invested in the story.  

    The final act delivers an excellent payoff in what I believe is a solid film overall.  Jason waits outside Carson's house and suspects something even darker has happened since nobody has left the house in days.  He approaches the house and the parents are acting weird he confronts them then attempts to perform an exorcism on her (I thought you had to be certified for that kind of thing, I guess you could get a cert on the internet these days).  The film ends whit the father executing Carson then killing himself while Jason and the producer of the film crew are shown to be the last two living.  Jason is then revealed to be possesed and attacks the sole survivor. If you have not seen this film I highly suggest you give it a watch and hope you enjoy it.



San Antonio Slaughterhouse.




   

Sleepaway Camp - Review and Revist

Today I continue my trip down memory lane to the wonderful 80's and the slasher.  One can consider the 80's as the golden age of the slasher film.  We were introduced to icons such as Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, Charles Lee Ray (AKA Chucky) and the lead Cenobite known as Pinhead.  The 80's was also a strange time when most things considered normal are now considered taboo and downright offensive.  Some for good reason, and others are just a victim of the pandemic George Carlin coined as "The Pussification of America".  People often say these days " That movie couldn't be made today", and Sleepaway camp would not only fall under this category, it would be one of main pieces of art to pretty much define it.  

Like the last film I reviewed I couldn't have been older than ten years old when I first had the pleasure of watching this cult classic.  With harsh subjects such as pedophelia bullying and some good old fashion mild racism, one can see why this film would be so tough to make.  Since I have been to film school and studied story I can say that I get it.  You want a reason for the victim to die, and in this film the victims are full of reasons ( Most being that they are complete dicks).  Im pretty sure by know you may be thinking, what parent in their right mind would allow a child to watch this film.  My answer would be my mom is responsible for my love of not only horror, but film in general, so is it really that bad?  Whether you love or hate this film you cant help but think how batshit crazy and awesome the 80's truly were.

Ok, now let's talk about the glory that is Sleepaway Camp.  If you want a hilarious review of this film, watch the crazy funny episode of how did this get made where they discuss this film.  Also if you want to see a semi boring review with me in my bathroom watch my podcast episode where I pretty much say what I'm about to type.  Sleepaway Camp begins on a lake with two men and some children in the water playing when an accident happens and it is implied that one of the children does not make it.  The next scene jumps 8 years into the future shows an insane lady talking to a child you cant see.  I'm not sure if the actress reciting the lines is just a horrible actress or if the story is meant to portray her as batshit crazy.  Know we are shown children arriving at camp Arawak, from the beginning the character of Artie is immediately shown to be the scum of the earth.  He may have been wearing a sign that said I'm a pedophile when he says the line "where I'm from we call them baldies".  That line would definitely not fly in todays climate, but I understand what the writer was doing by saying that. The first kill while not bloody and technically maybe not a kill is so satisfying since it is said pervert named Artie.  The scene starts off with Artie trying to corner and fondle the 13 year old Angela as Ricky walks in an stops the creep.   Later we see Artie from the killers point of view and as the mysterious person approaches Artie and dumps a pot of boiling water on the pervert.  The thing that this film does correctly in the beginning is that it makes you hate the person getting killed, and you kind of root for the killer.  The whole boiling pot incident is brushed off as an accident and the camp continues to stay open ( a theme that is present throughout the entire series of films).

As the story progresses we keep seeing a string of assholes mysteriously have a plethora of "accidents" and die at camp.  The next death is a drowning death that is subpar at best but is done to one of the kids that bullied Angela but is somehow still friends with her cousin Ricky.  The next kill sends chills down my spine since I have been attacked by bees and stung around 90 times.  One of the boys that bullied Angela is occupying the restroom stall when a bee's nest is put through the window and into the stall.  Anytime I see a scene with bees in it I get a mild case of PTSD and fight the urge to shit myself ( Just Kidding, Kind of).  The next few victims are  Meg an extremely mean female bully and Mel another child molester who intended to meet up with said bully.  The shower stabbing scene is reminiscent of low budget psycho but it works. Mel (AKA Child Molester #2) finds megs body and is convinced that Angela's cousin Ricky is the killer.  These scenes are quite cookie cutter, but when you consider that this film was released fairly early in the slasher era it was quite effective. 

Now for the ending and one of the most demented twist's of all time ( eat that M.  Night Shanananana).  If you haven't seen the film, then my first question is why the hell are you even reading this, and my second question would be why the hell haven't you seen it yet?  In today's society, the concept of transgendered people is kind of the new norm, but in the 80's this concept was not only foreign but extremely frowned upon.  As an 8 year old kid this ending absolutely blew my prepubescent mind.  Ok so here's how it ended.   Mel confronts Ricky, believing he is the killer he beats him unconscious yet still alive.  Angela has ventured off to the lake with Paul (her "love interest").  As two of the head camp counselors comb the beach and try to find every missing camper they stumble upon Angela, who had ran of with Paul with the implied intention of going skinny dipping.  Angela is humming with her back turned towards the counselors and as she steps up the camera pulls back to reveal Angela giving some kind of weird hiss has she holds Paul's decapitated head and not only is she naked but she has a penis.  The film then flashes back to the incedent shown in the beginning revealing that it was the boy twin who survived, and the crazy aunt reveals the insane plot twist showing that Angela was a boy the whole time.  Regarded as one of the craziest twists in horror history, it is the ending that cements Sleepaway Camps cult status.

Director: Robert Hiltzik
Starring

• Felissa Rose, Katherine Kamhi  Paul DeAngelo, Mike Kellin

Tagline: You wont be coming home.

Fun Facts

The first 3 films star siblings of famous people. In the first film the father of James Earl Jones plays the character of Ben (the head camp cook once Artie dies.  In the second film the Actress that portrays Angela is played by Pamela Springsteen (shes also in part 3) the sister of Singer Bruce Springsting.  Also in part 2 the survival girl Molly is played by Rene Estevez, who is the sister of Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez.

Sleepaway Camp 4 - The Survivor was never completed.  The producers just decided to piece together bits and pieces they filmed and had mixed reshoots.

Thank you for taking the time to stomach my horrible grammar and take this trip with me.

San Antonio Slaughterhouse.

Night of the Demons Review and Revisit.

    It was the late 80's or early 90's, my guess is early 90's.  My mom had just started a Job at a Mom and Pop, Brick and Mortar Video Rental Store.  For those of you who are too young to remember, In the 80's and 90's the VHS boom kicked off and gave moviegoers a whole new way to experience cinema.  With the invention of the VCR and VHS tapes came a slew of independent film makers that took advantage of the new, cost effective film media.  Before then the only way to make a movie was through film, film was very expensive and usually required an insane budget.  Now that this new medium took center stage it gave film makers a chance to tell their story at a fraction of the price and get it seen by the masses.  When my mother started this job I was like a kid in a candy store, she was welcome to 2 free rentals pretty much daily.  I remember walking to the Horror Section (my favorite section) and looking up to see this eye catching poster.  It read "Night Of The Demons (and the hilarious tagline which read, Angela is having a party Jason and Freddy are too scared to come but you'll have a hell of a time), and featured a spine chilling demon with amazing make-up (like seriously the make-up still holds up to this very day).  I remember begging my mom to let me rent it, It took some convincing since I was around 8 or 9 at the time and the poster looked pretty intense. After constant whining from yours truly ma-dukes finally caved it, It was then I realized i would be in for a hell of a ride.

    

If you have not seen the original Night of the Demons (1988) then do yourself a favor and watch it right now!!! The story starts off with a group of Teenagers in their 30's getting ready to go to a Halloween Party at the long abandoned Funeral Parlor known as Hull House. The girl throwing the party Angela (played by the lovely Amelia Kincade) and her friend Suzanne (Played by B-horror Scream Queen Linnea Quigley) stop at a store to acquire some refreshments and party favors. With Suzanne bending over for distraction Angela Grabs the goods needed. This scene sets the tone of the film, Suzanne makes a dick joke about Sour Balls, then Angela prophetically says we are going to scare the shit out of them when referring to their party guests. On the way to Hull House the cast of characters are revealed. They are your typical horror movie Tropes, The Virgin, The Slut, The Jock, The Delinquent and the annoying asshole. The Annoying Asshole/Comic relief is known as Stooge and he is great. With classic cheesy lines such as "Eat a bowl of fuck" and his oink when Suzanne says she feels like pig is great. Once the party goers get there they start drinking and messing around, Rodger and Stooge find a large mirror and Angela suggest they perform a séance to see who they were in a past life. This takes a turn when Helen sees her death in the mirror screams and the mirror falls. Angela gets mad and a mist full of demon enters Suzanne. Suzanne kisses Angela and the Demon enters her while still occupying Suzanne's body. This demon seems to spread like zombies or herpes, each kill is great and the make-up is top notch. One of my favorite and most memorable scenes of my Childhood is known as The Lipstick scene, Suzanne starts smearing lipstick all over her face as Sal walks by, she then proceeds to insert the tube of lipstick into her breast via her nipple. Sal is grossed out and leaves only to witness Angela sticking her hands inside the fire and reveals her flaming hands to him. This is where shit hits the fan and gets really good. The deaths aren't extremely full of gore and blood, but the make-up is gold (it holds up to this day). The writing and acting was typical B-horror quality, but then again I have always had a soft spot for b-horror cheese fests. The characters are classical horror tropes and they are kind of annoying but some of the one liners are good for a good chuckle or two. The gag at the end when an Old man eats an apple pie filled with razors. the film ends with his throat being sliced by the razors he consumed and his wife looking shady as hell. I really don't understand why it ended that way, considering the old man wasn't really in the film except for the end and one part in the beginning when he calls the virginal Judy a whore just for bumping into him (which I also found funny). Night of the Demons will always have a special place in my heart and I end up watching it at least a couple of times a year. The film spawned 2 more sequels and a remake in 2009 Starring Monica Keena, Edward Furlong and Shannon Elizabeth playing the Angela role (the remake was horrible by the way, due to shitty FX). So the next time you feel like taking a stroll down memory lane by way of b-horror and nostalgia I highly suggest watching Night of the Demons (1988).