Tag: slasher movies

Really Awful Movies: Ep 252 – Unhinged

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On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, a look at the Oregon regional horror, Unhinged.

Undoubtedly one of the more obscure films to end up on the Video Nasties list, Unhinged (1982) is a really solid, very low-budget effort from the Pacific Northwest.

Three college co-eds are on a road trip through the back country, when a dispatch comes on the radio about…traffic problems ahead, and offering a detailed alternate route as a time saver. Just kidding. It’s an announcement about, what else? An escaped lunatic. If you don’t love that right off the bat, you have no heart.

A sudden downpour occurs, and the girls’ little vehicle spins into a ditch (rather unconvincingly, it should be said, but hey…what do you want for $100K?). They awake, and are being tended two by a spinster Olive Oyl-like figure, her domineering mother, and a caretaker with a ridiculous mustache.

So..will the girls be held in the remote mansion against their will, tormented by this creep-triumvirate? Will they be tied to the bed like Procrustes did his victims? Will there be some kind of Stephen King Misery set-up? Are you tired of an endless barrage of rhetorical questions?

Unhinged is not your typical slasher film. There’s a lot more here than meets the Fulci eye (while not Italian, there are definitely some nods to that neck of the woods in these neck of the woods).

Despite some akimbo acting, and some pacing issues, this is a film that’s not only oddly compelling, but also weirdly endearing. There are only a few scenes that would indicate this would be Video Nasty-bound, but overall it’s fairly tame and lets the story do the talking.

With a fabulous synth soundtrack and a very memorable Barbara Bush-styled matriarch, you need to check out Unhinged (and please go and subscribe to the Really Awful Movies Podcast, where we tackle genre films of all stripes).

 

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 244 – Halloween 2018

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He’s back…Michael Myers is hunting Laurie Strode again in this new Halloween film.

Forty years have passed. “The Shape” has been confined to a mental hospital. Not only have forty years passed, Dr. Loomis has has well. In his stead, Dr. Sartain (a name, as forgettable as many elements of his film). The doc allows two Brit investigative journalist/podcasters to see if they can connect with Michael, who has been conspicuously mute for seemingly forever. They are allowed into the facility for the criminally insane. Michael Myers is not having any of it, and remains uncommunicative. One of the podcasters starts brandishing a replica mask, goading him.

Here we are folks. It’s Halloween, a film with big boots to fill. The original is a stone-cold classic, one of the best horror films of all time.

How does this one stack up? Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a grandmother now, still haunted by fears of Michael. She is a survivalist, estranged from the family, holed up in an armed compound with provisions, tons of arms, etc. Seems like she has a right to be worried. You see, in that time honored cliche tradition, there’s a prison transfer. Michael is being sent to another facility. You know what happens, right?

If you don’t, it’s disclosed in the trailer.

So now it’s up to Laurie Strode to put an end to the Bogeyman forever. Will she? Tune in!

 

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 243 – A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

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Not heralded upon release, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child was a film we deemed worthy of a revisit to see how it’s aged.

So, is this the Tom Cruise of sequels? Or is this an installment that needs to be shot full of Botox? Interestingly (and this came as a shock to both hosts of the Really Awful Movies Podcast), this one is not only not half-bad, it’s actually a very worthy entry into the iconic Springwood Slasher series.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 sees a return to form for the gloved one, a nightmare to children everywhere (Michael Jackson jokes at this point are a little passe). Less quipster, more killing, this Freddy is one we came to know and love.

In this one, there’s a fetus, a dreaming baby that’s the conduit for Freddy’s return to wreck havoc on the denizens of Elm Street. It’s a bizarro conceit, but hella-cool too. You gotta just accept and run with it.

Are the performances great? Not particularly, but Freddy’s kills and the audaciousness of the plot carries the day. Who would’ve thought? A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge was not one we fondly remembered either, and yet we found some nuggets of cool therein as well. So, tune in and check out the Really Awful Movies Podcast. This is the third Nightmare on Elm Street film we’ve discussed. Dig through our archives and unearth the others, you’ll be glad you did.

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