In this episode, a look at the Joseph Zito 1981 slasher flick, The Prowler.
The Prowler (released internationally as Rosemary’s Killer) is set in a very Podunk Northeastern town and is about a group of college students holding their first dance in decades because festivities had been banned due to a double murder. Seems like a bit of an overreaction, but there you go.
All of a sudden, they are being picked off one by one by a creepy masked assailant wearing military garb from World War II.
Maybe the ban was a good idea! Down with dances. This is the Footloose of 80s slasher films apparently.
We delve into the background of the film and its genuinely neat effects, courtesy of a young Tom Savini.
The Toolbox Murders. With a title fraught with ambiguity like that, what could this one possibly be about?
Not surprisingly, this one is about a series of murders, committed using toolbox implements. The Toolbox Murders made its way onto the Video Nasties banned list in the 80s, quite rightly, as it’s a lurid and sleazy affair.
There’s an apartment complex in LA, not unlike the cheesy one in the awful soap, Melrose Place. And its occupants are being picked off one by one by a masked, giallo horror type killer.
And it’s up to the LAPD to solve the spate of crimes, something they’re unable to do and what the viewer can, about 10 minutes in.
Then, The Toolbox Murders take a strange, psychological turn.
There’s much more to this than squalid killings. What exactly? Take a listen to this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast and don’t forget to tune in for new episodes of the show every weekend.
My Bloody Valentine 3D is a reboot of a Canadian fave, the original MBV from the 80s.
My Bloody Valentine 3D is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Patrick Lussier, and starring Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Betsy Rue, and Kerr Smith (the first man to have an on-screen gay kiss on U.S. television, in season three of Dawson’s Creek).
This one focuses on residents of a Podunk mining town (again) that is (again) plagued by a serial killer on Valentine’s Day. We all know the story: Harry Warden, who narrowly escaped a mining disaster on Valentine’s Day, comes back to wreak havoc on townsfolk and mine workers alike with his trusty pickax (among other weaponry).
Filmed on location in Pennsylvania, the film was given a 3D theatrical release through its distributor, Lionsgate, premiering in the United States on January 16, 2009. It was the first R-rated film to be projected in RealD technology and to have a wide release (1,000 locations) in 3D-enabled theaters. It earned $100 million at the United States box office, and had a budget of $14 million.
Does the remake stand up to the original, that fun bit of classic Canadian horror?
Instead of a bunch of unknowns, we get Smallville and Dawson’s Creek TV stars. Instead of Nova Scotia, Canada, it’s Harmony, Pennsylvania. But the key difference in this incarnation of My Bloody Valentine is, of course, the 3D.
This gory slasher looks bloody awesome with stuff comin’ at you, but it also hides a lot of the film’s flaws.
On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast…Put on your hard hat and come underground with us as we break down My Bloody Valentine 3D.