Friday The 13th (1980)

 

In 1957, a young boy named Jason drowns in a lake near Camp Crystal Lake. The next year, two counselors are murdered. In 1980, a descendant of the original owners reopens Camp Crystal Lake with some counselors' help. The counselors gets killed one by one by a mysterious person. Could it be Jason, out for revenge?

Friday the 13th is a 1980 American slasher film produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham, written by Victor Miller, and starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan, and Kevin Bacon. The plot follows a group of teenage camp counselors who are murdered one by one by an unknown killer while they are attempting to reopen an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past.

I've watched so many shitty horror movies recently I decided to go back to an old classic. 'Friday the 13th' may have been panned by critics when first released but since then it is one of the most famous and influential horror films, the franchise containing one of horror's most iconic villains.  It demonstrated the importance of setting the tone in horror movies, making the audience themselves feel as if they too were being stalked. Cunningham also was one of the few directors to introduce the idea of a possible female serial killer.

You know you like looking at my sexy chest.

Prompted by the success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), director Cunningham put out an advertisement to sell the film in Variety in early 1979, while Miller was still drafting the screenplay. After casting the film in New York City, filming took place in New Jersey in the fall of 1979, on an estimated budget of between $550,000 and $650,000. A bidding war ensued over the finished film, ending with Paramount Pictures acquiring the film for domestic distribution, while Warner Bros. secured international distribution rights. Friday the 13th became the first independent slasher film to be acquired by a major motion picture studio.

Released on May 9, 1980, Friday the 13th was a major box office success, grossing $59.8 million worldwide, making it the fifteenth highest-grossing film of the year, and the second highest-grossing film for Paramount. The film's critical response was largely unfavorable, with numerous critics deriding it for its graphic violence, though it did receive some praise for its cinematography and score.  What the fuck do critics know? 

The screenplay was completed in mid-1979 by Victor Miller, who later went on to write for several television soap operas, including Guiding Light, One Life to Live and All My Children; at the time, Miller was living in Stratford, Connecticut, near Cunningham, and the two had begun collaborating on potential film projects. Miller delighted in inventing a serial killer who turned out to be somebody's mother, a murderer whose only motivation was her love for her child: "I took motherhood and turned it on its head and I think that was great fun. Mrs. Voorhees was the mother I'd always wanted—a mother who would have killed for her kids." While writing the film's death scenes, Miller incorporated elements of nightmares he had experienced throughout his life in which he was murdered.

Mrs. Voorhees: [high voice] Kill her, Mommy! Kill her! Don't let her get away, Mommy! Don't let her live!
[normal voice] Mrs. Voorhees: I won't, Jason. I won't!

The idea of Jason appearing at the end of the film was initially not present in the original script; in Miller's final draft, the film ended with Alice merely floating on the lake. Jason's appearance was actually suggested by makeup designer Tom Savini. Savini stated that "The whole reason for the cliffhanger at the end was I had just seen Carrie, so we thought that we need a 'chair jumper' like that, and I said, 'let's bring in Jason.'" Miller was unhappy about the filmmakers' decision to make Jason Voorhees the killer in the sequels, saying "Jason was dead from the very beginning. He was a victim, not a villain."

Tom Savini was hired to design the film's special effects based upon his work in George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). Savini's design contributions included crafting the effects of Marcie's axe wound to the face, the arrow penetrating Jack's throat, and Mrs. Voorhees's decapitation by the machete.

On Friday the 13th, they began to die horribly...one...by one

When Harry Manfredini began working on the musical score, the decision was made to only play music when the killer was actually present so as to not "manipulate the audience". Manfredini pointed out the lack of music for certain scenes: "There's a scene where one of the girls ... is setting up the archery area... One of the guys shoots an arrow into the target and just misses her. It's a huge scare, but if you notice, there's no music. That was a [deliberate] choice." Manfredini also noted that when something was about to happen, the music would cut out so that the audience would relax, rendering the subsequent scare more effective.

While listening to a Krzysztof Penderecki composition, which contained a chorus with "striking pronunciations", Manfredini was inspired to recreate a similar sound. He came up with the sound "ki ki ki, ma ma ma" from the final reel when Mrs. Voorhees arrives and is reciting "Kill her, mommy!" The "ki" comes from "kill", and the "ma" from "mommy". To achieve the unique sound he wanted for the film, Manfredini spoke the two words "harshly, distinctly and rhythmically into a microphone" and ran them into an echo reverberation machine. Manfredini finished the original score over approximately two weeks, and then recorded it in a friend's basement. Victor Miller and assistant editor Jay Keuper have commented on how memorable the music is, with Keuper describing it as "iconographic". Manfredini says, "Everybody thinks it's cha, cha, cha. I'm like, 'Cha, cha, cha? What are you talking about?'"

They figured it would be a long summer. What they didn't figure was that it would be a long summer THAT DAY.

To me, the film works because of how great Betsy Palmer is as Jason's mom. It's a fine film, but nowhere near the excesses that the series would grow into. This was also the start of critics really hating on slasher films. Gene Siskel was so upset about Betsy Palmer being in the film that he published her address in his column and encouraged people to write her and protest. Of course, he published the wrong address.

No, it's not award-winning material, but it doesn't have to be. Appreciate it for what it is, and you can't go wrong.  It also has Kevin Bacon in it as he started his wildly successful career. 

Just chilling in this boat. I'm safe now.

Trivia:

The movie was filmed at Camp No-Be-BoSco in Blairstown, New Jersey. It is a Boy Scout Camp that is still in operation, and it has a wall of Friday the 13th (1980) memorabilia to honor that the movie was filmed there.

The film earned $39,754,601 at the domestic box office on a budget of $550,000. Its worldwide gross was $59,754,601.

Betsy Palmer said that if it were not for the fact that she was in desperate need of a new car, she would never have accepted the role of Pamela Voorhees. In fact, after she read the script, she called the movie "a piece of shit." Over the years, however, Palmer did warm up to the film, as it made her more famous than infamous, and made appearances at conventions and in documentaries to discuss it.

Tom Savini was one of the first crew members on board for the film because the producers idolized his special make-up effects in Dawn of the Dead (1978).

While most of the cast and crew stayed at local hotels during filming, some of the most dedicated, including Tom Savini and Taso N. Stavrakis, stayed at the actual camp site. They had Savini's Betamax VCR and only a couple of movies, such as Barbarella (1968) and Marathon Man (1976), on videotape to keep themselves entertained so each night they would watch one. To this day Savini says he can recite those movies by heart.

Composer Harry Manfredini came up with the now classic "ki ki ki ka ka ka" vocals attached to the score. It's his voice as well.

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They were warned...They are doomed...And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them.

Because the camp was closed during filming, and situated in the deep New Jersey woods, the cast and crew didn't see much outside interference, but it turned out they had a very famous neighbour: rock star Lou Reed, (famous for being the frontman of the band The Velvet Underground, as well as having a very successful solo career) who owned a farm nearby. "We got to watch Lou Reed play for free, right in front of us, while we were making the film," Soundman Richard Murphy said. "He came by the set, and we hung around with each other, and he was just a really great guy."

After the film's success, Adrienne King was stalked by an obsessed fan. Terrified, she asked that her role in Part 2 be small as possible. She did not take any other roles or make convention appearances for almost 20 years after its release.

Betsy Palmer tells fans she has no idea who this character in the hockey mask is, since her son, Jason, apparently drowned in 1957.

Victor Miller admitted that he was purposely riding the success of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). Director Sean S. Cunningham even approached Halloween producer Irwin Yablans to produce the film, but he declined, as he wasn't interested in doing another horror movie.

(at around 19 mins) Special effects supervisor Tom Savini performed the arrow shot that narrowly missed Brenda when she was setting up the archery target.

Willie Adams was a production assistant for the film. Although he spent most his time working behind the camera, he played the male counselor in the 1958 scene, and holds the unique distinction of being the first murder victim in a Friday the 13th film.

Don't count on making it to Saturday morning.

Harry Crosby, who played Bill in this movie, is the son of Bing Crosby.

The MPAA told the producers of Friday of 13th to scale back on the gore for the sequel, since they regretted the amount of gore that had gotten through in the original (and the subsequent critical backlash). This is why Part 2 is much less gory than Part 1.

Most of the location and set were already there. The crew only had to build the bathroom set. However, few realized that only one toilet was actually working, so after a while, the other toilets had to be cleaned out.

Jason is not mentioned by name until 1 hour and 16 minutes into the film.

Sean S. Cunningham was so sure the title Friday the 13th would sell the movie alone, that he took out a full page Variety ad over the Fourth of July Weekend of 1979, without a script or even a premise. It worked, as Phil Scuderi, the financier behind his previous movie Together (1971) and The Last House on the Left (1972) (which he had produced) contacted him, and offered to cover 25% of the proposed 500,000 dollar budget. Cunningham went into production, hoping to raise the rest of the money along the way, until Scuderi wanted to put up the entire budget. Cunningham turned him down, as he didn't expect that the movie could earn back its budget, and the actual long-term part of the deal could royally screw him, so production was halted. However, nobody else was offering to put up the entire budget like that, so he changed his mind the next morning.

Producer Steve Miner initially thought it was an idiotic idea to bring Jason back in sequels. "He wasn't your villain, he's just a figment of someone's imagination." Despite this, he went on to direct the next two Friday the 13th movies starring Jason as the villain.

Victor Miller's working title for the script was "Long Night at Camp Blood."

Alice: Who are you?
Mrs. Voorhees: Why I'm... I'm Mrs. Voorhees, an old friend of the Christys'.

Tom Savini and Sean Cunningham have said in interviews that Claudette's murder at the beginning, which is offscreen and only hinted at, is meant to be coy and to throw the audience off for the brutal killings that would follow.

This was Betsy Palmer's first film since The Last Angry Man (1959).

Harry Crosby was attempting to make a go of it as an actor without leveraging any connections available to him as the son of Bing Crosby. The producers have been accused of casting Harry to further mimic Halloween (1978), which cast the daughter Jamie Lee Curtis of well-known actors Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis as its female lead. Today, they claim that the prospect of having Crosby's son as the ostensible male lead was something they only later realized could be used in marketing down the road.

Robbi Morgan was not auditioning for the film when she was offered the role. While in her office, Julie Hughes just looked at Morgan and proclaimed "you're a camp counsellor." The next day Morgan was on the set.

Rex Everhart, who portrays Enos, did not film the truck scenes with Robbi Morgan, so she had to either act with an imaginary Enos, or exchange dialogue with Taso N. Stavrakis, who would sit in the truck with her.

Sean S. Cunningham wanted to cast his son Noel Cunningham as Jason, but his wife Susan E. Cunningham wouldn't let him do this.

Most of the actors were actually Broadway actors who were sent over by a Broadway casting agency. The movie debuted in a Broadway movie house.

The film takes place on both "Friday the 13th 1958" and "Friday, June 13 The Present" but in the second case, at no point in the film is the year mentioned. However, in real life the 13th of June, 1980 did, curiously enough, fall on a Friday.

Cunningham got financing for the film based solely on a title shot of "Friday the 13th" approaching the camera and breaking glass. He had no script or story idea yet.

You're doomed! You're all doomed!

Cunningham doesn't buy the whole "sinners must be punished" scenario that many slasher films seem to support. Instead he simply sees it as "bad things happening to good people for no apparent reason." Cunningham also didn't like Gene Siskel's complaint that the film was "misogynistic," and that "Cunningham is a little tougher on the girls in this movie than he is on the guys." Cunningham said the film is not meant to be sexist, and both males and females get punished equally in this movie. John Carpenter was similarly dismissive when critics complained that Halloween was pushing an old testament puritanical sex-must-be-punished-by-death moral code on the audience. Debra Hill, his co-producer and screenwriter on the project said in response: "I think people are reading moral and sociological messages into a simple horror story that has no agenda to lecture the audience in any way."

In the French dubbed version, Jason is called Jackie. His named has been restored to Jason in each of the following sequels, including the intro of Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) which is the ending of this film.

Launched the acting careers of both Adrienne King and Kevin Bacon, although it was not Bacon's first film. His breakout role was as Chip Diller in National Lampoon's Animal House, one of the leaders of the villainous Omega fraternity that is bullying and fighting with the Deltas. In between Animal House and Friday the 13th, he starred in Starting Over, as well as the 1980 superhero spoof Hero at Large, starring John Ritter.

The two Jeeps used in this film are actually the same Jeep, shown with and without its soft top. The model is a 1972 CJ-5.

Sean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller set the film at a summer camp because they needed a remote location and Miller remembered the scary stories his brothers used to share of their summers spent at camp. The name "Jason Voorhees" was Miller's idea as well, "Jason" being the combination of the first names of Miller's two sons (Josh and Ian), and "Voorhees" the last name of a girl he went to school with.

Did you know a young boy drowned the year before those two others were killed? The counselors weren't paying any attention... They were making love while that young boy drowned. His name was Jason. I was working the day that it happened. Preparing meals... here. I was the cook. Jason should've been watched. Every minute. He was... he wasn't a very good swimmer. We can go now, dear.

On opening weekend, this film reportedly grossed over ten times the production cost.

Jason's father is never referenced in the Friday the 13th movies. However, in comics and novelizations, he is said to be a man named Elias Voorhees, who is very cruel and abusive to Jason. An unused Jason and Freddy "team-up" screenplay from the early 1990s, written by Lewis Abernathy, features a brief scene with Elias that ends with Pamela murdering him.

For a film that primarily takes place in one location, a number of real northern New Jersey companies and local sites are seen or referenced in the film. As Annie is hitchhiking her way to the camp, she accepts a ride from a trucker, Enos, at a real general store in Hope, NJ, called Hartung's (aka Skip's, which is now an antique store). The truck he drives is for a real company, Elston Oil Supply, based in Stanhope, NJ, that provided their product to owners of oil heated homes, which were common in rural parts of New Jersey back in the 70's and 80's. This company still exists; in fact, the phone number on the passenger door of the truck can be reached if you use the area code used for all of northern New Jersey in 1979. Annie is dropped off by Enos at Moravian Cemetery in Hope, NJ, as it says on the rusted iron sign at the entrance. In reality, Crystal Lake is Sand Pond, which is right next to the Delaware River and crosses into eastern Pennsylvania. All of these shooting locations are in a total of three counties in the northwestern section of New Jersey. Though almost every movie in the series is set at or near Camp Crystal Lake and it is believed that all these films are set in New Jersey, this was the only Friday the 13th movie that was filmed there.

Ned: If you were a flavor of ice cream, what would it be?
Marcie: Rocky road.

Sean Cunningham cut his teeth in the industry directing soft-core porn, and then eventually transitioned into horror with fellow porn aficionado Wes Craven, with whom he produced the 1972 horror classic Last House on the Left.

Sally Field was offered the role of Alice Hardy, but turned it down.

When Marcie is in the bathhouse looking in the mirror, she does an impression of Katharine Hepburn with a line from her film, The Rainmaker (1956).

The casting was done by TNI Casting, a New York-based casting agency well-known and respected in the theater community in New York. Friday the 13th was their first horror film, and many of the actors were stage brats drawn to the auditions based upon the stellar reputations of the casting directors, having only the vaguest of clues as to what kind of film they were truly auditioning for. The most famous of these actors was Kevin Bacon, who had been in his first film, Animal House, the previous year, but had, to his surprise, returned right back to the life of a work-a-day actor. He was the only one they auditioned for the part in Friday the 13th.

Nine Guests For A Crime (1977)

 

While spending their annual vacation on a small Mediterranean Island, nine bourgeois family members are stalked and killed one by one by a mysterious killer.

Nine Guests for a Crime (Italian: Nove ospiti per un delitto) is a 1977 Italian giallo film directed by Ferdinando Baldi. It was also known as La morte viene del passato (Death Comes From the Past) in Spanish markets. An alternate Italian title was Un urlo nella notte (A Scream in the Night).

Let's break down the set up kids. Twenty years after Charlie’s death on a windswept beach, the wealthy villa owner Ubaldo invites his family back to the island for a guided visit to the spot where the crime took place. The group includes Lorenzo, Michele, and Patrizia, along with their spouses Greta, Carla, and Walter. Also present are Elisabetta, Ubaldo’s sister and the deceased Charlie’s former lover, and Giulia, Ubaldo’s new young wife. Once ashore, a mysterious assassin murders the sailors who ferried them to the island, and suddenly the group finds themselves cut off from help as danger closes in. 

Oh My. So much nudity in this film. I'm shocked. 

Agatha Christie meets Italian giallo-sleaze! This film has more sex and tits hanging out then any film that's not a porn. The first half of the film has everybody sliding off fucking everyone else and it is almost impossible to keep track of just who is who and who they are supposed to be with. And they just fuck in the open which usually leads to someone else seeing them in secret. I'm assuming all Italian women in the 1970s kept their high heels on in the shower

The male cast here is indeed quite impressive including Arthur Kennedy (as the father) and John Richardson, Massimo Foschi, and Venatino Venetini as the sons. As for the female cast, well, they do take off their clothes a lot. Actually, the most recognizable might be Sofia Dionisio (aka Fabiani Flavi), the sister of Silvia Dionisio and one-time sister-in-law of director Ruggiero "Cannibal Holocaust" Deodato.

While not a top tier giallo, this film does score points for a rigorous adherence to logic, only to immediately lose them for being somewhat overly predictable. The killer's identity shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's seen more than a handful of murder mysteries. 

To sum up, this is a solid, enjoyable film which pushes the envelope slightly with its pantheon of villainous characters, but which plays it safe and sound with regard to the plot. The cinematography and soundtrack are well above average, and extreme props to Mr Baldi for not even bothering to offer up a reason as to why no-one telephones for help. A visit from the mainland police is obviously never going to happen; we have nine guests, and nine guests only (once the boathands are killed) for the titular crime. We know that, Ferdinando knows that, so why waste valuable screentime offering a pat explanation for the lack of a phone call, when there are tits to be filmed?

Making love is the only thing that pleases me and makes me feel like a woman

There's no trivia to be found so I'm just going to add a bunch of pictures.

Devil Times Five / People Toys (1974)

 

After five mentally defective children survive a van accident in the snow, they make their way to a lodge where they start killing adults who offend them or are rude to them.

People Toys is a 1974 American slasher film directed by Sean MacGregor and an uncredited David Sheldon and starring Sorrell Booke, Gene Evans, Shelley Morrison, and Leif Garrett, along with Garrett's real-life sister, Dawn Lyn and their mother, Carolyn Stellar. The film follows a group of four sociopathic, homicidal children who, accompanied by a mysterious nun, seek refuge with a number of snobbish vacationers at a lakeside chalet, only to systematically murder them one by one.

This film should have been called Awful Times Five. A lot of people like this movie. A lot of people need their fucking head examined. If you looked at the cast you'll notice the name Sorrell Booke. That's Boss Hogg mother fucker. I'm not sure why he signed on to appear in this film. He must have really needed the cash. 

You, too, could become a peopletoy... children can do strange things.

It starts off with these little annoying kids who climb out of a bus that crashed apparently unharmed. It seems that they just escaped from a crazy house and they are just.... it isn't really clear what their motive it, they're just doing stuff. These kids show up and start killing off people one by one. And everyone thinks it's suicides. Because they're idiots. And then they lose their guns. because they're idiots. Then they start getting killed off one by one... because they're idiots.

The kids are fucking weird. One of them is convinced she is a nun,  The leader appears to be the little African American kid who dresses, acts and talks in military lingo, just like a soldier -- He even has a little plastic M-16. I forgot to mention that Leif Garrett was in the film. He thinks he is a big time child movie star.  Leif Garrett eventually went on to release albums of garbage that sold millions of units to 12 - 16 year old girls the world over, which is indeed more horrifying than anything depicted on screen.

I'll whip these kids asses every day of the week.....twice on Sunday.

The movie was filmed in Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake, California between February and April 1973. The production was notably tense between director Sean McGregor and producer Michael Blowitz, with Blowitz recalling that at one point, McGregor punched Blowitz in the face, to which Blowitz responded by throwing McGregor through a plate glass window.

Original director Sean MacGregor was fired from the production after a few weeks of difficult filming and most of the footage he had directed was deemed unusable. Much of the final version of the film had to be re-shot under the direction of David Sheldon several weeks later. According to legend, director Sean MacGregor spent some time as a patient in a psychiatric ward following his departure from the project. MacGregor must have just viewed the film before being committed to the psych ward, 

Who survives? Who would want to survive?

I don't recommend this movie to anyone. The so called five devils actually seemed like they should be in an adventure with the little rascals. They had better be glad I wasn't at the house. I'd beat those kids asses with a switch.  Just a reminder, Lief Garrett is in this flick! No wonder he turned into an addict! Starts with a car crash and keeps on crashing.

I'm Boss Hogg mother fucker. Go get them Duke boys. 

Trivia:

The film's original director, Sean MacGregor, was fired after a few weeks of difficult filming, and most of the footage was considered unusable. Much of the final version had to be redone under the direction of David Sheldon several weeks later.

Carolyn Stellar was the real-life mother of Leif Garrett and Dawn Lyn.

Unknown actress Gail Smale was alleged to be the original director Sean MacGregor's under-aged girlfriend. Her character's nun's habit with rose-colored glasses was partially an attempt to conceal her natural albinism. This film remains her only known credit.

According to legend, the film's original director, Sean MacGregor, spent some time as a patient in a psychiatric ward following his firing from it.

No wonder Leif Garrett turned to drugs.  

Director Quentin Tarantino named this film as one of his favorites in October of 2020. He said, "Leif Garrett is the leader of these killer kids. And Leif Garrett gives an amazing performance in this film. It's terrific and it's really 'f'-ed up in a big way but that's what makes it great. It blew me away. I was like, wow, this is amazing! I've heard about it forever, because it played the drive-in circuit on the lower half of double features for years. Finally, I watched it, and I was like, wow, this is terrific!".

The film was originally released in the U.S. by Cinemation Industries in 1974, then on VHS by Media Home Entertainment in 1982. Code Red released it on DVD in 2006 and on Blu-ray in 2016. Kino Lorber and Code Red together re-released the Blu-ray version in 2021.

Gene Evans later said that he only did this film for the money.

After initial filming ended, Leif Garrett had his hair cut short for his next film, Macon County Line (1974). After Sean MacGregor was fired, most scenes were re-shot. The wig Garrett wore for re-shoots was noticeably darker than his hair.

You little bastards do your chores.

Gene Evans, Leif Garrett, and Dawn Lyn all starred in Walking Tall (1973). Garrett also starred in the two sequels, Part 2: Walking Tall (1975) and Final Chapter: Walking Tall (1977).

11-year-old Leif Garrett is shown wearing women's clothes and make-up in several scenes of this film.

Tierre Turner recalled that the only disturbing aspect of making the film was dragging Leif Garrett's naked mother through the snow.

The character in the film played by Sorrell Booke is named Dr. Henry Beckman. Veteran Canadian character actor Henry Beckman played Dr. Brown in it.

The Boogey Man (1980)

 

A young girl witnesses her brother murder a man through a reflection in a mirror. Twenty years later the mirror is shattered, freeing his evil spirit, which seeks revenge for his death.

The Boogey Man is a 1980 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Ulli Lommel, and starring Suzanna Love, John Carradine, and Ron James. The film's title refers to the long-held superstition of boogeymen beings, and its plot concerns two siblings who are targeted by the ghost of their mother's deceased boyfriend which has been freed from a mirror.

Surprisingly this didn't suck nearly as bad as it should have. The movie opens up to a woman seducing a man while her two young children watch from the window, unbeknownst to them. Great parenting at its finest. When the kids get caught, the man ties up the male child to his bed. Lacey lets Willy loose with a large butcher knife which he uses to then kill the man who is having sex with his mother, all while Lacey watches. Fast forward 20 years and we see that Lacey and Willy are all grown up, with Willie being mute from the traumatic events of that night. Lacey is also dealing with trauma of her own as she freaks out each time she sees a knife. This is a huge problem when she has to make her boyfriend a sandwich.

Why does mom's boyfriend have pantyhose on his head. He's a kinky dude. 

The Boogeyman is an odd early 80's horror flick that falls into both the slasher and supernatural horror sub genres. Nearly everything about the film is borrowed from far superior works. The arbitrary title seems like an attempt to cash in on the success of Halloween (this is made even more obvious when you see the familiar "child's hand gripping a butcher knife" camera shot at the beginning). The pointless insertion of a priest who comes to investigate the strange happenings is an obvious nod to The Exorcist.

John Carradine shows up to half-act his way through another paycheck, as Lacy's psychiatrist. She has flashbacks of the murder and starts acting like a demon, to which Carradine responds, "Ok. You can wake up now." Unfazed. What a bad-ass.

Yes. I will appear in any film for a pay check. 

Ulli Lommel directed this rancid little horror film. He's a German born actor and director with a long career in both US and Europe and known by his collaboration with Rainer W. Fassbinder and Andy Warhol. Lommel had one crazy career, starting with appearing in Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill, then acting in Fassbinder's surreal western film Whitey (as well as several other of the director's films). Moving to the U.S. in 1977, Lommel became connected to Andy Warhol, who became involved in his films Cocaine Cowboys and Blank Generation, a movie that starred Richard Hell and was filmed at CBGB.

The Boogey Man enjoys the notorious reputation of having been banned as a 'video nasty' in England. The only thing really nasty about it was the acting.

Though the film has been noted as stylistically imitating John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), critic Jeff Franzen notes that the film possess a subtext that is filled with "multi-layered references to Lommel's childhood and fears, much of which lingers long after you forget about the gimmicky gore". Franzen asserts that one of the film's central themes is "that people conspire to hide the truth, although to one or more characters the truth is obvious"

The film uses several apparent pieces of folklore and superstition regarding mirrors: In addition to the superstition that it is bad luck to break a mirror, the film also discusses the belief that breaking a mirror releases everything the mirror has ever "seen"; further, placing the pieces of a broken mirror into a bag and burying it will counteract the bad luck from breaking the mirror. Additionally, there is the belief that a mirror in a room where someone has died will show the dead person looking back over the shoulder of anyone looking into the mirror. All this is referenced in the Mexican translation of the film title, released as "El espejo asesino" ("the killer mirror")

Shit!!!  Well 7 years bad luck I guess. 

But the performances aren't that bad, Nicholas Love gives a pretty good unhinged performance as Willy, despite lack of dialogue he still makes it work, something not many actors could do. Ron James gives an adequate performance and Suzanna Love brings depth to her role and plays it convincingly without going over the top.

All in all "The Boogeyman" is not a terrible movie, it's certainly ambitious given the subject matter, but it doesn't quite shine, but it does have some decent qualities but not enough to earn a status as one of the slasher gems that came out during this era.

The well!!!

Trivia:

Suzanna Love is the sister of co-star Nicholas Love, who plays her brother. She was also married to director Ulli Lommel. She and Lommel co-authored the screenplay.

Albert Zugsmith suggested to Ulli Lommel that he should cast John Carradine in a secondary role in order to enhance this film's overall commercial appeal. Carradine's scenes were all shot in a single day.

The house used for the exterior shots of Lacy and Willy's childhood home is located in La Plata, MD,, and in 2004 was severely damaged by a tornado.

The film was given a limited release theatrically in the US by The Jerry Gross Organization with screenings beginning on 11/14/80. It grossed approximately $25 million, though little of its significant income went to the filmmakers and performers, as the distributor, was in the midst of bankruptcy at the time of its release.

Vipco released it on VHS in the UK in November 1981. In October 1983 it was listed as a Video Nasty and removed from shelves. It never had the chance to build the reputation the true notorious Video Nasties gained due to it being dropped from the list in July 1985.

Filming took place on location in the area of Waldorf, MD, with additional photography occurring in Los Angeles, CA.

Released on DVD twice in the US. The first release was in 1999 by Anchor Bay Entertainment alongside Ulli Lommel's The Devonsville Terror (1983). This version is currently out of print. It was subsequently re-released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2005 alongside Lommel's Return of the Boogeyman (1994). "The Bogeyman" was placed on the UK's DPP list in 1984, but was later re-released on the Vipco label in 1992 in a cut form. In 2000 it was released uncut.

A poster of this film can be seen in the background of one of the scenes in Blow Out (1981).

Jane Pratt's first role and nude scene.

Shortly after The Bogey Man was released, it became embroiled in the UK's Video Nasty debate and, in 1984, was placed on the Director of Public Prosecutions' 33-strong second list of films deemed inappropriate for public consumption. It was then whisked away from video store shelves. While never actually successfully prosecuted, it made a name for itself in that time, so much so that its far inferior sequel from 1983 was also banished.

Combines elements from the slasher, psychological and supernatural horror sub genres

The actress billed as Jane Pratt is not the same Jane Pratt who published Sassy magazine back in the 80s/90s, though some sources mistakenly list her as such.

Damn dude.  Why do you have pantyhose on your head? 

Mausoleum (1981)

 

10-year-old Susan Walker, mourning her mother's death, is possessed by a demon who has been preying on her female ancestors for centuries. Years later, the demon takes over when she has married OIiver Farrell and entered psychoanalysis.

Mausoleum is a 1983 American supernatural horror film directed by Michael Dugan and starring Bobbie Bresee, Marjoe Gortner, Norman Burton, and LaWanda Page. That's right mother fucking Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page) is in this film. Watch it sucker. The plot follows a young woman who becomes possessed by the same demon that killed her mother.

Soon, Susan is turning into a green-eyed demon and having sex with tons of men, then murdering them in all manner of interesting ways. Her tit's eat a man's chest while they are in the bathtub. You might want to read that last sentence again.  Her breasts eat a man. If man eating breasts can't save a movie than nothing can. 

My tits will eat you. 

Ex-Playboy bunny Bobbie Bresee offers a decent performance, but it's made abundantly clear throughout the movie that the film-makers' primary emphasis is on her multiple nude scenes. The set-ups for the murders are so transparent that they play out like scenes from a porno script, particularly the arrival of a delivery driver who Susan invites in to "use the phone". I kept waiting for a pizza man to show up and ask Bresee, "who ordered the extra sausage?"

As for the special effects. Sure, the movie was from 1983, but even for that period the special effects in the movie were less than mediocre. It was especially awful watching a still frame with the eyes painted green. The film reminded me more of a Lucio Fulci film than anything else. There is one basic plot concept which is laid out in the beginning and then the entire movie floats along through it.

Great googily moogily!

The eighties was responsible for some of the worst (and some of the best) horror films ever made, and this is not one of the best! To pretend Mausoleum is a great work of art would be misguided, but if you can bring yourself down to the film's silly, trashy wavelength, I have a hard time believing you won't find anything to enjoy about this movie. Some of the effects are inventive and Bobbie Bresee is fun to watch as she switches from kind to demonic throughout the film.
 

No more grievin', I'm leavin'!

Trivia

Bobbie Bresee revealed on the commentary of the BCI DVD release that she received some possessed voice coaching from Mercedes McCambridge (notable for the demonic voice in The Exorcist (1973)) while co-starring with her in "Charlie's Angels" (1976) Angels in Springtime.

It was produced by the "Yuppie Don" Michael Franzese, former capo of the Colombo crime family. It was allegedly a form of money laundering. Wether it was a passion for film or simply a business venture is unknown.

The scleral contact lenses that Bobbie Bresee had to wear during some possessed scenes damaged her eyes. This damage resulted in her filming some scenes towards the beginning of the film without her eyesight.

There's some strange shit goin' on in this house!

Laura Hippe who plays the aunt of Bobbie Bersee's character is 3 years younger than she is.

When BCI Eclipse obtained the DVD rights to the film, they couldn't find any original elements to transfer. Forced to use a damaged print, BCI decided to release it as a double feature.On the DVD commentary, 

Bobbie Bresee revealed that producers set up bleachers for crew members to watch the filming of her sex scene.

The car driven by Oliver Farrell is a 1980 Bradley GTElectric. It was a fully electric motor, the main battery bank was made up of 16 6-volt batteries connected in series for a total of 96 volts. A switch inside the car allowed the driver to switch from 'Boost' mode, which delivered the full 96 volts to the motor for extra power, to 'Cruise' mode, which reduced motor voltage to 48 volts and extended the driving range.

Laura Hippe's last film.

Production on this film began in February 1981.

Make-up artist John Carl Buechler brought a sketch pad to his job interview for this film.

Final film of Cathi Peyton Erman.

Maximum Overdrive (1986)

 

When Earth passes through the tail of Rea-M rogue comet, the machines come to life and start to kill mankind. A group of survivors is under siege from fierce trucks at the Dixie Boy truck stop gas station and they have to fight to survive.

Maximum Overdrive is a 1986 American comedy horror film written and directed by Stephen King. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith (Who voiced Lisa Simpson in the animated hit show "The Simpsons") The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story "Trucks", which was included in the author's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and follows the events after all machines (including cars, trucks, radios, drones, arcades, vending machines, etc.) go sentient when Earth crosses the tail of a comet, initiating a world-wide killing spree. The plot is as simple as an AC/DC drumbeat.

Yes it's fucking stupid, yes its fucking dumb, yes its fucking whatever negative word you might wanna say, but if you want silly action, this is for you. Its not the most complex of plots of course, but if you like watching stuff get blown up or people hit by cars or trucks, or watching little leaguers getting neatly pressed by steamrollers, this delivers.

Where's Spider Man

There's a lot of fun and splatter going on at the Truck Stop, but still the most entertaining sequences in "Maximum Overdrive" take place elsewhere. The scene at the beginning, for instance, where a massive bridge decides for itself to lift open while plenty of traffic is crossing, or the brutal footage at the baseball training field where the vending machine starts firing off soda cans at the coach and kids.  It probably just thought they were thirsty after a hard day of practice. 

It is as bad as it's reputation would have you believe but at the same time it enters the "so bad it's good" range because of how silly it all is.  In recent years, King has admitted that he didn't know what he was doing and that he was snorting cocaine at the time.  Cocaine's a Hell of a drug. 

Dude took a coke can to the head. I'm switching to Pepsi.

The movie begins with a cameo from King and his wife, as an ATM machine calls him an asshole. That ATM machine must have had to sit through this film.  The comet that passes our planet makes machines go crazy and kill humans. Literally, that's all you need to know. There's no need to worry about subtext or character development. Just watch machines kill people and people kill machines and enjoy 96 minutes of your life without the need to make decisions.

Run!!! We have to get off of this film set. 

There's something for everyone in this film, like waitresses flipping out and screaming at bulldozers before being shot ("We made you! We made you!"), plenty of AC/DC, including the song Who Made Who that was written for the film. There's an ice cream truck that tries to kill the survivors. The machines demand gasoline via Morse code and a kid shooting a drive-in menu board to get revenge for his dad. Crazy shit going on. 

This film has cokehead 80's acting at its finest. Its even edited like a cokehead edited it. You may think this is a detractor... but it actually encapsulates a section of Hollywood that somehow got things done in an era where tinseltown skidmarked on a lot of things in a post Star Wars hot MTV time.  So grab some beers and prepare for mindless entertainment.

Trivia:

When asked why he hasn't directed a movie since "Maximum Overdrive", Stephen King responded "Just watch Maximum Overdrive."

Stephen King, being a former cocaine addict, later admitted that he was "coked out of my mind" the entire time he was making this picture and often didn't know what he was doing. He remarked that he'd like to try directing again someday, this time sober.

About a year after the movie was released, the Green Goblin truck was taken to Silent Rick's Towing and Salvage in Wilmington, NC. The jaw, lower teeth, tongue and tops of the ears were gone and what was left was burnt severely. John Allison of Wilmington, NC saw it there and purchased it. He later had to sell it and Tim Shockey of Piketon, Ohio purchased it on February 19, 1987. Tim displayed it in his video store, Uncle Jim's Videoland, in Waverly, Ohio for several years until he sold the business. He moved it to his back yard for about 20 years. It was then moved into his garage and he started restoring it in 2011. Tim spent 2 years, nights and weekends restoring the head. He now travels across the USA and Canada taking it to horror & comic cons.

Evil's wheels.

While shooting the scene where the steamroller rampages across the baseball diamond, Stephen King requested that the SFX department place a bag of fake blood near the dummy of a young player who would be run over by it. The desired effect would be that a smear of blood would appear on the steamroller and be re-smeared on the grass over and over, like a printing press. While filming the scene, however, the bag of blood exploded too soon and sprayed everywhere, making it appear as if the boy's head had also exploded. King was thrilled with the results, but censors demanded the shot be cut.

The "Dixie Boy" truck stop was a set constructed 10 miles outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. It was convincing enough that several truckers tried to stop in, and eventually the producers had to put announcements in local papers saying that the "Dixie Boy" was just a movie set.

AC/DC was selected to make the music for the movie by Stephen King himself.

An accident occurred on July 31, 1985 during shooting in a suburb of Wilmington, North Carolina where a radio-controlled lawnmower used in a scene went out of control and struck a block of wood used as a camera support, shooting out wood splinters which injured the director of photography Armando Nannuzzi; as a result, he lost his right eye. Nannuzzi sued Stephen King on February 18, 1987 for $18 million in damages. The suit was settled out of court.

It's been long rumored that George A. Romero actually ghost directed a large portion of the film while King was seeking treatment for his cocaine addiction. Many fans of Romero's work have noted that film features many of his distinct camera angles and editing choices. While King has never admitted this upfront, he has mentioned that Romero was constantly on set and King would frequently ask him for advice about directing.

The original scripted ending had the Dixie Boy survivors deal with one last obstacle before escaping, a machine gun mounted coast guard boat. There was also to be one last shot of the city of Wilmington being destroyed by the machines (rumored to have been done via a matte painting).

The head on the main truck is based on that of Marvel Comics' Green Goblin.

Some trucks used in the movie were from local businesses and the actual names of the businesses remained on the trucks in the movie.

While filming the scene where the ice cream truck flips over, the stunt didn't go according to plan. A telephone-pole size beam of wood was placed inside so it would flip end over end, but the truck only flipped once and slid on its roof right into the camera. Gene Poole, dolly grip on the film, pulled the cameraman out of the way at the last second. Subsequently, Poole's name is listed on one of the time cards when Bill is putting his card back after being told by Bubba that he must work more hours than he is going to get paid for.

Stephen King originally wanted to cast Bruce Springsteen in the lead.

Shit happens

Stephen King is a huge fan of AC/DC, and when he got to meet them he asked them if they would provide music for this movie. He also offered the band a role in the film, but AC/DC declined stating they are not actors. Claims that there is a scene with the band on a boat are untrue. However, the band agreed to do the soundtrack after Stephen King sung "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to Be a Millionaire)" from their 1976 album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. King sang the entire song from start to finish and the band laughingly agreed that if he was such a fan they would do it for him. AC/DC perform all but two songs featured in the film, including two unreleased mixes of previously recorded songs, and the entire 1987 album "Who Made Who" is the soundtrack to this movie. AC/DC wrote a new track called Who Made Who, and various instrumentals, only two of which appear on the album. The rest of the songs are from previous AC/DC albums. At the time of the release many music stores had no idea the album Who Made Who was a compilation soundtrack for this movie, and many mislabeled the album as an AC/DC greatest hits. Limited pressings of the album did feature the movie's logo, stating it was the soundtrack to Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive, but this was later removed from future pressings.

It is because of this movie that Evil Dead became a franchise. Stephen King loved The Evil Dead (1981) and his high praise of the film is largely credited with its success. While making this film he heard Sam Raimi and the other creators were having difficulty making a sequel. King brought this to the attention of producer Dino De Laurentiis who helped Raimi make Evil Dead II (1987). Had King not been working with De Laurentiis on this movie at the time the horror franchise may never have gotten past the original.

Several of the radio-controlled trucks used for the Dixie Boy siege broke down throughout filming, which delayed production as every time a truck would break down and get repaired, another truck would also break down.

Coked up and ready to direct

In Maximum Overdrive, the characters talk about going to an island named Haven where there are no cars. The TV show Haven (2010), also based on King's work, premiered in 2010. In the season 2 episode Haven: Love Machine (2011), cars and boats are seen coming to life and attacking humans much as they did in this film.

Yeardley Smith is greatly embarrassed by this film

Stephen King later called this "a moron movie"

Despite the plot which says that all machines in the world come alive and begin killing people, Camp and the Curtis' cars never becomes sentient. Even Hendershot's car, identifiable by the license plate BUBBA stamped on it, never comes alive itself and (along with nearly all of the other cars in the truck stop parking lot and in other scenes) remains sedate throughout the entire movie.

In the film, the Earth passes through the comet's tail on June 19, 1987. On June 19, 1999, King would be hit, and nearly killed by a distracted truck driver. The number 19 has been prominent in his writing for most of his career.

The song being played by the marauding ice cream truck is 'King of the Road,' by Roger Miller.

In the film the character Brett says to the Bible salesman "eat my shorts" under her breath. Yeardley Smith voices the character of Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons (1989), whose brother Bart says that same tag line. The line is also used in The Breakfast Club, another movie starring Emilio Estevez.

In the game room of the Dixie Boy truck stop, they had a Bally Night Rider pinball game, a Williams Pokerino, and a few video games: a Cinematronics Star Castle, a Atari Tempest Cocktail and a Konami Time Pilot '84 in a Stern cabinet. Fairly early on in the movie, the Night Rider playfield glass smashes itself, and very late in the movie, for a split second, you can see the games being plowed into by a semi truck.