Lazy Monday Bloggin': Horror Films Previously Covered on the 1980s Project

Hey, I promised a horror film related blog post a day, I didn't say that they'd all be (or any of them for that matter) of a high substantive value.

Seeing how actually commenting on blogs I am a fan of and taking part in blog-a-thons has led me to a few new readers here (love you new readers, and old ones too!) I thought I'd link to reviews of some horror movies I have previously covered as part of the 1980 Project. In fact, in case you don't know what the 1980 Project is, well click here for an explanation.

Click on the film title for the review's link:

"The best scene of the film occurs when a psychic comes to the house to communicate with the spirit. The acting and direction remains contained. Nowadays, the woman would be portrayed like a Zelda Rubenstein type kook and the scenes where she communicates with the spirit would be over-edited with flashes of some ghostly images to, you know, freak you out. Instead we get a nice drawn out scene which is treated not like a crazy event, but rather a woman nonchalantly just doing her job, sure her job involves being in a trance like state and communicating with the dead, but hey to her, it's just another fucking Tuesday."

--The Changeling (Peter Medak)

"...Spinell gives a fearless, personal and an intimate (some, hell most, would say uncomfortably intimate) performance. We always call actors like Charlize Theron “brave” for gaining weight, wearing bad make-up and not washing their hair for a couple of weeks in Monster, but Spinell’s turn as Zito earns that distinction because this is his actual body and he allows Lustig to film it in unflattering close-ups, in all his flabby stomach, sweaty balding head and acne scarred faced glory"

--Maniac (William Lustig)

"If Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out) teaches us anything, and really who doesn’t go to cheaply made Troma-produced 80’s horror films for instructions on how to live your life, it’s this: Be conscientious of where you engage in your fetishistic sexual transgressions, especially if you have children. If having your partner dress as Santa Claus while making sweet love to you is your cup of tea, all the more power to you, but please do it behind closed and preferably locked doors. This film depicts one such possible worst-case scenario for parents who do not adhere to this rule."

--Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out) (Lewis Jackson)

"Alas, Michael escapes and plans to go medieval on the gang's asses and get his son back. All in all, not one of the father and son's better weekends."

--The Island (Michael Ritchie)

"...Lewis Teague, who directed the Sayles' scripted The Lady in Red, performs admirably, allowing even the more wilder aspects of the plot to play out as matter of factly as possible. And this is a film whose plot revolves around a little girl who dumps the baby alligator she got at an amusement park down the toilet at her dad's insentience, where it feeds on illegally experimented dogs that the science lab she works for fifteen years later are dumping into the sewer, making it grow to a massive size"

--Alligator (Lewis Teague)

And of course, you can scroll down or click on this month's table of contents for my reviews of Silent Scream, The Fog and Inferno. I should also have another 1980 Horror film entry just around the corner.