Schmollywood Babylon

Nightkill (Ted Post, 1980)

There’s times in your life when you want to OWN a movie and the only chance to do that is to buy the only release available, which is Vipco. I’ve done it with Slayer, the fun 80’s supernatural slasher - and now I’ve done it again: Nightkill. So what the hell is this you say? My answer is a shamefully forgotten thriller who deserves some recognition! Maybe we who love it, fans of 80’s and 90’s thrillers (not action, not horror - just a good old thriller), sees it with blind eyes, we close ‘em for the weaknesses and open them for the brilliance. Or maybe not. We’re just have such a fucking good taste in movies.

Jaclyn Smith is Katherine Atwell, the unhappy wife to the incredibly rude, racist, republican sexist Wendell Atwell (Mike Connors). He’s written so you never, never will like him. She really want a divorce, but he ignores her and they stay together anyway. Well, at least to the day his assistant Steve (James Franciscus) - and lover to Katherine - kills him with poison and then suggests to her that they will take the money Wendell have hidden at the airport, get themselves new identities and disappear forever. Katherine is NOT happy Steve killed her husband, but agrees to follow his suggestion. They will dispose of the body the next morning and they fly away to a new life… but something goes terribly wrong when snoopy nosey cop Donner (Robert Mitchum) suddenly shows up suspecting something is not right…

...and then I won’t tell you anything more. Yes, it’s one of those films, with twists and turns and surprises everywhere! Not that different than the Umberto Lenzi’s So Sweet... So Perverse, A Quiet Place to Kill and Oasis of Fear (and several similar Italian thrillers between ‘69 to ‘71. It’s not a horror film, which both the title and poster might lead you to believe (or maybe more slasher than horror), but that doesn’t change a thing: it’s still an excellent film of which I can’t tell you that much without spoiling it. I like that kind of movies. What I’ve heard Nightkill got an extremely limited cinema release and disappeared faster than fast, it was then sucked up as a TV-movie and then into the land of forgotten thriller shown at 1 AM in the morning.

I can agree it’s quite TV-esque, especially after being violated into a fullscreen version, but the presence of Jaclyn Smith and the few locations make it a perfect film for that medium. But remember that some of the best thrillers ever made was made for TV. At the time you couldn’t show anything violent, no harsh language or too controversial subjects at that stupid fucking machine we worship every evening when we come home. That made the filmmakers more creative, focusing harder on coming up with clever scripts. Nightkill is a perfect example of economical filmmaking, where the budget probably was invested in the cast and crew instead of making the movie look bigger and bolder. It’s violent and people die, but it’s never really graphic - even if that last scene actually feels quite painful and sports some fine make-up effects.

I, for one, couldn’t say how it would end, which is a fine rating if I might say it myself. There’s one single little scene I don’t like, at the very end, which I felt took away from the power of it, but Nightkill is still one pretty dark and - most of all - cynical thriller. Humans ARE shitty, we all know that and here it becomes even more visible. Anyway, I don’t want to write too much. Try to find it and watch it, especially you who dig these slick, mainstream-esque thrillers of the past.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, 2014)

Charles B. Pierce’s original The Town That Dreaded Sundown have never been a favorite of mine, even if I like it for the true crime classic it is. What I don’t like is the silly car chase and some oddly placed comedy, which just doesn’t fit at all. Except that it’s a quite creepy thriller, but nothing unique. So when I heard that it would get a remake, also titled The Town That Dreaded Sundown, I felt happy, because I wanted to see this story again - just a little bit better. To my surprise, which was a good one, I realized they didn’t end up doing a remake, but a very clever self-referential slasher, maybe too smart for its own good - but for me that means it’s better than the average.

The film starts with a grave voice over telling us the story about the legendary Texarkana Moonlight Murders in 1946 and how Charles B. Pierce film from 1976 is screened every Halloween in Texarkana since many years back - which is very true. The the voice continues with telling us that what we're about to see is based on a true story… and I love that! That last thing is of course a big fucking lie, because there wasn’t a string of murders in Texarkana last years, of course! Then it starts at Halloween last year, where Jami (Addison Timlin) and her date Corey (Spencer Treat Clark) is watching The Town That Dreaded Sundown at a drive-in, until she can’t stand the tension anymore and Corey offers her to take the car to a secluded place for some heavy petting… but they don’t get far into the petting when a man with a sack on his head shows up from the darkness and brutally kills Corey. Jami escapes and then the horror enters Texarkana once again…

First of all, this is NOT a remake. I hate when people don’t understand simple things like that (people think the latest My Blood Valentine and Friday the 13th are remakes also, but of course they’re not - which is VERY obvious). This is an interested mix of references to the original case, the shooting of the 1976 movie and the modern tradition of watching that movie on Texarkana today...plus making it a modern, but still old-school slasher with a surprisingly open-minded view on both people and storytelling. There’s a fantastic sequence where the camera stays on Addison Timlin for a long time during a dialogue, and it goes on and on and on and it becomes so powerful. An excellent performance.

As a viewer you can sense that there’s a lot more heart and ambition in this little slasher than many other genre films right now, just look at the casting, packed with fine, fine talents: Veronica Cartwright, Gary Cole, Ed Lauter and Joshua Leonard. Now, there’s one thing finding a good cast, but it a homerun when the characters - even the smallest supporting parts - are people you really care for. Gary Cole makes a fantastic semi-asshole, you kinda like him. Why? Because he’s written like a human and not a stereotype. Same thing with the the rest. One of the most emotionally strong scenes is when two teen boys meets up to try gay sex for the first time - but get interrupted by the masked killer. This is a very interesting trap. We want these guys to be happy, do what they want and at the same there’s some humor involved in the writing, but when the Phantom (as the killer is called) shows up everything turns very ugly. A rug pulled from under our feet.

As a horror film/slasher it stands out as one of the best ones I’ve seen in a quite a while. The locations is both familiar, because it evokes the first film and also many regional horror films made in the 70’s and 80’s. A typical small American town with a dark past. The twists are nice, not bad. It leads to an ending that equally disappoints as it’s successful. I like it even more and more I think of it. The violence is violent and quite graphic, it hurts - so I guess that means I can approve it. Something I wanted to see more of was flashbacks to the shooting of Charles B. Pierce’s original film. Mr Pierce, who died in 2010, or references to him, are still very important for the story and there’s some fun use of his legacy also, where the filmmakers in a very brave way blurs reality and fiction.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a very good modern slasher, a great thriller and horror movie. It’s smart, cleverly written and with a perfect cast. One of my top ten this year, believe it or not.

Der Samurai (Till Kleinert, 2014)

I won’t hide the fact that Der Samurai is one of my favorite films this year, so much of a favorite I’ve always been promoting it - the upcoming release from Last Exit Entertainment, screenings at Monsters of Film etc. It’s such an important, original and odd film - with one part in arty-farty land and the other in the land of German gory horror. The question after watching it again yester at the above mentioned film festival is if it can be considered a horror film, or just really fucked-up little drama with some decapitations thrown in for good measure? But first take a look at the story, and I’m quoting myself from the Monsters of Film festival program:

“A wolf is circling a sleepy town somewhere in Germany. The lovesick police officer Jakob is desperately trying to scare off the animal at the same time as he has to keep an eye on the local troublemakers. One night he meets a man with long hair, a classy dress and a sharpened samurai sword – a Katana – in his hands. Helplessly Jakob watches the man destroy everything around him, but still decides to follow him to arrest this strange creature. But where is the hunt heading? The samurai does not only become a lunatic without a cause, but might be part of something bigger. Through good and evil, towards acceptance or downfall.”

It’s awesome watching a film together with an audience who have no friggin’ idea what they’re gonna see. It’s like watching a magic trick unfold, or one of those funny cat videos where only you know what will happen in the end, eagerly looking forward to the laughter from your friends. Der Samurai is of course a lot more than a funny cat video, but I wonder if it’s not quite close to a magic trick? What it does it to lure horror fans into what I consider to be the ultimate match against small town bigotry. There’s so much in the character of Jakob, very subtle stuff. I love how he obviously seems attracted to the tough guy, the leader of the local bunch of misfits, how the filmmakers focus on an imaginary kissing scene between him and a woman - and it wasn’t until yesterday it struck me this could be HER fantasy and not his, which makes him even more distanced to women.

It’s a bizarre love story, but what kind of story is it? When I watched it the first time I was pretty convinced this story tells about two personalities of the same person, but now… I’m not so sure anymore. My personal theory is that he summons a spirit, a ghost or whatever. This being takes on his biggest fear his small town mind: being different, being gay, being attracted to the forbidden. In the end I was a bit confused, because you could read it as a negative thing towards being different - but once again, watching it on a big screen made me realize what happens it actually the total opposite. I won’t go into more details, I’ve spoiled it enough.

Der Samurai was born through a campaign over at IndieGoGo, but I promise you this looks as far from a cheap production as possible. It’s a small film, yeah, but it the visuals is fantastic - so much atmosphere in every shot! So even the set design, the cinematography and the talent of director Till Kleinert. But what really makes this film work is the two actors playing the leads, the charismatic and absurdly sexy Pit Bukowski as the Samurai and the magnetic and cute Michel Diercks as Jacob, the police officer. It’s their film, and they’re in it from beginning to end. This is acting, this is real acting. We’re having here two credible characters - both on the opposite side of being normal, the wickedly twisted male succubus and the closet-hiding, shy and somehow - after a while - very brave cop living in a homophobic and macho society, trying to not be himself. Until the Samurai comes…

The ending is brilliant. Hands down one of the best this year, but also - for a Swedish audience - extra bizarre because of the music used at the end. First time I was really skeptical, but after watching the scene a couple of times it grew on me and I think it’s perfect. It’s a glorious moment of tragedy, happiness and an explosion of madness and freedom. For you gorehounds there’s some nice bloodshed also, involving the Samurai sword - it’s pretty bloody, but never disturbing. The violence contains the same dreamlike quality as the rest of the film.

Watch out for Der Samurai on DVD from Last Exit Entertainment sooner or later. This is one of those films I will double-dip every time I find a release of it. Till Kleinert and his cast and crew needs to make another movie, soon - and one way to make that happen is to support Der Samurai.

To Catch a Killer (Eric Till, 1992)

One of the strongest memories from my youth was watching To Catch a Killer together with my dad and his new wife (they never married, but they seemed married - and you couldn’t call them boy- and girlfriend exactly!) and it really touched me on several layers. I discovered Brian Dennehy, still one of the best actors who ever lived, it raised my cliched interest for serial killers (Yeah, YAWN!) and made me also appreciate made for TV productions a lot more. This is not only about nostalgia, it’s also because To Catch a Killer is one of the finest slices of true crime ever to be produced - its even up there together with fiction like Zodiac, Silence of the Lambs and Seven. That’s how good it is - and it’s a true fucking story.

Dennehy is John Wayne Gacy, a quite successful contractor - and serial killer. When we meet him he’s already been going on for a few years, luring young men into his basement to play pool, smoke pot and engage in forced sexual activities - and then strangle them, bury them in his crawlspace and that’s it. Nice bloke. NOT. After him, first on hunch and a few details here and there linking him with a young man who disappeared from a pharmacy, is Joe Kozenczak (Michael Riley), a detective who just won’t give up. We follow him and his teams work while finding clues and trying to break down Gacy to leave a trace or two…

To Catch a Killer is probably the three best crime-hours you could spend, because it’s one of those rare mini series where there’s absolutely NO dead moments. Like David Fincher’s Zodiac it’s a lot of normally boring things that becomes extremely exciting, like answering phones or turning papers on a desk. It’s neither exploitative or homophobic, which a movie about a gay serial killer (I wouldn’t call him a pedophile, because he doesn’t attack children) easily could have been, especially during the republican years it was shot. But believe me, it’s a fucking scary production - the atmosphere is so realistic, like it’s a very slick documentary you’re watching.

Michael Riley is excellent as the obsessive Kozenczak, and have several excellent supporting actors around himself: Margot Kidder (awesome, I love that lady!), Meg Foster (brilliant actress and extremely edgy what ever she’s doing) and Brett Halsey (a true character actor, very reliable - even in the Italian horror films he worked in!). But the shining star here is of course Brian Dennehy, a man who actually is far too handsome to play Gacy! He really makes the character come alive and he’s a very, very convincing sexual predator, master manipulator and ruthless killer! There’s so much going on in Dennehy’s eyes here, just look at them - and when they’re turning black, you know someone is in danger.

I’ve read about the case now afterwards, and To Catch a Killer seems fairly faithful to what actually happen. They’ve compressed a couple of characters into fewer, changed a few names and added scenes with Gacy performing at a hospital dressed as Pogo the Clown, his very disturbing kids character. There’s no proof at all he actually did it, it was just something he said, but it ties the two episodes together in a good way and… like always, no matter what you think, when you film something and edit it together it’s always fiction - even documentaries. Smoke and mirrors. It’s needed to tell a story.

It’s a big shame To Catch a Killer hasn’t been re-released on DVD or blu-ray since the old VCI DVD in 1999! This would be a perfect title for Shout Factory, who’s been doing a nice work releasing lots of TV-classics. Or hell yeah, why not Mill Creek, whose level of quality have decreased a lot during the last five or so years. Come on, distribution dudes and dudettes. We need it! Everyone need it! NOW!

You’re Next (Adam Wingard, 2011)

Here’s a movie I’ve noticed for a few years now, and I even have it on my wish list at Amazon...but never felt for buying it. Most people I know who have seen it likes it, and the reviews have been good - but there’s something with home invasion films that bores me. I just don’t feel for watching people get terrorized in their home for a few hours, often ending up killing the intruders after a fight to the death. Sometimes it’s becomes a good film, like Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left and (to a certain degree) Ruggero Deodato’s House at the Edge of the Park. The last one in the genre I saw before this one was the utterly boring and terrible Hate Crime, pointless in both entertainment and as a good thriller or touching drama. Pure dreck. Thank Satan You’re Next isn’t dreck though, it’s won’t change your world - but it’s brings a breeze of fresh air into the genre, mostly because it’s a school example of excellent directing and fine acting.

It’s a family reunion and Crispian (AJ Bowen) and his new young girlfriend Erin (Sharni Vinson) hooks up with the rest of his siblings and parents and their new home in the countryside, a big luxury mansion - something his father, Paul (Rob Moran), now can afford after retiring from a huge weapon manufacturer as chief of public relations. After a slightly awkward family dinner where Crispian gets into a verbal fight with his more successful brother someone attacks the house...and now hell breaks loose. A trio of men wearing animal masks over their faces starts killing them one by one...but soon they meets a very unexpected opponent…

I still have a hard time categorizing this as a typical home invasion movie. I mean, there’s no torture or taking hostages - this is more like Assault on Precinct 13, the baddies outside trying to get in and a bunch of people inside trying to stop them, learning to kill in the process. I could more or less see the celebrated twist coming miles away, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Why? Because this is a damn well-written and acting film with a rare, almost perfect storytelling flow. Many in the cast are filmmakers - directors and producers - themselves, for example Ti West, Joe Swanberg, Larry Fessenden - to name the more famous ones, which make more or less everyone very experienced in more than just acting. The true acting highlight is Barbara Crampton as the super-sensitive, ex-alcoholic (according to Barbara herself in a recent interview) mother, Aubrey, who makes a very touching performance, in perfect chemistry with Rob Moran as her lovingly but sometimes patronising husband.

I really would tell you more about the cast, but to not spoil anything I won’t tell you who impresses me the most - but this person is brilliant in every way possible and in a cool way changes the way we sees characters in film. But enough of that, You’re Next is filled with crazy violence, balancing between absurdity and realism. It’s graphic and fun, but never becomes a horror comedy. This is more like a fun, gory thriller - I can’t find a good movie to compare it with to make it more clear what kind humour it have, but prepare for good laughs and a lot of blood and you won’t be disappointed.

You’re Next survives the hype, that’s the best twist with it all.

Are You in the House Alone? (Walter Grauman, 1978)

Deep inside I’m one of those guys that really don’t want that much from a movie. When all comes around I prefer a good script and maybe a cute guy to look at, but that’s about it. I think we all can agree that Dennis Quaid was a piece of candy as a young man, and if you don’t like the movie itself, he will deliver in pure cuteness. Anyway, that has nothing to do with this TV-movie pretending to be a horror film, because even if Are You Alone In The House? echoes of every thriller from the time it’s actually more a stalking-drama with a little mystery-twist to it. Not bad either, so don’t be afraid.

Kathleen Beller is Gail, a normal schoolgirl who one day starts to get threatening notes, mysterious phone calls and and it all ends with her being raped - and that’s where we begin the story. What follows is an extended flashback telling us what lead up to this… and at the end, also who’s the perpetrator. But in this cold world, still a cold one - it should be noted - it’s up to Gail herself to find and catch the guilty party, because as usual in this sick, sick world, it’s the victim of stalking, especially if it’s a woman, who must blame herself for letting this happening to her!

Yes, Are You Alone In The House? is both a thriller wrapped in a mystery and a big angry letter to those standing on the side of the criminal. It never goes as far as being a revenge film, but if it had been 30 minutes longer we might have seen something like that. Like yesterday’s The Possessed this is a made for TV movie, which means nothing controversial - and this is a movie dealing with rude, nasty written threats and rape! Surprisingly enough, and it’s nice to see a film in this genre that doesn’t feel exploitive, the script is so good and keeps the viewer on the edge of the sofa (or just very comfortable deep down among pillows and snacks) it really doesn’t matter.

This is a quality production and it knows it. I’ve seen some critical comments regarding Kathleen Beller’s performance but I can’t understand that at all. She’s not the typical all-american girl, at least in her looks, which is fantastic. I’m so tired of blondes in peril. She gives some edge to a complex part. Around her is an army of red herrings: is it the nice boyfriend of hers? Or the hunky Dennis Quaid? Or maybe her father who acts weirder and weirder and hides the facts he has no job anymore? Hmm, or does her weird teacher with the strange accent have something to do with the threats?

Maybe the big revelations isn’t that big anyway, but I felt quite surprised and liked how the writer played with our expectations and some cleverly written dialogue. I fully understand you out there who expected something else - I did also - but if you can toss away those expectations and instead go for that “I would love to see a stalker-themed TV-thriller without any kind of nudity and violence”-vibe, you WILL like this movie a lot.

It’s out together on a nice double feature from Shout Factory called TV Terrors, together with the fun The Initiation of Sarah. Also worth watching, by the way.

The Possessed (Jerry Thorpe, 1977)

The Exorcist wasn’t the first bigger mainstream movie about demonic possession, the 1972 Shirley MacLaine feature The Possession of Joel Delaney came first - and it’s also a masterpiece, mixing drama and horror to perfection. The years after meant a lot of similar films, dealing with the occult, with our friend Satan, portals to hell, ghosts, possessions and everything in-between. All semi-serious and with some kind of weird idea that this was something real, something that could happen to us all! The Possessed is a 1977 TV-movie starring James Farentino, PJ Soles and Harrison Ford in an early part (as a teacher, no less!) and surprisingly enough it’s one of the best in the genre, even if it lacks everything that makes an adult horror film. Like always in the wonderful world of TV-movies they had to skip the nudity, profanity and violence and keep it more low key. Usually I think this really sucks, because horror films are here to break borders, but in a few cases it really works - like this one.

It begins with James Farentino, Kevin Leahy - a priest, getting killed in a car crash and gets a message from god telling him to repent his sins by stopping evil in the world. Which is very good for the girls at the certain all-girl school, plagued by mysterious fires. Soon there’s nothing left to do than to call in an exorcist - and Leahy is there to save the day. Or try at least. Because who’s behind the mysterious fires? Is it really a possession, or is one of the girls - or teachers - an arsonist?

The strength with The Possessed is how it’s built like a mystery. Which I guess was the only proper way to do it, because showing too much special effects was probably something they couldn’t do. So that’s why Kevin, in a great performance by Farentino, walks around like a very sad, serious private dick - with a direct connection to god - trying to investigate what the hell (no pun intended) happens in the dark corridors. Harrison Ford makes a damn fine performance, the minutes he’s in the movie, and the rest of the cast is surprisingly realistic and non-corny. The script could easily have been yet another Devil Dog (another fave, but on the opposite side of realism) but amazingly enough someone in the production obviously decided to feet the stupid audience with some quality in-between the advertising breaks.

It would be a lie to say it’s scary, but it’s engaging. You care about what’s happening on the screen, which I rarely do nowadays. And this more or less without any spectacular scenes. Well, its not totally without them - there’s some cool stuff involving fires and when we finally understand who’s behind it all, it’s completely cheese-less. Bravo! The Possessed is without a doubt one of the best made for TV movies I’ve seen, up there with Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Salem’s Lot and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

It’s out on a nice-looking Warner Archive DVD, so if you feel for something good and cozy, this is the movie for you.

Arcade (Albert Pyun, 1993)

There was a time when the only thing more dangerous than pot was virtual reality, and the industry was filled with genre movies declaring the dangers of these horrible, life-changing games. Virtual reality in real life never became a hit (but we finally seem to get closer to that now, which I for one welcome - it sounds like a lot of fun!), but spawned numerous films on the subject. The most famous one must be The Lawnmower Man and eXistenZ, but also underrated films like Virtuosity and Johnny Mnemonic...oh, and lets not forget the film that started it all: Tron. Anyway, along the way came smaller films trying to ride the wave of the hits - one of them is the Charles Band produced Arcade, directed by Albert Pyun and written by David S. Goyer!

A new virtual reality game is ready to be released to a world of teenagers in one month, but the company behind it wants to try it out a little bit more and gives free consoles away to a group of teens (one of them is a douchey Seth Green!). But the game is more sinister than anyone could imagine, and inside is a mad… demon? Monster? Killer? It’s hard to say, but someone wants to kill everyone using the game once and for all! Soon there’s only two teens left (one of them Death Valley’s Peter Billingsley, now with pubic hair) and they need to go further into the game to save their friends from the clutches of whatever is in there!

Shot in 1991, but according to legends the released was delayed and delayed until 1994 - some sources say 1993 - because of the visual effects, the virtual reality sequences. By the time it was released it I guess it slowly had touched a subject that wasn’t in fashion anymore and it faded into obscurity. But let me tell you, this is a vintage Pyun-production - which means it’s a damn fine and professional movie with the trademark cinematography by George Mooradian. Oddly enough it’s Alan Howarth doing the music and not Tony Riparetti, one of Pyun’s oldest and closest co-workers. Arcade also looks very cheap, but small cramped spaces and simple set-ups - but it’s never boring.

I especially like the final, set inside the game - including a Tron-esque chase scene with “Skycycles”. It’s a primitive digital landscape, but it triggers some kind of nostalgia (I hate nostalgia, it should be noted!) for me and I feel for watching every damn VR-movie ever made right now!

I often judge a cheap movie by how long my partner G sits and watches it. And here he actually sat and watched 90 % of it until he became too tired and went to bed. He’s a smart person, he understands budget issues, and didn’t even laugh at the sometimes very simple effects or very cheap set design solutions. He got hooked by the story, he found the cast believable and the movie itself reasonably entertaining. Which kinda says it all, it’s a production made for the DTV market in the nineties, a child of it’s time - and everyone with memories from that time - of virtual reality and early digital effects - will find some kind of sentimental value in it. I can’t say I think it’s the best in the genre, but Pyun always delivers good entertaining for very little money, which for me always gained more respect than anything else in the biz. It might not hold up for a new generation, which is born into a much more advanced level of effects - which is perfectly understandable - but for us “of a certain age”, this is a lot of fun! I almost wish Pyun and Full Moon would revisit this movie and make an "Arcade: Legacy" sometime!

Arcade is out on DVD from 88 Films in the UK, the picture quality looks okay (but a far cry from their blu-ray releases) and it’s not that expensive. So you know what to do.

Body Shot (Dimitri Logothetis, 1994)

Everyone wanted to fuck on screen during the glorious 90’s - in one erotic thriller after another. And if you know me and follow my writing you know that if there’s one genre I really love and never tired to watch, it’s erotic thrillers. Sometimes “erotic” thrillers, but at least they’re trying. Robert Patrick, hot after Terminator 2, threw himself out in the wilderness of quickly produced video fodder and Body Shot is one of around one million similar thrillers from this era. It has several things I consider quality marks of the genre: Los Angeles, clubs, saxophone soundtrack, murders, a random car chase and a couple of absurdly designed sex scenes. Like all good ones in the genre it’s a mix of old ideas trying to seem fresh. The way it should be.

Robert Patrick is Micke Dane, a kinda sleazy and obnoxious paparazzi with an unhealthy obsession with Madonna-esque (80’s Madonna, it must be noted) singer Chelsea (Michelle Johnson). This obsession is so unhealthy he’s actually forbidden to go closer to her than 150 meters - our hero is a little bit of a stalker. Nice. One day, a very shitty day, a strange rich dude (the always awesome Jonathan Banks) contacts him and wants him to take a series of photos of his wife - who happens to be a lookalike of Chelsea. The photo session becomes an steamy, silly, sexual encounter, and the after Strange Rich Dude calls him and wants to take one final photo… but shit hits the fan and soon Mickey is accused of murder!

You know, I can’t stop myself when it comes to films like this. I kinda like the automatically. There’s something very special with LA in the 90’s, the neon, the coldness, the fashion and the music. Body Shot has it all - and more than that. What I really loves with this one is that it shamelessly tries to be a neo noir with a splash of Blow-Up and still cling on to the legacy Basic Instinct gave the world two years earlier. Patrick is an okay lead, even if I still prefer him playing baddies. The supporting actors - for example the above mentioned Blanks and of course Ray Wise are awesome. I really digs Kim Miyori as a tough police inspect who’s quite convinced that Mickey is innocent - while everyone else disagrees with her.

The violence is quite tame - but there’s a graphic and quite fun impaling later on in the story and a couple of squibs, but most of the charm is about the twisty, absurd, silly story - as always in these kind of productions. Body Shot is more about music video aesthetics - even if it comes close to look like a slightly more expensive soft porn production at time - but it doesn’t surprise me. Director Logothetis is also the man behind 1988’s Slaughterhouse Rock, a film who clearly just wants to look good and nothing else.

For us who loves cheesy DTV thrillers from the 90’s this is a must. For the rest, well… watch Transformers 3 or something.

Eyes of a Stranger (Ken Wiederhorn, 1981)

I’ve totally forgotten Eyes of a Stranger existed, until a few weeks ago when it came to me in a flash of ungodly enlightenment. Maybe it’s because it has lived a more low-key life compared to the other slasher films from those magical years of slicing and dicing. And with gory special effects by Tom Savini! How could it happen? I think its because it belongs to those slasher films masked as normal, mainstream thrillers. There’s a few and I’m too lazy to name them, but Eyes of a Strange not only sports a stylish but unimaginative title and a story that fits on the backside of your mother’s dick, it’s also a damn fine and very atmospheric production - a child of its time, with one foot in the traditional b-movie/TV-film swamp and the other stuck in the sleazy, wannabe-slasher hell.

A serial sex killer is roaming the night and one woman after another is killed and sexually abused - probably in that order - and the police have no fucking idea what to do. Jane (Lauren Tewes), a local news reporter, suspects her neighbor, Stanley (John DiSanti, in a very Raymond Burr in Rear Window-esque performance) to be the killer and starts to gather evidence for this. One twist to it all is that Jane have a blind sister, Tracy (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who also gets into danger when Stanley moves closer into who’s stalking him!

Eyes of a Stranger is a small and cheap thriller, very much like a TV-movie. The production set out to make a traditional thriller from the beginning, but when they noticed how other slasher movies around them became gorier and more graphic, they added more gore and blood - which makes it an oddity. Not a bad one either, but hardly original. Wiederhorn could probably made it even more Hitchcockian than it already is, but wisely stays away from remaking Rear Window with a serial killer before its too late. But somehow it feels that was the intention with the film from the beginning. DiSanti is actually quite similar to Burr and he also lives opposite the protagonist who starts her own investigation. James Stewart was a photographer with a broken leg, Lauren Tewes is a reporter with a blind sister - it’s actually more or less the same.

The biggest difference from Rear Window is of course that Eyes of a Stranger delivers a lot of sleaze and violence. Tom Savini uses a lot of old tricks, you can easily recognize them from Dawn of the Dead (a poster that’s also visible in the film), Friday the 13th and hell, even Nightmares - he movie he says he wasn’t involved in. There’s a fun decapitation, some bloody stabbing and slashers, squibs and stuff that makes the heart of a genre fan to beat a little bit extra.

Ken Wiederhorn gives us a fun film with a few shocks and splashes of blood. It’s surprisingly effective considering it’s obscurity and tameness when it comes to the actual story that leads us from one murder to the next, but me - as a fan of cheap living room thrillers - loved every second of it. I mean, it’s +30 degrees celsius outside and I choose to sit inside and watch this film instead - gotta mean something!