Curtains (1983)

Curtains, released in 1983, is a Canadian slasher film directed by Richard Ciupka and written by Robert Guza Jr. The story focuses on a group of six actresses auditioning for a lead role who become targeted by a masked killer in a remote mansion. Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar) is a film actress who’s had much success in the film industry, but because of her age the director John Striker (John Vernon) is no longer is interested in her work. The film she is presently working is a role of a deranged schizophrenic.  In an attempt of method acting, he admits Samantha into a psychiatric ward to learn how to act as if she were actually deranged. After months of being cooped up in an asylum, Samantha slowly begins to deteriorate as the place takes a heavy toll on her and her sanity. She soon finds out that her director John has been using her as a rouse the entire time and was never interested in her as his lead role.  She finally snaps and escapes the asylum with the intent to murder the other actresses being auditioned at the remote mansion.  She hopes of being the only one left to hire for the leading role. Will she succeed in her devious plans to kill all the other actresses?  Attacking her victim with a sickle and wearing a grotesque hag mask, she acts out in rage against the other actresses auditioning the lead role. Has it been Samantha all along or could it be her mysterious friend she trusts?  In this thrill seeking horror, the murders keep you guessing as to who is committing these acts and with a well done twist of the story line at the end, Curtains is not one to miss. Released by Synapse Films it can be purchased on BluRay or DVD directly from their website or from Amazon.

Castle Freak (1995)

Castle Freak is an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation from the short story “The Outsider”, directed by Stuart Gordon  and released by Full Moon Entertainment. The plot involves a family who inherits a 12^th century mansion in Spain. John Reily (Jeffery Combs), Susan Riley (Barbara Crampton), and Rebecca Reily (Jessica Dollarhide), as their blind daughter, move into the 12^th century mansion. The family is still recovering from a drunken driving accident that killed their son and left the daughter blind. John is a recovering alcoholic and is attempting to win back his families trust. While John combats his own demons, there is something living in the basement. This basement creature is a maniac and eats humans if it isn’t chained to the wall. Strange noises occur throughout the house and the Reily family believes that it’s just the old mansion. The creature becomes loose and wreaks havoc on the mansion murdering guests and leaving John as the prime suspect. John later finds out that the creature in the basement is his brother. His mother locked him in the basement due to her embarrassment of his disfigurement and that his father was not her husband’s. The film is an excellent adaptation to the short story and keeps you in your seat the entire time. It has become one of my favorite films from Full Moon Entertainment. Castle Freak was released recently by Full Moon Entertainment on DVD or BluRay, as well as a UK version on BluRay or DVD by 88 Films. It can be purchased through Amazon on either format and is a must own for any horror fan.

Popcorn (1991)

Popcorn is an American horror film from 1991 directed by Mark Herrier and written by Alan Ormsby. The film revolves around a “Horror-thon” in an abandoned theater, when a mysterious murderer begins killing off the teenagers. The film focuses on a college film student Maggie Butler (Jill Schoelen) who has had recurring dreams about a young girl named Sarah who is being chased by a killer while being stuck in a house fire. Taking notes from her dreams, she plans to make a movie out of her dreams. Recently her mother Suzanne (Dee Wallace), who she lives with, has been receiving strange and threatening phone calls. A friend of the Professor, Toby D’Amato (Tom Villard) a film school student has a plan to throw an all-night “Horror-thon” to raise money for their department. They set up the “Horror-thon” at a now defunct Dreamland theater, an old building that’s about to be demolished in three weeks. Professor Davis (Tony Roberts) head of the film department is concerned about time constraints and has hired an expert on film memorabilia, Dr. Mnesyne (Ray Walston) who chooses the horror props for the festival. While setting up the props, they begin to see a mysterious figure roaming the theater.  The figure turns out to be Toby, who fifteen years-ago was badly burned as a child in a theater, after a showing of a horror movie with his mother, who was killed in the fire.  Now, he still holds a grudge against Suzanne and Maggie for being responsible for his mother’s death. He has deranged thoughts and now plans to exact his revenge on them by re-enacting the film he witnessed with his mother. As he acts out his revenge with murder scenes from the movie, he kidnaps Maggie and Suzanne, eventually finding out that the final cuts of the film end up destroying his plans. The film is thrilling, exciting and has a bit of comedy entwined within the film which made this film a cult classic among many as the film has gone out of print. The film is still very hard to find and expensive to purchase, but for its original plot and ideas coming from the horror culture, this film is a must own for your own horror collection. It still can be found in limited listings on eBay and for purchase on Amazon released by Elite Entertainment on DVD which is now discontinued. A domestic version of the film is planned to be released by Synapse Films on BluRay soon which will make this a well sought release.

The Dead Pit (1989)

The Dead Pit is a thrilling horror directed by Brett Leonard. The film starts with a crazed doctor / serial killer Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer) who performs open brain experiments on his patients, eventually turning them into crazed blood thirsty zombies. Within the confines of the asylum his colleague Dr. Gerald Swan (Jeremy Slate) finds out what he is doing in the cellar with the missing patients and ends up killing him and sealing up the cellar chamber with the patients and him in it, hoping that he can look past the gruesome experiments’ his partner performed within the asylum. Twenty years later the asylum is run by his partner who is a bit more kind on the human psyche, when one day a Jane Doe (Cheryl Lawson) appears complaining that she remembers her memory being removed and nothing else diagnosed with amnesia. Meanwhile during an eruption of earth quakes the seals to the chamber break open releasing the angry spirit of Dr. Ramzi and the zombie patients onto the unsuspecting new patients within the state institute. With Jane Doe’s acquaintance at the hospital Christian Meyers (Stephen Foster) they fight the relentless army of zombies finding their weakness and entombing them back to where they came from. The Dead Pit is a fun Horror/Thriller with many convincing actors and well done effects, this blast from the past is a must see. The Dead Pit is now available on DVD.