Indie horror

Haunting Fear

hauntingfear

Haunting Fear (1990)

Victoria Munroe (Brinke Stevens) is haunted by horrible nightmares particularly those involving premature burial. Her husband Terry (Jay Richardson) is more worried about paying off his loan shark and banging his secretary Lisa (Delia Sheppard). Victoria blames Dr. Carlton (Robert Clarke) for the death of her father and is haunted by visions of her dad being buried alive in her dreams. Meanwhile, Terry’s loan shark (played by Robert Quarry) sends his enforcer (Jan-Michael Vincent) posing as a police detective to keep an eye on the house in case Terry tries to skip town without paying.

Dr. Carlton calls in Dr. Julia Harcourt (Karen Black), a paranormal psychologist, to examine Victoria. Using hypnotherapy, she uncovers that Victoria was buried alive by her husband in a previous life. In order to get a hold of her dead father’s money and house, Terry and Lisa decide to use Victoria’s past life trauma to try and scare her into having a heart attack. What they don’t count on is Victoria going completely insane and going on a stabbing binge with a butcher knife.

Well, color me surprised. I wasn’t expecting Haunting Fear to be this good. I have now learned never to underestimate Fred Olen Ray. It’s not my fault though. Have you ever seen Biohazard? The quote from Edgar Allen Poe, the simple opening credits that look like a classic 70s horror film, and Chuck Cirino’s perfectly pretty and haunting score, instantly convinced me this was a different film from the usual Ray insanity. Production values are modest but not rock bottom and the film is cut and shot excellently. There’s as much atmosphere as there is hokey bullshit in the script and things just sort of balance out. To fill in the gaps, there’s sex and even a little gore.

Ray regular Jay Richardson is such a great sleazebag in this movie. I can’t help but like the guy even though he is the scum of the earth. He and the lovely Delia Sheppard have a couple of love scenes that are ridiculously violent. It’s a love scene but oh yeah, they beat the shit out of each other. Karen Black (The Day of the Locust) rocks the Loretta Swit wig and the pink lipstick but she just seems kind of annoyed during her scenes. Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) makes a spirited cameo as a mortician. Jan-Michael Vincent is pretty good in this though he does seem a little out of place. His character has mixed up motivations (to say the least) but he does try to save the day. Alas, it is just too little, too late.

This really is Brinke Stevens’ (Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama) movie. She knocks it out of the park as Victoria, a woman haunted by her dreams and who begins to lose her mind when those dreams start bleeding into the waking world. When she finally goes off the deep end, get the hell out of her way. Once her character comes back from the edge (I’m trying to not to say ‘brink’ here) of death, it is quite a transformation and well worth waiting for. When Stevens is in her crazy makeup, she channels Myrna Fahey in House of Usher but cranks it up a couple of loony notches.

Haunting Fear is a twisted and cruel little horror movie that works because it manages to be equally trashy, horrific, and fun. Instead of rushing through things or being half-assed, Fred Olen Ray puts a great deal of care into the production. There are moments of subtlety and patience to allow Brinke Stevens to do something great with her character and it pays off big time. Is this a cheesy B-movie? Sure. Does it meet the requirements for junky late night cable filler? You know it does! But more importantly, this movie is a prime example of how awesome flicks can seemingly come out of nowhere and, for those of us who love the genre, be our instant classics. I’m already nostalgic for Haunting Fear and I just watched it yesterday.

“What a fortunate turn of events. I think this calls for a hot tub session… of some kind.”

Ghoul School

ghoulschool-1990

Ghoul School (1990)

A couple of criminals sneak into a high school to shake down the janitor for some money he owes them. They accidentally unleash a toxic chemical into the water supply. Two horror movie fans, Steve (played by William Friedman) and Jeff (Scott Gordon), discover that their school’s swim team has been turned into flesh-eating zombies. Just as they are about to make their escape, they realize that the metal band, The Bloodsucking Ghouls, are still in the auditorium, practicing for the school dance. Steve and Jeff make their way back through the zombie-infested school in order to rescue the band.

Holy crap! What an utterly hideous viewing experience! Now just hold on a sec, there’s something important here. If you revel in the extreme mullets, the odious fashions, and the cheesed-out heavy metal of the 1980s then Ghoul School might just be for you. The film is as cheap as they come (but they had squibs!) with performances only a mother could love. Keep your eyes peeled for legitimate cheeseball Ivan Sergei as the worst basketball player on Earth and character actor Richard Bright as Principal Kaplan (my favorite character).

Ghoul School comes to a grinding halt very early on once Joe Franklin and Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling have a scene together. The excuse for the film to feature Franklin is thin enough already (he is the speaker at a pep rally?) without an extended scene of he and Martling shticking it up. What high school student is able to appreciate the subtle comedic styling of Joe Franklin? I’m serious. The jump cuts indicate that this scene between these two jokers was probably even longer than it turned out here and that is some scary shit. Somehow the film recovers.

Elements of Return of the Living Dead and Class of Nuke ‘Em High are liberally borrowed but that’s only part of the problem. The fact that they play the same punk song over many of the gore scenes doesn’t help matters much and EVERYONE’S SHOUTING. However, those of you out there who seek out all this straight-to-video junk, Ghoul School will have its merits. The film has its own dumb energy that keeps right on through until the end but most viewers will walk away wondering why they bothered. Watch at your own risk.

Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!

riverbeast_dvd

Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You! (2012)

When Neil Stewart (Matt Farley), the greatest tutor Rivertown, USA has ever known, returns to town, he has to face many obstacles. You see, after being left at the altar by his fiance Emmaline (Elizabeth M. Peterson) when his claims of seeing the mythical Riverbeast made him the town laughing stock, Neil’s life fell apart. With nearly every citizen openly mocking him at every street corner with the nickname “RB” (that stands for “Riverbeast”, btw) and a shameless muckraking reporter on his heels, duder is really up against it.

But Neil is determined to get his life back. First, he moves in with his best friend, Teddy Hollingsworth (Tom Scalzo), who has been living in near-seclusion since Neil left town and not pursuing his path as a guitar-plucking busker. Next, Neil starts tutoring again as well as trying to get his ex-fiance back (even though she’s engaged to the biggest jerk in all of Rivertown).

Out of pure desperation, Neil hires big game hunter/ladies’ man Ito Hootkins (Jim Farley) to help him capture the Riverbeast and prove to Emmaline and the residents of Rivertown that he is not a crazy kook. When that plan backfires and he gets blamed for a series of murders committed by the Riverbeast (yep, it’s real), things are looking even worse for Neil. But all is not lost. With the help of his fellow tutors and his plucky pupil (and wannabe reporter), Allie Stone (Sharon Scalzo), Neil is going to put an end to all this Riverbeast business once and for all.

When was the last time you spent 99 minutes away from your terrible life with something good? Why don’t you just forget your troubles and give yourself to the happy homemade bafflement of Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You!? I did and look how great I’m doing. I’ve been a huge fan of director Charles Roxburgh, Matt Farley, and company since Freaky Farley and this entry in their oddball canon does not disappoint.

The camerawork lovingly captures the beautiful New England landscape and the writing is genius. All of the dialog is outstanding and characters say some insanely elaborate sentences that are just mind-blowing. There are moments so strange and so droll that I thought I was hallucinating. Who knows, maybe I was. The monster suit is cheesy but also quite impressive and the music is excellent. You’ll be humming “River Party Days” long after you hear it.

If you dig indie horror films in the least, then you need to swing by Rivertown, USA. You’ll be glad you did. Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You! is an eccentric, zany, family friendly (and I mean that as a compliment), and laugh-out-loud funny horror film with a positive message and a gaggle of kooky characters. The film even features one of those warning systems that go off whenever something monster-related is about to occur. The screen will flash red letting you know it’s time to cover your eyes but peek through fingers just a little bit.

“Ah yes, the ever elusive Riverbeast. Half ape, half reptile, half I don’t know what.”

Visit the Shockmarathons site for more!