31 Days of Halloween- Day 17- Final Exam (1981)

A killer stalks a high school. And thats the plot. This is a cookie cutter slasher film. The only interesting thing about this movie is it's historical value as an atypical sub-genre piece. You get to see the sheer rubbish that was made to generate ticket sales and box office. Movies with no artistic merit …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 15- Dementia 13 (1963)

A movie directed by a young Francis (Ford) Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. A genius plot- One night, while out rowing in the middle of a lake, John Haloran, and his young wife Louise, argue about his rich mother's will. Louise is upset that everything is currently designated to go to charity in the …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 13- Martin (1978)

Martin is by filmmaker George A Romero and was his favourite film from his oeuvre. Martin is a young man who we see travelling by train to Braddock in Pittsburgh to live with his elderly cousin, Tata Cuda who seems convinced that Martin is the latest in a long line of vampires ('the family curse'). …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 12- Island of Terror (1966)

Scientists on an island just off Ireland are close to finding a cure for cancer but accidentally produce 'silicates': tentacled creatures that suck the bone marrow from their victims. This is a British film directed by Terence Fisher who made a lot of films for Hammer. The version that I saw had been restored by Pinewood …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 11- The Funhouse (1981)

A double date decide to investigate a travelling carnival that has just come into town. After strolling around the different attractions they decide to hide overnight in the actual funhouse (like a ghost ride) which is on the grounds of the carnival. This film starts out so well with the carnival and the people who …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 10- Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)

Sunday nights in the late 70's/early 80's here in the UK were great for TV. In my household we'd religiously watch That's Life, a weird hotchpotch of hard hitting investigations into very dark subject matters with lighter fare which was designed to make the audience titter and guffaw (they loved vegetables that just happened to …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 9- Plague of the Zombies (1966)

This has one of the most crazy plots of any Hammer film I've ever seen. I won't give away everything that happens though. A Cornish village is suffering from some sort of plague that is bumping people off at such a rate that the local doctor asks an expert friend to investigate what is happening. …

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31 Days of Halloween- Day 7- Piranha 2- The Spawning

I actually saw this back in the 80's when it was called Piranha 2: Flying Killers. Theres really not much plot except that there is a shoal of piranhas who have wings terrorising a resort. Pulitzer Prize worthy stuff. The lead female character seems to have been based on Stevie Wayne from The Fog if …

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