I remember the release of Chariots of Fire so vividly from my childhood. I also remember how it won multiple awards and that this was like the kiss of death for me. You see, the films I normally watch don't win Oscars, BAFTAs or any kind of mainstream awards. I associate these awards with boring …
I first remember hearing about the film Scanners when home video first appeared on the scene here in the UK. A lot of the businesses with a selection of rentable videos in the early days weren't exclusively video shops. There was a shop near my school called Clockmakers (which is weird as it was a …
Continue reading Meathook Cinema Hall of Fame- Scanners (1981)
I had first heard about the film Burial Ground aka Nights of Terror (1981) years before I actually got to see it for myself. When it was finally released in Britain, it was released in 1987 on Apex Video and was missing a massive 13 minutes. Thankfully I didn't get to see this truncated version …
Continue reading Meathook Cinema Hall of Fame- Burial Ground (1981)
I've wanted to see 1981's The Fan for the longest time and finally, it was shown on TV here in the UK (the channel Talking Pictures is amazing and never disappoints!) Sally Ross (Lauren Bacall) is an actress who is heading a Broadway musical. She is also the target of super-fan and super-stalker Douglas Breen …
John Carpenter's Halloween had been a huge hit at the box office through the word of mouth of people who had seen it and were knocked out by the experience. In fact, the film was so successful that it became the most profitable independent film of all time, a title it held until it was …
Continue reading Halloween 2 (1981)- A Sequel That Is Better Than It Has Any Right To Be
This slasher movie starts in the most obvious seting for a film of this ilk- a campfire! We hear of Madman Marz who was a vile man by all accounts. Abusive to his family until he decides to kill them with an axe. He then casually goes to his local tavern to have a drink …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 28- Madman (1981)
Lauren Tewes stars as Jane, a Miami newsreader who suspects her neighbour of being a murderer who's crimes she reports on with shocking regularity. She lives with her blind deaf-mute sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh's first starring role). This was another example of a film I had been meaning to watch for the longest time (since …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 27- Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
Amy leaves her art class late at night and goes to her car. However, she then finds a man dressed all in black resplendent with a black balaclava and shades waiting for her in her backseat. She gets away but isn't taken seriously by the police when she goes to report the incident. Apparently, the …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 24- No Place To Hide (1981)
A team of Louisiana Army National Guards venture into a local bayou. After getting lost they take three small boats belonging to local Cajuns. When they fire blank bullets at the men the Cajuns return this gesture with real bullets, killing one of the soldiers. From here on in things get worse and worse for …
Mommie Dearest has the wrong kind of reputation. It was conceived as a movie version of Joan Crawford's adopted daughter Christina's tell-all book regarding her upbringing and the years of abuse she endured at the hands of her mother. Instead, it's now synonymous with being 'campy', 'so bad it's good' and as being one of …
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