Amongst the slew of Stephen King film adaptations that were released in the 80s was the film version of his fantastic 1981 novel, Cujo. Cujo is the St Bernard dog who is bit by a rabid bat whilst he chases a rabbit. Slowly but surely he transforms from a loveable family dog into a slobbering, …
One of the best things about Yorkshire Television, when I was growing up, was the eclectic fare that made up their schedules. At night they showed the most wonderful and unexpected films you could ever imagine. They also showed films you had never heard of before that were either unavailable on video because of some …
Continue reading Meathook Cinema Hall of Fame- Slithis (1978)
I had heard so much about the original of Black Christmas from 1974 by the time I finally got to see it. Its reputation as being the main film that inspired the slasher movie sub-genre pre-Halloween was well established, with horror fans salivating over it and singing its praises to the heavens. 'Let's see how …
Continue reading The Gift That Keeps On Giving- What Makes Black Christmas So Darn Scary?
Gail Osborne is a 16 year old who starts dating Steve Pastorinis who goes to the same school as her. It's also around this time that she starts to receive abusive notes stuck in the grills of her school locker and also abusive telephone calls. For a film, let alone a TV movie to deal …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 31- Are You In The House Alone? (1978)
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)
We see the soon to be wed Madeleine and Neil being driven by horse drawn carriage to the house of plantation owner Charles Beaumont. They pass by a man named Murder (a red flag) Legendre played by the one and only Bela Lugosi. His evil face is another red flag. This isn't a good man …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 26- White Zombie (1932)
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 pretty faithful account of The Hillside Stranglers starring Dennis Farina as Angelo Buono and Billy Zane as Kenneth Bianchi. Richard Crenna is cop Bob Grogan who is hunting them. This made for TV movie is based on the book Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers By Darcy O'Brien. I love TV movies based …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 23- The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989)
The opening scene of this opus shows us what could almost be a kind of commercial of a windsurfer doing his thing on the water. However, suddenly he is attacked and killed by a shark. Following this, successful horror novelist Peter Benton teams up with wizened shark hunter Ron Hamer to try and find and …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 21- The Last Shark (1981)
Janice Starlin sees that the sales of her cosmetics company are slumping as her customers see that she appears to be (shock horror) getting older (!) Dr Eric Zinthrop, a scientist, finds that he has been able to extract chemicals from royal jelly that can reverse the ageing process. Starlin agrees to become a human …
Continue reading 31 Days of Halloween- Day 13- The Wasp Woman (1959)
Meathook Cinema 