Halloween Hotline
Halloween Hotline
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco [Video Troll]
Published in: The Manila Times, October 26, 1987
ART Linkletter will tell you that people are funny And that people do like to scare themselves on occasion as evidenced by their love for politics, rollercoasters and horror movies. Here's a wide selection of spooky titles best rented a few days in advance to avoid the Halloween rush:
FRIDAY THE 13TH: JASON LIVES! — Good grief, will wonders never cease? After being burned to a crisp and chopped into tiny pieces in "F/13: The Final Chapter", that bolo-wielding hulk in a hockey-mask comes back strong from 6-feet-under when a bolt of lightning inadvertently resuscitates him. You just can't keep a good man down, apparently, and this sequel of sequels continues to thrive on more stop-heart action and a great many imaginative ways to mutilate the unsuspecting.
SALEM'S LOT — A recent Warner Bros. re-issue on “studio quality” video cassettes, this movie is as frightening as they come, featuring levitating vampires that hiss and snarl and pop bolt-upright from their graves. But a powerhouse cast that includes the late James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, and a youthful David Soul couldn't salvage an altogether anemic ending between them, making this Stephen King adaptation more tomato than a classic. Really scary before the proverbial nosedive, however, and well worth a few shivers.
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD — Although a title virtually unrated in the shops this absolutely enjoyable comedy-thriller is fantastic Halloween fare, and among the very best horror films I have seen. An accidental leak sends an experimental military gas into the atmosphere, reviving a boneyard full of decayed zombies hungry for brain.
ANDY WARHOL'S DRACULA — An infantile script and a slow, brooding pace notwithstanding Warhol's full-length rejoinder to Bram Stoker’s classic tale of the macabre is fiendish, bawdy and strangely compelling. While art has always been a good excuse for nudity, some decidedly-adult scenes and a torrent of bloodshed may require you to scare the kids into an early retirement before viewing this one with your mate.
THE THING — Director John Carpenter ("Halloween 1 & 2", "Escape From New York", "Big Trouble In Little China") returns to the genre he knows best, armed now with a hefty special-effects budget that enables him to pile it on with monumental prosthetics that have us jumping out of our seats and squealing like pigs. A scientific outpost in the Antarctic wasteland is infiltrated by an alien mutant with an uncanny talent for duplicating its victims. Kurt Russel stars. Carpenter writes, directs and scores. Some people are just plain gifted, I guess.
FROM BEYOND — Still another new-age special-effects gem, this time treading the thin line between madness and the occult. A sadistic genius succeeds in transporting himself into a psychic dimension, giving him unlimited access to superhuman powers and unleashing his quantum libido. Don’t see this one on a loaded stomach lest you give the cleaning-lady nightmares of a different sort. Stars Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree.
IMPULSE — This Meg Tilly — Tim Matheson starrer is more science fiction than horror flick, but its storyline is so bizarre that it managed to scare the pants off me. A small town in the American Midwest suddenly goes berserk, feasting on the impulsive drives of the collective id. Tilly is as delectable as ever, which is more than enough reason to recommend the film to friends.
OTHER RECOMMENDED TITLES: "The Changeling", "Nightmare On Elm Street", "Scanners", "Poltergeist", "Night Of The Scarecrow", "The Howling", "Vamp", "Amityville Horror".
"The Power", "Firestarter", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Incredible Melting Man", "Zombies", "Gothic" and "Werewolf". See also Michael Mann's "The Keep", Stephen King's "Children Of The Corn", Sissy Spacek in Brian De Palma's "Carrie", Bette Davis in Walt Disney's "Watcher In The Woods", Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper in "Don't Go To Sleep!", Michael Caine in "The Hand", Jack Nicholson in "The Shining", Sigourney Weaver in "Alien", Meg Tilly in "One Dark Night", Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Terminator", Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie in "The Hunger", Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" and "Fright Night", Barbara Bach in "The Unseen", and Frank Langella in the new "Dracula". Happy Halloween!
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “Halloween Hotline” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, October 26, 1987
