Horrible movies abound this summer
Editor's note: Summertime is
horrortime this time around.
Calendar Clerk Bob Webb
went on a horror-day weekend
tour and lived to tell the tale.
The following is his account of
available horrors in
Eugene/ Springfield.
Intent counts for much in the
making, promoting and view
ing of a horror movie. Some
films go straight for the gut (so
to speak), while others reach
for loftier ideas such as man’s
inhumanity to man, the mon
ster in us all, etc. Criticism of
any sort should always be
measured against intent.
For instance, two of the films
currently playing in town,
Friday the 13th, Part II and
Happy Birthday to Me, don’t
seem to be concerned with
much more than amassing a
series of messy, grotesque
deaths (that they’re also
interested in your pocketbook
should go without saying).
One of the main attractions of
these two films is how bizarre
and believable can they make
their murders without going so
far as to obtain the deadly (as
far as the box office is con
cerned) X rating for excessive
gore and violence.
These films, after all, are
made for young folks who ba
sically are out for the thrill of a
good scare and who don't
mind a little gore thrown in as
long as it doesn’t make them
lose their Milk Duds.
Both films are low budget
would-be shockers with little
known (read: low-salaried) ac
tors. Oh, the first film does
feature Betsy Palmer and the
second has Glen Ford, but the
latter has little more to do than
look fatherly and compassion
ate while the former has only
to grin menacingly before
completely losing her head (as
it were) in a flash-back to
Friday the 13th, Part I which
came out last summer.
Of the two, Friday decidedly
has the more effective special
effects people; it also man
ages to sustain some, if not all
of its builds to satisfying ends.
Its makers seem to have a
pretty good sense of suspense
and enough taste for the right
amount of follow through.
The plots in such films don’t
really matter much, but for
what it’s worth: Friday con
cerns a group of young camp
counselors who return to a
lake which has been closed off
for five years due to another
group of young camp coun
selors who were killed by a
machete-bow-and-arrow-axe
wielding maniac (see Part I if
you're really interested). The
maniac's son, who has been
hanging out in the woods all
this time living on nuts, ber
This movie is worthless by
almost any measure. The ef
fects are poorly done, the
camera work is shoddy, the
builds don't build, and the plot
has more holes in it than the
film’s victims. This film is so
laughable and silly, it's more to
be pitied than censored.
On the upward swing are
two other films now in town:
The Howling and The Fan.
doesn't use any fades or dou
ble exposures, everything we
see happening on film is ac
tually happening while the
camera is rolling, and the
sound effects of bones snap
ping and grinding while
realigning themselves is an
inspired touch.
The film's problems are es
sentially three-fold, there are
too many in-jokes and genre
1
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
ries, and various small an
imals, discovers members of
this most recent group invad
ing his personal space and
begins killing them off with
machetes, ropes, spears,
knives and an ice pick. That’s
it folks.
Birthday is about a young
girl who has had an exper
ience so terrifying (we are lead
to believe) that she can’t even
remember it. While she’s trying
to do so, almost all of her
school friends get strangled,
slashed, skewered (remember
the shish kabob ad?), and
squashed.
The Howling is about an
Esalen-type institute where
people are allowed, even en
couraged, to let out "the an
imal within us." It just so hap
pens that the majority of these
animals are werewolves —
which is not really so surpris
ing, as the resident
werewolves keep biting visi
tors, thereby transforming
them into werewolves as well.
The film has a few good scares
and contains one of the most
visually and aurally amazing
transformation scenes I've
ever crunched popcorn
through. This sequence
puns to keep any sort of su
spenseful momentum going
The story gives passing nods
to several interesting ideas,
but fails to do anything with
them. And it’s too studied. Like
Brian de Palma’s film Obses
sion, it has all of the elements
of the genre and even throws
in a few new additions, but it
lacks any sort of real fire. The
Howling’s style and sense of
class (which are substantial
and do much to make the film
work on that level) completely
overpower its punch.
If you’re looking for a most
interesting cross section of the
genre on one bill of fare, The
Howling, as of this writing, is
playing at the North End
Drive-In on a double bill with
The Texas Chainsaw Mas
sacre. This latter film is a low
budget cheapy which,
because of what director Tobe
Hooper did with almost noth
ing but a few friends and a
desire to scare, is considered
one of the classics of the field
It’s not a film I would recom
mend to anyone, but if you’re
interested in viewing a cin
ematic exercise in sheer
relentless terror which builds
almost constantly from its
ghoulish opening to its violent
ending, this is the movie for
you.
Another effective film in
town is The Fan. It deals with a
deranged young man whose
life is wrapped up totally in his
disturbed obsession with an
actress (Lauren Bacall). The
film presents a certain intel
ligence and a chilling logic as
the young man goes deeper
into his madness and
becomes more and more bold
in his attempts to get rid of the
people surrounding and
protecting the actress. It gives
us characters we can believe
and a plot progression we can
accept. Even its violent
moments are tasteful as they
often rely more on sound
effects than visual gore. It’s
also nice to see a maniac
movie that actually spends
more time building up its
characters than it does killing
them off.
As if these films weren't en
ough, other goodies to watch
out for this summer are: the
probable return on the drive-in
circuit of The Hand (a quite
effective psychological
shocker starring Michael
Caine at his frightening best),
The Wolfen (more growling
from the children of the night),
Fear No Evil (about the
cleansing of the earth’s evils
and the destruction of Lucifer
no less), The City of the Living
Dead (by Italy’s Master of Ter
ror Lucio Fulci, who also dir
ected last summer’s Zombie,
one of the most gruesome
films I’ve ever seen) and The
Hearse (in which a woman is
menaced by a mad 1953
Packard).
Happy horrors!
Story by Bob Webb
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