Category: 1980s

The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)

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Marvel Comics…  Man, what more can I possibly say about how awesome they are?  Obviously, they know what they are doing with their movies.  Over the past 20 years, Marvel has, for the most part, cranked out great superhero movie after great superhero movie.  Starting with 1998’s Blade all the way up to today’s Thor: Ragnarok, no other movie studio has come close to recreating their source material into a major motion picture.

However, there was about 20 years before the release of Blade that things were pretty lean for Marvel getting their intellectual properties into movies.  So, I’ll be looking at four of these attempts this month.  There’s no better place to start than right here with The Incredible Hulk Returns. Continue reading “The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988)” →

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

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I have a confession to make, and I don’t think when I reveal it, I will be the only one who shares this feeling.

I freaking love Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

For some, that’s heresy.  “A Halloween movie without Michael Myers?!?  No, sir!  I will not have it!”  Well, the truth is, the original movie, a masterpiece that excelled beyond most people’s expectations, was never meant to have an entire franchise centering around lead antagonist Michael Myers.  Really, John Carpenter only wanted to tell his own version of the boogey man.  He and producer Debra Hill did conceive a sequel that would continue the story of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), but when approached by Universal Studios for a third installment, Carpenter said he’d only agree to it if it was not connected to the first two films at all. Continue reading “Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)” →

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

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I’ve covered Leatheface.  Jason Voorhees popped up a couple weeks ago.  Freddy Krueger even haunted our nightmares last week.  Now it’s time to introduce you to Angela.

Who’s Angela?  Well, she was the star of a series of slasher flicks derivative of the original Friday the 13th film.  She first appeared in this week’s feature, Sleepaway Camp.  And in no way do I expect this movie to end with any kind of twist ending whatsoever.

This is the type of movie I fucking loved when I was a kid.  It’s a movie that placed kids in peril.  The majority of the cast are kids of obvious young ages.  I don’t believe any of the kids are meant to be older than 16.  While there are plenty of adults around to be victims, the vast majority of kills are young kids.  Like real young. Continue reading “Sleepaway Camp (1983)” →

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

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This movie sucks.

Let me back up for a moment.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is a bit of a bugaboo for me.  The first three films in the series were pretty great.  You have a legitimate, and terrifying, horror movie that took roots from urban legends about a boogey man who could strike at you in your dreams.  The second, after a critical reevaluation, really turned out to be so much more than just a cheap sequel that New Line Cinema tried to crank out to capitalize on the first.  The third brought back our original survivor Nancy and she sacrificed herself to finally kill our boogey man, Freddy Krueger. Continue reading “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)” →

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

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Happy Friday the 13th, folks.  Even though this occurs a couple times every year, this one is kinda special.  It isn’t just Friday the 13th, but it’s a Friday the 13th in October, the undisputed scariest month on the calendar.  It’s like a double Friday the 13th!  If only it was also a full moon then everyone everywhere would just get murdered by guys in hockey masks, werewolves, Michael Myers, or Irish toy makers.

This is the perfect chance for me to talk about my favorite Jason Voorhees movie – Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Continue reading “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)” →

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most beloved horror movies of the modern era.  It’s full of intensity, actual terrifying moments, and visceral violence that stays with you for years after you watch it.  It came out in 1974 during the golden age of exploitation horror before the genre was essentially taken over by the slasher genre that Halloween gave birth to in the late 70s.

The film also boasts that it has connections to real life events.  Well…  Sort of.  Leatherface was inspired by Ed Gein who was a real life serial killer who did indeed take skin from his victims and started making a skin suit.  There are some minor plot details that also came from the Gein case, but that was all in Wisconsin, not Texas. Continue reading “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)” →

My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)

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So here’s another movie I watched a whole bunch between 1989 and about 1991.

In the late 80s and early 90s, I was hitting puberty pretty much like Mark McGwire would hit dingers – hard and fast.  During this time, I would find movies and TV shows as sources of my adolescent crushes.  I don’t think we need to revisit my damn near stalker-level love of both Alyssa Milano and Phoebe Cates.  I think we’ve covered that quite a bit.  Last week, you learned that I was hot in my britches for Teri Copely.  There were two other ladies that hit the scene in 1989 that I wanted to see whatever I could – Kim Basinger and the cat lady from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Continue reading “My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988)” →

Transylvania Twist (1989)

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So here is a little oddball movie that I was suddenly reminded of one day.

Back in 1989 through about 1991, Transylvania Twist appeared fairly regularly on cable channels like Showtime and the like before appearing on VHS in 1993.  The movie is mostly notable to me for starring Robert Vaughn and Angus Scrimm (also known as the bad guy from Superman III and the Tall Man from the Phantasm series).  However, there were one other member of the cast that really caught the attention of a young me – Teri Copley.  Young me really, really liked blondes in the late 80s and early 90s. Continue reading “Transylvania Twist (1989)” →