December 16, 2015

If you’re like me, then you probably live off of a steady diet of Scream Factory Blu-Ray releases on a regular basis. After all, the company has managed to churn out a bevy of well-regarded cult classic horror titles over the course of their 3 year existence and although you may think you’re on top of all of them, the truth is, they’ve put out so many titles at an alarming rate that you’ve probably missed (or completely forgotten about) a few of them!

Just a few days ago, I was scanning the shelves of my movie collection and spotted something that reminded me, “oh right, Scream Factory put that out!” And so, we thought that now, with the holidays fast approaching, was as good a time as any to look over their catalog and point out 5 Scream Factory titles that you may have missed!

DEATH VALLEY

Here’s an odd, unconventional “slasher” pic from 1982 directed by Dick Richards and written by Richard Rothstein (writer of Wes Craven’s ‘INVITATION TO HELL’ and the original ‘BATES MOTEL’ TV pilot with Bud Cort). It features an interesting cast consisting of Peter Billingsley (A CHRISTMAS STORY), Catherine Hicks (CHILD’S PLAY) and hell, even Wilford Brimley (THE THING ’82) as the Sheriff! It’s one of the rare bizarre “slasher” movies that takes place out in the dessert and the killer doesn’t really disguise himself because little Billy knows his identity. It’s more of a thriller with “slasher” tropes than anything but is an interesting feature regardless considering the cast and time period. Trailer below in the playlist!

DEADLY BLESSING

The late, great Wes Craven is one of our true masters of horror. He launched two classic franchises with A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and later SCREAM, but his early career is equally as fascinating as his most well know work. Some might not recall that after the one-two visceral punch of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE HILLS HAVE EYES, he directed DEADLY BLESSING, an oddity that revolves around a neighboring Amish community, a killer and a very young pre-BASIC INSTINCT Sharon Stone. It’s also something of a murder mystery, but it features the early glimpses of his nightmarish scenes that he’d master with ELM STREET. He notoriously was unhappy with the tacked on ending, even though the finale feels more like NIGHTMARE than anything else in the movie, but it’s worth it to see Ernest Borgnine as the head of an Amish family, the always welcome cult fave actor Michael Berryman and some radical suspense sequences with a snake in the bath and a giant spider in the barn. Worth a look!

DEADLY EYES

I love this crazy film! It’s one of the many Scream Factory titles I’d never heard of until this Blu-Ray release and it’s about giant rats terrorizing a city. It has to be seen to be believed, if anything because the many tricks they employ to convince us that there are giant rats running around. And that includes dressing up a bunch of Dachshunds in rat suits. There’s an implied baby death early on and the great Scatman Crothers stars, getting the best opening title credit card while the screen is paused on his face. It’s one of those mean spirited creature features that I just get such a kick out of. Need more convincing? You can fine the Scream Factory “Why We Love It” video in the playlist at the end of this article!

CRAWLSPACE

Klaus Kinski! What more do you need to know? OK, CRAWLSPACE is also from director David Schmoeller who brought us TOURIST TRAP, the original PUPPET MASTER and THE ARRIVAL. Crazy Klaus is watching. Crazy Klaus is waiting. Look, if Klaus was living in your house, you’d be terrified too.

FINAL EXAM

This is the most odd feature to come out of the “slasher” craze of the early 80’s. The killer is just some random dude in denim with no motive, no backstory, no reason. He’s not unstoppable or anything either, he’s just a regular dude with an 80’s mullet. Whom by the way, on the Blu-Ray, you can see quite clearly during the third act. And in that sense, that’s what makes this particular horror flick stand out of this era. Oh, that and the random on campus terrorist attack which turns out to be a joke?! There’s also the film’s amazing “nerd” character Radish, as portrayed by Joel S. Rice, who after this went on to exec-produce a ton of features! Did I already mention the non-descript denim wearing killer? Check out the “Why We Love It” segment in the playlist below.

Notable Mention: DARK ANGEL aka I COME IN PEACE

I have to mention my all-time favorite Dolph Lundgren movie, and one of the best buddy cop movies of the 80’s, even though this came out in 1990 and still has that 80’s action aesthetic, I COME IN PEACE. A drug dealing 7 foot tall alien comes to earth to inject people with heroin and then extract the perfect drug from their endorphins. He also wields a CD like disc as a killer weapon that slits the throats of any one that stands in its way! There’s a space cop hot on his trail, but it’ll take Dolph and his sidekick Smith (the great Brian Benben) to put him down once and for all! I love this movie. And you will too!