Frightmare
Another night where I pick a streaming site and pick a random movie to watch. I didn’t know much about Frightmare, but once I saw Jeffrey Combs in it I knew I was watching it.
Photo Credit: Screenwriters
Released: Sep 9, 1983
Runtime: 86 mins
Director: Norman Thaddeus Vane
Writer: Norman Thaddeus Vane
Actors: Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Nita Talbot
PLOT
When an aging horror actor/icon dies, a few of his loyal fans steal his body from his crypt and keep it in their home. This angers the actor, causing him to return from the grave to exact revenge.
MY THOUGHTS
Frightmare doesn’t really have any graphic or overly bloody kills. I have to downgrade because of that. Though I did like the beheading. That was kind of cool. The rest are just Conrad putting his hands to his temple and using mind powers.
The acting is fine. We have Ferdy Mayne (known for Warlock: The Armageddon, Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf, and Night Train to Terror) who plays Conrad Radzoff, the famous horror actor who dies, but does he really? Jeffrey Combs (known for a ton of stuff such as Re-Animator, From Beyond, Cellar Dweller, and Lurking Fear) plays Stu, one of the fans of Radzoff. And Schott Thomson (known for Parasite, Ghoulies, and Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation) plays Bobo, more of the jokester of the fans.
We start Frightmare with Conrad Radzoff shooting a commercial. Only the director doesn’t like how Radzoff is acting and they take a break. Radzoff doesn’t like how the director is acting so pushes him off the balcony to his death.
Next, Radzoff shows up to a college Horror club meeting where the crowd are big fans of Radzoff. He loves the adoration but then passes out because of his heart. We find out from him that he is dying. While in bed he has his wife bring one of his friends to him. Alone with him he kills him and then he dies.
After Radzoff’s funeral a group of the horror club members take his body and party with it one night, then putting it into the attic. Soon after each of the kids are picked off by the re-animated Radzoff.
============================================================
I wanted to take a quick break to let you know I found these great deals on Amazon for Frightmare merchandise. I’ve applied to Amazon’s affiliate program and if I can get three purchases I will be accepted into the program. This will be of tremendous help with starting my small business.
============================================================
Overall, Frightmare is an average 80’s slasher movie, without the graphic kills. It definitely had the 80’s vibe though. So, if you’re bored and want that nostalgic feeling go ahead and watch it.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Jeffrey Combs was cast principally because a brunette was needed to match the prop head made for the decapitation scene.
Nita Talbot, who plays the psychic/medium, also plays in Puppet Master 2 as a parapsychologist.
Nita Talbot demanded that she get a tetanus shot in order to avoid getting any kind of infection during the shooting of the scene in which she gets killed by having a wad of money shoved in her mouth.
While Ferdy Mayne played the villain in the movie, those who worked on the film described him off camera as a dignified, friendly man.
Cinematographer Joel King originally wanted to shoot this film in black and white with the only color being red for blood. King was almost fired during the first week of shooting, because he took too long lighting scenes.
The film scenes which are supposed to show Ferdy Mayne's heyday are actually black and white clips of 'Tempi duri per i vampiri' (1959) which feature Christopher Lee in a relatively early role.
The cremation seen at the end was real.
Check out my other reviews here: Forever Final Girl
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 2/5
Sex/Nudity: .5/5
Scare factor: 2.5/5
Enjoyment factor: 4/5
My Rank: 2.5/5
IMDB: 4./10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: –/10 audience: 2/10
Letterboxd: 2.6/5