Pumpkinhead (1988)

A bereaved farmer enlists the aid of a terrifying demon to help avenge his son's death in this stylish horror movie that contains a strong moral. It all begins as gentle widowed farmer/general store owner Ed's beloved 10-year-old son is involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident with an careless unknown motorcyclist. Ed nearly goes berserk with grief and to bring back his son heads to the cabin of a wise old witch to see if she can rejuvenate the youth. Unfortunately, it is beyond her considerable powers so Ed, now equally desperate for revenge, invokes the legendary Pumpkinhead, a terrifying demon with the power to make the biker pay. One by one, Pumpkinhead dispatches the terrified cyclist and his friends, leaving Ed to reconsider his rashness. He tries to call the demon back, but by then it is far too late.... The film is the directorial debut of Oscar-winning special effects wizard Stan Winston.

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Review By Josh Ralske

 Pumpkinhead, the directorial debut of special effects wizard Stan Winston, is a routine horror film. It opens well, establishing a touching father/son relationship between Ed Harley (horror movie stalwart Lance Henriksen) and his little son Billy (Matthew Hurley). Then along comes a careless and rude group of fresh-faced, dirt bike-riding post-teens, and things get fairly predictable from that point. The swampy rural setting is used to nice effect, and Henriksen, as usual, does solid work, but none of the other actors make much of an impression (not even Mayim Bialik [TV's Blossom] in a small role as a hillbilly kid). The unruly kids being picked off, one by one, by a monster from the depths of hell is a motif that had already been seen before, countless times, in the string of knockoff slasher movies that followed Halloween. Pumpkinhead (Tom Woodruff Jr. wearing the suit), the creature itself, is less scary then it should be. Rather than creating something creepy and homespun like the backwoods witch who summons the demon, Winston opted for something far too otherworldly, and too evocative of the monsters in Aliens (for which Winston did the makeup effects). Some kind of shambling hick monster would have been more appropriate for a demon spawned from a backwoods cemetery, more believable, and, in the end, scarier than the invincible high-tech superbeing that wreaks havoc in Pumpkinhead.

Graveyard Disturbance (1987)

Five young robbers spend a whole night in a dark catacomb to win a priceless treasure. They will have to fight against lots of ferocious zombies and vampires. At the end they will meet the Death in person!

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Near Dark (1987)

In Kathryn Bigelow's tale of vampires in the American Southwest, the creatures of the night aren't elegant, cloaked aristocrats. They're a gun-toting gang that dresses and acts like a motorcycle gang. Caleb (Adrian Pasdar), a restless young man from a small farm town, meets an alluring drifter named Mae (Jenny Wright). She reveals herself to be a vampire, who "turns" Caleb into one of her kind rather than kill him. But the rest of her "family" is slow to accept the newcomer. The ancient leader, Jesse (Lance Henriksen), and his psychotic henchman Severen (Bill Paxton) lay down the law; Caleb has to carry his own weight or die. However, he can't bring himself to kill. He manages to win the gang's approval when he rescues them from certain death in a daytime gunfight during a spectacular motel shoot-out in which every bullet hole lets in a deadly ray of sunlight. When the vampires threaten Caleb's real family, he's forced to choose between life and death. The film avoids the complex vampire mythology of such films as Interview with the Vampire. Instead, it emphasizes the intense, seductive bond that forms between Caleb and the violent but tightly knit gang. Bigelow would later utilize this powerful dramatic device in her 1991 film Point Break.

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Review By Lucia Bozzola

Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (1987) crosses the Western with the horror film in one of the most intriguing and smartly scripted films in the vampire subgenre (although the "v" word is never spoken). While the velvety shadows and expressive lighting effects enhance the eeriness of the undead drifters' night world, Bigelow's keen visual sensibility is also displayed in her stylish Western landscapes; the romance between Caleb and Mae may be gothic, but it's Southern-Western Gothic. In this hybrid atmosphere, the complex relationships among the vampire "family" shift sympathies away from the usual human "heroes," even as the deliberately paced story is shot through with violently frightening and blackly humorous scenes of vampire mayhem. The charismatic crew's hedonistic world has its seductions, even if former human Caleb cannot adopt the lifestyle. As vampire initiate Caleb becomes increasingly strung-out from avoiding blood, and the specter of blood exchange invokes death, Near Dark becomes a timely allegory of disease and drug addiction as well as a tale about broken families and Western isolation. Though not a hit in 1987, Near Dark has become a cult favorite and one of the most highly regarded films in Bigelow's genre-twisting oeuvre.

Demons (1985)

Italian horror auteur Dario Argento produced and co-wrote (with director Lamberto Bava) this gory, nightmarish horror film set almost entirely within the "Metropol," a huge, cathedral-like Berlin cinema showing an invitation-only screening of a rather lame slasher film. The difference, of course, is that the cheap scares on the Metropol's screen are child's play compared to the horrors which soon emerge to lay hold of the unsuspecting filmgoers: when a young woman is scratched by part of a display in the theatre lobby, she begins to mutate into a fanged, slavering creature who then attacks other audience members, spreading the demonic infection until only a handful of survivors are forced to combat rampaging armies of inhuman beasts, making the latter portion of the film resemble Night of the Living Dead. A handful of sequels followed; there's a little "reward" for those who stick around for the end credits.

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Review By Patrick Legare

Demons is a cult classic among gore fans in spite of its somewhat senseless story line. Perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that it took four writers to create the screenplay. Lamberto Bava, the son of Italian filmmaking great Mario Bava, shows none of his father's style or suspense in making a splatter film that is strictly about the splatter. Claws and fangs slash through flesh. Fingers are bitten off. Innocent humans transform into slime-spewing demons. There are scalpings, slashings, beheadings, impalings, and disembowelings -- all up on the screen for your viewing pleasure. There's also plenty of bad acting and howlingly funny dialogue. "Because of that scratch, she became a demon, an instrument of evil," a Shaft-lookalike comically proclaims. The paper-thin story is set in a movie theater whose patrons find themselves trapped inside with a plethora of demons. As each person is attacked, they too transform into the creatures from Hell. While producer/co-screenwriter Dario Argento's influence on this mess is obvious (particularly the hard rock soundtrack that includes tunes by Mötley Crüe, Billy Idol, and others), a bigger inspiration would appear to be George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. That horror classic also featured extreme gore, a familiar public setting (a shopping mall), and similar action sequences (an indoor dirt-bike ride to kill the ghouls). Just one problem: Demons has absolutely no logic to its madness. The special makeup effects by Sergio Stivaletti are suitably sick and get plenty of screen time with the highlight being a spectacular back-bursting scene in which a demon pops right out of a young woman. 

Ghoulies (1985)

Joe Dante's box-office fantasy Gremlins had barely left American cinemas before Charles Band's B-movie factory, Empire Pictures, rushed out this cheap knockoff. While Dante's film benefited from the director's wry sense of humor and the high-concept clout of executive producer Steven Spielberg, Band's tawdry little creature feature boasts lower production values than a high-school haunted-house fundraiser. The title monsters are a pack of obnoxious demons -- enacted by a handful of rubber dolls covered with KY jelly -- summoned up by the metaphysical shenanigans of college student Jonathan Graves (Peter Liapis) after he discovers his late father's occult paraphernalia at the family estate. Jonathan later invites a group of annoying friends to participate in an all-night party, during which he intends to perform an elaborate parlor trick -- actually a satanic ritual through which he hopes to acquire his father's supernatural powers. This doesn't sit well with Dad, who bursts violently from his grave (a nice touch) to have a chat with his wayward son while legions of ghoulies (well, four or five, anyway) descend upon the revelers. Considering the entire production revolves around the antics of the ghoulies themselves, the alleged puppetry involved is laughable -- the inarticulate puppets do little more than open drooling mouths full of pointy teeth before offscreen stagehands fling them at the heads of cast members. The film's main points of interest lie with the supporting cast, which includes Bobbi Bresee as a supernatural seductress (sporting an eight-foot tongue!) and Eraserhead's John Nance as a bizarre gardener. Somehow, this became one of Empire's top moneymakers, spawning no less than three sequels.

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Poltergeist (1982)

With Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hopper, Steven Spielberg had his first great success as a producer. Released around the same time as Spielberg's E.T., the film presents the dark side of Spielberg's California suburban track homes. The film centers on the Freeling family, a typical middle class family living in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates. The father, Steve (Craig T. Nelson), has fallen asleep in front of the television, and the dog saunters around the house revealing the other family members -- Steve's wife Diane (JoBeth Williams), sixteen-year-old daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old son Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke). Soon strange things begin to happen around the house; the pet canary dies, mysterious storms occur, and Carol Ann is summoned to the TV set, where a strange shaft of green light hits her and causes the room to shake ("They're he-e-ere!"). As curious events continue, Carol Ann is repeatedly drawn to the television, where she begins to talk to "the TV people." Soon Carol Ann is sucked into a closet, disappearing from this reality plane. Unable to find his daughter, Steve consults Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), a para-psychologist from a nearby college. Lesh finds that paranormal phenomena is so strong in the Freelong household she is unable to deal with it and sends for clairvoyant and professional exorcist Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) to examine the house in hopes of finding Carol Ann. Tangina makes a horrifying discovery: Carol Ann is alive and in the house, but is being held on another spectral plane.

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Review By Brendon Hanley

Though directed by Tobe Hooper, Poltergeist is most often thought of as a Steven Spielberg movie, with all of the hallmarks of a Spielberg film: impressive effects, snappy pacing, and a child-like sense of wonder and horror. At the time, the director was juggling the haunted-house project with the more personal E.T., and cult horror director Hooper was called in to helm. Legend has it that Spielberg had his fingers in just about every decision, and even directed some of the scenes himself, leaving the job's technical aspects to Hooper. Spielberg would eventually be credited as co-producer and co-screenwriter. Poltergeist is clearly more akin to Spielberg's E.T. or Close Encounters of the Third Kind than to Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Eaten Alive. It's a very engaging film, thanks to Jo Beth Williams's solid performance and the slick, chilling effects by Industrial Light and Magic.

The Evil Dead (1983)

This auspicious feature debut from Sam Raimi -- shot on 16mm in the woods of Tennesse for around $350,000 -- secured the young director's cult status as a creative force to be reckoned with. The nominal plot involves five vacationing college kids -- Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), and their classmates Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Scott (Hal Delrich) and Shelly (Sarah York) -- making an unplanned stopover in an abandoned mountain cabin surrounded by impenetrable woods. Before settling in for the night, they come across an ancient-looking occult tome filled with dense hieroglyphics and macabre illustrations, a dagger fashioned from human bones, and a reel-to-reel tape recorder. The taped message, dictated by a professor of archaeology, describes the contents of the Sumerian "Book of the Dead," filled with incantations used to bring otherworldly demons to life, giving them license to possess the living. The message goes on to explain that those possessed by these demons can only be stopped by total bodily dismemberment. When played among the group later that evening, the professor's recorded translations of the ritual chants traumatize the strangely prescient Shelly ... and simultaneously release an ominous presence from the depths of the forest. The evil spirits take to their dirty work with gusto, first assuming control of Shelly and transforming her into a cackling, murderous hag with superhuman strength; the others imprison her in the fruit cellar and chain the trapdoor shut. The spirits then begin to possess the other women, including Linda -- who immediately turns on Ash with a barrage of punches and sadistic taunts. Unable to bring himself to chop up his lover's corpse, Ash gives her a more customary burial in the woods -- which proves to be a big mistake. As the others succumb to demonic influence, Ash's horrific predicament becomes increasingly grim until, when all hope seems lost, he stumbles upon a final, desperate solution to the ghoulish onslaught ... well, maybe not. Despite the shoestring production values, Raimi has fashioned a tight, lightning-paced fever dream of a movie, filled with operatic overacting and outrageously gory effects that give the project a comic-book feel. Based on an earlier 8mm short titled Within the Woods, this feature version was fraught with distribution difficulties before finding its first audience overseas. After considerable word of mouth (and a glowing endorsement from horror author Stephen King), the film became a hit on home video, where it achieved further notoriety thanks to its highly-publicized banning in Britain amid the notorious "Video Nasties" censorship campaign. Raimi, along with producer Robert Tapert, writer Scott Spiegel and much of the same crew, cranked up the story's comic aspects several dozen notches for the rollicking semi-remake, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.

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Review By Robert Firsching

A very well-done debut by young Sam Raimi, this is (unlike its jokey sequels) a serious-minded horror film that has fright as its main concern. Five college kids go to a remote cabin, where they find a book and a tape which contain incantations to summon demons. One by one they are possessed by the malevolent evil in and around the cabin, with bloody results. Pencils are stabbed through ankles, body parts are severed, and a woman is raped by an evil tree. The best scenes involve the chilling initial possession during a card game and the attempts by the hideously demonic Ellen Sandweiss to convince star Bruce Campbell to free her from the cellar where she's been locked. Fast-paced and filled with some amazing camerawork, (though the special effects aren't very special and give away the budget) it is a remarkably kinetic film, full of the energy that only independent filmmakers can seem to muster, and has more than its share of scares and chills.