WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
It seems that this spook-tacular month is turning into a tribute to directors that found their way on to the video nasties list, Tobe Hooper being one to have only a few in comparison to others but more on that later. What I like about Hooper is that he doesn’t just stick with one sub-genre of horror. As you will see he turns his hands to not only the slasher but also sci-fi and paranormal horror.
Lifeforce
In the beginning, I was expecting this to end up being a little more like Alien, especially when they found the bats. Instead, it turned out they were bringing other humans back with them…or so they thought! However, this is just a sci-fi take on your typical vampire story, especially as it is based on the novel The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson – only instead of sucking blood, they drain the energy of their victims. It’s very rare that nudity is an issue in horror films and what I found rather funny was the fact that the majority of the time the Space Girl (yeah, she doesn’t have an actual character name) when we first see her in, what I assume was a prison, is just walking around and they have no issue in showing her nipples but when they move her on to the ship, the strap is strategically placed to hide them. It’s very rare that special effects from the 80s hold up nowadays but MY GOD! when those who have their force stolen reanimate – it looks almost realistic.
Poltergeist
I’ll be honest, it’s hard to watch this film without feeling a little bit sad as both Heather O’Rourke, who plays Carol Anne, and Dominique Dunne, who plays Dana, are no longer with us. It is their deaths that have caused this film to be deemed as cursed. I’m not going to go into detail about either because we’re here to talk about the film but if you do look into it, both stories are pretty heartbreaking. Now, of course you can’t talk about this film and not mention the iconic swimming pool scene with the skeletons. Fun fact – they’re real and the terror on the faces of the Freeling family is also genuine. Interesting thing is that Hooper made this decision based on costs of production. I guess a lot of that went on the technology used to create the spirits leaving the television set and the creature that bursts out of the wardrobe towards the end of the film. I wonder if it would be considered as a trope, Hooper’s use of the Indian burial ground. I love the innocence of Carol Anne’s character – the fact that she refers to whatever has come through as the TV people. What I think is clever about this film is that it doesn’t just hit the audience with the fear of something from another plane attacking the Freeling family but also for many people I can imagine it triggered that fear of losing a child! Especially when they are faced with the moment of having to choose between Carol Anne and Robbie.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1 and 2
It is crazy to think that the first of these two films was originally a video nasty and was unable to be released uncut until 1999 – 7 years after the release of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2! The other interesting fact about these films is that it is believed that Leatherface, the main antagonist of the Texas Chainsaw franchise was actually based on Ed Gein, the Butcher of Plainfield. Outside of the incident with the hitchhiker, the first film does start out quite mundane as the real violence doesn’t start until 40 minutes in but even then it’s not the same blood and guts as maybe fans of modern horror would expect because there’s actually no blood at all when Leatherface kills.
Set 13 years after the first, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is more of a revenge horror than a slasher like the original film. Dennis Hopper’s character deliberately goes looking for Leatherface and his family in order to avenge his niece and nephew. There’s a clear difference in feel between the two films, especially as there is more gore from the outset than in the original film. From my understanding, Chop-Top is the hitchhiker from the first film so I wondered why they decided to change the actor as not much would be different about him in 13 years. Turns out, Chop-Top is actually the hitchhiker’s twin brother. With the characters of Grandpa, Leatherface, the Cook (known by his actual name of Drayton in the second film) and Chop-Top seeming to be this disturbing cannibal family, I wonder if the Firefly family created by Rob Zombie was at all inspired by them.
The Funhouse
This film is one of three “video-nasties” mentioned earlier attributed to Tobe Hooper, along with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre above and Eaten Alive. I don’t know if this was on purpose but the scene where Joey attacks his older sister in the shower, it reminded me of the iconic scene from Psycho…even down to the close up of Amy screaming. The fact that her little brother is a horror-fan, it was more than likely deliberate. This will sound really silly, but the dolls that featured during the opening credits, I was a little freaked by out but then I’ve mentioned before, I do not like dolls! Following this however, the film felt rather tame to me until about 50 minutes in. Even then I would not describe this film as scary as such, but the death of the fortune teller was made a little creepy by those same doll starting to laugh as she’s strangled. What’s great about this film is that once the Frankenstein’s Monster mask comes off, the reveal of Gunther’s face is definitely unexpected! The one thing I cannot understand is how this film made the video nasty list as well as scenes being changed for TV? There’s very little nudity, let alone violence.
Invaders from Mars
Here’s something I didn’t realise about this film and that is that it’s a remake of a 1953 film by William Cameron Menzies. This film starts off feeling like an Invasion of the Body Snatchers or even The Faculty style of film – with the behavioural changes of the people in David Gardner’s life, including his parents. This is the only alien invasion film that I have seen that explains the Martian invasion on Earth as a pre-emptive strike from the aliens instead of us having to fight back against them. We all know I love my easter eggs, and this film has another one. A little like John Carpenter’s Halloween showing The Thing that Came From Outer Space as one of the horror flicks Tommy is watching, this film shows Lifeforce which we discussed earlier in this article. I would say that this film is possibly closer to the thriller side than horror, especially in comparison to Lifeforce as they are a similar genre, however this film just didn’t have that fear element as the former. What confused me a little bit was whether the implants in the humans were some sort of technology or smaller aliens that infected them. I also had higher hopes for what I guess you would call the battle scenes but then I think I may have been spoilt by films that have come after this.
