May 7th, 2004
With summer looming, the flowers blooming, and the sun shining I think it's probably about as ideal conditions as any for insane lunatics to escape from the mental ward and chop, hack, and terrorize innocent people and their families. I mean, why do it in the cold? I'm sure the hospital and it's staff don't supply their patients with warm jackets and ski pants. Even if they did they probably wouldn't have zippers or anything because the patients "might hurt someone, including themselves" with 'em. So while some may see Spring as the "breeding season", insane killers who just escaped from the 'bin probably see it as the "bleeding season". You know - smell a flower, watch the birds, kill your brother! You never know, it could just happen. It did in these three flicks!
Some decent death scenes, tense action and B-movie thrills abound in what's a nice, fast-paced little flick that manages to (for the most part) successfully rise above it's low-budget and deliver a pretty good way to spend some late night movie watching. Cash Flagg plays a convincing psycho in "Mad Dog" and the picture as a whole has a nice juvenile edge to it making it nothing more or nothing less than great drive-in schlocky fun!
Lots of great, tense moments as well as a few effective and cool death scenes make this sleeper quite the surprise. Often overlooked, Alone In The Dark is a great find (if you can do just that - find it) that more often than not delivers at its attempts at humor and scares. Dig that scene where the "punk rock" daughter drags her family to the punk club to see faux-punk band, The Sick F*cks, dish out their "hit" "Chop Up Your Mother". Go-to horror detective guy Donald Pleasance shows up to try and save the day. Or does he? Rent it and find out!
Julia keeps having horrible nightmares about Mary as both their birthdays are approaching. Meanwhile friends and aquaintences of Julia's are suddenly going missing. Could Julia's nightmares be real? Has Mary escaped to kill off Julia's friends and eventually come after her sister? For the most part this is a by-the-numbers slasher flick but has enough looming dread and effective kills to make this a pleasing, if routine, effort. The demented "birthday party" ending is worth sticking around for and the Mary character rivals Reagan in the Exorcist when it comes to that sheer icky, creepiness factor. Really, the ending is worth it alone. So the next time some strange guy that looks like your weird uncle Larry shows up at the door with an axe, just remember these movies and the possibility that he isn't there to chop wood. Or maybe that funny little gown might give it away... |
The Thrill Killers [1965] is probably director Ray Dennis Steckler's best and most entertaining feature has criminal "Mad Dog" (Cash Flagg - Steckler's pseudonym) teaming up with a gang of escaped loonies, terrorizing rural California and patrons at a nearby diner.
Alone In The Dark [1982] has four mental patients (led by some unusual, yet strangley cool, casting with eventual Oscar winners Jack Palance and Martin Landau) escape from the ward when the power goes out on a storm filled night to terrorize newbie doctor, Dan Potter (Dwight Shultz) and his family.
Madhouse [1984] is mostly notable for being on the UK's video nasty list. Not to be confused with the Vincent Price flick of the same name, it concerns Julia (Trish Everly) and her deformed, institution bound twin sister Mary (Allison Biggers). See pretty Julia doesn't ever go see her sister because ugly little Mary has a little insane jealousy problem - well, more than little. She wouldn't be in an asylum otherwise!