#1701 Halloween 2022: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II aka The Haunting of Hamilton High (1987)

Canada produced a number of horror movies in the 80s, many of them mimicking having being shot in USA. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is one of these movies that deserve their place in this blog for a number of reasons. Shot as an independent movie but renamed as a sequel to the 1980 slasher Prom Night after being purchased by Samuel-Goldwyn Company, the movie really makes a good imitation of a an USA movie of the era, looking and feeling as American as an apple pie.

But first and foremostly: it is a solid horror movie in the best tradition of the 80s – and while not the most scariest movie out there, it is definitely one of the most entertaining ones.

The movie plays with many cliches successfully, but really finds its one tone of voice, and never feels tired of forced. The school party night is a great setting for the movie and only gets better with imaginative kills, dancing corpses and the always awesome Michael Ironside as the school principal thrown into the mix, making Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II one hard movie to pass.

80s-o-meter: 96%

Total: 87%

#1700 Halloween 2022: Twice Dead (1988)

Here’s what I’m always looking forward with every movie I put in my VCR to be watched for this blog: a movie that just oozes 80s in some wonderful way.

This definitely holds true with Twice Dead that delivers wonderfully all that 80s goodness a bit in the vein of The Return of the Living Dead, although in a bit less outrageous fashion. The story of a Colorado family moving into a house possessed by ghost of an old is non-sensical, but all that’s besides the point anyway as nobody is here for that: the real entertainment factor of Twice Dead is all in its stereotypes and overall cheesiness.

It’s no The Return of the Living Dead, but those who enjoyed it will likely find themselves right at home the Twice Dead.

80s-o-meter: 91%

Total: 80%

#1699 Halloween 2022: The Oracle (1985)

The Oracle is a movie with an interesting idea – a woman finding an automatic writing device called The Oracle, which she uses to speak with the spirit world. What follows is a complex plot about her being contacted by a murdered man who demands justice for his death that is often hard to follow and doesn’t always make sense.

Production wise the movie is of an ok quality and has some visually captivating elements, notably the haunting hand holding a quill writing words on paper that should have had even more central piece in the movie in my opinion – instead of focusing on a thousand other, less interesting and spooky aspects.

The Oracle takes place during the Christmas season, which adds a nice thematic touch for those in the holiday spirit.

80s-o-meter: 70%

Total: 55%

#1698 Halloween 2022: The American Scream (1988)

Although boasting a poster that fails to look interesting at all, The American Scream turned out to be a real gem of a forgotten 80s comedy horror shlock.

The plot follows a family going on a vacation to an odd little town in the mountains where the locals enjoy killing teenagers and kids that show up. The suspense is enjoyable, and the movie has an interesting array of characters; there’s something quite enjoyable about seeing the adults plotting against the kids in this situation – something that the teenager in me enjoys quite a bit.

The fans of the era will happy to hear the movie is wonderfully 80s in its style (clothing and hair styles included!) and offers some good, goofy fun, coupled with some elements of actual suspense that make watching through the movie a breeze.

80s-o-meter: 96%

Total: 83%

#1697 Halloween 2022: Monster in the Closet (1987)

Taking design cues from the endless stream of monster movies of the 50s, Monster in the Closet is a horror comedy showcasing an extraterrestrial monster living in the shared space that apparently connects every bedroom closet in the world.

Released by Troma in 1987, the movie takes place in the 80s, but with certain 50s small town flair. Similarly to those classic monster movies, the army is paged in to help, only to find out their bullets or missiles do no harm at all.

The concept may sound silly – it is – but Monster in the Closet makes mostly the best out of it. Mostly, because there is still a lot of design choices here that I can agree with and that end up hurting the movie. The silly looking monster is kind of cool as long as it stays in the closet, but loses a lot of its appeal as when exposed to the viewers for far too long time.

80s-o-meter: 57%

Total: 65%

#1696 Halloween 2022: Girls Nite Out aka The Scaremaker (1982)

With Death Screams I mentioned one of the characters being one of the most annoying comic relief ever. In Girls Nite Out it seems almost all of the character are like this: goofing off, cracking jokes and faking to have oh so good time, all the time.

..aand it’s oh so annoying most of the time.

Girls Nite Out is one of those easy to forget slashers that does much by the book in an average or less than average way: unforgettable killer, imaginative deaths, iconic theme song or some other distinctive quality are all missing here.

80s-o-meter: 80%

Total: 35%

#1695 Halloween 2022: Boardinghouse aka Boarding House aka Psycho Killer aka Housegeist (1982)

John Wintergate (with extremely short list of movie credits) wrote, directed and starred in this movie called Boardinghouse, where he gets to walk around in a pair of sloggis, exhibit his naked upper body and seduce multiple beautiful women.

Presented as a worn out film copy, and shot in very low production quality, Boardinhouse looks and feels like a sleazy porn movie, minus the porn.

This is one of those movies that the plot feels like it was improvised on the spot – and I’m not saying this as a compliment. It’s hard to find things to compliment in the movie, but I guess a limited number of people may find the total weirdness of the movie interesting in some level.

80s-o-meter: 40%

Total: 17%

#1694 Halloween 2022: Stepfather 2 (1989)

A sequel to the great 1987 The Stepfather is one of those movies propelled by the success of the original movie, without any original artistic merits in mind.

As a standalone movie Stepfather 2 would be quite an ok thriller, but compared to the first installation it offers so much less of everything. The story now concentrates on one family, when the earlier one managed to muscle in more people and still keep the story interesting, and this is the theme of the movie, a tamed down, VHS sequel of a great original.

The movie offers a good opportunity for the fans of Stepfather to see a little bit more of the same, and Terry O’Quinn is still great and charismatic as the lead. But truth be told, even that fans of the movie would be better off just rewatching the first one.

80s-o-meter: 91%

Total: 72%