Forgotten 80’s Horror Films

Film Scene Investigation

Join me as I take a deep dive and explore some of the most underrated and forgotten horror films from the 1980s.  Movies Showcased: Just Before Dawn (1981) The Prowler (1981) Stage Fright (1987) Evil Dead Trap (1988) House 3: The Horror Show (1989)  Thanks for watching and please subscribe.  New content dropping every week.   #movierating #horrormovies #horror   For Exclusive Content: https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation  Rumble: https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee: https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e  Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation  Help Support Me At:  https://www.PayPal.me/beaucarter91

Transcript

00:00Hey everyone, it's me Beau, back on the Film Scene Investigation channel, hope you're all

00:15doing well. In today's video, I'm going to be taking a look at some forgotten horror films

00:23from the 1980s. Now throughout the years, there have been some brilliant horror films

00:29released, and arguably the genre's most successful period was the 1980s. Today, I'm going to be

00:38looking at some forgotten and underrated movies from that period that deserve more recognition.

00:47Now before I begin, I should remind everyone that this video is anecdotal, you know, it's

00:54based on my perspective as a horror fan. Many of you guys watching today may have already

01:03seen some of these films that I'm going to be showcasing, and if that's the case, please

01:09let me know your thoughts and memories in the comments section below. And just before we

01:14get into it guys, if you haven't already, please do consider subscribing to the channel. All

01:20the support is greatly appreciated. So, let's begin with the 1981 slasher, Just Before Dawn.

01:31Now this was a low-budget production that was directed by Jeff Lieberman, and was scored by

01:38the very talented Brad Vidal. You know, growing up, I was a big horror fan. It was the first genre

01:46that really caught my attention and pulled me into the world of cinema. And particularly,

01:54I loved slasher films, from Halloween to Friday the 13th. You know, there were a lot of slasher

02:02movies out there, and I certainly seen quite a lot of them. But when it comes to this movie,

02:08Just Before Dawn had escaped me. This was a movie that caught me by surprise. I only recently

02:15watched it, maybe about a year ago, and I'm very thankful that someone online recommended

02:23it to me, because I think this is a movie that definitely deserves more attention.

02:30So the film focused on a group of young adults as they travelled up the mountains on a camping

02:37trip. As you can imagine, they were all happy-go-lucky, you know, enjoying life. And, well, you know,

02:45what could go wrong? But on their journey, travelling through the narrow woodland, little did they

02:52know that they were being followed. They set up camp, thinking everything was fine and dandy,

02:59but soon enough, the guys started to get picked off one by one in brutal fashion. As the film

03:07continued, we discovered that there was more than just one person responsible for these murders.

03:14In fact, it turned out that there were two killers, two brothers, in fact, who were on this murderous

03:21rampage. They belonged to a family living in the woods, away from everybody else, completely isolated.

03:30So when they saw this, you know, group of teens coming up on this camping trip, they assumed that

03:36they were a threat and decided to take action. Now, the movie has been compared to the iconic horror

03:45film, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And I think that was due to the kind of the family connection,

03:52you know, kind of both stories featuring this kind of weirdo family. And yeah, I mean, it makes sense.

03:59I could see that. But to be very honest, I wouldn't consider this a Texas Chainsaw Massacre ripoff.

04:08If anything, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre heavily influenced just before dawn. Sometimes when it

04:16comes to legendary, classic, iconic horror films, you then get quite a lot of, you know, ripoffs.

04:25But when it comes to this movie, I thought that there was enough good material for the film to,

04:33you know, stand on its own merits. You know, one aspect of the movie that I really loved was the

04:41dark, melodic synth music that was composed by Brad Fidel. Now, Fidel is, of course, most well known

04:50for his legendary soundtracks for The Terminator and Terminator 2. And I would agree. You know,

04:59he's a very, very talented musician. And going into this, I had no idea that he was even involved.

05:06But very quickly, I realized that the score was, you know, something special. Went online,

05:14saw who did it. Oh, yeah. Brad Fidel. As for this film in particular, Fidel showed a lot of promise

05:22and a lot of potential as a composer, as he created this very atmospheric kind of creepy vibe with his

05:31signature electronic music. I have to say that Just Before Dawn from 1981 was a solid horror film

05:40that used its isolated environment to, you know, create this very creepy and eerie atmosphere.

05:50The director was able to combine the standard slasher conventions with a more of a, I don't know,

05:58art house style, which ultimately made it quite a unique entry in the slasher genre.

06:04Go about your way to see this one. I definitely recommend it. And for all those out there that

06:10like slasher films, this is definitely a must watch. Next up is 1981's The Prowler,

06:19which was a horror film directed by Joseph Seto and starring Christopher Gautman in the lead role.

06:27I first came across this movie by chance when I was scouring through Tom Savini's filmography.

06:34At the time, I had just recently watched Maniac, which I later reviewed for this channel.

06:42And yeah, I was interested to see what other projects Savini was, you know, involved with

06:48at that time. So yes, it turned out that The Prowler was one of his next films. So I checked it out.

06:56As for the narrative, Mark, the deputy of Avalon Bay, was left in charge after the sheriff

07:04had decided to go on a fishing trip. As Mark took over for the night, a series of brutal murders

07:13started to take place that involved the college campus kids who were celebrating their graduation.

07:20We would learn that the killer responsible was a man dressed up in this army uniform,

07:30face covered, tooled up, and out looking for his next victims on the campus. As more students died,

07:40the panic started to creep in because ultimately Mark was the one responsible for, you know,

07:47trying to find the killer. But, you know, how could he stop the killings when he couldn't be found?

07:52Now, I've mentioned him already, but I have to say that one of the best things about The Prowler

07:59was its practical special effects that were created by Tom Savini. You know, he's such a legendary figure

08:09in the world of horror. And when it came to this movie, The Prowler, he certainly didn't disappoint.

08:18Savini produced some great kills throughout the whole film. But if I had to choose, I'd say that

08:26the death of the character Carl was my favorite, as we saw The Prowler, well, literally stab him in the head.

08:36One minute, Carl was alone, you know, in his apartment. His girlfriend was in the shower.

08:44And out of nowhere, The Prowler literally just appeared. And, well, yeah, Carl got killed.

08:52The effects were great, but what I really liked about it was the small little details that we saw.

08:59In particular, Carl's eyes rolling in the back of his head. Seeing the whites of his eyes as he was

09:08convulsing, you know, that was a pretty, pretty revolting image. You know, a lot of movies,

09:17especially released, you know, in the early 80s, if that had taken place, you know, they would have,

09:23you know, quickly, you know, cut away and moved on to the next scene. But the fact that they lingered on

09:29Carl as he was, as he was doing that, man. Yeah, you know, it was brilliant and showed,

09:37you know, Savini's brilliant work that was on display. You know, looking back on this film,

09:43I did notice the use of the POV shots, which were, you know, like from the killer's perspective.

09:52This happened a few times. And when I saw that, I immediately thought of the opening sequence

09:59to Halloween from 1978. There was also a fake scare with a girl who was in the shower.

10:08That, to me, was very reminiscent of the iconic Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho, and, you know,

10:17the shower scene. So, yes, clearly, a lot of other big influential horror films had its influence

10:29shown here in The Prowler. You know, while there was definitely a lot of good stuff going on in this

10:36film, one thing that I wasn't all that impressed with was the score that was composed by Richard

10:45Einhorn. You know, I just felt that it was a little paint by numbers, you know, a little bit on the

10:52generic side. It wasn't very original. And especially for, you know, something to compare it to, like,

10:59just before dawn, with Brad Fidel's score. Yeah, the composer, Richard Einhorn, yeah, he didn't do

11:09all that of a good job. And it's, the music is probably the weakest aspect of The Prowler.

11:16All in all, though, this movie from 1981 was a very suspenseful slasher, with the main highlight

11:25being Tom Savini's practical effects work. It has a slow pace, which I think will be a turnoff

11:34to some people. But overall, I would say that this is one of the better horror films to be released

11:43from the early 80s. Next up is the 1987 film Stage Fright, which was an Italian horror that was directed

11:54by Mikel Sovy. The director was the protege of the legendary Dario Argento. And you can definitely

12:05see Argento's influence here in this movie. The story focused on a group of dancers who were rehearsing

12:15for an upcoming show. This performance was, you know, going to be their big break. And so yeah,

12:22a lot was riding on it. But it was obvious that it was a very stressful situation with the stage

12:31director being very ill-tempered. There were various timing issues. Some people were late to

12:39rehearsal. It was pretty chaotic. And the director was certainly not happy. One of the dancers called

12:48Alicia, who was played by actress Barbara Kopitsky, ended up hurting her ankle and needed urgent medical

12:57attention. Sadly for her, there was no local medical facility that she could just travel to.

13:05There was no hospital. So she and her friend decided to do the next best thing and drive to a mental

13:15hospital institution. I mean, what could go wrong? So Alicia got the treatment she needed and quickly

13:25hurried back to rehearsals. But little did she know that in the boot of her car was a mental patient who

13:34had just escaped. I said, guys, you know, let that be a warning to you all. Lock your car because you never

13:41know what kind of crazy maniac is going to be hiding, waiting for you in the dark. Anyways, Alicia got back

13:50to rehearsal, but she wasn't alone. And the remainder of the film saw the dancers getting killed off one by

14:00one. Now I came across Stage Fright a few years ago. And it's one of those horror films that I wish I had

14:10seen earlier. You know, I really liked how the film began with the supposed death of Alicia.

14:19She was standing, you know, there out of nowhere. Some hands came and grabbed her and she had been

14:27killed. Initially, I thought, wow, you know, we are literally seconds into this film and someone's

14:34already been murdered. You know, this film, you know, they're not waiting around there. You know,

14:38they're getting straight to it. But it turned out that this was just a misdirect and the death that we

14:45saw was a part of the show, the play that these guys were rehearsing for. I did laugh when I saw Brett,

14:55the dancer, jump out of the crowd wearing the giant bird's head. One minute we are witnessing this

15:03murder. The next we have this man with this giant bird's head doing some performative dance. You

15:12know, it was quite a sight. Actor Giovanni Radisi was the man that played Brett, the dancer. And he is

15:22someone that I am familiar with, having reviewed on this channel, the movie The House on the Edge of the

15:29Park. I found out that the actor actually had a background in ballet before they got into acting.

15:38So in some ways, Giovanni was the perfect casting to play Brett. You know, it was quite clever at times.

15:49I'm thinking of the scene in which the actual killer, you know, from the mental institution,

15:55donned the bird's head and started killing a dancer on stage. Everyone had no idea and assumed

16:04it was Brett. So yeah, there's a person getting actually murdered right in front of you. And everyone

16:12just thought it was, you know, just some great acting. Now, overall, I thought Stage Fright was a very well

16:19made horror film that certainly deserves a lot more recognition and praise than it gets. What I think

16:27didn't help was the fact that this film has been released all over the world, but with several

16:35different titles. So yeah, I think that definitely hindered it from kind of gaining a core audience.

16:43But yes, this was a very entertaining film. I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely be rewatching

16:49it again. And well, all I can say is if you like performative dance and horror, this is the film

16:58for you. Another film that came to my attention recently was the Japanese horror evil dead trap

17:06that was directed by Toshihiro Aikida. I stumbled upon this film by chance, and it turned out to be a

17:15very pleasant, yet gruesome experience. The movie began with a TV presenter called Nami Tsuchiya,

17:25who received some fan mail in the post. Inside this envelope that she picked up was a VHS tape that she

17:34ended up playing there and then in her studio. She played the tape. And what she saw was a kind of

17:43best described as a snuff movie, where a woman was hung up and was literally stabbed repeatedly.

17:53The woman was in tears, panicking, you know, screaming, asking the killer to stop. But he didn't.

18:02And yeah, all this played out right in front of Nami. But she didn't seem all that shocked. In fact,

18:13she thought the tape was a fake. She saw the footage, and she wanted to know more. She wanted to

18:20investigate to find out who exactly was on that tape. And, you know, who was responsible for this

18:27supposed killing? So after some discussions with her colleagues, Nami and her TV crew decided to

18:36travel to the location that was seen on the tape and investigate. You know, it wasn't the greatest

18:43idea, I don't think, to, you know, start investigating some supposed murder. But Nami, her show, well,

18:54it was declining in ratings. And she needed a boost and saw this supposed murder as, you know,

19:03an opportunity. When the group arrived, they found themselves inside a diffused army base.

19:11There was literally no other people around. And, well, they just went forward and started

19:17investigating, trying to find clues as to, you know, who or what had happened on that tape.

19:23And, well, as you can imagine, it wasn't long before chaos ensued. And you had all of the TV crew

19:32literally running for their lives. Now, I plan on doing a full review of this film. So I'm not going to

19:42go into too much detail. I'm going to save that for the review. But I will go over a few things that

19:48I really did enjoy when it came to Evil Dead Trap. Unlike many low-budget horror films out there,

19:56the filmmakers behind this movie certainly put a lot of time and effort into creating some very

20:03inventive but brutal death scenes that really impressed me. One death that really caught me off

20:10guard was the scene that involved the metal noose. So we just had or just seen this TV reporter

20:19come out of the van after she'd been sexually abused. And out of nowhere came this metal noose

20:27flying down straight for her. The reporter was caught around the neck, lifted up and choked to death.

20:36Seeing the visual of this poor woman getting dragged, you know, by her neck across the TV van.

20:45Yeah, it was a very disturbing scene. But all in all, a very intriguing way to kill off a character.

20:55We see it so often in American cinema, where you'll have a victim. And out of nowhere,

21:03a perpetrator will come along and stab them. And that'll be the end of it. But when it comes to

21:11Evil Dead Trap, the filmmakers obviously were, you know, very creative in their ways of coming up with

21:19these methods of killing. You know, to summarise, Evil Dead Trap was a horror film that tried to take

21:28cinematic violence to a whole new level. With its use of stylistic editing, and its fast pace. This film

21:38was a, well, it was brilliant. It really was. And it's certainly not a movie that should be forgotten.

21:45You know, when it comes to Japanese horror, I think of movies like The Ring, or Battle Royale.

21:55Never heard of this film before seeing it. And as I said, it was a pleasant surprise. So a strong

22:01recommendation from me. As I said, I will be reviewing this down the line in the future. And yeah, go out and

22:08see it. Just, just be prepared for a lot of graphic violence. The last underrated forgotten horror movie

22:19from the 80s that I'll be showcasing today is the 1989 movie House 3, The Horror Show. Now compared to

22:29some of the other entries that I've mentioned today, this is a little bit more mainstream, but still a

22:37film that I don't think gets the recognition it deserves. Now, I saw this movie many years ago when

22:45I was, you know, getting into horror for the first time. And I remember specifically buying the

22:53House 1 to 4 box set on VHS. If you guys didn't know already, the House franchise consisted of four

23:02movies, all kind of based around a house and kind of spooky, crazy things going on. Now, I have to say

23:11that I was majorly disappointed with watching House 2, the second story, as it was a film that really

23:20leaned into the comedy elements. It was, yeah, just disappointing. I mean, it was kind of kid

23:28friendly horror. And even though I was a kid, you know, a young teenager at the time, I wanted

23:34something, you know, a lot more violent. And luckily, after House 2 came House 3, the third installment,

23:42which was far, far more violent. Yeah, I loved every minute of it. And I think

23:50it was definitely the right direction for the franchise to take as, you know, the sequel was

23:56a disappointment and the franchise was kind of lackluster and this kind of, you know, reinvigorated,

24:02re-energized the House franchise. With this installment, it focused on the detective Lucas

24:10McCarthy, a no-nonsense cop who was played by actor Lance Hendrickson. McCarthy had just successfully

24:18captured one of the city's most sadistic and crazed killers, a man called Max Jenke. Now, Jenke,

24:28who was played by the late Brian James, was this hulking figure, a complete maniac mass murderer,

24:36who, you know, would put Jason Voorhees to shame. He was convicted and sentenced to death. But after

24:44seemingly dying on the electric chair, he or his evil spirit came back from the dead and started

24:53terrorizing McCarthy and his family. They had just moved in to a brand new home. So it was an exciting

25:01time for the family. And yeah, they were all happy to start this new chapter of their lives. McCarthy

25:09had just sent Jenke to his death and he was seen as a local hero among his peers. Everything seemed to

25:19be going great, but that didn't last long as their new life in this house soon turned upside down when

25:28Jenke's spirit came back and reigned supreme over the family. Now, when it comes to this movie,

25:36House 3, the best scene in the entire film had to be Jenke's execution on the electric chair. We saw the police

25:46officers strap this guy in, you know, they pulled the lever and they, you know, rightfully assumed that

25:54those electrical currents would, you know, take its course and yeah, you know, Jenke would die. But things

26:03didn't go to plan as well, Jenke continued to just sit there alive, bemused by the whole situation as

26:14all the police officers around him started to panic. They proceeded to try again, but this all led to

26:22Jenke escaping from his chair, knocking out a police officer and then threatening McCarthy to his face

26:30before finally dying. I love this scene. You know, I remember watching it years ago, uh, as a

26:38young teenager and, uh, yeah, it made me laugh, man. I think it was actually the perfect kind of balance

26:45between horror and dark comedy. Yeah, absolutely. It was kind of ridiculous, but in a way it was kind of

26:55like a nightmare, you know, coming true. And that was definitely something that this film, House 3,

27:02the horror show, definitely leaned into. Ultimately, I found House 3, the horror show, to be a very

27:10entertaining 90 minutes that in some ways these days has, you know, been mostly forgotten. I don't

27:18really hear that many people, you know, talk about this film or bring it up. And I think that could be

27:24down to the fact that it may get lost within the House franchise. Either way, there is absolutely

27:31no denying that House 3 is the best in the franchise out of the four. And, uh, it's quite unique really

27:39to say, because most kind of franchises and stuff like that, you know, by the third or fourth entry,

27:47usually, you know, it's in decline. But with this House franchise, it certainly peaked with

27:54the third installment. I certainly recommend this film. And if you're, you know, wanting a horror film

28:01that kind of leans in to the absurdity of it all, then House 3, the horror show, is definitely a film

28:09for you. And well, that's all from me today, guys. I do hope you've enjoyed this video. Please let me know

28:16your thoughts and comments about any of the films that I've, uh, showcased today. Also, if you do like

28:24the content that I do, please consider subscribing to the channel. Oh well, I'll be back next week.

28:30You take care.

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