american horror movies – Horror Ghouls

Night of the Demons 2 (1994)

Posted on October 31, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Six years later…

The Hull House is still standing, withering away in the crispy ’90s October breeze. And our demon-possessed Angela? Yes, she still lives there (still portrayed by Amelia Kinkade), waiting for our next party guests, as two door-to-door evangelists are soon to find out. She looks completely different without her spikey Halloween eyeliner, though, but make no mistake. Hail Satan.

Before we spend more time in Hull House, we shift our focus over to a Catholic Boarder school where we meet the teenager Melissa (Merle Kennedy), or Mouse, as the bullies call her. Mouse is the sister of Angela and has stayed at the school for the past five years after her parents committed suicide. It’s no secret which of them was their favorite daughter, in other words. Thank you, mom and dad. She also has recurring nightmares about Angela where she bites her face off.

But enough about that, cuz it’s soon time for big the school dance! And the head nun of the school, Sister Gloria (Jennifer Rhodes), won’t have any of that, because thou shalt not have any fun!

The more radical Father Bob wants the kids to “cut loose, for a change“. And it’s not just a regular dance, you see, it’s the Halloween dance (!) I beg your pardon?? Because we’re not even done with the final wave of the Satanic Panic yet. And take a look at Norway where the churches are burning! Dear Lord, this can’t be! Oh yes, it can! The sociopath at the campus, Shirley (Zoe Trilling), will make sure of that when she drags Mouse to the Hull House to do a cruel Satanic prank on her. But not only that; she finds the lipstick. Yes, the lipstick, the one that disappeared into the left boob of Linnea Quigley. The lipstick turns into a worm-like thing and crawls into her gloryhole before Angela emerges and gives Shirley the Demon Kiss. Happy Halloween, baby! And speaking of boobs: Shirley has some big solid knockers herself, and if her looks don’t kill, her boobs sure will, literally!

This sequel is directed by heavyweight schlock director Brian Trenchard-Smith, who also gave us the masterpieces Lep in Vegas and Lep in Space. It’s not as unhinged and batshit as the aforementioned but keeps much on the same wavelength as the original, only with slightly more competent actors. The ’80s vibe is pretty much intact, which is maybe more thanks to writer Joe Augustyn and photographer David Lewis, who both worked in the first film. The dusty, colorful haunted house aesthetics and heavy use of fog machines, makes it look more like something from 1989, just without the hairstyle. We have a quick throwback to the dance number from the first film, here with the demonic growls of Morbid Angel, only to a horny and a fresh-possessed Shirley to crash the party and show who’s the boss. Zoe Trilling (RIP) is the standout here who blows everyone out of the water, even Angela.

That said, there’s isn’t much new here aside from the sister aspect between Angela and Mouse, that seems more of an afterthought. The first half is slow and feels unfocused where we spend a lot of time on the campus where not much of interest happens than some high school’ish drama beeEss. It isn’t until after the first forty minutes the film starts to kick off and the real fun begins, thanks to something simple as a lipstick. Although there’s some dead meat here, it’s overall an enjoyable sequel with solid gore effects such as head-chopping, bodymelting, boob attack, and the cherry on top that is the Angela Demon Snake. A third film was made for TV in 1998 where Amelia Kinkade portrayed Angela for a last time before she retired from acting. Nothing much to write home about, but for curiosity’s sake, like a fluffy black cat, it’s on YouTube. Happy Halloween!

Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Writer: Joe Augustyn, James Penzi
Country & year: USA, 1994
Actors: Cristi Harris, Darin Heames, Bobby Jacoby, Merle Kennedy, Amelia Kinkade, Rod McCary, Johnny Moran, Rick Peters, Jennifer Rhodes, Christine Taylor, Zoe Trilling
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110667

Night of the Demons (1988)

Posted on October 30, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Eat a bowl of fuck! I am here to PARTY!

It’s Halloween night and a group of teens are ready to party. And when I say teens I mean actors in their mid 20s to 30s. The one who sticks out is none other than Angela (Amelia Kinkade), dressed as a gothic teen witch, a look that I’d guess was the inspiration for Nancy in The Craft (1995). Linnea Quigley is also here, all ready to distract the desk clerks by showing off her skinny ass in a pink princess Peach skirt so that Angela can steal some beer. Now, off we go to the old Hull House (and no, that was not a typo).

This Hull House, or mansion if you will, is a dusty rundown abandoned Victorian funeral parlor next to a cemetery, of course. And no, this is not the home of the Crypt Keeper, but where the owner killed his entire family before killing himself. OoOo, spooky… Couldn’t be a more perfect spot for a Halloween party. This place was shot on an actual location, by the way, that was also reused in the sequel before it was demolished and replaced by a Ralphs supermarket.

After settling in, amping up the delicious spooky atmosphere with candles and lighting the fireplace in the living room, someone has a great idea: let’s have a seance and conjure the demon that’s trapped in the crematorium chamber in the basement. But here’s the big question: what’s actually the difference between a ghost and a demon? Hmm… Angela, the true occultist that she is, has the answer, in the most serious, matter-of-fact way possible, and performs as if she has spent a whole weekend to finally learn the next few sentences by heart. Listen to this:

Ok, if you say so. I can also already say that the acting here is hilariously bad. It’s something between a porno and a high school play where Claudio Fragasso would pick the actors for his next movie. They summon a demon skull head through a mirror who first possesses Suzanne (Quigley), who then spreads the possession by making out with Angela, and so on. Lesbian tongue sex, yeaahh, far-fucking out! Trivia: According to screenwriter Joe Augustyn, the original script had a gay couple ready to kiss, but it was deemed too radical by some of the producers, as well as the director. Or because this was after all the 1980s where the worst thing you could be on planet Earth, aside from being a nerd, was a homosexual male. Anyway, the real party starts when Angela and Suzanne turn into something that looks more like deadites from The Evil Dead and hunts down the rest around the house in slasher fashion.

The tone and 80s greatness is already clear from the delightful animated opening with the catchy synth score, a tribute to the ‘Night on Bald Mountain‘ sequence from the 1940 Disney film Fantasia. The film is way sillier than I remembered it to be. The overall cartoonish vibe, the pure steamy 1980s schlockness, the goofy acting and stiff, delayed dialogue delivery is the comedy here, intentionally or not. And mixed with the fun they most assumingly had making the film, adds a special cute charm to it. It could very easily be set somewhere in the same universe as The Return of the Living Dead (1985), only here we have demons instead of zombies. And instead of a graveyard dance you have, of course, a wicked demon dance with the tunes of Stigmata Martyr, performed by the party host Angela herself before losing herself into full possession mode. She also choreographed the scene by herself. Impressive. The demon voice was dubbed over by veteran voice actor Frank Welker.

Then you have the classic cinematic moment where Linnea Quigley shows us a fascinating magic trick that includes a lipstick and her left boob. A weird combination, you say? Oh, just wait, cuz this will actually blow your mind. This scene is called “infamous“ for whatever reason, where a cast of her breast was made by FX artist Steve Johnson to do the lipstick effect. Aside from that, there’s a quick blink-and-you-miss-it shot of Quigly flashing her unshaved pussy. A middle-finger to the censor bureaucrats, I guess. The kills aren’t that special, even though the practical and make-up effects by Steve Johnson, as mentioned, are great. Tongues get ripped off, someone is missing an arm, and of course, eye-gauging. The demon-look of Angela, showcased on every movie posters, is iconic on its own.

Night of the Demons gets a bit formulaic during the last thirty minutes or so, but it’s overall a fun n’ tasty Halloween romp with the kind of spooky, dusty haunted house atmosphere that could only come out of the 1980s. A good time. There’s also a fun little side plot about a grumpy get-off-my-lawn type of neighbor who gets a pretty unexpected karma. Trick or treat, sucker!

Director: Kevin Tenney
Writer: Joe Augustyn
Country & year: USA, 1988
Actors: Hal Havins, Allison Barron, Alvin Alexis, Amelia Kinkade, Linnea Quigley, Donnie Jeffcoat, Cathy Podewell, Karen Ericson
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093624/

Return of the Living Dead III (1993)

Posted on October 28, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

What the hell happened to Return of the Living Dead III ? Trimark bought the rights and Brian Yuzna, who had made a name for himself in the horror biz after Society (1989) and Bride of Re-Animator (1990), was hired to direct. The only few questions he had before signing, were: Do the movie have to continue the characters? (No.) That was good to know. Do we need to bring back actors? (No.) Does it have to be funny? (No.) So what does it have to be? You gotta have the Trioxin and brain eating. Yuzna had a problem with the brain eating as he found it too cliché and comical. All his horror films are comical, but whatever. The script was written by John Penney, who worked as assistant editor on the first film.

The film was a box-office disaster and only grossed $54,207 in the USA of a $2,000,000 budget. Oof. Solid movie, though!

Julie (Melinda Clarke) is a young rebellious sadomasochist ginger with looks that could kill and has an impressive high pain threshold that would even make Pinhead and Kakihara raise their eyebrows, and maybe other things. Her boyfriend is Romeo, I mean Curt (J. Trevor Edmond), and one night they don’t have better things to do, they sneak into an Army research lab where Curt’s dad works. From a hiding spot, they witness something interesting where a cadaver, Tarman, I assume, gets rolled into the lab to be tested with the Trioxin as their plan is to use zombies as bioweapons. And poor Tarman. He looks rough as hell and completely destroyed after all the hard partying in the 1980s. Mötley Crüe can relate and Dr. Feelgood is certainly not in this building.

Fun fact: under the makeup (if there actually was makeup at all) of this particular zombie, is the legendary Clarence Epperson ― a homeless man who lived by the Los Angeles Airport where the exterior scenes of the military base were shot. In the interviews on the Blu-ray we can also learn that he was on meds, lived in his “own world“ and had to be looked after so he didn’t disappear. Huh, interesting…

Anyway, the Trioxin works and one of the lab doctors puts his fingers into his mouth, because that’s what lab doctors do, and next we have a messy bloodbath that’s more gory than the first two films combined. He eventually gets taken down, and to Curt’s frustration, Julie just seems exited over what they just witnessed. They can’t even have sex without having her fascination of necro come to mind. How nekromantik. Jörg Buttgereit wants your phone number, Julie. Yes, she’s a bit “strange and unusual“, we can say, who could as well be the sister of Trash from the first film. Then tragedy strikes with a motorcycle accident where Julie flies off and knocks her head straight to a pole…and dies. RIP. So you thought. After Julie gets resurrected in the lab after sneaking her fresh dead body in, we have an urban chaotic odyssey of pain, screaming, tears, a hurricane of strong feelings, and of course, brain eating, and more fun gory stuff.

And speaking of: the gore/prosthetic effects and Melinda Clarke is everything about this movie. Melinda has admitted that she’s not a horror fan, and took the inspiration of playing a messed-up zombie junkie after portraying Nancy Spungen in the theater play Vicious. The rebellious look of Julie with the nose-and lip ring was her own idea, and she actually had to fight with the studio because they found it to be “too much“. So did the MPAA. And yes, we’re talking about USA, not North Korea. We have come a long way with Art the Clown, haven’t we. Some of the producers must have gotten a serious stroke when they saw her in her full zombie-makeup/outfit where she looks more like a Cenobite from Hellraiser, and gives the horniest Kubrick stare ever put on film. And we’re sure to have close-ups so we can see the nice, grotesque details of what she has done to herself. There’s also a “logic“ explanation of why the self-mutilation has more importance than just pure shock value, something that Yuzna had to explain to the censor bureaucrats to avoid the big bad X-rating.

The third film takes a big leap from the comedy, and that was maybe for the better. You could easily remove the Trioxin name and the film would’ve been exactly the same, and works perfectly as a standalone. The original working title was Curt and Julie. Lame. In Spain it was released under the alternate title Mortal Zombie. Much better, and even Yuzna agrees. That said, the silly and eccentric undertones reeks through the cracks, especially during the zombie outbreak with some gooey animatronics and goofy cartoonish growl sound effects. Nothing to take serious even though Melinda Clarke and James Callahan plays it strong and straight all the way through. It’s well-directed and relatively fast-paced with little to no dull moments where we actually have a fourth act, so that none of the impressive gore effects and some more surprises goes to waste. Great, tasty stuff and certainly one of the goriest zombie movies to come out of the 1990s, at least on the surface level.

And this is the second time (I believe) the film has been released in “Full Uncut Version“. That was until 2024 when it came to light that there’s actually even more lost footage, of eight minutes to be exact, that was rediscovered by filmmaker Dustin Ferguson when he saw the first cut on a T-120 VHS Master. Well… good for him. The Blu-ray from Vestron Video has nevertheless more than enough meat, brains and red corn syrup to fill your stomach.

Director: Brian Yuzna
Writer: John Penney
Country & year: USA, 1993
Actors: Kent McCord, James T. Callahan, Sarah Douglas, Melinda Clarke, Abigail Lenz, J. Trevor Edmond, Jill Andre, Michael Decker, Billy Kane, Mike Moroff
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107953/

Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)

Posted on October 27, 2026October 28, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

What the hell really happened to Return of the Living Dead Part II? It’s a movie that was made, that we at least can say for sure. But it’s certainly not a sequel, nor a prequel. I saw Part 2 on TV (on the Norwegian Broadcast channel, of all places) years before I saw the first film, and can say I got a little confused when I finally got to see it, even though it should have been the other way around. On the surface, this is more or less the same film all over again, a rerun, where Thom Matthews and James Karen reprise their roles in what we might call an alternate universe… something like that. A more fitting title would be Return of the Living Déjà vu.

Dan O’Bannon was not interested in making the sequel as he was moving on to developing his own project, that was The Resurrected. In comes Ken Wiederhorn, a frustrated and struggling director who was notoriously known for hating horror movies since he entered the business in 1977 with his nazi/zombie flick Shock Waves. He also made the sleazy drive-in thriller Eyes of a Stranger (1981) and was only seen as a schlocky horror movie director. He was so desperate to make this as his ultimate segway out of the horror genre that he took a writing class, so he finally could make real movies like William Friedkin and Martin Scorsese. The irony is that the result more or less ended up like a watered-down copy-and-paste version of the original, without the spicy satire. Wiederhorn originally wrote a stand-alone comedy horror which producer Tom Fox saw the big-dollar opportunity to slam Return of the Living Dead Part II on, or “The Police Academy of Horror Movies“, as Wiederhorn proudly called it. Fucking Christ, he should be forever glad that social media didn’t exist back then.

Tom Fox brought back Thom Matthews and James Karen to make some shallow connections to the first film, while the child actors would appeal to the younger audiences. Don Calfa, who played the mortician in the first film, auditioned to play the goofy doctor, but got rejected. The funny thing is that the production was such a miserable experience that Tom Matthews and James Karen told Don Calfa on the phone that he was lucky to not be a part of it.

And against all odds, the film was better than it had any right to be. Even Ken Wiederhorn was taken back of how well received it was. He never got the big break he wanted, though, and only directed some TV series in the early ’90s. His last film was the obscure romance/thriller A House in the Hills (1993), which is the one and only film he’s proud of.

The plot is as basic as it can get, where some canisters of the Trioxin gas/liquid falls off a military truck and into a river that finds its way into a drainpipe near a suburb. And that’s just fantastic, since drainpipes are an exciting place for kids to explore, especially in the 1980s. And speaking of kids, meet the twelve-year-old Jesse and the two bullies, Billy and Johnny, stumble upon the canister, tampering with it until they see a dead cadaver through its glass panel (hello, Tarman) and runs away. As the gas has already started to ooze, because of those damn kids, the damage is done, and it’s just a matter of time before it reaches the local cemetery, and it’s partytime once again (just without the punks and naked gravedancing).

There are several positives about Part 2, though. It’s a great-looking ’80s movie with some tasty atmospheric foggy night scenes and interesting-looking zombies. The dumb comedy really kicks in during the zombie resurrection scene where zombie aunt puts on her glasses, zombie uncle fixes his tie, while others gets stomped on. And if you’re watching this for the first time on DVD you’d go bruh? What’s this? Return of the Living Disco Zombies? The cheese really reeks hard at this cemetery. Even director Wiederhorn says in the commentary track that there’s something wrong with this music, but has no answer to why. Other sources say that there were some copyright disputes and a new score had to be added to the 2004 DVD release. The funny thing is that the original score is still on the French and Italian language track. I also read many years ago somewhere on the internet that the DVD was transferred from a Russian version. Another unsolved mystery is who actually made that awesome movie poster. Rumors says it’s by Peter Mueller who also did the very similar poster for Fright Night (1985) , but nothing has been confirmed.

Well, anyway…James Karen goes full force with the tiresome overacting. Some of the “highlights“ is where he holds a zombie head and let the indexfinger on his other arm get bitten. Just because. Hilarious (sarcasm). While we have lots of zombies shuffling around, there’s actually even less blood here than in the first film. It’s lighthearted, silly and pretty much on the level of gateway horror. And despite the turmoil behind the scenes, and a director that had no idea what made the first one so special, they at the very least managed to be professional and give us a false impression that the actors had fun on set. The slick and polished cinematography by Robert Elswit, is also a big plus, who later did Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood and Nightcrawler, to mention some. I also like the ending/climax with the sparkling, jiggling zombies where we have a quick cameo from none other than Michael Jackson. Aow!

Writer and director: Ken Wiederhorn
Country & year: USA, 1988
Actors: Michael Kenworthy, Thor Van Lingen, Jason Hogan, James Karen, Thom Mathews, Suzanne Snyder, Marsha Dietlein, Hanala Sagal, Jonathan Terry, Philip Bruns, Allan Trautman
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095990/

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Posted on October 26, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It’s the fourth of July, the year is 1984, and it’s time to get horny.

But before we get loose and festive, here are some important facts to know: because did you know that The Night of the Living Dead (1968), yes the George A. Romero classic, was actually based on a true case? Frank can tell. We’re at a medical supply warehouse somewhere in Louisville, Kentucky, where the two workers, Frank (James Karen) and the new, younger employee, Freddy (Thom Matthews) are about to get done for the day. Frank is supposed to be 45 years old, which has to be the most brutal 45 years I’ve ever seen. Bearing the guilt of being responsible for building houses on an unmarked cemetery maybe does that to you. Anyway: It all starts when Freddy asks Frank what’s the weirdest thing he’s ever seen in the warehouse. Oh, he’s surely seen some things, but nothing weirder than the Trioxin gas conspiracy. Because the true story is that in 1969 this chemical got leaked into a hospital in Pittsburgh, leaked down to the morgue and woke up the dead bodies into zombies. The Trioxin was originally developed for the Army, and if it was ever exposed in the movie, Romero and co would have their asses sued.

And given that this film is actually co-written by John A. Russo, who also co-wrote TNOTLD, the truth is finally coming out. Anyway, the Army sent all the contaminated bodies out, and some of them are in the basement, yes, in this building, with a can of the Trioxin. You wanna see? Of course you do.

The pompous dork that Frank is, takes a quick slam at the canister to show how strong and secure it is. Instead, the gas oozes out that eventually reeks out of the crematorium pipe and up in the air that makes the rain toxic enough to resurrect the dead at the local cemetery. And they want braaaaains! Why exactly brains though? You’ll see.

While Frank and Freddy get more and more sick after inhaling the gas, we meet a charming group of punks who just wanna party. And what could be a better spot to celebrate the fourth of July than in a cemetery? They all stick out in their own ways, but the one we would focus most on, is the redhead Trash (Linnea Quigley). Because when the sun has gone down, and it’s partytime, Trash gets aroused and horny with her own filthy sadomasochistic fantasies of being killed in all kinds of different ways by a bunch of men. Be careful what you wish for, hon. She rips off her clothes and dances on a gravestone, buck naked, which alone made the entire legacy of Linnea Quigley. Not bad. And she runs around naked for the rest of the movie. Quigley already had a background as a nude model, so that explains something.

Fun trivia time: The grave dance scene was as groundbreaking and controversial in American cinema as it was to show a toilet in Psycho (1960). This scene was shot two times. The second time was when they realized that they couldn’t show pubic hair without getting an X-rating. And an X-rating at that time meant zero advertisement other than a small black & white logo of the film’s title hidden in the newspaper. It wasn’t just enough to shave it, no no, she had to wear a prosthetic of her crotch to make her less exposed and make her more doll-like. The funny thing is that the actors had never seen a shaved pussy before, because this was after all the 1980s, and they were more confused about what they were watching. Pretty vacant, like Johnny Rotten would say.

According to the making-of-documentary More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead from 2011, the film was a brutal shoot, a war zone, someone even calls it. A lot of spontaneous rehearsal tapes ended in the final cut, which was usually unheard of. There’s a great chaotic atmosphere here, lots of raw punk rock vibes energy (yeah duh), and much is also due to the director Dan O’Bannon, who according to the actors, was a total punk himself who pushed the actors to the breaking point. Everything that could go wrong, could go seriously wrong and ruin the whole production. In this case, however, it seemed to make the film better. More chaos, more fun. Art by many accidents, or just having a relatively clear vision may help a lot. Even though this was Lloyd Kaufman, I mean Dan O’Bannon’s first time directing, he was the one who wrote Alien (1979), so he wasn’t exactly a nobody.

More fun trivia: One of the actresses had a very awkward meeting with Bannon over a script reading at his house, where he had guns all over his desk and hardcore porn showing on the TV. That’s Hollywood, baby, to quote R. Zegler. The best part of the documentary can be found in the deleted scenes section called “Researching the Dead“. The iconic movie poster was illustrated by Carl Ramsey (1946-2014). He also made the posters for Motel Hell (1980) and Beetlejuice (1988).

The soundtrack has a fitting playlist of some local punk bands such as The Cramps, The Damned, The Flesh Eaters and more. The most memorable will always be Party Time by 45 Grave, and the pop song Tonight We’ll Make Love Until We Die by SSQ is catchy as hell. The good ole’ 1980s. It also has to be said that this is far from a gore fest like Re Animator, which came out the same year as this. You have two scenes where skulls get eaten, more bloody than the other. The satire and the chaotic absurdity is what drives the film, with lots of memorable moments like the restrained zombie who explains why they need to eat brains, the first encounter with Tarman, “send more paramedics“, and the overall pure ’80s atmosphere.

I also like the concept of Frank and Freddy slowly dying while they’re still alive after they inhaled the Trioxin. Having to go through rigor mortis before death is a horror movie in itself. And there you have the irony of zombies running, which you’ll see later on. So no, Zack Snyder was far from the first. My favorite character here is the mortician with the big bulging eyes, Ernie (Don Calfa), who has some of the best reactions as he plays it all straight and rational, which is moons apart from all of the rest. The ending is what it is, because Bannon had no clue how to, well, end it.

Director: Dan O’Bannon
Writers: Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, Russell Streiner
Country & year: USA, 1985
Actors: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, John Philbin, Jewel Shepard, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Mark Venturini,
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089907/

The Frighteners (1996)

Posted on October 25, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Are you troubled by strange sounds in the middle of the night?
Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?
Have you or any of your family ever seen a spook, specter or a ghost?

If the answer is yes, pick up your phone and call the professionals: GHOSTB…I mean Frank Bannister, a true shameless conman that will suck all your money out of your pocket faster than the closet mouth in Carol Anne’s bedroom.

We’re in the small coastal town of Fairwater where Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), a chronically depressed “psychic investigator“, drives around in his rusty, yellow Volkswagen Beetle like a madman, throwing away a handful of business cards at random funerals, and does his best to make a not-so earnest living. And here’s the thing: Frank is actually a psychic who can see ghosts clear as day, everywhere he goes, and even lives with three of them in his half-built hillside house: the gunslinger Judge, the disco afroman Cyrus, and the uncool ’80s nerd Stuart. Sounds fun. But instead of investigating real hauntings, Frank uses Cyrus and Stuart to stage false haunting scenarios so he can basically just come in, switch on the lights and write the check. How clever. Judge, on the other hand, is too old to spook around (yes, even ghosts can get old). I guess that being dead isn’t such a luxury, after all.

Then folks around the town start to die suddenly, at a high rate, while Frank sees numbers carved on peoples’ foreheads as a premonition, which seem to draw some connections with the dead notorious serial killer Johnny Bartlett. So, maybe it’s time to cut down the booze and start some serious ghost hunting. Well, that’s maybe easier said than done when Frank himself gets investigated by the FBI for being accused of killing his wife who died in a car accident after Frank’s reckless driving some years back. And if you thought Mulder was “spooky“, then say hello to Milton Dammers (Jeffery Combs). Yikes.

The Frighteners is truly something special, directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife Fran Walsh. It blends the comedy and the “seriousness“ like Ghostbusters (1984) and the more cartoonish elements from Beetlejuice (1988), Casper (1995), and even some grimy true-crime elements. A script like this, with its many layers, subplots, slapstick comedy and more dark horror could easily have been an epic tonal disaster. But like a lightening in a bottle, it works.

There are a lot of colorful characters here and the three ghosts Frank lives with is just the tip of the iceberg. A particular standout here is Jeffrey Combs as Milton -Sieg Heil- Dammers. And there’s nothing shady about him. He only looks like if Adolf Hitler and Judge Doom had a baby, possessed by the paranoid ghost of Jim Carrey (don’t panic, Jim is alive and well, but you get the point). I could watch a whole spin-off with this guy. Then you have the cameo of none other than Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, I mean R. Lee Ermey, as a ghost who protects the local cemetery, and who can’t get enough to showcase his goddamn rights to the Second Amendment. God Bless America, you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit! Rumors say that his screentime is taken from the Full Metal Jacket audition tapes.

Jake Busey certainly looks the part as Johnny (The Homicidal Maniac) with his dead eyes and hideous mouth. Michael J. Fox’s performance as the broken, depressed and desperate shell of a man is a big contrast of his signature role Marty McFly. Fox actually turned down the role as Edward Douglas in The Island of Dr. Moreau (yes, that one) to be in The Frighteners. And ‘boy, even though this wasn’t the biggest moneymaker at the box-office, we can say that he dodged a huge bullet. Dee Wallace also have a central role here as, well, that’s all I can say without slipping too much into spoilers. Danny Elfman gives a fitting and spooky Danny Elfman score, I at least can say.

The film goes heavy on CGI, all created by Wētā FX, who also did the visual effects for the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Avatar movies and Van Helsing, to mention some. The post-production to add the visual effects took 18 intense months. After the 15 artists at Wētā was on the verge of getting burned-out, George Lucas’ company, Industrial Light & Magic, had to step in to give a helping hand. Sounds like a messy disaster already, but Universal was so impressed with the final cut that they wanted to release the film right away instead of waiting three months for October, which was its intended release. Not a good plan since the film barely made back its budget. And maybe the R-rating was a factor. Who knows.

In Norway, my home country, the film flopped so hard that it didn’t even survive the first week before it was pulled from the theaters. A prime example of how a flop does not equal a terrible product. The Frighteners holds up, 30 years after its release and is an absolutely delightful fun spookyride. And on October 26, (yes, tomorrow) the film gets a 4k/Blu-ray release from Arrow Video. Happy anniversary!

Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh
Country & year: USA/New Zealand, 1996
Actors: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Jeffrey Combs, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey, Chi McBride, Jim Fyfe, Troy Evans, Julianna McCarthy, R. Lee Ermey
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116365/

Necronomicon (1993)

Posted on October 24, 2026October 24, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

H. P. Lovecraft himself is visiting a monastery, where they store a copy of the Necronomicon. When he enters the place and meets some rather dubious monks, he asks if he can read the Alchemical Encyclopedia Vol. III, and manages to steal a key from one of them. He hurries to the cellar vault, where the Necronomicon is being held. Once inside, a vault door closes behind him. Taken aback by this he drops the key down a grating and into water, but he still proceeds to do what he came for, and sits down and starts reading.

And from here on the movie is separated into different segments, which Lovecraft is sitting there reading. The first one is called The Drowned, and supposedly based on The Rats in the Walls. The story is about Jethro De Lapoer who lost his wife and son. He uses the Necronomicon to bring his family back to life. Of course, we know that bringing back the dead always ends in even more misery. The next story is called The Cold, based on Cool Air. Here we meet Dale Porkel, a reporter who is investigating a string of murders in Boston which has taken place over several decades, and interviews a woman who lives in a freezing cold house. Next up is Whispers, based on The Whisperer in Darkness. This time we meet two police officers, Paul and Sarah, who is pursuing a suspect nicknamed “the Butcher“, where we go into creature-feature territory. And all the while Lovecraft has been reading these stories, seals have opened up to let in…something.

Necronomicon (also called H. P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead or Necronomicon: To Hell and Back) is an anthology horror film from 1993, featuring segments that are loosely inspired by some of Lovecraft’s stories. The segments are directed by Brian Yuzna, Christophe Grans, and Shusuke Kaneko, and they were written by Gans, Yuzna, Brent V. Friedman and Kazunori Itō. Animatronic effects and special makeup were supervised by Tom Savini, and were created by John Carl Buechler, Christopher Nelson and Screaming Mad George. So, yeah…it goes without saying that the effects here are kickass. The film won the award for Best Special Effects at the 1994 Fantafestival. The film did pretty well upon its initial VHS release in the US, and even better in Europe and Asia.

I found all the segments interesting and nice enough in their own way, but the film’s final segment, Whispers, is definitely my favorite, and the most insane and fast-paced of them all. It barely has jack shit to do with the original Lovecraft story, so if you want something more true to that you should check out The Whisperer in Darkness from 2012. Whispers is the darkest segment of the bunch, going into pure horror territory in an old abandoned house and a nasty feeding ground deep inside some creepy tunnels leading to a cave. We also get some cool body horror elements here, plenty gore and creature effects. But yeah, the segments are just veeery loosely based on the original stories, where I guess the first one regarding theme and atmosphere is probably closest to the vibe of a “cosmic horror“ Lovecraft story with sea people, rejection of the Christian God and a tentacled monster, while Cool Air is the one closest to the source material. I love Lovecraft’s stories, and I’ve gotten used to the fact that most movies based on them doesn’t really manage to capture them in a solid way. That being said, I also love the more loosely-inspired ones (and even some of the parody ones), I’m not picky. I can easily see how some of the more hardcore Lovecraft fans might wrinkle their nose like someone just farted in their face when seeing this film, though, despite how much fun I personally find it.

Jeffrey Combs plays the role as H. P. Lovecraft here, and for some crazy reason the makeup makes him look like Bruce Campbell’s twin brother. A little uncanny, to be honest. The ending/climax features of course some wrap-up with Lovecraft and the monks, which is fun. While some of the segments leaves a bit to be desired story-wise, the movie makes it all worthwhile with the awesome special effects. Plus Bruce Camb – er, I mean Jeffrey Combs, of course.

Necronomicon is a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s pure 90’s fun through and through with special effects from some of the best. It’s a little hard to come by, but we got the German Wicked Vision Blu-ray release which includes both the German dub and original English language + English subtitles.

Directors: Christophe Gans, Shûsuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna
Writers: Brent Friedman, Christophe Gans, Kazunori Itô, Brian Yuzna
Country & year: USA/1993
Actors: Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Brian Yuzna, Bruce Payne, Belinda Bauer, Richard Lynch, David Warner, Signy Coleman, Don Calfa, Judith Drake
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107664/

Van Helsing (2004)

Posted on October 20, 2026October 20, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It’s the year of 1887 and some interesting things are happening in Transylvania. Dr. Victor Frankenstein has just given life to his monster under the assistance of Igor (Kevin J. O’Connor) and…Count Dracula himself (Richard Roxburgh). What could go wrong aside from Frankenstein’s castle getting invaded by a mob of angry peasant villagers? Well, now that Frank has done his work and can go further with his shady plans, Dracula doesn’t need him anymore and kills him. Igor, that weasel, has secretly been on Dracula’s side since “he pays well“. At least he’s being honest. Igor looks like the lost little twin brother of Radu, by the way. The monster gets angry, knocks down Dracula for a second before he carries his dead “father“ and runs to the windmill. The mob throws their torches until the windmill explodes. Rest in peace Frankenstein and his monster. Dracula’s plans have just been put on the back burner, pun intended.

This opening sequence was shot in black & white as a homage to James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and the golden era of Universal’s monster movies. It also sets the tone perfectly for the kind of movie this is that could share the same universe as The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001). You either vibe with it, or you don’t.

Then we jump one year later to Paris, where monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, a buff Anime-style thereof, played by Hugh Jackman, is chasing a CGI video game boss of Mr. Hyde to the top of the Notre-Dame. Fun fact: the face of Mr. Hyde was modeled after a French wrestler named André René Roussimoff, also known as André the Giant. Anyway, after the boss fight with Hyde, Gabriel flees back to the Vatican City in Rome, where we learn that he works for the secret organization Knights of the Holy Order as an assassin. They simply protect mankind from unholy creatures, way before the world got blessed with Father Amorth and the Winchester bros. Gabriel’s next big mission points to the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania to team up with Princess Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale) and kill this mysterious evil Count Dracula. Good luck. Carl (David Wenham), a Friar and a weapon/gadget inventor, joins the journey.

As they approach the obscure, snowy countryside of Transylvania, we see some of the remarkable set-pieces. The old village Gabriel and Carl enter is a village where they meet Anna, that was actually built for the film, much like the Bree village in The Fellowship of the Ring. Yes, there’s lots of greenscreen in pure Hollywood fashion that later went full overkill in the MCU/DC, and seeing Frankenmonster swinging on wires like Peter Parker, is just…well, something. What makes a great balance with the digital ocean of effects are the spectacular set-designs, and even matte-paintings, even to recreate some of the look and the gothic atmosphere from the Universal classics and some of the Hammer films. Miniatures were also used, if I’m not mistaken. The world of Van Helsing and Dracula feels lived-in where you also have steampunk elements sprinkled in. I could walk around on the set of Frankenstein’s laboratory all day long, just watching the details, the cobwebs, all the rusty old equipment while being mesmerized. Dracula also has an army of Dwergers, who looks like a cross between the dwarfs from Phantasm and the Shy Guys from the Mario games.

That being said, we’re not without the slop when it comes to CGI, especially the werewolves and their “transformation“. The final boss battle with Helsing and Drac is lame and lackluster where the video game cutscenes are getting tiresome. Here I prefer the simplicity of Peter Cushing tearing down the big curtains to expose Christoper Lee to the sunlight like he did in Dracula (1958). I like the look on Dracula’s brides in their monster form, though, and Frankenmonster looks cool. The effects are, after all, made by Wētā Workshop, so there’s some decent stuff here from that department. And I almost forgot the drinking game: take a shot of Stalinskaya for each time you see a lightning bolt/spark on screen. You may need 20/40 bottles for that and already secured a new liver.

Then there’s the masquerade ball scene, which I’d guess was some of the deleted chunks of Eyes Wide Shut. And if you see the Castlevania parallels, you’re not alone. The gadget that beams up the whole ballroom building could be a reference to the rosemarys from the games. But there’s more, cuz listen to this: Right before Dracula says, “Ladies and gentlemen… I give you VAN HELSING “, you can actually hear the trumpets from Castle Dracula from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Isn’t that freaking’ c o o l. Alan Silvestri cooks the type of catchy and pompous orchestral score before it became trendy to just throw in some classic A-side songs.

Stephen Sommers had some big plans to bring Van Helsing to a lucrative franchise. The bad reviews and box-office returns suggested otherwise. The director who was once on the top of the world with the first two Mummy films and the gory sea monster-flick Deep Rising (1998) on his resume, got his film career pretty much demolished by the critical failure of Van Helsing. Bummer. Sommers made only two movies after that, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and the disastrous flop that was Odd Thomas (2013). However, Van Helsing became a big success on DVD, which sold copies for $65 million in the first week, more than half the revenue from theater runs, and has gained cult status over the eons. Van Helsing, despite its issues, is a pure roller coaster extravaganza with lots of energy, heart and camp, made at the last minute before Hollywood lost its funny bone and slipped into a chronic depression. They tried with the recent Masters of the Universe (thumbs up) to reignite the power of the old magic, but flopped hard at the box office. So, we can only hope for the best that the upcoming Mummy: Book of the Dead with the return of Brendan Fraser will make Epic Hollywood Adventure Horror flicks great again.

Writer and director: Stephen Sommers
Country & year: USA/Czech Republic, 2004
Actors: Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Shuler Hensley, Elena Anaya, Will Kemp, Kevin J. O’Connor, Alun Armstrong, Silvia Colloca, Josie Maran
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338526/

Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

Posted on October 17, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Cyrus Kriticos is a ghost hunter, and together with his psychic assistant Dennis Rafkin they are on a mission with an entire team to ghost-bust a spirit located in a junkyard. Even though they manage to capture the ghost, there are several fatalities, including Cyrus. After this somewhat crazy scene we head over to a man named Arthur, a widower who is Cyrus’ nephew. He gets informed by a lawyer that he has inherited his uncle’s estate, which comes as good news as Arthur is close to being completely broke. He moves there with his two children, Kathy and Bobby, and along with them comes their nanny Maggie. The house is made entirely out of glass panels, inscribed with Latin phrases. Odd…but that doesn’t steer Arthur away from finally becoming financially secure. At the property they meet Dennis, who tells them that he is an electrical technician so he can come inside with them. In the basement Dennis discovers that the ghost hunting activities he and Cyrus had together, made Cyrus capture twelve ghosts inside cells which can be seen using some special glasses. Dennis tries to warn Arthur, but before Arthur even has a chance to take anything seriously enough, the house is sealed and they are all trapped inside. But the ghosts are eager to come out of their cells so they can add to their number!

Thirteen Ghosts (aka 13 Ghosts and THIR13EN Ghosts) is a supernatural horror film from 2001, directed by Steve Beck in his directorial debut (a year later he made Ghost Ship). It is a remake of the 1960 film 13 Ghosts by William Castle, and it was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the US while Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International released it in other countries. It became somewhat of a box-office disappointment with $68.5 million towards its $42 million budget, and received mainly negative response from the critics, despite the production design getting some praise. It has later garnered a bit of a cult following and is nowadays seen in a more positive light.

A movie like this is one of those where you kind of feel its schlocky vibe all over the place, while also feeling it’s considerably more polished than it should have been. The production design is awesome, the effects here are quite solid and much of it practical. The practical creature makeup was created by Howard Berger and the KNB EFX Group, using full-body transformations where many of the ghosts had full-foam rubber bodysuits and prosthetics. The most complicated ghosts were the Juggernaut and The Angry Princess which required five hours in the makeup chair!

I remember seeing it way back when it was released, and didn’t think too much of it actually. Well, your perception can certainly change over the years, and with a more recent rewatch of the film I was able to appreciate it a lot more. Having now also seen the 1960 film, I found this be a decent remake of the original, updated to a more modern premise and also giving the ghosts a considerably more nasty look to the point where some of them could have come straight from a Hellraiser movie or from the Netherworld in Beetlejuice. I liked how the ghosts are an actual deathly threat, and them all being trapped inside the glass house. If you can even call it a house, it’s more like a hellish contraption of some kind…which is more or less exactly what it is.

Thir13en Ghosts is a fun and easy popcorn film for the Halloween season, and one that kind of got better rather then worse over the years. Practical effects usually gives a movie a better chance to stand the test of time, but as an early 2000’s movie there’s also a little flair left of the slightly silly and rompy vibe of the 90’s films. Something to not take too seriously and just have a fun time with.

In August 2023, Dark Castle Entertainment announced plans of making a Thirteen Ghosts series, but it is still in development.

Director: Steve Beck
Writers: Neal Marshall Stevens, Richard D’Ovidio
Country & year: Canada/USA, 2001
Actors: Tony Shalhoub, Embeth Davidtz, Matthew Lillard, Shannon Elizabeth, Alec Roberts, JR Bourne, Rah Digga, F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Harrison
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245674/

13 Ghosts (1960)

Posted on October 16, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

The late Dr. Plato Zorba is an occultist who has left his large house to his nephew Cyrus. Curys and his family are living very much from hand to mouth, struggling with making ends meet, so this is a wonderful opportunity for them. Or so they think. Curys, along with his wife Hilda and their daughter Medea and son Buck, decide to move to the house despite the lawyer informing them that the house is also inhabited by a bunch of ghosts that Dr. Zorba collected from all around the world. With the property also comes a housekeeper named Elaine, who of course conducts seances and is creepy as hell. And that’s not even all, as there is a hidden fortune somewhere on the property. The ghosts are a varied sort, including a fiery skeleton, a slightly goofy Italian chef, and even a lion with its headless tamer. And none of them are there willingly, as they’ve been captured by Dr. Zorba who also created a set of special goggles that makes you able to see the ghosts. There are 12 ghosts in the house, one being the ghost of Dr. Zorba himself who is also trapped and wants someone to become the unlucky 13th ghost to free him and the others.

13 Ghosts is a supernatural horror film from 1960, written by Robb White and produced and directed by William Castle. In some previous films, William Castle had used gimmicks to promote them, and 13 Ghosts was no exception. Audience members were given the chance to see the ghosts by using glasses with red and blue cellophane filters, in a process dubbed “Illusion-O“. The filmed elements had a blue filter, while the ghosts had a red filter, so the blue filter “removed“ the ghosts. Using the glasses gave the viewers the option to see them.

The movie, and mostly the gimmick, was not all that well received, but it still became a modest box office success. It’s a fun old-fashioned haunted house film that of course never manages to scare, but still has its charm. The ghosts are actually interesting enough, all with their own little backstories and looks. I especially liked the ghost of the lion and headless tamer…makes me wonder why this was counted as just one ghost, though, as the lion and the tamer are definitely two ghosts. There’s another two-for-one deal here: the ghosts of a mother and her infant son who were both burnt at the stake as witches. Aside from the ghosts who are more or less “just there“, the story is simple and straight-forward enough with some mysteries and plot twists. After all, it isn’t only in Beetlejuice that you should never trust the living. Even with a house full of ghosts, the ones still breathing are a bigger threat than the dead ones.

13 Ghosts is very much a classic haunted house film, with some solid special effects for the time it was made in.

Director: William Castle
Writer: Robb White
Country & year: USA, 1960
Actors: Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Martin Milner, Rosemary DeCamp, Donald Woods, Margaret Hamilton, John van Dreelen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053559/