Nightmare USA Films Discussion Thread

[Make Them Die Slowly]

I love DTF, it was one of the stand out films for me when I first binged on the book on it's initial release.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Devil's Gift (1984)

A young boy gets more than he bargained for one birthday when he is bought a cymbal playing monkey toy which just happens to have been possessed by a malicious demon.

The monkey-bound demon then sets about attempting to kill off the family one by one through a series of gradually escalating psycho-kinetic and possession based events.

Whilst The Devil's Gift doesn't really bring anything new or original, it is for the most part competently made and adequately paced. However, aside from the gimmick of the creepy evil monkey the film is a little bland and predictable and certainly nothing you won't have seen before in some form or another.

[Rondadoronron]

martin_poster_02.jpg

Alright Im playing safe again with my choices,while Mr B.E. wallows in his own filth doing his dirty protest at mainstream cinema,ill stick with the good and the beloved.Again should need no introduction from my rat bag self,and since Arrow have released and re-re-leased this title im sure the majority of you own this rather brilliant film.
Made after The Crazies and before Dawn,this really shows that Romero had the magic touch and could do wonders within the horror genre.Taking the vampire legend and sticking it in a rather dull looking small Pennsylvania town,with its family mundanity and bored housewife's infidelities.
But the success of the film is mainly due to John Amplas fantastic performance as the title character Martin.The strength and believability of the film revolves around Amplas solid performance and his complex characterization of this young man,on one hand he is cunning and manipulative but also shy and backward to the point of being autistic.
Plus you have Lincoln Maazel as Cuda,the head of the family who's treatment of Martin would now a days get him put on a register for abuse.
I think this is one of the most original takes on vampirism to be filmed,his lust for blood and the way he clinically puts his victims to sleep and slits there wrists puts a great spin on things.And the dire mundane surroundings of his home and family makes a change from old castles and men in capes (although there good to).
Along with Dead and Buried and a few others its a well made and fairly respected,so again its not all pot boilers in Nightmare Usaville.In Romero's cannon of films this still stands the test time today and is certainly more valid than any of the modern vampire films which have been made in the last twenty years.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

At the moment, Martin is my fifth favourite vampire film behind Nosferatu (1922), Dracula (1958), Let the Right One In (2008) and Dracula (1931).

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Martin is my favourite of all Romero's films. Nice review, Ron.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Martin is my favourite of all Romero's films.

I think Season of the Witch is now mine, or does Day of the Dead still hold that mantle?

It's very close.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Devil's Playground (1976)

Perhaps the strangest film I've come across thus far in my trudge through unexplored Nightmare USA territory, in as much as it is neither horror nor exploitation as such, but more an in depth drama surrounding the young boys of a Catholic seminary and the priests (or 'brothers') who teach there.

Still as relevant today in many ways as it was when it was made almost 40 years ago, the themes of sexual exploration vs. repression and the religious connotations linked therein certainly provide the viewer with some food for thought.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Disconnected (1983)

Disconnected tells the tale of identical twins Alicia and Barbara-Anne; the latter of whom seems to delight in messing about with the former's boyfriends (and any man she comes into contact with too). Parallel to Alicia and Barbara-Anne's confrontations and relationship escapades we also have a deranged killer mutilating and murdering women, along with Alicia's freakishly bizarre surreal crank telephone calls driving her to the point of madness.

Despite its core plot points, Disconnected is far from your atypical '80s low-budget slasher fare largely thanks to the overall tone and mood of the film, which whilst difficult to pin down in a descriptive sense was a fascinating experience to behold. Whilst the film certainly treads the slasher trail to some degree, it also comes across as an experimental work in many respects steeped in its own odd brand of aesthetic weirdness. The seemingly tacked on police investigation is presented in an almost documentary like state at times too, which further enhances this film's bizarre vibe.

I got more than I bargained for with Disconnected, and whilst it won't be to everyone's tastes - slasher fans not withstanding - I'm personally glad that I stumbled across this little '80s curio.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Dogs (1976)

Dogs is just one example of the mass influx of killer animal films which came in the wake of Spielberg's Jaws. As the film going public were now scared to get in the ocean, all manner of land based fauna became ripe for exploitation to ensure they'd never even want to leave the safety of their own home again for fear of being targeted for extinction by nature's brethren; and with Dogs man's best friend was an easy target.

The film throws in some pseudo science to kick start the notion that the poodle next door would suddenly go for the kill in terms of pheromone triggers, which leads all the once loyal subservient canines of a small town to become aggressive and form packs to hunt down their human masters. The pheromone based triggers which are causing the canine chaos are linked to secret government experiments at the local school's lab, the dean of which refuses to acknowledge that there is an issue whilst he townsfolk are slowly becoming a dog's dinner.

The dog attack scenes themselves are passable, and whilst there are some interesting themes covered, Dogs doesn't stray too far off its mundane leash in terms of plot or building of suspense. Besides the domestic pet angle, there isn't really anything that stands out here when compared to many of the other animals on the rampage films of the same era - it does get bonus points for mimicking the shower scene in Psycho but with a dog, however.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I haven't seen Dogs – how does it compare to Cujo?