Horror History: Friday, September 30, 1988: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark was released in theaters

Elvira busts out in her outrageously funny feature film debut! Wise-cracking vamp, Elvira, wants to put on a show in Las Vegas but she’s short $50,000, so when she learns that her wealthy Aunt Morgana has just died, she rushes off to old-fashioned, conservative Falwell, Massachusetts, for the reading of the will.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, September 30, 1988: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark was released in theaters”

Horror History: Wednesday, September 28, 1988: Scarecrows was released direct-to-video

Five crooks rob an army base payroll and kidnap a pilot and his daughter, who are forced to fly them to Mexico. One crook parachutes out with the money–followed closely by the others. All five land in a mysterious, abandoned graveyard at night, where they are terrorized by ghouls.

Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, September 28, 1988: Scarecrows was released direct-to-video”

Horror History: Tuesday, September 20, 1988: Cellar Dweller was released direct-to-video

The promising career of a horror comic book artist ends in a fiery death when he confronts the carnage of his own imagination in his studio. Years later, an ardent devotee of the artist’s work becomes a resident in his house, now an art academy, unaware that her imagination has revived the grotesque murderer of the past…and that she may be the next victim. Whoa.

Read more “Horror History: Tuesday, September 20, 1988: Cellar Dweller was released direct-to-video”

Horror History: Friday, August 26, 1988: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers was released in theaters

The grisly murders that terrorized Camp Arawak have become favorite ghost stories around Camp Rolling Hills six years later. As each of the campers learn the secrets about the murders, their carefree days at summer camp come to an end.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, August 26, 1988: Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, August 19, 1988: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was released in theaters

Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund) resurrects–hideously scarred–and returns to haunt the dreams of the teenaged children of the people who lynched him. It’s just a nightmare…

Read more “Horror History: Friday, August 19, 1988: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, June 17, 1988: Waxwork was released in theaters

In this horror film, an evil magician creates a wax display of famous monsters and murderers and invites a group of unsuspecting young college students to view the collection. However, when the kids are trapped in the deadly displays, one-by-one they soon discover that the wax models are more than they appear to be.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, June 17, 1988: Waxwork was released in theaters”

Horror History: Wednesday, June 1, 1988: Cheerleader Camp was released in theaters

Welcome to Camp Hurrah, where a psycho killer is slaughtering high school cheerleaders on the eve of the all-state finals. Drive-in goddesses Betsy Russell (Private School, Avenging Angel) and Lucinda Dickey (Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo) star with former teen idol Leif Garrett in this bouncing, bleeding bonanza of B-movie goodness featuring graphic violence, gratuitous nudity, bad rapping and more from the glory days of late ‘80s splatter. This is Cheerleader Camp!

Read more “Horror History: Wednesday, June 1, 1988: Cheerleader Camp was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, May 20, 1988: Not of This Earth was released in theaters

Remake of the Corman classic of a mysterious alien sent to earth to replenish his world’s blood supply by feeding on human blood. It takes the unstoppable determination of a nurse and her boyfriend cop to stop this vampire alien.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, May 20, 1988: Not of This Earth was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, May 20, 1988: American Gothic was released in theaters

A new tale of terror from the director of The Legend of Hell House and The Incubus.

When six young friends fly off on a weekend getaway and suddenly find themselves with engine trouble, they have no choice but to land on a remote Pacific island. Looking for shelter, they are grateful when they meet Ma and Pa and their children: an eccentric family still living in the backwoods as if it’s still the 1920s. But what begins as simple old-school hospitality becomes a terrifying race for survival when one by one, the friends start disappearing and dying horrible deaths. Fleeing the outside world many years ago, the family has created an island domain, where all strangers are sinners: and the killing has never stopped.

American Gothic features an all-star cast including Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night), Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters), Michael J. Pollard (Bonnie and Clyde) and William Hootkins (Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Read more “Horror History: Friday, May 20, 1988: American Gothic was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, May 13, 1988: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood was released in theaters

Ever since homicidal maniac Jason Voorhees got trapped in chains at the bottom of Crystal Lake, the nearby summer camp has operated without a hitch… without a murder. But one of this season’s happy campers has brought along a deadly secret.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, May 13, 1988: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, May 6, 1988: My Best Friend Is a Vampire was released in theaters

This ’80s teen comedy involves a youth (Robert Leonard), who is seduced by a sexy schoolgirl and then transforms into a blood-sucking vampire. Instead of fighting his affliction, he tries to cope with the change.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, May 6, 1988: My Best Friend Is a Vampire was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, May 6, 1988: Dead Heat was released in theaters

Maverick L.A.P.D. officer Roger Mortis is a good cop who will do anything to nail the bad guys. Investigating some frightening goings-on, Mortis and his partner, Doug Bigelow pay a visit to Dante Laboratories. It is here that they discover the high-tech Resurrection Room churning out a weird band of recycled and indestructible criminals. And it is here that Mortis meets his untimely death.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, May 6, 1988: Dead Heat was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, April 8, 1988: Bad Dreams was released in theaters

From The Director Of The Craft, The Screenwriter Of Die Hard, & The Producer Of The Terminator In the mid-70s, the members of the love cult Unity Fields sought ‘the ultimate joining’ by dousing themselves with gasoline and committing mass suicide. A young girl blown clear of the fiery explosion was the only survivor. Thirteen years later, Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin of A Nightmare On Elm Street 3) awakens from a coma inside a psychiatric hospital with only buried memories of that horrific day. But now, her fellow patients are each being driven to their own violent suicides. Has the sect’s hideously burned leader (Richard Lynch) returned to claim his final child, or is something even more depraved lurking within her Bad Dreams? Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator), Harris Yulin (Scarface), E.G. Daily (The Devil’s Rejects) and Dean Cameron (Summer School) co-star in this intense horror shocker directed by Andrew Fleming (The Craft, Dick), co-written by Steven de Souza (Die Hard, 48 HRS) and produced by Gale Anne Hurd (Armageddon, T2).

Read more “Horror History: Friday, April 8, 1988: Bad Dreams was released in theaters”

Horror History: Friday, March 4, 1988: Prison was released in US theaters

Creedmore Prison becomes a supernatural battleground when the specter of Charlie Forsythe, a man executed for murder, returns seeking vengeance from the brutal guard, Ethan Sharpe, who was aware of his innocence. The lives of the inmates hang in the balance as Forsythe and Sharpe lock in demonic combat.

Read more “Horror History: Friday, March 4, 1988: Prison was released in US theaters”