Friday, April 25, 2025

80's American Horror Part One-Hundred and Twenty-Six

THE ATTIC
(1980)
Dir - George Edwards
Overall: MEH
 
The only directorial effort from producer/screenwriter George Edwards, The Attic is an equally miserable and sensationalized bit of exploitation, dipping its toes into the psychological psycho-biddy sub-genre and only qualifying as a horror film within its final three minutes.  It is a long, despairing road to get to those minutes as we have to endure over an hour and a half of a pitch-perfect Ray Milland playing a verbally abusive and elderly asshole father for the books.  It is no wonder that his daughter, (the also pitch-perfect Carrie Snodgress), has turned into a wackadoo spinster, disassociated from healthy relationships, intimacy, and any hope of escaping her father's cruel and purposeful dependence on her.  We feel bad for Snodgress from the onset, and such unease never lets up as we witness her desperately try to break free, falling into bouts of dementia while proving to be a kind-hearted and charitable person that is willing to be there for her work friend.  She even goes as far as to buy a chimpanzee for companionship, one which Milland naturally despises.  Edwards throws minimal hints as to the final unwholesome reveal, but it comes off as more ridiculous than harrowing under such a long-winded and mostly straight-faced presentation.
 
THE ORACLE
(1985)
Dir - Roberta Findlay
Overall: WOOF
 
After nearly two-decades of making her bones exclusively in Z-grade exploitation, Roberta Findlay finally got behind the lens on an acceptably budgeted piece of exploitation for a change, the supernatural slasher-tinged The Oracle.  Make no mistake though, the quality level has not improved much since her days contributing in a usually uncredited capacity on her infamous ex-husband Michael's zero-merit sleaze films from the mid-sixties.  Roberta is carrying the torch here with a misogynistic and icky tale about some nonsense with a ceramic hand that acts as a conduit to dead people or malevolent spirits or whatever.  Simultaneously, there is a fat lady running around murdering prostitutes and the like, plus Caroline Capers Powers' protagonist spends the majority of the movie being hysterical and getting yelled at from every other character who refuses to believe anything that she says, because gaslighting women is a trope as old as time.  Arbitrary and nasty set pieces, relentless keyboard music, lousy acting, some rubber monster hands, laughably cheap gore effects, and a meandering plot all spell disaster for anyone looking for something NOT terrible to watch, but one or two embarrassingly funny moments do show up for the more forgiving of viewers.
 
THE BOY FROM HELL
(1988)
Dir - Deryn Warren
Overall: MEH
 
Credit where it is do, the mostly disastrous and annoying D-rent cheapie The Boy from Hell, (Bloodspell), at least boast a singular premise, even if it is derailed by crap production values, a monotonous plot, unlikable characters from top to bottom, and pathetic supernatural set pieces.  A troubled, soon-to-be eighteen year old arrives at a home for troubled kids, all of whom of course look as if they are portrayed by actors in their twenties.  It turns out that this zero charisma young man is either possessed or manipulated by his Satan worshiping old man who wants him to choose a bride for some kind of unholy ritual or whatever, and this sets in motion a repetitive structure where everyone yells, acts like assholes, gaslights each other, and occasionally die horrendous deaths which nobody in authority believes are being caused by the antichrist kid.  It is a mess of overacting and shoddy craftsmanship, coming off like an R-rated equivalent to a Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode where everyone gets to embarrass themselves and likely wishes that this never ended up on their resume.  Still, if you like a cheap synth score that hardly ever stops, lots of janky handheld camera work, characters who all suck, and someone calling Twink Caplan "delicious" while aggressively hitting on her, then maybe this will be worth your time.

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