February 2001 marked the start into a new venture of horror for me.

VHS Cover

The Scream franchise had concluded, Hall8ween: Homecoming (now Resurrection) was in development, Jason X was in limbo and no Elm Street entry anywhere in sight despite the Freddy vs. Jason rumors. But it was the likes of movies such as Cherry Falls which brought my young horror mind to the deeply vast multitude of slashers that were out there. I loved slashers and was familiar with the 80s boom but DVD was still new at the time and VHS were beginning to be sold off the rental shelves. This was where the magic happened as Jumbo Video (Dundurn) in Hamilton, Ontario began selling off previously viewed VHS. I must have spent almost an hour rooting through and there it was, calling out to me, Slumber Party Massacre 3. The rich red font with the picture of a drill coming down over three scantily-clad girls, and this yellow ribbon stating “UNRATED” felt like I was holding a piece of forgotten horror history. If that wasn’t enough, the VHS cover art quoted Joe Bob Briggs with such lines as “Nine breasts. Ten dead bodies.” That right there is an absolute classic! Modern horror just wasn’t cutting it when gratuitous gore-fests (relatively speaking) like this exist. It’s this reason alone that Slumber Party Massacre 3 will stand above all other 80s/90s B-Horror (even Popcorn) and the other two entries in the franchise.

The first driller killer kill of my life

The film starts with Jackie (Keely Christian), Diane (Brandi Burkett) and their friends playing volleyball on the California beach. When was the murder going to begin? Was there going to be a plot and if so, did it tie into the two that I had not seen? All this didn’t matter because then this random guy (Yan Birch), with a mysterious expression, walks up to them and this weird, off-kilter beat on the soundtrack plays. Weird! (Probably hence his “Weirdo” screen credit). They finish their game and set up plans for the rest of the day. One girl walks alone, gets into her car and there it is….the first driller killer kill of my life! Right through the car seat, grinding and thrusting – ah yes, the drill thrusting; clueing into the fact the drill was meant as a visual metaphor. I didn’t openly think this though or really care too much, but many critics of this franchise have. It’s a film for God’s sake, get over it.

The slumber party gets underway, with Jackie running into the neighbor, Morgan (M.K. Harris) who portrays one of the most interesting characters in the film and another red herring as a possible suspect. All the girls come over and do their girl things — and honestly, as a teenager, I didn’t know any different — maybe girls didn’t go to the bra and panties extent in real life sleepovers — with guys dropping by to be goofs and hook up. The weirdo even sneaks around, and we are never told why this guy wants to lurk; he was surely up to no good. You could assume he just had a paraphilia touch for voyeurism and was hoping to see action.

Keep reading after the trailer

If you need a spoiler alert for a movie released in 1990, here it is: SPOILER ALERT

As they get picked off, one by one, I was trying to figure out who the killer was. I love any slasher that has you guessing. After repeated viewings, I definitely picked up on the clues including the photograph shown during the opening credits. Proverbial horror-film handsome hunk, Ken (Brittain Frye), is revealed as the murderer as the climax ensues.

This is where the standard B-Horror movie fare really takes a turn to the dark side, and while a casual viewing will have the fan laughing and enjoying, a deeply thorough look shows the true darkness behind Ken’s killing spree: his retired Uncle from the Police Force is killed and this sets Ken off on a killing spree to honor his Uncle. Sound lame? Not exactly. When Ken was just a little boy, he had too much of a bond with his Uncle — not by his own choice — the film shows his memory as P.O.V. flashbacks to his Uncle getting awfully close. So I think you get the idea of the type of abuse that was going on here. Further evidence of the abuse and lingering shame felt by Ken is shown when he hooks up with a girl, and later in the most controversial and borderline rape/kill scene, with Maria (Maria Ford). As soon as physical touch is made, Ken withdraws in shame. Any stalker/slasher usually is thrown into a psycho-sexual troubled category but to go this route I thought was awfully daring.

The violence amps up with the girls getting beaten around, and drilled excessively — with the weapon I mean — and it falls to Jackie, Diane and Susie (Maria Claire) to take down their attacker. These girls aren’t stupid either despite the occasional opportunity to run out the door (before Ken locks it), and actually use the volleyball net and house accessories to trap Ken. The volleyball net and therefore, the scene itself, actually foreshadowed to what would help the girls! Brilliant. Ken gets one more kill before Jackie goes to town prior to the cops showing up (thanks to Morgan); clearly psychologically scarred, Jackie drills the ever loving shit out of Ken where there is no coming back for a fourth entry in the series. These closing moments, and the sheer blood splatter alone, left me in awe and loving every second of it.

A financial success

DVD Cover

Shot on a low budget of $350,000 from New Horizons/New Concorde, produced by the legendary Roger Corman, directed by Sally Mattison and written by Catherine Cyran, Slumber Party Massacre 3 wasn’t even meant to be a part three but just another film hence why the original storyline following sisters Valerie and Courtney was discarded. The film had a theatrical release in 1990 earning back four times its budget! Not too bad if I do say. The VHS was released in both Rated R and Unrated versions (I scored the latter), and then later as the Massacre Collection, released on DVD. Interestingly, fans rejoiced because seven additional minutes over and above the previous unrated edition were added — making it a true-to-form ultimate cut which adds further character development and humanizes the girls even more so that the viewer cares for them. Outlets like Media Play or Suncoast were the only places to find these DVDs and thank God for that. Now with the help of Shout! Factory and most recently, their sub-labelled Scream Factory, all three Slumber Party Massacre films are available in HD and in all theatrical, unrated, and unrated/extended forms.

The horror franchise fanbase also continues to grow and I am proudly one of them; websites such as www.hockstatter.com led by Tony Brown, pays homage to the series and their sister series Sorority House Massacre. In 2003, I was even on the hunt to find Slumber Party IV, and I eventually did, as it was known then as Cheerleader Massacre. Didn’t have any real resemblance to the rest of the series but with the inclusion of original SPM star, Brinke Stevens, I keep this fondly in my VHS collection. Speaking of Sorority House Massacre, SPM3 was shot just after SHM2 including the use of the same house set and later, the use of screenshots from SHM2 used on the back of the SPM3 VHS and DVD cover art. Imagine that!? Certainly threw me even back when I first got that VHS wondering what these images were actually from. Mystery revealed the more I educated myself and SHM2 kept eluding me until a few years later when I got a copy and voila, there were the scenes. Those errors aside, I say that Slumber Party Massacre 3 remains the best in the series, of all the Slumber Party and Sorority House Massacres out there, with its portrayal of strong female characters, better-than-average dialogue, obligatory red herrings and low budget gore (better than CGI any day).

I will never get rid of my VHS, DVD or Blu-Rays, and I encourage any horror fan that has not seen the series, let alone this entry, to go find the Driller Killer before the Driller Killers finds you.

Which Slumber Party Massacre is your favorite in the series?

Growing up, I was a simple kid. I was innocent. I liked professional wrestling, Looney Tunes cartoons and the Ninja Turtles. I was your ordinary everyday kid of the early 90’s. I’d spend my days playing with my action figures and watching whatever VHS tape I could find. You might want to call what I did “child’s play?” I don’t know why Child’s Play hooked me like it did! Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who grew a fascination with that particular two foot doll.

These days, stores can’t keep the new iPhone in stock. Think back to 1983, before my time, when the Cabbage Patch Kid craze was sweeping the nation. Consumers were causing mini riots in order to get their hands on a doll that was “so ugly it was cute”. That Christmas, every kid in North America (if they were lucky enough) was waking up to see a fat faced, possibly freckled, doll with a funny haircut under their tree.

Enter Chucky

I do believe it was the simple childlike innocence that makes Child’s Play such a great horror film. From Chucky’s red hair that resembles the beloved Ronald McDonald, to the overalls many mothers dressed their little ones in when they shipped them off to school, Chucky was someone we could all relate too.

But the whole idea of a child’s doll coming to life to hunt and kill a six year old boy was a little farfetched wasn’t it? Like who could believe that? Just kick him and run, right? Well you’re right, but you know what they say, “you can’t keep a good guy down.” Almost every kid in the Western Hemisphere owned a doll so closely resembling the one Charles Lee Ray possessed himself into that it was beginning to become easy to feel…uneasy.

“Just kick him and run, right?”

In the decade of the slasher flick, we were becoming accustomed to machete wielding freaks that haunted us in our dreams all on Halloween night. But Chucky threw a wrench into that formula. While in many ways still falling under the “slasher movie” category, Child’s Play decided to act upon the incoherent fear that every kid has ever thought: “What if my toys actually come to life when I’m not playing with them?” Now not only were we scared of our He-Man figures coming to life, we now had that distinct fear in the form of Brad Dourif’s voice yelling at us, or cackling that psychopathic laugh, all the while we were being chased. It all became the perfect mixture of things to fear which we had no idea we were even scared off.

“Child’s Play was the first horror movie I ever watched”

And I hated it. I hated it so much I had to watch it daily; watching it daily while covering my eyes!!! I watched this movie so often and yet every time I did, I regretted it. Until the day my Mom had enough of my obsession with this movie that terrified me and just threw it right into the trash.  That trash bin that now sat on the curb waiting for the pick-up. Only a few hours later my Dad pulled in from work, saw that my favorite VHS somehow got thrown in that trash bin and returned it to its rightful place in the VCR. I was addicted to the scare from that point forward. It was as if I was Andy, who loved my doll even though knowing something wasn’t quite right, and my Mom attempting to protect me….but he found a way back into my home.

This movie does have a bit of everything in it. It’s a real people pleaser. Think of it like this: if you like ghost stories, it has got a possession…if you like comedy, it has plenty of wit…and if you like romance then it has that beautiful love story between a Mother and her son. Lastly, and most importantly, if you like an adrenaline rush…it has plenty of scares and gore to keep you breathing heavy.

Child’s Play to get the Scream Factory Treatment

With Scream Factory releasing a brand new edition full of special features all heightening the awesomeness of this film, and a recent cast reunion during Horrorhound Weekend (so jealous I wasn’t there), then that just shows how this film has endured time and it’s sequels.

Check out our interview with Shout! Factory

So if you want to remember how to get into the Halloween spirit this season, then simply pop in 1988’s own: Child’s Play.

You know what…if you really want to relive your childhood innocence before experiencing this film again, have one last bonfire in the backyard and try this old favorite campfire song on for size: “Ade Due Damballa….give me the power I beg of you!”

What movie scared you as a kid? Let us know in the comments section below.

“Enough of this Michael Myers bullshit.” was a line spoken by character John Strode (portrayed to brilliance by actor Bradford English) in Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers.

Turns out in 1995 when the movie was released theatrically, many of the Halloween fans and genre fans alike said the same thing. One of the most renowned cases of poor test audience and studio interference, Halloween 6 has become one of the most talked about entries in the franchise. Many feel that it was a hack-and-slash mess that left fans more sour than satisfied. It was not until after the release when the world of horror learned of the original edit – a concept and piece that much more related to Screenwriter Daniel Farrands’ vision and brought the series full circle.

On September 23^rd, Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory (two distributors who have become Gods to the many VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray collectors out there) have combined their strengths to produce the ultimate combination of the Halloween Franchise into one large box set. Although countless versions have been released over the years, this box set not only has new material but the long awaited and too-often-bootlegged version of Halloween 6 known as “The Producer’s Cut.”

Thanks to Rue-Morgue magazine out of Toronto, Halloween fans got treated to the first ever theatrical release of The Producer’s Cut on Thursday night. The magazine routinely hosts movies in what they have called their ‘Cinemacabre’ movie nights. Rue-Morgue Editor-in-Chief Dave Alexander took a few minutes to discuss how it came about.

“Well, with Cinemacabre, I’m always trying to do things that are a unique experience,” said Alexander, “or a little bit outside of the box. There is a lot more competition for genre screenings especially in Toronto, a lot more than when we started Cinemacabre years ago. We showed the Director’s Cut of Mimic when it came out and Guillermo Del Toro came out to the screening and did a Q&A with us so I kind of had that stuff on my mind.”

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With many cases in filmmaking, often what is seen on screen was not the original concept and Alexander continues that “the idea [is] that we have these interesting filmmakers [that] have their version or what’s close to their version shown on the big screen. The fans love it and often the companies like it too because it’s good promotion for them coming out so it’s just kind of one of those things that work well for everybody.”

On the Producer’s Cut showing specifically, Alexander says it is for “the horror fans and for the Halloween fans that drove in from out of town that want to get a chance to see a totally unique screening.”

The film begins on October 30, 1995 and picks up six years after the events of Halloween 5

The now 16-year-old Jamie Lloyd (sadly not portrayed by original actress Danielle Harris due to the studio unwilling to negotiate a fair salary) is being treated inside Smith’s Grove Warren County Sanitarium. Through a flashback, the audience gets to see how Jamie ended up in the clutches of the mysterious Man-In-Black and still threatened by her Uncle, Michael Myers. From there, we are introduced to the Strode family – relatives of Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie character – who are now living in the old Myers house. Besides Michael and Jamie, the main character we are pleasantly re-introduced to is Dr. Loomis portrayed by the legendary Donald Pleasance. Sadly this was Pleasance’s final appearance in the franchise and the swan song for Dr. Loomis. Pleasance’s untimely death was not foreseen and unfortunately, caused the iconic character minimalized screen-time in the theatrical release because no new footage could be shot. With over 40+ minutes of scenes cut or altered, it is no wonder fans were left with a product that bordered on dismal. If The Producer’s Cut had of been released in its original form, it very well could be the best of the sequels in the series. With the emphasis on the origins of Michael’s evil that included the ancient rituals of Sam Hain and Celtic Legend (all primary factors into the essence of the Halloween lore), the film fleshes out and brings to a close certain elements established through the previous three Myers entries. Eliminating spoilers as much as possible, it is safe to say though that by the end of this cut, Loomis has now discovered why he was destined to battle Myers for all these years but no matter what curse was imposed on Myers as a child, he is what original creator John Carpenter always envisioned, his own, independent agent of evil. If this were to be the last entry in the franchise (which was not the intention but could have been following Pleasances death and prior to Jamie Lee Curtis willing to return), The Producer’s Cut brings closure to the entire series while leaving just enough for the fans and the story to retain its longevity.

Lively helping-hand and current Rue-Morgue Intern, Brett McNeill, had not seen the theatrical cut so watching the series up to that point; it was a first time experience which left him very pleased. After the credits rolled, McNeill was happy to share why he found it to be “the best Halloween sequel.” Many fans that have seen the movie will probably agree with him that “the fact that it all happened in the Myers house” brought relativity back to the original and because of it, brought the audience “more suspense.”

Alexander elaborated on the film’s significance to the franchise, “For the people who know The Producer’s Cut, it gets a lot more into the whole curse of Thorn subplot which was subsequently abandoned after they re-cut it, which, was one of the most interesting things to happen to the Halloween series when they introduced occult nature to the evil of Michael Myers. You get to sort of go back into that world and there is a real interest in it. There are people that have done fan films based around the whole curse of Thorn cult stuff that we’ve done articles on. It’s sort of like a ‘What If?’ kind of scenario. What if the Halloween franchise went in that direction and embraced this whole other path.”

Both the theatrical and the Producer’s Cut plot-points were abandoned for the next installment, Halloween: H20 – a decision that was made during the course of production by Jamie Lee Curtis. H20 was not without its share of script revisions but in relation to Halloween 6, could not compare. Alexander mentioned that he “talked to a fellow tonight that has read several different versions of the script that were posted online and this is still far from what Screenwriter Daniel Farrands had in mind, but at least it puts a whole different coat of paint on the series.”

The landscape of Film and Television in 2014 has certainly changed and that is where the importance of The Producer’s Cut cannot be overlooked. For almost 20 years, petitions surfaced online pleading for the movie’s release onto DVD. It is fitting then that this pinnacle version of Halloween 6 is now getting the treatment it deserves and speaks volumes for the power of the fans and followers of these films.

In a last note, Alexander brought up a very valid take on the subject: “I think that’s what is significant [about the film]. We sort of live in an age now where everything comes out, people’s scripts get posted online [and] stuff gets leaked. People talk about what could have been, you know they make trailers for movies that don’t exist and posters for things that don’t exist so it’s kind of come into the control of fans. They let their imaginations kinda run wild on it and I think this [film] fits firmly into that mindset.”

It is a blessing that events such as Cinemacabre and the people responsible exist. Through the support of the distributor, Anchor Bay Entertainment (who now own the rights to this version), the Rue-Morgue crew was able to bring life back to the Halloween series one last time. Maybe by coming out to The Royal Theatre, and buying the upcoming Box Set, the admiration of The Producer’s Cut release allowed fans victory and closure; allowing them to properly say with pride:

“Trick or Treat, Mother-Fucker!”

For more information on Cinemacabre and Rue-Morgue, visit www.rue-morgue.com
For more information on the Halloween franchise, visit www.halloweenmovies.com

Special Thanks to Dave Alexander, Brett McNeill, Rue-Morgue Magazine and Anchor Bay Entertainment

Well it’s that time of year again. That’s right, we got totally wrecked, bent, blitzed, blinded and trashed with all our old (and some new) friends at Horrorhound Weekend Indianapolis! We’ve got the recap in this episode.

Also we are celebrating the sendoff of my co-host, cohort, James Dunn, as he is fulfilling a lifelong dream of making movie monsters. If you listened last episode, we announced that James has been accepted to the Tom Savini Special FX Makeup Program — of course we’re getting drunk in his honor.

We wish James the best, but this doesn’t mean the end of 40oz. Of Horror… oh no! James will just be on remote from Pittsburgh while learning from the master. This can only mean bigger and better for the 40oz. Nation.

So raise your glass, bottle or can because James, we salute you. Drink up!

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James went to Sin City and lived to talk about it… Well, what he remembers, anyway.  Jake contributes to the show with a collection of some of the weird and creepy things kids say.  Plus, we respond to some of your question and comments, some WTF, and Boozin’ Gone Bad.

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40oz. of Horror discusses this summer’s blockbuster surprises and busts, the buzz surrounding Sharknado, and why New Zealand is banning the Maniac remake, along with lots of news and WTF.  Also, we read your comments, some 2-sentence horror stories and a Boozin’ Gone Bad… finally.

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In this episode we are joined by Jake, Brandon and Billy Dee Williams in spirit. 40 oz. Colt 45s are consumed like water, and we also talk zombie survival.

James tells us why he was unhappy with the end of American Horror Story: Asylum, we talk about DVD compilations and stray from the genre as I talk about my favorite Kung Fu movie, Crippled Masters.

We reel it back in though. For fans of The Thing, we have a tidbit that will blow your mind… KABOOM, you’re welcome.

Of course we have our Horror News, WTF News and in Morbid Facts we tell you what sunscreen has caused people to burst into flames.

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