School’s Out Forever With ‘Graduation Day’

Graduation Day, released in the mid-spring of 1981, would be mostly forgotten if it wasn’t for two key factors. First off, it’s one of the earliest appearances by a young actress named Vanna White, who would go on to find success as the letter turning on Wheel of Forturne, which she has surprisinly been doingContinue reading “School’s Out Forever With ‘Graduation Day’”

‘Final Exam’ Copies Better Slasher Flicks But Still Makes The Grade

The slasher craze of the 1980s was an odd time in Hollywood. Anyone with a few hundred thousand dollars and some young actors with minimum acting experience could make a movie about a killer who stalks/terrorizes young people. Movies, such as Black Christmas and Halloween, helped to prove you didn’t need a big studio budgetContinue reading “‘Final Exam’ Copies Better Slasher Flicks But Still Makes The Grade”

‘Prom Night’ Turns Into Disco Bloodbath

The premise behind the original Prom Night released in the summer of 1980 is a simple one: What if someone took the original Halloween and gave it a Saturday Night Fever vibe?And just for good measure, they got Jamie Lee Curtis and a nice disco soundtrack. It also helped that Curtis knew how to danceContinue reading “‘Prom Night’ Turns Into Disco Bloodbath”

How ‘Popcorn’ Gave Horror Viewers A Taste Of Metafiction

By the time the 1980s ended, the horror genre was practically on every film critic’s shitlist. After a decade of the slasher genre with the Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies along with dozens of knock-offs, the 1990s started with a clean slate. If you changed the name of the subgenre,Continue reading “How ‘Popcorn’ Gave Horror Viewers A Taste Of Metafiction”