Bounding Into Halloween, Night 27: It’s Horror Anthology Night With ‘All Hallows’ Eve’ And ‘Creepshow’ (1982)
It’s almost time, kids! The clock is ticking. Stay in front of your screens as the horrorthon comes to a close, but don’t expect any kind of giveaway. Don’t miss the double feature of horror anthologies this evening, and DO NOT forget to wear your masks! The clock is ticking! It’s almost time…
All Hallow’s Eve (2013)
This underrated indie flick is what introduced the world to director, Damien Leone (Terrifier 1-3), and his harlequin of graphic horror, Art the Clown.
It takes place on Halloween night, and it’s about a babysitter named Sarah (Katie Maguire) who finds a blank VHS tape in the trick-or-treat bag of one of the kids she’s watching. She plays the tape, and what follows next is three short films with a freaky-looking clown (Mike Ginanelli) connecting them.
The first tale is about a young woman who’s abducted by Art then brought to a dungeon where two other women are being held in chains, and the reason for their kidnapping is even more sinister than some petty dismemberment.
It’s followed by a city girl who moves to the country, and becomes the object of desire for an extraterrestrial being, but not in a mawkish “Starman” type of way.
The final segment tells of a costume designer who picks the wrong gas station to make a pit stop, and it has the most hardcore ending of the other three.
It’s always amusing to watch the faces of so many Terrifier fans go slack with bewilderment whenever this movie is mentioned at horror conventions.
The effects didn’t have the same budget as the Art spinoffs that followed, but it has a much darker story, and it’s not just a bunch of ultraviolent scenes stapled together by a half baked plot.
David Howard Thorton replaced Ginanelli in the clown paint for the rest of the series, and the character has since become the most popular figure in modern horror. All Hallow’s Eve is over on TUBI, and here’s the trailer:
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Creepshow (1982)
The next collection of frights brings back our late zombie king, George Romero, as the movie’s director, and the stories were written by an online curmudgeon who keeps managing to sneak back onto my list this month, but I promise that this will be the last time.
Creepshow pays homage to the classic Tales From the Crypt and Vault of Horror books from EC Comics, but without the “real” X-ray glasses, or the rock-hard rectangle of petrified bubblegum that was made in the 1950s.
The first story is about a family of wealthy snobs who inherited their fortune from an evil father when he finally died, but their family reunion is interrupted when the old man returns on Father’s Day, and he won’t rest until someone gives the rich revenant his cake.
A rustic dirt farmer (and the author of these stories) finds “meteor s—t!” on his property that slowly turns him into Swamp Thing’s dim-witted brother. A sadistic Leslie Nielsen buried his problems in the sand, but skips the two piña coladas. A university professor finds a hairy problems in a crate beneath the stairs, and a cruel germophobic tycoon opens his own roach motel.
Connecting these segments is the story of a young boy named Billy (Joe Hill) who’s caught reading a horror comic by his hardcase father (Tom Atkins), and he’s sent to his room.
It doesn’t happen often, but a scary movie full of camp will occasionally come along that still maintains the right amount of scares that keep it from becoming a comedy. It also features some of Tom Savini’s finest makeup work, and plenty of gross moments.
Creepshow can be found on Prime, but only IF YOU CAN HOLD YOUR BREATH!!! Here’s the trailer:
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