JUST BEFORE DAWN

JUST BEFORE DAWN was released theatrically with little fanfare in 1981. With all of the slasher films being released at that time, it seemed to get lost in the shuffle. Luckily, it resurfaced throughout the 1980s on cable and video, where it became a cult classic. Beautifully filmed, competently acted, boasting an eerie score and quite a shocking finale, JUST BEFORE DAWN is now available on a 2-disc DVD set from Media Blasters - you can get it at retailers for as low as $14.99. An old fan or someone who has yet to see the movie, you can't beat the price. Gregg Henry, Deborah Benson, Chris Lemmon, Jamie Rose and Ralph Seymour play five young people who go camping deep in the Oregon wilderness when Henry inherits some land. Despite warnings that the mountain has 'demons,' the youths can't be swayed from their vacation. No sooner do they set up camp, they meet the 'demons,' which are monstrous behemoths, though very much human and wielding jagged machetes. JUST BEFORE DAWN is a worthy contribution to the genre and the DVD has some great extras including interviews with the director, writer, composer and actors Chris Lemmon, Jamie Rose and John Hunsaker.

Yet Again - More Mayhem

Saw 2 stars DONNIE WAHLBERG (Ransom), BEVERLEY MITCHELL (7th Heaven), DINA MEYER (Point Pleasant) & SHAWNEE SMITH (The Blob); Scab is a homoerotic vampire story with porn star BRAD BENTON (The Scout Club); Seven Mummies stars CERINA VINCENT (Cabin Fever) & BILLY WIRTH (The Lost Boys); Stay Alive toplines MILO VENTIMIGLIA (Cursed) & SOPHIA BUSH (One Tree Hill); The Tooth Fairy stars Canadian thesps CHANDRA WEST (Puppet Master 5) & JESSE HUTCH (Freddy Vs. Jason); 2001 Maniacs is a remake with ROBERT ENGLUND (Urban Legend) & LIN SHAYE (Boat Trip). Films currently in pre-production/casting include: Bats 2, Bloody Mary:Legend Of The Mirror Witch, Demon Board, Hollow Man 2, I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:Origin, Undead 3-D, and When A Stranger Calls.

Future Murder - Continued

Continuing where I left off, there's House Of The Dead 2 with PAUGE PETERSON (Cutting Room), ELLIE CORNELL (Halloween 4), and SID HAIG (The Devil's Rejects); Legion Of The Dead features ZACH GALLIGAN (Gremlins); REGGIE BANNISTER (Phantasm) and AIMEE BROOKS (Sorority House Massacre) topline The Mangler Reborn; DENISE CROSBY (Pet Sematary), LEE GARLINGTON (Psycho III), and COURTNEY PELDON (Boston Public) star in Mortuary; the sexy thriller Mustang Sally stars E.G. DAILY (Valley Girl) and AL SANTOS (Jeepers Creepers 2); A.J. COOK (Final Destination 2) appears in Night Skies; Pulse stars KRISTEN BELL (Veronica Mars) and singer CHRISTINA MILIAN; Return Of The Living Dead 4 & 5 both star PETER COYOTE (E.T.); the long-awaited Return To Sleepaway Camp features ISAAC HAYES (South Park) and FELISSA ROSE (Sleepaway Camp); Room 6 stars CHRISTINE TAYLOR (The Craft), JERRY O'CONNELL (Scream 2), ELLIE CORNELL (House Of The Dead), and KANE HODDER (Friday The 13th's "Jason").

UPCOMING MURDER!

Lots of gore, murder and screaming are coming your way, either to theatres or video stores! Here's a partial listing of what (and who) to expect. Blood Deep features WENDY KAPLAN (Halloween 5); The Breed stars OLIVER HUDSON (Dawson's Creek), MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ (The Fast And The Furious), TARYN MANNING (Crazy/Beautiful), and HILL HARPER (Pumpkinhead II); The Brotherhood IV is on it's way from director DAVID DeCOTEAU (The Sisterhood); Camp Daze is a slasher set in 1981 featuring JON FLEMING (Will & Grace); Catacombs features SHANNYN SOSSAMON (The Rules Of Attraction) and music star PINK; The Cave comes to theatres soon starring EDDIE CIBRIAN (But I'm A Cheerleader) and PIPER PERABO (Coyote Ugly); LINDY BOOTH (Wrong Turn), JARED PADALECKI (House Of Wax) and rocker JON BON JOVI star in Cry Wolf; Cutting Room features E.G. DAILY (One Dark Night); MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD (The Ring Two) and RYAN MERRIMAN (Halloween:Resurrection) topline Final Destination 3; the remake of The Fog stars TOM WELLING (Smallville), SELMA BLAIR (A Dirty Shame), and SARA BOTSFORD (Deadly Eyes); Hellbent is a gay-themed slasher with HANK HARRIS (Popular) and ANDREW LEVITAS (Psycho Beach Party); another remake, The Hills Have Eyes, stars KATHLEEN QUINLAN (Children Of The Night), ELLIE CORNELL (Halloween 4), and SID HAIG (The Devil's Rejects); Hostel stars JAY HERNANDEZ (Torque).

High School Horrors - PROM NIGHT (1980)

Welcome to "Rivers Of Gore!" I figured I'd start things out with the best of high-school blood-letting, and my all-time favorite is PROM NIGHT (1980). It was a guaranteed success - released a couple of months after the original FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) and starring that era's reigning 'Scream Queen,' Jamie Lee Curtis of HALLOWEEN (1978). The difference here is that perky Jamie Lee isn't on the killer's hit list this time around. She and her plucky friends, all students at Alexander Hamilton Senior High School, are excited about the prom. Wouldn't you be thrilled too if your prom's theme was 'Disco Madness?' Anyways, it seems that someone is out for revenge at the prom. A masked maniac knows a 'secret' kept by Wendy (Eddie Benton), Nick (Casey Stevens), Kelly (Mary Beth Rubens) and Jude (Joy Thompson) - it just so happens that the night of the prom is the anniversary of their deadly 'secret.' Throats are gouged with jagged shards of glass and heads are lopped off with an axe. The identity of the killer comes after a brawl with Jamie Lee and Nick on the blinking disco dance floor. While it's easy to dismiss a lot of these films as mindless teenkill pics, PROM NIGHT at least has a coherent storyline, a lightweight mystery, and an actual motive for the killings. Victims aren't just lined up as mindless fodder for the special effects team; the characters in PROM NIGHT are well-developed and acted by a fresh-faced cast, most notably Benton (a.k.a. Anne-Marie Martin) as the wonderfully evil Wendy and Thompson as the somewhat nerdy Jude. Three in-name only sequels followed - HELLO MARY LOU:PROM NIGHT II (1987), PROM NIGHT III:THE LAST KISS (1989) and PROM NIGHT IV:DELIVER US FROM EVIL (1992).

For more horrendously hellish high-school antics, I highly recommend HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1981).