FRANCHISE CORNER ENTRY: THE EVIL DEAD THE EVIL DEAD ***** USA 1983 Dir: Sam Raimi. 85 mins Eclipsed by its faster-paced, slapstick-based sequels, Raimi’s debut was a huge influence on a generation of comedic splatter movies, despite the fact that it never actually strives to be funny. Its set-up is…
Browsing: Franchise Corner
Franchise Corner Entry: RE-ANIMATOR RE-ANIMATOR ***** USA 1985 Dir: Stuart Gordon. 86 mins In the great zombie movie year of 1985, debut director Stuart Gordon offered a full-blown Grand Guignol take on Lovecraft and old-school mad-scientist horror that more than held its own against Romero’s gruelling DAY OF THE DEAD…
Franchise Corner Entry: Basket Case BASKET CASE **** USA 1981 85 mins Dir: Frank Henenlotter. Frank Henenlotter crafted a suitably gaudy love letter to Herschell Gordon Lewis – to whom the film is dedicated – for his feature debut, cannily combining splatter, tragedy and pastiche. The genuinely peculiar Kevin Van…
Franchise Corner Entry: PHANTASM PHANTASM ***** USA 1979 Dir: Don Coscarelli. 89 mins You think you are in familiar territory at the start of PHANTASM: a not-uncommon slasher-era graveyard shag; a familiar small American town with a HALLOWEEN-like suburban house; and an insistently eerie Carpenter / Goblin-inspired electronic theme tune.…
Franchise Corner Entry: MIRROR, MIRROR MIRROR, MIRROR *** USA 1990 Dir: Marina Sargenti. 104 mins On the advice of her psychiatrist, alienated goth teen Rainbow Harvest (hat from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, earrings from Pat Butcher, everything else from Winona Ryder in BEETLEJUICE) and flamboyant blonde-wigged, shoulder-padded mom (Karen Black)…