"The Horror Show" is a reasonably entertaining and enjoyable cheesy 80s slasher.
**SPOILERS**
Still somewhat haunted by nightmares, Det. Lucas McCarthy, (Lance Henriksen) feels a sense of relief that notorious serial killer Marc Jenke, (Brion James) who he had a hand in capturing, is executed and allows him to go back on the force. As he learns he's going back to work, which makes his family, wife Donna, (Rita Taggart) and kids Bonnie, (Dedee Pfeiffer) and Scott, (Aron Eisenberg) a little happier over the move, it still fails to end the nightmares, especially due to his threat to return and seek revenge. As they get more caught up in his growing insanity over whether he has gotten over the incidents or whether he's right about him coming back to torment him, he appears to have been right all along as the maniac returns and targets his family, forcing him to protect them as well as stop the psychopath's rampage.
The Good News: There was some good stuff in this one that managed to make it pretty entertaining. One of the best pluses in the film is that there's a large amount of cheese in here for a film with such a dark tone. The scenes of him being able to control the surroundings of the family's house, such as the sequence where he murders a friend in the basement to another one later on which is just a scare scene, come off rather well-done despite the inherent cheese associated with the scenes. Others, like the turkey taking on the killer's face and voice during a Thanksgiving dinner or the daughter appearing to be pregnant with the killer and giving birth to him despite not being pregnant in real-life, are absolutely spectacular scenes that are filled with expertly-crafted effects in both cases, as the turkey is incredibly life-like and there's a fantastic visual as the skin stretches in the second one and the face appears in the skin-marks, and there's a lot to like about these, and others, despite it feeling cheesy upon uttering what the scenes were about. Another big plus here is that there's a couple sequences where it actually feels somewhat creepy, especially the opening where they walk-through his decrepit killing space inside a kitchen. From the steam covering just about every area possible rendering it nearly impossible to see anything at a distance to the blood-smeared surface areas and the hiding places filled with dismembered body parts, this is one of the best-designed killer's hideouts possible since it looks used as well as appropriate for the film, a rare feat that makes the chase after the little girl held hostage all the more tense and thrilling. A second, similar sequence later on where they follow a ghostly-white child in a white dress through the same location is just as brilliantly done, being incredibly tense and undeniably well-done in content and execution that it feels like a winner. There's even a series of well-done brawls and battling thrown in, which is just excellent as well. From the flashback of them inside the hideout to the one inside the power station at the end which allows for the resolution to come full-circle, they're very well-done and manage to hold up remarkably well for being in a horror film, since the damage inflicted is reminiscent of action-film brawling. There's even a rather decent body count resulting in some great kills, from a scalping to a nice decapitation, a limb chopped off, some deep slash marks from a meat-cleaver and a few messy gunshot-wounds. The last good part to this is the execution-through-electrocution, not only for the action it spices up the film with, but also for the fun visual of the killer-on-fire still advancing into the crowd of onlookers, which is always a lot of fun. These here make this one entertaining.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot here that didn't work, but it still had a couple of flaws. One of the main ones is that the film tends to fall into the clichés for its plot rather early and often, hitting many notes that are done in previous genre films in the same exact rote and manner. This is a limitation of the plot and aren't able to overcome them, so it's not exactly one the film has any control over, but still, to witness such scenes as the police holding him in custody doesn't have any real impact over it because the plot simply has that particular sequence come up next. The other big problem with this one regards it's overabundance of 80s-style cheese, which not everyone will appreciate especially since the tone of this one is a little bit darker than usual. From the furnace being possessed, a concept which was just hokey and utterly stupid, to the killer appearing in a video about a stand-up comic and providing punch-lines that are just groan-inducing as well as the ones issued during the segment, and the over-the-top finale to it just really pushes it over-the-edge as well. Other scenes, such as him falling asleep at the wheel of a car narrowly avoiding a crash or the constant family drama that accompany his journey through catching him don't really register anymore, and really just fall flat. Overall, these are the film's problems.
The Final Verdict: As cheesy as it can be while still retaining a sense of fear from its action, this one manages to be an effective and enjoyable genre outing. Give it a shot if you're into these kinds of films, have an affinity for the main actors or are interested, while those that are unable to appreciate camp should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity
**SPOILERS**
Still somewhat haunted by nightmares, Det. Lucas McCarthy, (Lance Henriksen) feels a sense of relief that notorious serial killer Marc Jenke, (Brion James) who he had a hand in capturing, is executed and allows him to go back on the force. As he learns he's going back to work, which makes his family, wife Donna, (Rita Taggart) and kids Bonnie, (Dedee Pfeiffer) and Scott, (Aron Eisenberg) a little happier over the move, it still fails to end the nightmares, especially due to his threat to return and seek revenge. As they get more caught up in his growing insanity over whether he has gotten over the incidents or whether he's right about him coming back to torment him, he appears to have been right all along as the maniac returns and targets his family, forcing him to protect them as well as stop the psychopath's rampage.
The Good News: There was some good stuff in this one that managed to make it pretty entertaining. One of the best pluses in the film is that there's a large amount of cheese in here for a film with such a dark tone. The scenes of him being able to control the surroundings of the family's house, such as the sequence where he murders a friend in the basement to another one later on which is just a scare scene, come off rather well-done despite the inherent cheese associated with the scenes. Others, like the turkey taking on the killer's face and voice during a Thanksgiving dinner or the daughter appearing to be pregnant with the killer and giving birth to him despite not being pregnant in real-life, are absolutely spectacular scenes that are filled with expertly-crafted effects in both cases, as the turkey is incredibly life-like and there's a fantastic visual as the skin stretches in the second one and the face appears in the skin-marks, and there's a lot to like about these, and others, despite it feeling cheesy upon uttering what the scenes were about. Another big plus here is that there's a couple sequences where it actually feels somewhat creepy, especially the opening where they walk-through his decrepit killing space inside a kitchen. From the steam covering just about every area possible rendering it nearly impossible to see anything at a distance to the blood-smeared surface areas and the hiding places filled with dismembered body parts, this is one of the best-designed killer's hideouts possible since it looks used as well as appropriate for the film, a rare feat that makes the chase after the little girl held hostage all the more tense and thrilling. A second, similar sequence later on where they follow a ghostly-white child in a white dress through the same location is just as brilliantly done, being incredibly tense and undeniably well-done in content and execution that it feels like a winner. There's even a series of well-done brawls and battling thrown in, which is just excellent as well. From the flashback of them inside the hideout to the one inside the power station at the end which allows for the resolution to come full-circle, they're very well-done and manage to hold up remarkably well for being in a horror film, since the damage inflicted is reminiscent of action-film brawling. There's even a rather decent body count resulting in some great kills, from a scalping to a nice decapitation, a limb chopped off, some deep slash marks from a meat-cleaver and a few messy gunshot-wounds. The last good part to this is the execution-through-electrocution, not only for the action it spices up the film with, but also for the fun visual of the killer-on-fire still advancing into the crowd of onlookers, which is always a lot of fun. These here make this one entertaining.
The Bad News: There wasn't a whole lot here that didn't work, but it still had a couple of flaws. One of the main ones is that the film tends to fall into the clichés for its plot rather early and often, hitting many notes that are done in previous genre films in the same exact rote and manner. This is a limitation of the plot and aren't able to overcome them, so it's not exactly one the film has any control over, but still, to witness such scenes as the police holding him in custody doesn't have any real impact over it because the plot simply has that particular sequence come up next. The other big problem with this one regards it's overabundance of 80s-style cheese, which not everyone will appreciate especially since the tone of this one is a little bit darker than usual. From the furnace being possessed, a concept which was just hokey and utterly stupid, to the killer appearing in a video about a stand-up comic and providing punch-lines that are just groan-inducing as well as the ones issued during the segment, and the over-the-top finale to it just really pushes it over-the-edge as well. Other scenes, such as him falling asleep at the wheel of a car narrowly avoiding a crash or the constant family drama that accompany his journey through catching him don't really register anymore, and really just fall flat. Overall, these are the film's problems.
The Final Verdict: As cheesy as it can be while still retaining a sense of fear from its action, this one manages to be an effective and enjoyable genre outing. Give it a shot if you're into these kinds of films, have an affinity for the main actors or are interested, while those that are unable to appreciate camp should heed caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Brief Nudity