Nightmare Sisters (1988)

My demon possession review series continues with Nightmare Sisters. The eighties were an interesting time to be old enough to rent VHS tapes. While we got some serious horror flicks during the decade there was a lot of cheesy low budget affairs filling up the shelves as well. This movie is one of those and has the unique distinction of starring three of the biggest scream queens of the decade.

The action starts off with a phony psychic trying to cheat a woman out of her money by contacting her dead husband. What he doesn’t know is that the husband was killed by a succubus and that this time his crystal ball is going to work. It doesn’t end well for him. Later that same crystal ball is picked up by one of three nerdy girls. They use it and are possessed by the spirit of the succubus demon who forces them to collect “sacrifices”. Basically, young men who know are interested in the super-hot babes that they have been turned into.  Luckily their original dates are there to save the day by finding an exorcist in the yellow pages. I did mention that this was cheesy, didn’t I?

Independent filmmakers need to take note of Nightmare Sisters. What do you do when you have little to no budget? You embrace it and make a movie that has fun with your limitations. That is what director David DeCoteau does here. He realizes that his biggest assets are the scream queens. So, he makes sure that those um assets are on display for as much of the movie as possible. There is a ridiculous amount of nudity in Nightmare Sisters. They go from being nerdy girls to topless when they get possessed! From there they go to the kitchen for pie, which means rubbing it all over each other’s chests… Hey and that stuff can get really sticky so of course you need an extended sequence in the bath tub where they clean each other off. Sleazy exploitation lived long into the eighties my friends.

The before picture... check out the trailer for the after. 

But to say that nudity was the only thing going for the movie would be wrong. What a lot of fans don’t realize is that Linnea Quigley, Brink Stevens, and Michelle Bauer were good actresses and in the case of Quigley very funny. All three portray their “nerdy” selves decently before getting possessed. Bauer has some funny physical bits in her fat suit, Stevens shows off her science side (she has a master’s degree in Oceanography), and Quigley has some killer one liners. My favorite Quigley line is delivered when they are talking about movies and she says, “One stupid zombie movie is enough!” If you are a fan of hers you will know why this is funny.

The succubus makeup is also an example of DeCoteau understanding his budget. It looks decent but is clearly a rubber mask. It is played for laughs and he doesn’t shy away from putting it on screen. This segues nicely into the fun low budget vibe of the rest of the proceedings and put a smile on my face. Heck when the guys destroy the crystal to defeat the succubus they manage to make that even more silly then it could have been.

Maybe I’m just nostalgic for the eighties and the Mom and Pop video stores. And I will admit that this probably won’t appeal to everyone in the same way that it does for me. But damn it not everything needs to be disturbing or artistic! Sometimes you want to see pretty girls and laugh at funny one-liners. In that spirit, I’m going to recommend Nightmare Sisters.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer

Demonoid (1981)

Time for another possession movie. This time we get an unusual flick starring a demon that is transferred from left hand to left hand. Though before it can move onto another victim the current one must cut off their left hand to set it free. Things get bloody very quickly but before I get too far ahead of myself let’s get to the plot synopsis.

Things open in the past where some guys in robes track down a woman and chain her to the wall, but not before she does some damage to them. They chop off her left hand and seal it in a metal box. Years later a mine owner and his wife find the box and take it from where it was buried. Unknowingly they unleash the demon who first possesses the husband and when he dies comes after the wife. She tries to fight back with the help of a priest and together they attempt to banish the evil that she has inadvertently let loose on the world.

This movie is bonkers. I don’t know how else to describe it. The story is vaguely defined and exists solely as an excuse for horrible things to happen, people to get killed, and hands to be lopped off! The action starts at the mine in what I think is supposed to be Mexico. But quickly after the hand comes crawling along and takes over the husband, he blows up the mine with the workers in it and heads to Vegas with his wife in pursuit. This leads to some over the top violence where faces are torn up and necks snapped. After the bit of mass murder, the husband tries to escape the only way he can (off goes the hand) but it burns him alive as payback! The first few deaths are executed decently but without a lot of gore. Don’t worry though it gets better.

Jennifer, the wife, follows the body of her husband to California. See the police thought his burned corpse was that of a local whose family claimed it and buried him. But before she can convince anyone that the hand is still alive and dangerous it breaks out of the grave and finds more victims. It keeps jumping from person to person all the time maneuvering to possess Jennifer. Something about her setting it free means it belongs to her. This leads to some impromptu surgery with a cauterizing scalpel, amputation by train, and another face being mangled. The damn hand grabs a gun and shoots a nurse! Oh, and as a final bit of fun we see a hand burnt completely down to the bone with the ashes being dumped in the ocean. Yeah that ought to get rid of demonic hand! Yep that had to work…

I can’t say that Demonoid is a good movie, but I sort of liked it. There is some decent gore with character after character being forced to cut off their hands as the demon tries to get to Jennifer. I also dig the crawling hands that keep popping up after it gets free in search of the next host. The sequence at the end where the hand manages to sneak around the church cutting both the phone lines and power before attacking is crazy and a hell of a lot of fun. I kept finding myself saying that none of it makes sense. But then I am watching a movie about an evil demon possessed hand. How picky can I be?

God help me I enjoyed the heck out of Demonoid. I used the word bonkers early in the review and that is the best description that I can give for this movie. The plot is crazy, the action over the top, and the gore cringe worthy. I can’t think of anything else that I could want in an early eighties horror flick. I have to be in the right kind of mood to watch something like this, so it is probably not a movie that I’m going to revisit often. But I can see this being one that I do dig out to show friend occasionally. I recommend Demonoid.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer

Killer Party (1986)

How have I not seen Killer Party before? This was something that I should have caught years ago and honestly, I’m excited to check it out. This movie also inspired this marathon of movies with people getting possessed or just generally messed up by demons. Should be plenty of those flicks to watch.  

The movie opens with a family at a funeral. After the service one them goes back to tell the recently deceased to go to hell only to get grabbed by the corpse and pulled into the coffin. Which of course is promptly cremated along with the body and victim. But wait that is a movie in a movie and we are introduced to a young woman on a date at a drive-in. She goes to get popcorn only to find the counter unmanned. After helping herself she goes back to the car to find her date missing. He shows up and is now a zombie or something and starts to chase her. She runs back to the concession stand to find a rock band playing a song. So, this is a movie in a movie in a music video?

Confused yet? I certainly was but now we meet one of our main characters who is watching the music video before school. God I hope this is the actual movie! She and two of her friends are pledging a sorority and of course they are going to use a scary house that is off limits for the big party. It is off limits because years before a Frat boy who was into the occult died during a prank and was buried in the back yard. Because you know they do that sort of thing with graves… Long story short, too late for that I suppose, he comes back all demonic and possesses one of the girls forcing her to go on a killing spree. At least I think that is what happened.

Killer Party is a strange movie that I think is supposed to be a parody of eighties horror. At least I hope so because you can’t take this one seriously at all. Early on we get some stalking scenes where we only see a crappy pair of sneakers. This footwear is never connected to another of the characters and I guess is supposed to be the spirit of the dead frat boy? The first kill happens before we see the co-ed get possessed by the evil spirit so I’m not sure who kills the housemother and hides her in the basement. I mean if the ghost can do that then why possess anyone? We also see the killer walking around in an old-fashioned diving helmet that is again never connected to any of the characters. Fun fact whomever is wearing it is much larger than the co-ed! I could go on but I think that I’ve made my point. This has to be a comedy.

The party gets a bit crazy

The kills and special effects work are decent. You get an electrocution, a co-ed meeting her end with a trident, another getting hammered, a guillotined frat boy, and a couple of bee costumed comic relief getting stabbed. Much of the mayhem is on screen and executed well. Most of the kills are loaded at the end of the movie when the party gets in full swing so you will have to wait a while for it. But it is satisfying enough I guess.

I can honestly say that I’m not sure if I recommend this movie. If I watch it as a parody there are a few laughs and it sort of works. But they don’t make it obvious that they are trying to poke fun at anything and at times looks like it wants to be taken seriously. This is the problem with horror comedies. When they work they are brilliant and when they don’t it is miserable. You know I don’t think I liked this movie. Okay I’ve talked myself into not recommending Killer Party.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer