80s Horror Movies available on Blu-Ray

There are a lot of classic 80s Horror films now available on Blu-Ray. Most are digitally remastered in HD quality for the first time and feature new extras like An American Werewolf in London Full Moon Edition which features the new feature-length documentary Beware the Moon included.

 CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST of 80s Horror movies available on Blu-Ray DVD for the first time.

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Night of the Creeps on DVD FINALLY !

Night of the Creeps (1986) GREAT MOVIE ON DVD FOR THE 1ST TIME
I had to get a bootleg copy of this fron England a few years ago but it's finally coming out on DVD October 27 2009 and available for order HERE from Amazon for $13.99 .
"The good news is your dates are here. The bad news is... they're dead."
In this campy chiller, a college couple at"Corman University" in 1959, see an object plummet to Earth like a meteor. The boy accidentally swallows a space-slug that shoots out. In 1986, two freshmen roam the campus and stumble across the corpse of the boy who swallowed the space-slug. Once thawed out, the corpse comes to life.
 

TRIVIA : Grafitti on the wall of the men's room where J.C. is trying to escape a number of slugs reads, "Go Monster Squad!". The Monster Squad (1987) was also directed by Fred Dekker.

The movie the house mother is watching on TV is Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959).


All the last names of the main characters are based on famous horror and sci-fi directors: George A. Romero (Chris Romero), John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper (James Carpenter Hooper), David Cronenberg (Cynthia Cronenberg), James Cameron (Det. Ray Cameron), John Landis (Det. Landis) and Sam Raimi (Sgt. Raimi).
Night of the Creeps (1986)
 AVAILABLE HERE

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Halloween HorrorFest Recommendations

Planning on a Halloween moviefest or just want to see some good horror to get in the spirit of the season ? Below is a list of some of my favorite suggestions.

1. Return of the Living Dead
2. From Beyond
3. The Thing
4. Scanners

5. Re Animator

6. Phantasm
7. Hellraiser
8. Friday the 13th (original)
9. Halloween
10. Evil Dead
11. House
Happy horror viewing !

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From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut) (1986)

From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut) (1986) This one is a true classic and one of my top ten !

The second H.P. Lovecraft adaptation by Stuart Gordon, FROM BEYOND is pure Lovecraftian science-terror. Out-there scientist Dr. Pretorious (Ted Sorel) and his assistant, Dr. Tillinghast (Jeffery Combs), are working towards breaking through earthly perceptions and revealing a new alternate universe. They do this by stimulating the pineal gland of the human brain, which enables people to see the strange creatures that inhabit a parallel dimension. Unfortunately, these creatures can now see humans as well, and they are none too pleased with it. Dr. Pretorious is killed by the floating monstrosities, but the police blame his assistant for the murder and lock him up. Only Dr. Katharine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) believes the insane tales of Dr. Tillinghast, and it's up to her to shut down the experiment that threatens to unleash the other-dimensional creatures on this universe forever. Great special effects and solid performances by Combs and Crampton complement a near-perfect realization by Gordon of Lovecraft's vividly detailed and chilling vision of scientific possibilities. AVAILABLE HERE ON DVD

Trivia

Dr. Bloch is named after Robert Bloch, the author of the novel upon which Psycho (1960) was based and a friend of writer H.P. Lovecraft.

Dr. Pretorious's character is named after Dr. Septimus Pretorius, Henry Frankenstein's former teacher, who seduces Henry to the dark side.

The address on the house is 666.

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Will The DVD be Obsolete ?

I think the question is when will the DVD be obsolete and join the ranks of VHS, Laserdisc, Betamax, reel to reel, etc. It has already almost completely happened in my household already my TiVo is the portal for almost everything I watch now and it saves me a lot in rental and DVD costs. If you can't record it off cable you can probably download it from Amazon.com or even get it for free from YouTube and watch it on your big screen television. Plus there's Netflix instant view which has a large constantly changing selection of all movie genres especially Horror and you get unlimited instant view with your Netflix membership and lots of stuff is HD ! Plus Youtube is really expanding the number of movies and TV shows you can watch full length and has a lot of classics from the 70s and 80s. You can also use the TiVo desktop to download and transfer pictures and movies from your computer to your TiVo device and vice versa, a really useful feature. Plus there are games you play on your television and all kinds of online features like photo sharing, music services, free music channels and lots more. If there is one piece of electronics I would recommend to everyone it is the TiVo because it is so much more than a DVR and you will wonder how you ever lived without it. I felt I needed to share this with all of my 80s Horror movie fans because it can really broaden your horizons as far as what is available for you to watch without ever leaving your chair.

here's a breakdown of the cost
TiVo HD $249.99 w/ FREE shipping The lowest price around this is from Amazon comp to $299 at Best Buy
TiVo Wireless Network Adapter $35.95 at Amazon + $2.10 shipping $69.99 at Best Buy
Netflix service w/ unlimited instant view $8.99 FREE TRIAL HERE
Tivo monthly service $12.95

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The Deadly Spawn (1983)

The Deadly Spawn (1983) This is one of my all time favorites ! Two campers in the New Jersey woods have their outdoor fun interrupted by the arrival of a meteorite crashing nearby. They go to investigate the crater, but are suddenly attacked and devoured by alien parasites who have hitched a ride to Earth. After finishing off the campers, the hungry space monsters head for a nearby town, where they make their domain in the basement of an old house soon begin polishing off one hapless inhabitant after another. Four young teenagers, plus one pre-teen boy, try to find a way to stop the angry space monsters before they reproduce and literally eat humanity.WATCH THE TRAILER HERE  BUY IT ON DVD HERE 

Trivia :The effects of the mini-spawns slithering across the floor in the basement was achieved by cutting a "S" wriggle into the floor, and pulling the spawns along under the floor.

The mother spawn was constructed in the basement of effects artist John Dods. However, no one took the creature's size into consideration, so when they had to have it on set, they had to cut off one of the creature's heads to get it through a doorway, and reassemble it on set.

Gene Simmons of the band 'KISS' currently owns the prop severed head of the kid's mother. It was given to him by Tim Sullivan when he interviewed Simmons for "Fangoria" in 1983.

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Welcome to Spring Break (1988) AKA Nightmare Beach

Welcome to Spring Break (1988) SLASHER/SPRING BREAK MOVIE ! Directed by Harry Kirkpatrick AKA Umberto Lenzi

Watched this one last night on Amazon instant view and it's a lot of fun. This was another one I had forgotten about, but it's definitely a classic. Lots of T&A and gory death scenes and other beach fun !
WATCH TRAILER HERE

Diablo is a biker gang leader executed for the murder of a young woman. A year after his death, it's time for Spring Break. Football players Skip and Ronnie head to the beach, where Skip meets Gail, the sister of the woman who was murdered a year ago. All the fun and glory of Spring Break, however, is about to turn into a living nightmare when a mysterious person in a biker outfit begins to kill people by electrocution. Could it be that Diablo has returned from the dead?
Heads bursting into flames, vigilante priests, and John Saxon. What do these things all have in common? Cinema gold! This film includes such memorable scenes as the overweight, drunk college football fan who jumps into the backseat of the Florida star quarterback's convertible yelling, "Yeah, gators!" Also, one cannot omit the exceptional scene in which the Florida wide receiver attempts to pick a fight with the psycho priest. The wide receiver touches the priests motorcycle and his head instantly bursts into flames.

AVAILABLE ON DVD HERE AVAILABLE ON DEMAND HERE

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JUST BEFORE DAWN Another Lost Classic from 1981

Discovered this one last night on You Tube (its all in one file !) and watched it on my Tivo very good quality for youtube and a great lost classic slasher !
Just Before Dawn (1982) WATCH FOR FREE ON YOU TUBE HERE (GOOD QUALITY)
Five youths set out for a weekend camping excursion, to drink, frolic and skinny-dip on an isolated piece of land one of them has inherited. Despite ominous warnings of local forest Rangers, strange backwoods families and a hollering drunken hunter claiming to have witnessed his friends’ evisceration by the hands of "DEMONS", they trek farther into the foliage. Beautifully shot, extremely eerie, featuring the most demented murderer since Jason Voorhees, and a horrifying twist that will make you wonder...Will any of them survive those dark hours JUST BEFORE DAWN? AVAILABLE ON DVD HERE

Trivia :

The original script included a sixth camper named Eileen, who dies when she is thrown off of a cliff. It also included a climax involving Connie being forced to handle rattlesnakes by the in-bred villains.
The title of the original screenplay was 'The Last Ritual'. The title was changed after the scripts heavy religious theme was axed and the story was rigorously revised.
Director Jeff Lieberman cites Deliverance (1972) as the films primary influence.
Actor Chris Lemmon was performing a truly dangerous stunt when he was shot clinging to ropes after his fall into the rushing river. Lemmon had to psychically hang on to the ropes for a time as the powerful river pulled at him. Only a matter of feet from him was the top of a huge waterfall that was quite infamous for fatal falls.
Director Jeff Lieberman said that countless strangers showed up at the filming location on the day that the scene of Jamie Rose swimming topless was to be filmed. Lieberman said that word of this shoot had apparently gotten out among the local forest rangers.
According to director Jeff Lieberman despite the numerous reviews of Just Before Dawn that have implied it was inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) or The Hills Have Eyes (1977), he had not seen either film at the time of making Just Before Dawn.
The eerie whistling motif heard in Brad Fiedel's music score is a reference to the rescue whistle that Warren carries in the film.
Despite its authentic, weathered appearance the 'old' church house used in the film was actually built for the production.
According to composer Brad Fiedel many of the ominous sounds in the music score were actually electronically-altered audio clips of himself vocalizing droning noises.

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New Sci Fi / Horror Blog started, getting back to my roots ! These are the films that started my love of Horror and Sci Fi before I settled on the 80's as my favorite decade ( probably because I grew up in the 80's ) These are some great movies, Check it out....

http://theatomicbrain.blogspot.com/

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My Best Friend is a Vampire (The Lost Collection) (1988)

My Best Friend is a Vampire (The Lost Collection) (1988)

Let's face it - to many people, vampirism isn't all the horror it's made out to be, it's just an alternative lifestyle! You drink a bit of blood and get to live ten times longer than anyone else. Nothing to it. At least that's what Jeremy Capello thinks when he gets a little deeper than the average love-bite from a hot date. Before he knows it, his reflection in the bathroom mirror has vanished; he can't stand the smell of garlic; and he's developed an overwhelming passion for raw steak. Things don't seem to bad until a crazed vampire-hunter starts chasing him. A classic 80s horror-comedy now available on DVD.

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Slaughter High (The Lost Collection) (1985)

Slaughter High (The Lost Collection) (1985) CLICK FOR MORE INFO OR TO ORDER

Eight different people are invited to a five-year high school reunion at their now closed down high school where a former student, disfigured from a prank gone wrong, awaits to take revenge.

There's Horror in the Halls... Lynching in the Lunchroom... Murder in Metal Shop. I always remember this movie for the scene where the guy chugs a beer filled with acid and it eats through his guts !

A poster of "Pieces" (1982) is visible on the Porno Movie Manager's office wall when he's talking with Carol over the phone.
Star Caroline Munro was actually 36 years old during this film where she played a 'teenage' heroine.
The films working title was "April Fool's Day", however the title was changed to keep this film from being confused with the Paramount film April Fool's Day (1986) which was released the same year.

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Happy Birthday To Me (1981) Re Release to be released on October 13, 2009

Welcome to upscale Crawford Academy, where everyone – especially new student Ginny (Melissa Sue Anderson of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) – wants to be part of the school’s most popular clique. But now somebody has begun butchering the group’s members. Could a deadly accident from Ginny’s past be connected to the brutal killings? And as her 18th birthday approaches, will Ginny be the guest of honor at the most horrific party of all? Matt Craven (DISTURBIA), Lawrence Dane (SCANNERS) and Hollywood legend Glenn Ford (THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, 3:10 TO YUMA) co-star in this twisted slasher shocker from Oscar®-nominated director J. Lee Thompson (THE GUNS OF NAVARONE) that features – as its infamous poster promised – “six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see!”

Hopefully this will be an uncut version !! AVAILABLE FOR PRE ORDER

Trivia

The Press reported that in order to keep the "twist" ending a secret several endings were shot. This is untrue but helped hide the fact that while shooting, the film had no ending. The script was written with one ending that made sense to the story, but did not have a twist. So producers proceeded to film while tinkering with a twist. This explains why there is no build up to the ending.
Most ads and posters for film carried a photo of a young man about to be orally impaled on skewer of meat and vegetables, with the slogan "John Will Never Eat Skisk Kebab Again." However, there is no character in the movie with this name.

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A forgotten Underrated Classic Slasher

The Funhouse (1981)

Something is alive in the funhouse...something that has the form of a human, but not the face...something that feeds off the flesh and blood of young innocents...

A great one Directed Tobe Hopper

The opening sequence is an homage to both Psycho (1960) and Halloween (1978).
Steven Spielberg asked Tobe Hooper to direct E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) but he turned it down because he was busy on this movie. However Hooper and Spielberg would work together on Poltergeist (1982).

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They Live (1988)

They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. Horror master john carpenter directs this action-packed sci-fi thriller about one mans battle against aliens who are systematically gaining control of the earth. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/23/2003 Starring: Roddy Piper Meg Foster Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R Director: John Carpenter

Rowdy Roddy Piper at his best and the longest fist fight I've ever seen !
only $8.99 at Amazon.com

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Rabid (1977) I just discovered this one, not eighties but close enough ...a must for any Horror or Cronenberg fan !!

David Cronenberg and Marilyn Chambers !! A little known Gem ........After undergoing radical surgery for injuries from a motorcycle accident a young woman (former adult film star Marilyn Chambers) develops a strange phallic growth on her body and a thirst for human blood -- the only nourishment that will now sustain her. Her victims become zombies. Out of print but Available here

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