VHS ERA KNOCKOFFS - SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE (1986) & FUNERAL HOME (1980)

 

One of the main things about the VHS (and Beta Max) era was the influx of B-movies that made their way onto tape and into the stores.

All of a sudden films that WEREN'T EVEN RELEASED IN THE CINEMA...EVER (not even Grindhouse cinemas) where available to be viewed in the homes of discerning (and non-discerning) horror fans.

Obviously with the long history the horror genre had (one of the first films ever made was a 10 minute version of Frankenstein made in 1910), it was inevitable that the makers of these cheap and cheerful straight to video gems would sometimes "seek inspiration" from the classics of the genre. The straight to video market, like the drive in theatres before it, was utterly, utterly shameless...and this is one the reasons why that time was so great.

I watched the two above films over the past weekend and had no idea what to expect. I was expecting them to be cheesy and weird ( I WANTED them to be cheesy and weird), what I wasn't expecting was for them to so blatantly "pay homage" (aka rip off) two (arguably three) more accomplished horror movies. So, I thought it'd make a nice change from the usual format to look at these two films back to back. Without further ado...

SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE (1986)

This film (directed and written by Carol Frank) starts off as a fairly typical teen slasher complete with good looking 30 something teenagers getting knifed to death round a college campus by an escaped lunatic. The story is simple and uncomplicated, the acting is variable and the kills are gory. So far so formulaic.

Where this movie differs from others of this era is just how blatantly it rips off it's source material - which in this case is John Carpenter's classic Halloween (plus a few elements from the sequels)

Now, I know what your going to say - "Surely all teen slasher films are a rip off of Halloween?", and yes, you'd be right - Halloween IS the grandfather of all slasher movies (although technically even that isn't true - it was Black Christmas which really kicked off the basics of the formula, Halloween came a couple of years later and honed the formula to a fine point and made it popular), but in this movie the similarities are taken to ridiculous levels.

For a start we have the killer himself - Bobby Henkel (John C. Russell), Bobby killed his family when he was a kid (sound familiar ?) and has spent his entire adult life in a high security mental institution. One day he escapes (his escape scene is hilarious by the way - this so called "high security" hospital doesn't even have guards, just one wimpy looking male nurse who Bobby takes down no trouble. Bobby then runs outside into the hospital's gardens and climbs over an average height fence - with no barbed wire - and that's it - he's free. I get the feeling there's going to be managerial heads rolling left, right and centre when this story gets out.., Bobby then returns to his home town to kill the last surviving member of his family - his sister Laura aka Beth (Angela O' Neil), who's now living with an adopted family and has no memory of the traumatic events of her childhood (can we say Laurie Strode ? Yes, I think we can).

There's not only the basic plot similarities, there's also the way that Russell plays Bobby - like Michael Myers he never speaks, like Michael Myers he walks around slowly, almost robotically, like Michael Myers he slowly and relentlessly stalks and slaughters his victims. The body language is literally EXACTLY the same. All that's missing is the white painted Shatner mask (even then - Bobby's facial expression never changes - he looks miserable and pissed off all the time, so you could even argue that even though he isn't wearing a mask, his face is "mask like"). It really couldn't be more blatant if they tried.

Not only does this film rip off Halloween, it also has more than a smidgen of Nightmare On Elm Street about it. At several points in the movie Laura has nightmares about her repressed memories of her brother. These sequences are some of the best things in this film - they're beautifully shot and very artsy and surreal looking. 

The most Elm Street-esque thing of all is that the dreams all feature creepy little girls. At any moment you can easily imagine that they'll start chanting "One, two, Freddy's coming for you" (although in this case it'd be "One, two, Bobby's coming for you" which just sounds all kinds of wrong).

The reason why Laura is having these nightmares ? It's because she shares a psychic link with her brother (a concept ripped off wholesale from Halloween 4 & 5).

"Homages" aside is this film any good ? It's...not bad, not great but not bad. The kills are ok (if lacking in variety), Angela O' Neil gives a decent and likeable performance as Laura/Beth. But if you're looking for originality then this isn't going to be for you.

3 and a half copycat killers out of 5. Michael Myers bought to you by Poundland.

FUNERAL HOME (1980)

Right, see if you can guess which more "illustrious predecessor" this film is inspired by...

An orphaned teenage girl Heather (Lesleh Donaldson) moves to the sticks to help her grandmother (Kay Hawtrey) run a bed and breakfast hotel that used to be a funeral home. As the story progresses guests and townsfolk begin to fall prey to a remorseless killer. Meanwhile at night Heather begins to hear her grandmother talking to someone - a male voice, a male voice who could well be her grandfather, but Heather's grandfather has been dead for years, hasn't he ?....

So what was the inspiration?

That's right - it's Alfred Hitchcock's classic - Psycho.

The clue's in the setting really - a hotel stuck out in the middle of nowhere, but it's not just that - the whole feel of the film seems somehow similar - it's got that dark gloomy atmosphere, even some of the camera angles used are similar especially in the murder scenes, although there's a much higher body count than Psycho.

But the main similarity comes with the ending - it turns out that grandma is the killer, not only that but grandma has a split personality (That male voice coming from the basement ? That's granny having a conversation with herself as she posses as "grandfather"), not only that but grandfather's mummified corpse is kept in a rocking chair in the cellar - just like the corpse of Norman Bates' mum.

A quick word about Kay Hawtrey as grandma - she's BRILLIANT ! She veers from being a sweet little old lady to a rampaging mad eyed killer effortlessly. You completely buy that this old dear has been driven over the edge by a life of repression and loneliness and is now kicking arse and taking names. A truly deranged performance.

Lesleh Donaldson is also good as Heather - a sweet natured girl who seems to have a close bond with her gran, only to have the rug totally pulled out from under her when she finds out granny's true nature. She's fairly standard "final girl" material but she does a decent job all the same.

Throw in some pretty good kills and you've got yourself a fun little Psycho knock-off.

It's a bit slow paced in parts but the ending's really good, it's worth seeing just for Kay Hawtrey's performance alone. 

I'd give this 4 killer granny's out of 5. A cut price Psycho with added gore and a higher body count, what more could you ask for ? Just don't tell Norman...