Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker AKA Night Warning

     Wow.  I just stumbled across a copy of the weirdly named "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker" from 1983, also known as "Night Warning".  And let me tell you- what a fucking trip. Like, seriously.  It's the story of poor Billy Lynch, who's been raised by his over-protective and slightly off-kilter Aunt Cheryl. Her over-affectionate attitude towards her 17 year-old nephew is off-putting and creepy from the get go, and it only gets more and more weird.  Billy has grown up with Aunt Cheryl since the death of his parents over 14 years ago.  Feeling slightly smothered, he's ready to be on his own when he turns seventeen.  He wants to start college, and is dating a nice girl named Julie (Julia Duffy from "Newhart"!).  But Aunt Cheryl seems to have other ideas about that.  In fact, Aunt Cheryl is two steps from the nuthouse, and has a warped plan to keep Billy at home.  She has concocted a plan to keep him home and with her forever, but her plan backfires, and soon erupts into bloody violence.

     Within the first 15 minutes, unbalanced and lonely Cheryl stabs to death a plumber who refuses her blatant sexual advances. She claims it was self-defense as he tried to rape her, which results in a police investigation.  Into this madness comes another weirdo- a blatantly homophobic detective who's seething anti-gay obsessions are reaching a zenith. The investigation reveals that the plumber was in a gay love affair with Billy's coach at school... and possibly Billy himself. The homophobe detective becomes obsessed with pinning the murder on Billy.  All the while, Aunt Cheryl spirals farther and farther into madness...

      It's a lost gem of a slasher that completely got sidetracked by the likes of big-business horror sequels like "Friday the 13th Part 2" and "Halloween 2".  Although those are great slashers, "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker" stands out because of its refusal to play by the typical slasher 'rules'.  Nothing is quite what it seems in this movie- in fact, pretty much every character seems a bit off their rocker.  Although the great Susan Tyrell 150% steals the show here.  Her portrayal of Aunt Cheryl is something that needs to be seen to be believed.  She is truly amazing and deserves much more credit than this film gets.  Jimmy McNichol gives an honest portrayal of a young man who just wants his independence, and Bo Svenson is near brilliant as Detective Carlson,who suffers from a severe streak of shocking homophobia.

     This is one ballsy slasher.  Addressing such spicy subjects as homosexuality and incest, "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker" is a b-movie with a tremendous amount of originality and depth.  It's relatively unknown, and that's kinda sad.  As much as I love slashers, let's be real here.  Most of them are sorry excuses to line up a bunch of unlikable people just to kill them off.  Basically the work of morons with cameras.  But a movie like this one comes along that's slightly more complex, gripping, and original, and just gets ignored.  "Curtains" is another prime example of a lost slasher.

     "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker" is prime 80s schlock- it's absolutely delicious in every way possible.  Why this movie hasn't achieved major cult status by this point is beyond me.  Susan Tyrell's awe-inspiring performance elevates this movie to a higher plateau for sure- her transformation from over-protective Aunt to full-blown, shrieking madwoman truly needs to be experienced.  And the film itself dares to go where other slashers never dared to go.  It offers so much more than just blood and gore.  It can best be described as a demented soap opera that somehow thinks it's a slasher film.  It could honestly offend many people today- there's no way possible this movie would be made and released in this day and age.  It's way too politically incorrect.  Watching it, I kept feeling as if I should be offended, yet I couldn't tear my eyes away from it.  Bo Svensen's character is truly hateful and homophobic- yet I was having an absolute blast with this movie...  But I think the whole point of all this is to show just how low humans can go with their obsessions.

     There are more and more rumors of an official DVD release, and it should have been available years ago.  This is definitely a one-of-a-kind slasher, and  if you ever somehow stumble across a copy, by all means watch it!  It's shocking, twisted, and all around crazy.
   

A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

       As I've said before, I've never been a huge fan of Freddy Krueger. Yes, he was very scary in the original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and it's a genuine 80's classic of horror. Absolutely. ELM STREET was a true breath of fresh air, as we had been subjected to countless knife-wielding madmen wearing masks, which we love of course- but ELM STREET was truly different and creative. But somewhere around the third installment, I really started to lose interest in the old guy. Once he started cracking wicked one-liners, he just stopped being scary and started being annoying. To me, at least. Now I'm not dogging on the guy here- Anyway, I just recently re-visited the first sequel, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE. And wow! This is seriously the most homoerotic and campy horror movie of the 80's!

     A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was extremely successful when it hit theaters in 1984, so a sequel was inevitable. Two years later, we got one, titled A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2 FREDDY'S REVENGE. And what a curious sequel it was. The film is full of blatantly obvious homosexual undertones- lots of male nudity, the school coach who just happens to be a leather daddy- even Jesse, the main character, at one point ends up in a gay bar. Jesse also keeps saying throughout the film that there's something inside him that wants to "come out", and he's obviously more interested in his buddy than his girlfriend. (His buddy, Grady, was played by Robert Rusler- do you blame Jesse? haha) It's actually quite amazing that they not only had the balls to pull this off in 1986, but even more amazing is the fact that nobody seemed to notice any of the gay stuff at the time.  At least I didn't.

                                                       
     FREDDY'S REVENGE is set five years after the original film. A new man and his family have bought Nancy's house, who went mad from her ordeal and is now institutionalized. Mark Patton deliciously plays Jesse, the oldest son who now occupies Nancy's bedroom.  He seems to be a sexually confused teenager who starts having terrible nightmares. Yes, Freddy is back, haunting Jesse's dreams now, and is intent on taking over Jesse's body and using it for his dirty work. FREDDYS' REVENGE tends to be the least favorite of the series, and on some levels, it's easy to see why.

     There are definitely some silly moments to be found, but also some pretty good moments too. The opening bus scene is actually done quite well, and the "transformation" scene is also a standout moment. Freddy is still pretty much kept in the dark for most of the film, which is much more effective, and is played very sinister. It's the last time Robert Englund plays Freddy seriously, as further performances up the camp factor. The movie has a good premise- I like the idea of Freddy trying to take over somebody's body, and I like that Jessie is living in the original house. And the idea that  that this kid is or could be sexually confused was actually a pretty bold move for 1986. I was fourteen at the time I first saw this, and seeing it as an adult now, it's obvious a lot of stuff went right over my head.

     FREDDY'S REVENGE is a camp lover's delight as there are many hilarious moments to be found. Clu Gulager and Hope Lange certainly camp it up as Jesse's parents, although Kim Myers delivers an honest and earnest performance as Lisa, Jesse's girlfriend. She also very much resembles a young Meryl Streep. Throw in sexy 80's icon Robert Rusler as Jesse's wise-cracking best friend Grady, and you've got yourself a rather memorable sequel, to be honest. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE is certainly one of the most curious and strange horror movies to come out of the 80's. There are moments of high horror mixed with high camp- which in my eyes certainly makes for interesting viewing.

     This is the most underrated of the series, even though some fans complain about the implied bisexuality of the main character.  I find it to personally give the film an unusual twist- and in all the following sequels, nothing this original or bold can be found anywhere. This film offers plenty of flaws, but I would give it a solid B just for creativity and uniqueness.

     As I said before, this is the last film where Freddy is played for terror, instead of for laughs. Freddy thankfully does not fire off embarrassing and silly one-liners in this film- if that's what you're looking for, skip to Parts 3 and on. This sequel for the most part seems to be more concerned with racking up tension instead of the body count, and that's perfectly fine with me. It's not a great film, but it's not a terrible film either. I find it quite fascinating, actually.And it definitely has some great and memorable moments. It does seem that the film has gained a definite cult following in the past few years, and Mark Patton is proud of his participation in the film and of being one of the first male 'final girls'. And rightly so. Ah, the 80's.