After Midnight (1989)


After Midnight (1989)

A creepy college professor (a very intense Ramy Zada) and several of his students (which include "Pumpkinhead" victim Kerry Remsen, who meets a similar ill fate here) tell each other a trio of urban legend-style terror tales throughout the course of your standard dark and stormy evening. First and most ironic vignette, "The Old Dark House" - Young married couple Marc McClure (Jimmy Olsen in the "Superman" movies) and Nadine ("Critters") Van Der Velde are forced to spend a night in a spooky, rundown old mansion after their car breaks down. Second and most unintentionally sidesplitting story, "A Night on the Town" - A quartet of screaming, vacuous, wholly deserving bimbettes ("American Ninja" 's Judi Aronson among 'em) are terrorized by a demented homeless lunatic (outrageously overplayed to the sneering fruitbag hilt by the late, great Luis Contreras, who portrayed nasty Hispanic villains in such action items as "Stand Alone," "Extreme Prejudice," "Walking the Edge," and "Dollman") and his pack of vicious wild dogs. Third and best yarn, "All Night Operator" - This taut, gripping little corker features a bang-up performance by the ever-lovely and personable Marg Helgenberger as Alex, a sexy, resourceful receptionist who receives menacing phone calls from and, naturally, eventually gets stalked by some homicidal madman (a finely flipped-out freako turn by Alan Rosenberg). (IMDB Woodyanders) V&D





















Shock Em Dead (1991)


Shock Em Dead (1991)
aka
Rock 'em Dead
Der Pakt mit dem Teufel

The luscious Traci Lords plays Lindsay Roberts, manager of rock band Spastic Colon, who are desperately in need of a good guitarist; when geeky pizza parlour employee Martin (Stephen Quadros) fails to impress the band with his widdling, he sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a cool new persona (he gives himself the name 'Angel'), godlike skills on a double-sided guitar (six strings are for pussies), incredible wealth, and a trio of sexy sluts to cater for his every whim. After another audition with the band, Martin gets the gig and rock-star status finally looks like it is in the bag; the only problem is, Martin must regularly feed on the life-force of others to remain alive...

A heavy rock reworking of Faust, the plot for Shock 'Em Dead isn't exactly original stuff, but although it's an oft told tale, the film still succeeds thanks to director Mark Freed's good natured, tongue-in-cheek approach to proceedings, which wisely opts to ladle on the cheese (indeed, in one scene in the pizza establishment, a whole bowlful of the stuff gets overturned) rather than to try and go for genuine scares.

During the course of the film we get some very silly rock songs (the kind of thing you might hear from parody metal band Steel Panther), plenty of boobies, some silly comedy, a few dodgy special effects (green glowing eyes and shonky transitions achieved through slow fades), and some knowingly bad performances from its game cast (which includes 50s hunk Troy Donahue, and genre regular Aldo Ray). (IMDB  BA_Harrison) V&D






Aldo Ray (L) Stephen Quadros(R) 
Tim Moffett - Traci Lords



Tyger Sodipe


Karen Russell

Stephen Quadros

Laurel Wiley











Hate Crimes in the Heartland (2015)

 Hate Crimes in the Heartland (2015)

"Hate Crimes in the Heartland," a feature documentary explores the 250,000 hate crimes committed in America each year through the powerful stories of two crimes committed in Tulsa, Oklahoma - over 90 years apart. Like no other documentary exploring this topic, "Hate Crimes in the Heartland" tells powerful stories of survivors, activists, leaders, and community members. The film explores current and past hate crimes in our nation, asking important questions related to social justice, and portrays the remarkable influence of the media on the justice system. (IMDB Rachel Lyon)