Category Archives: Horror Nostalgia

Horror Nostalgia

The ‘Child’s Play 2’ Trailer Was Out Of This World! 

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Sometimes watching a good horror teaser can be as much fun as watching the actual movie. Trailers give us a sneak peek into the dark realm awaiting us once the theater lights dim and the movie starts to roll. I’ve always found them to be a lot of fun and whenever a horror trailer was released we all quickly learned to pay attention. Back then trailers didn’t spoil the movie by showing the whole damn thing. Instead only showed enough to give us a ravenous need to go see what they were advertising. Child’s Play 2 did this in spades!

With the tagline ‘Sorry Jack, Chucky’s back’ our tickets were as good as already bought!

REWIND THE CLOCK

Child’s Play was a huge hit upon its release and scared the bejeezus out of us bratty little kids. We were at that tender age when playing with toys was a sacred pastime. Saturday mornings were entirely dedicated to brainwashing us into rushing out and buying the newest and best thing to fill the toy box.

I mean these were the days when grown-ass men and women broke out into literal fistfights while in line at K-Mart over Cabbage Patch Kids of all things. Toys were a red hot topic and even our parents were getting in on the insanity. 

So, gliding a razor’s edge across our societal vein, a little movie about a doll named Chucky (a cleaver resemblance to the famous My Buddy doll was not coincidental) hit theaters with ferocity, and if the idea of a killer doll wasn’t already a subconscious fear malignantly growing in the back of our cultural mind once Child’s Play released it was a full-blown phobia. 

No, Chucky was not the first killer doll to darken our minds. Stuart Gordon’s malicious Dolls had already come out and scared people silly. Not to mention years prior little Talky Tina scared people out of their skin thanks to the Twilight Zone.

But all the chills these guys introduced to the cultural zeitgeist Chucky took to a whole new level. And his infamy lives on today proving what a demonic powerhouse of a monster the little guy has always been.

The idea of a killer doll was amped up on some serious coke thanks to Child’s Play so to introduce its inevitable sequel the marketing team put together one of my absolute favorite little horror trailers of all time. Those psychopathic bastards took a Jack-in-the-Box, something that plays on the fears of a lot of people already, and then showed it being crushed beneath Chucky’s feet. The killer doll was back and was carving out a bloody franchise for himself. He wasn’t playing around this time.

Today Chucky is as recognizable as his bigger brothers like Jason, Freddy, and Leatherface, and has left a landslide of creative carnage across his macabre legacy. Chucky is celebrated for his wit, humor, and that pure love for murder that drives him. He’s become a husband, a father, and overall terrible influence and downright satanic pain in the ass to all who encounter him.

Naturally, we love him for it. It’s also worth noting Spirit Halloween is selling the Jack featured in the trailer. That’s the impact Child’s Play 2 had on us. What a time to be alive!

Relive the thrills of seeing Child's Play 2 in this beloved teaser from the past

There’s no better time than the spooky Halloween season to relive the thrills and chills invested in this psychopathic little guy. So turn down the lights and cuddle up close to the ghoul of your dreams because the fun is about to begin!

Horror Nostalgia

{WATCH} Give Yourself a Halloween Treat and Revisit Freddy’s Nightmares Halloween Special!

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Ahh. Freddy’s Nightmares– the Nightmare on Elm Street primetime series that starred Robert Englund in all his primetime bitch glory as Freddy. Who, in total Crypt Keeper fashion, hosted a show focused on the residents of Springwood and their wacky as hell nightmares. I want to believe most 80s’ kids remember the short-lived, basic cable phenomenon where Krueger had risen to God-like heights of popularity. However, if you don’t even know what the hell I’m talking about, here’s a refresher:

Freddy isn’t really a part of the stories but merely serves as your horror host; a trend that had become ever so popular in this era. But yes, for most of the series, Freddy served only as the introduction with the exception of the Tobe Hooper directed pilot episode that dives into Krueger’s backstory. And of course, that amazingly cheesy intro!

Now let’s dive into season one, episode four entitled “Freddy’s Tricks and Treats”, which actually plays out like a true Nightmare on Elm Street installment with Freddy as the main character; IN A HALLOWEEN EPISODE NO LESS. Worth noting, before we dunk our balls in the murky waters’ of the boiler room, is the numerous horror movie homages throughout this glorious episode. Some dip dons a Jason hockey mask for Halloween night. There’s a very familiar-looking pumpkin mask and a scene with said Halloween prop that screams out Season of the Witch with the main character clawing at her face while wearing it. And finally, while I admit I may be looking too deep into Easter Eggs here, Freddy carving BOO onto the forehead of a stiff at the morgue is completely reminiscent of Joey’s comatose state in Dream Warriors.

Premiering on October 29th, 1988, “Freddy’s Tricks and Treats” stars a pre-Law and Order Mariska Hargitay who plays a young medical student named Marsha. Little Miss Marsha is a bookworm who dismisses the spirit of Halloween by opting to study and dissect corpses rather than party-hardy. I mean, that does sound like a pretty awesome way to spend Halloween night, so if you’re asking me I would say she’s having all the fun here.

Anyway, Marsha is feeling distracted from her studies at a college house Halloween shin-dig, so she heads to her school to spruce up on some good old-fashioned human dissection. But not before she hears the story of Springwood’s ultimate nightmare, Freddy, from the school security guard. Which opens the red and green striped Pandora box and unleashing Freddy and hell on poor Marsha. Freddy torments the young med student with visions of the death of her kind-of-a-bitch Grandmother, for which she feels responsible, driving her into complete madness. Freddy is known to be pretty good at mind-fucking his targets into submission, so yeah she loses her shit, and it’s a good time to watch.

Oh yes, there is also a VCR that records nightmares. I feel like this kooky, yet fascinating premise needs a damn movie of its own. And yep, you guessed it, Freddy has a lot of fun with this little wrench thrown in.

Well, with that being said, let’s get to it! Happy Halloween Nostalgic Nuggets!

Horror Nostalgia

WE ARE NOT LIKE OTHER PEOPLE

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We may be sick, and we may be disgusting, but if you boogie till you puke, I’m asking you to come with me for a minute.

Think back to one of the early episodes of THE LAST DRIVE-IN’s first season. Somewhere betwixt channeling Cropsey legend and a MADMAN (1981) musical interlude, Joe Bob turned his attention to a legend of a different sort.

Gaylen Ross only appeared in three films, including CREEPSHOW (1982), but appeared in MADMAN as Alexis Dubin to keep her SAG status. “She only had one other movie at the time,” Briggs said. “She was the heroine in George Romero’s sequel to the classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), so people did know her,” pausing to smirk before quipping “I’m using the term ‘people’ loosely. People LIKE US knew her.”

Never has a phrase so perfectly encapsulated the Mutant Fam. While we love stars like Bruce Campbell and Robert Englund, more often than not it’s the deep dives including Ross and Cynthia Bond (DEF BY TEMPTATION, 1990) and Jonathan Fuller (CASTLE FREAK, 1995) that give us warm fuzzies.

Case in point, my girlfriend is an audience coordinator at a local theatre whose been getting home late because the season’s about to pop off. But when she walked through the door a couple of weeks back–shortly after LIVE FROM THE JAMBOREE began–she squealed when I told her the feature was NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988), quickly settling in for the show.

For clarity, my better half is bisexual, so when I tell you I was quickly regaled with a ditty detailing the first time she clapped eyes on Amelia Kinkade’s fireside flex, you need to understand that she referred to it as “a moment” more than once.

Reflecting on said awakening, my baby shared the whirlwind she experienced whilst watching Angela’s erotic, demonic writhing, sharing that she didn’t know whether she wanted to be her or sleep with her. I was all ears. Think Eddie Griffin undercover with Orville Redenbacher.

Sparing you a 17-minute diatribe before arriving at “and here’s my point,” truly we are not like other people. Our love of blood, breasts, and beasts often left us feeling like we were on the outside looking in growing up — and in some cases, into adulthood. But then there was the Mutan Fam, welcoming us with open arms, an incomparable group of fellow drive-in afficionados constantly reminding us that it’s perfectly acceptable to dig movies and stars that the normies have never heard of, much less care about.

Gaylen Ross and Amelia Kinkade represent far more than a Romero heroine or sexy sway. They possess a piece of our heart because each of us cling to a cherished and very personal memory directly tied to those performances.

They mean something to us. And we mean something to them. Go to Shudder and pull up the moment when Kinkade and Linnea Quigley sauntered to the stage to a raucous ovation–those smiles and that love was real. That makes them special. It makes us special. No, we are most definitely not like other people, and as the DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) Easter egg below clearly communicates, we are not alone. You should be damn proud of that.