AWESOME-tober-fest 2014 | Cavalcade of Awesome

Archive for AWESOME-tober-fest 2014

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Cheerleader Camp (1988) movie review

Posted in Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Fangoria, Fangoria Movie Friday, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazines, monsters, movies, pop culture, reviews, zombies on October 31, 2014 by Paxton

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Okay, this is it. The final Fangoria Movie Friday Review and the final post for this year’s AWESOME-tober-fest. Like I mentioned yesterday, I had serious issues deciding what movie to review today. There were so many awesome 80s slasher movies to choose from. But one movie stood out just a little from the rest. Sort of “the little movie that could”. So, I went with my gut (and other parts a little further south of my gut) and chose Cheerleader Camp from 1988 starring a metric ton of 80s cult movie stars.

This poster is balls-out amazing. I love it. FYI, the alternate title for this movie was Bloody Pom Poms. And I’m not even kidding.

bloody pom poms

So you see why I picked this movie. BECAUSE IT LOOKS F**KING AWESOME. Plus, there’s like five hot, known 80s actresses all over this movie. The premise consists of a cheerleading competition that takes place at some remote “camp” (read: isolated cabin) in the middle of the woods. Suddenly cheerleader campers start showing up dead and everyone wonders just who is the killer. We get several red herrings that are almost immediately proved to be untrue. The eventual culprit was a surprise to me up until a few minutes before the big reveal. But I wasn’t really sitting there trying to figure it out. We get lots of angsty female teen melodrama and pent up horny boys drama like in a typical Porky’s but less skin. The ensemble 80s female cast is pretty epic and you get several bikini/underwear scenes with all of them. This is a fun watch. I’d watch it again if only for the great visuals and not for the amusing story or dialogue. All in all, a great 80s sexy horror romp.

Here are some of the visuals because they are GREAT.

cc_00
Awesome, colorful title card.

cc_01
There’s going to be LOTS of pictures of the chicks in this movie because the vast majority of them are really hot and many of them are awesome 80s cult stars. You will probably recognize the chick in the middle here. That’s Lucinda Dickey. One of my personal favorite 80s actresses most famous for both Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo but she also awesomely starred in the phenomenal Ninja III: The Domination. The blonde on the left is Lorie Griffin who is most famous for playing, Pamela, Scott Howard’s crush in Teen Wolf. On the right is Betsy Russell. This brunette hottie is probably most known for her star turn as Angel in the movie Avenging Angel as well as the 80s sex comedies Tomboy and Private School and most recently playing Jill in the last five Saw movies. There are two more ladies in the back I’ll get to next in a better screenshot.

cc_03
In the middle of this pic is Lorie Griffin again. She plays a dumb blonde in this movie which is weird compared to her sultry turn as Pamela in Teen Wolf. On the left is Rebecca Ferratti. She was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in June 1986. She had a small roles in Three Amigos and Beverly Hills Cop II but I know her most from her small but memorable appearance at the very beginning of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. And, on the right, we have Teri Weigel. Teri has been in a TON of movie and TV appearances such as Predator 2, Embrace of the Vampire, Return of the Killer Tomatoes and Married With Children. However, she is also most recently known for being a porn star. And these are the five ladies that awesomely headline this movie. But, wait, there’s more!

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Fangoria’s Video Eye of Dr Cyclops VHS reviews

Posted in Fangoria, Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazine, movies, nostalgia, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Elvira, Fangoria, Halloween, magazines, movies, nostalgia on October 30, 2014 by Paxton

Today I’m going to take a look at a couple of examples from Fangoria‘s video review column, The Video Eye of Dr Cyclops. Dr Cyclops was a VHS video review column and it was a fixture in the magazine for years. It was one of my favorite places to check because I’d see movies covered in the column that I’d never heard of or that I’d never seen because they’d never showed up in my local video store.

At first, like most of the magazine content, the column was in black and white. Below is an example of the column from Fangoria #67 (1987). It’s still in black and white and you get reviews of two of my favorites; Troma’s The Toxic Avenger and Hammer’s Curse of the Werewolf. Also check out reviews for the bizarre Italian horror flick The Horrible Dr Hitchcock as well as the awesomely named And Now the Screaming Starts.

Next up is a color version of the article from Fangoria #81 (1989). In this column you can see reviews for the Lyle Alzado serial killer epic, Destroyer, the fourth Jaws film, Return of the Killer Tomatoes, Cheerleader Camp and Joan Collins in The Devil Within Her.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the movies in this particular article. I actually have chosen tomorrow’s Fangoria Movie Friday review from here. Like my other Fangoria Movie Friday choices, I have been fascinated by the movies in this article for years. That Destroyer cover with an oiled up Alzado and a jackhammer looks amazingly bad, but I’m in LOVE with the Cheerleader Camp cover. And the Devil Within Her cover looks like it could be a porno film. Plus, I’ve never watched any of the Killer Tomatoes movies. So they’re all fair game. HOW DO I CHOOSE?! I’ll give you a hint, I’ve already seen Jaws the Revenge.

More hints. for much of the time I was having trouble deciding, I was going back and forth between Cheerleader Camp and Destroyer. The latter stars football all-star Lyle Alzado as a serial killer who comes back from being electrocuted as a “half dead” monster who stalks the crew of a horror movie that is filming in his old prison. Oh, and it also stars Anthony Perkins. Sounds awesome, right? The former stars Leif Garrett and Lucinda f**king Dickey, my friends. Yeah, Cheerleader Camp has Lucinda Dickey three years after she starred in the most awesome ninja movie in the world. That alone would be enough to choose Cheerleader Camp, but if you look at the cast list, you’ll also see other cult 80s names like Betsy Russell, Lorie Griffin, Teri Weigel and Rebecca Ferratti. It’s a veritable cornucopia of 80s ladies awesomeness. So, after days of deciding, I actually wound up picking the no brainer and decided finally to review Cheerleader Camp. But it was close.

As you saw, the cast of this movie was too good to pass up. Plus it’s a slasher movie at a camp for cheerleaders. Oh, and mascots. Lucinda Dickey is actually the mascot. *shakes head* Yeah, I need to see this insanity.

Catch you tomorrow, friends.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

Leave a comment »

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Fangoria movie ads

Fangoria always had great ads for new movies and/or home video releases. Many of them in glossy color and many others were awesomely full page. This year I’ve already showed you full page ads for The Pit & the Pendulum and Zombie Nightmare. Now let’s take a look at some more of my favorite movie ads from Fangoria magazine.

A 1988 full page ad for the first Hellraiser movie on home video. This is truly a gorgeous ad.

Next up is a great color half page ad from 1987 for the home video release of Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Fangoria would usually only show movie ads for new video releases. Only sometimes would you get an ad for a movie that was out in the theater. This is one of those times and it’s a huge full page color ad for the Tales from the Darkside movie in 1990.

Continue reading →

1 Comment »

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Fangoria’s Weekend of Horror ads

Fangoria has been doing their Weekend of Horrors conventions for years. One of my favorite video tapes is the officially released recording of the the 85-86 Weekend of Horrors.

I watched that video tape until it literally disintegrated in my VCR. I’ve been meaning to get a replacement copy on DVD at some point here.

Anyway, as far as I know, I think Fangoria still puts these conventions on, but I can’t really find a lot of info online. It would be a life goal of mine to go to one at some point. Maybe, if they have one in New Jersey take a trip up, meet up with my boy Jay and spend the weekend celebrating horror movies. THAT would be awesome.

Anyway, every year you could find ads for the latest Weekend of Horrors in the pages of Fangoria. And it felt like they were always mocking me. Usually because they were in LA or Secaucus, NJ and I would NEVER be able to go there (until many, many years later). So let’s look at several years of in-house ads for Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors.

I think this ad may be advertising the show that they filmed for the above VHS. I’m not sure because it’s been so long since I’ve seen the video. The video tape was released in 1986, but I’m not sure when in 1986. So there could conceivably been another Weekend of Horrors they filmed instead. However, I’m fairly certain that this is the show that is in the above VHS video.

Lots of good stuff. Elvira is always a good, even though the ad says “tentative”. Plus, Dick Miller, Tobe Hooper, Rick Baker and Robert Bloch! That’s a pretty awesome lineup, especially in 1985.

This is for the 1989 convention. It’s an early ad as you can see, they haven’t really locked down any specific guests yet. The huge blurb at the top makes sure to mention a ton of past guests to the show. And it seems weird that this one was happening so early in the year instead of around Halloween.

Here’s a great ad for the 1994 convention with a rare LIVE appearance by Jack Nicholson who was very heavily promoting his movie, Wolf. Fangoria did a heavy push for Wolf that year and even had a special all werewolf issue in Fangoria #134. Other notable guests include Clive Barker (Rawhead Rex) and Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street).

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Fangoria fantasy babe pinups!

Just like their posters, Fangoria also liked to include pin ups of popular horror/sci-fi actresses. I have two of those for you.

First, take a look at one of my favorites, Elvira. This pin-up is from The Bloody Best of Fangoria Vol 5 in 1986. I love Elvira and have had a huge crush on her since my teens.