VHS HALLOWEEN - DAY TWO: MUTANT (VESTRON - 1984)

I was first prompted to watch this movie solely because it starred Wings Hauser. By the mid-point I was a little alarmed that I'd previously never been told about it. Following the finale, I had concluded that this film's obscurity is a complete tragedy. After a disastrous run-in with some Oakies, brothers Mike and Josh find themselves stranded in a rural town. Immediately, the situation goes from dire to pitch back when Josh's (Hauser) brother disappears. It becomes apparent that the town's population is breaking down into craven lunatics due to toxic dumping which has infected the local water supply. Josh and a local babe played by the incredibly cute Jody Medford ("Chained Heat") are soon running for their lives and are forced to pair up with the drunk ne'er-do-well Sheriff (Bo Hopkins) in a fight for survival. The final twenty minutes of this film are easily some of the most tense, I've ever seen. While it's not technically a zombie film, it is definitely required viewing for anybody interested in making a foray into that sub genre.

Four years later, Hauser and Hopkins appeared in the strikingly similar though woefully inferior "Nightmare At Noon," directed by Nico Mastorakis. That plot, too, focuses on vacationers who find themselves trapped in a rural town as its denizens are transformed into feral lunatics due to a biochemical experiment being conducted with the water supply.

Check out the trailer, courtesy Zombies101Trailer.

NEW STUFF: THE WIND (1987)

Meg Foster plays some broad who thinks she can write. Well, that shit doesn't fly with Wings Hauser, who proceeds to handle things by using the only method he’s familiar with: psychological terror. David McCallum ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.") and the wonderful Robert Morley also somehow wound up in this thriller directed by Nico Mastorakis. Someone called this slightly Giallo. This looks very promising.

Trailer courtesy of AussieRoadShow.

NEW STUFF: DEADLY FORCE (1983)

Good god, if the greatness of this movie could be extracted as some sort of chemical compound, I am fairly certain it could be used to enrich the crop soils of the world, thus ending famine for all time. Who would have thought that a guy who did a movie about Helen Keller could have produced an action film of this quality? When I first ran across this movie, about an ex-rogue cop (Ex! He's not even just a ROGUE COP! How fucking tough is that?!) played by the greatest man to ever live, Wings Hauser, who comes back to L.A. to stop a serial killer, I was skeptical that it could really be that great. The elements were there, but could they align to create something that lived up to the potential? But then I saw Sandy Howard's name, the producer behind "Vice Squad" and "The Devil's Rain," and all fear was vanquished, and I knew this was probably going to rock my face off, and that it did. The plot is a little convoluted, if not preposterous, but that's why it's good.

NEW STUFF: THE CARPENTER (1988)

I have absolutely no fucking idea what is REALLY going on in this movie, and anyone else who claims to is lying. Someone needs to throw this one into a think tank for a while. It's a little slow moving, but this thing is littered with odd details that I'm sure contain some symbolism that will blow my fucking mind. Something lurks. I just don't know what exactly.

Based on the actual box cover, I kind of expected this would be along the lines of a z-grade version of Peter Weir's "The Plumber," but padded with titties and driller killer action from an overbearing handyman who practically takes over a home. Granted, you do get some righteous side-boob, but the movie itself is a confusing psychological horror film about a wife who has a nervous breakdown and winds up in a country dream house with her infidel husband after a short stay in the nut house. You never really know what the reality of the situation is, but I'm going to speculate that this is intended to be a supernatural thriller from the perspective of an unreliable protagonist. All that really matters though is that this stars one of the most amazing men to ever live, Wings Hauser, whom many will remember as Ramrod from the phenomenal "Vice Squad." Here's a series of clips featuring the nutjob wife and Hauser as the phantom Carpenter. This is the stuff that nonsense is made of.