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One of the last surviving horror screen greats - Conrad Radzoff - dies and has his body placed in a mausoleum with televised-before-death snippets of the great Conrad greeting you as you visit. Unfortunately for him and his captors, Conrad's body is "borrowed" by a gang of four boys and three girls and taken to a huge manor where they drink with him, toast him, dance with him, laugh with and at him, and then put him to bed in a casket which just happens to by lying in a room upstairs. News of the missing body reaches Radzoff's widow and her friend(who happens to be proficient in the black arts) and she holds some kind of ceremony that brings Conrad back to life so he can, in his own words, get "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Well, Frightmare is an interesting "bad" film. Sure, it is cheap. The sets look like they were borrowed(which I am sure they were). The special effects and blood and guts are done liberally and with little credibility. The acting is average to below average with a few exceptions. Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator fame is in tow, but really he does little in this rather thankless role as a horror obsessed teen that needs to steal a dead man's body for kicks. None of the "kids" except the pretty girl playing Meg is any good. Nita Talbot plays the "friend" of the Radzoffs with withering interest. Also, look for the big - I mean big - guy that plays the policeman. That is Porky himself of Porkys fame. But thankfully for all of us, one performance does rise above the material. Ferdy Mayne, an oft overlooked actor from Germany who had Christopher Lee features and did star as a vampire in The Fearless Vampire Killers, does a more than commendable job as the aging horror icon in public life and a real demon of a man in private life. Conrad Radzoff in a bad human being in life, living solely for his own pleasures and we see him kill twice before he is even dead(obviously none of the swinging teens at that point). Mayne is able to look very regal, speak very elegantly, and convey menace with ease. If for no other reason, one should see Frightmare for his performance. I do; however, believe that when they showed black and white clips of Radzoff that they used Christopher Lee footage(anyone have any thoughts?). Anyway, one can guess what happens and it does indeed: Radzoff goes out and goes after the kids that disturbed his peace. Again, the formula is trite and overused. The acting for the most part is anemic, and the direction oh so ridiculous. But Mayne gives a good performance in a sea of ineptitude. Definitely worth a little peek. Watching Mayne keep popping up on screens in his mausoleum brought a wry smile to my lips each time.

I suppose I am a bit partial to Frightmare because I first saw it on television late at night about 15 years ago (back when ABC did Fright Night Theatre-anyone remember that?) and it did give me the creeps. Even though a lot of the film's aspects are a bit amateurish, it's still chilling and fun to watch, and I really loved the scene where the teenagers are dancing with Mayne's dead body around the dinner table. The film has a very unusual atmosphere and horror buffs should enjoy it, it's got a little bit of everything (i.e. gore, creative deaths, chills, spooky settings and locations). Mayne really hams it up in the film's opening sequences, and it fits here. Rent (or buy-I did) this one from your local video store. You'll have a blast. My rating: 6/10

Frightmare is an interesting attempt to combine the old thirties style horror with eighties slasher. Ferdinand Mayne stars as Conrad Ragzoff, an arrogant old ham horror actor who dies of a stroke. Some of his fans steal his body from his tomb(what fans!) and all heck breaks loose. Mayne is lots of fun, appearing on a special monitor in the tomb and taunting his soon to be victims. The opening parts of the movie are wonderful; showing Conrad's old movies, him taking care of an unlikeable director, etc. The scenes in the old house, where Conrad stalks the kids, are a little more basic, but still entertaining.

Jeffery Combs is good, but the movie really belongs to Mayne. He seems to enjoy himself and makes the movie lots of fun. So basically, it's not one of the great horror movies or anything like that, but still well worth seeing for fans of eighties horror.

Let's be honest; there's nothing really exciting about 'Frightmare'. It wasn't scary. It wasn't memorable. The premise itself is a bit absurd.

The film revolves around horror movie star Conrad Radzoff (Ferdy Mayne) who dies soon after planning his own funeral. He even plays his own home made film at his funeral, telling everyone he will be watching them.

A Group of drama students steal his body from his elaborate tomb and take him to 'party' with them at an old mansion. There, Conrad is brought back to life through a séance performed elsewhere by his wife trying to find out what happened to his body. She asks that he send the people responsible for stealing his body, to hell.

So, one by one Conrad starts killing off the group of students. It was nice seeing Jeffrey Combs here, although in a small role, but a good performance nevertheless. There honestly is nothing memorable about this supernatural slasher - not even the kill scenes. The script itself had me raising an eyebrow on more than one occasion.

And I'm not sure what message the film was really trying to convey with the weird ending...

Frightmare begins with a horror movie icon killing a director and then his servant before he is laid to rest. This icon, who has some Christopher Lee qualities to him, then continues to haunt those around him when a group of horror film society students steal his corpse from the mausoleum he is in.

The first ten minutes is well-filmed, good writing and lots of potential for murderous mayhem. But the film drags in the middle (although thankfully not as much as "House of Death") and never really gets that initial spurt of energy back.

Lots of the deaths are confusing, as they seem to have people just falling over scared when they see a floating coffin or other odd things. Twice we see poisonous gas being used. But the box promises that this horror star will be the embodiment of all the monsters he has played. Boy, is that false advertising, unless he spent his career playing boring old men who take naps and watch "Matlock".

The general principle of the film is decent: horror society kids stealing a corpse of a dead icon. A modern equivalent (digging up Vincent Price or Peter Cushing) would make a great film. Maybe a remake is in order if that wouldn't be too disrespectful. Sometimes theory doesn't come across as well in application, and this film offers that example.

The only redeeming quality of this film (besides the beginning) is the brief appearance of a very young Jeffrey Combs. I saw him and thought "that's Jeffrey Combs" but felt I was mistaken as the box never mentioned him. But sure enough, Combs was present. (A note to this movie's film-makers: mention Combs on the cover of the DVD, you'll sell more copies if if you would be deceiving customers.) If you're a Jeffrey Combs die-hard, check out this early role. Otherwise, I cannot offer this as a great selection for a horror movie marathon. Let me suggest "Intruder" or "Popcorn", as those are both pretty decent and will stand the test of time.

Conrad Radzoff is more or less a combination of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee:two famous Gothic horror icons.He sleeps in his coffin like Bela Lugosi and he considers himself a superstar.Unfortunately the times of his stardom are falling apart as he only gets silly roles in commercials.So Conrdad kills his director and after murder he suddenly dies.His body is kept in creepy Gothic mausoleum.A group of university students decide to steal his coffin and defile his corpse.But Conrad isn't really dead.He rises from his slumber and kills defilers one by one..."Frightmare" by Norman Thaddeus Vane is a likable supernatural slasher with few gory deaths including decapitated Jeffrey Combs.The storyline is absurd with standard scare techniques,but if you like supernatural slashers with levitating coffins give this one a chance.7 horror stars out of 10.

It is really pretty bad although Ferdy Mayne was clearly a pro with almost 300 credits although it is difficult to imagine many of the films with a couple of parts from Polanski and lots of TV, I remember a soap, Emergency-Ward 10 TV in the 60s. The story is not any good and as the director as well, Mayne has a go at the film but everyone else is not very good either. At the end there is a little bit of action but it is all too late.

I used to watch this film all the time because it used to come during the Saturday afternoon horror slot (I have no idea why they would show gruesome horror flicks during the middle of the day when most kids were home, but hey that was the 1980s for ya!).

Back in the day I never really watched the film from start to finish, only glimpsing certain iconic scenes that stuck with me even to this very day. I could never remember the name of this film only specific scenes, such as the end sequence in the morgue, which is still a pretty horrifying and well-shot segment. As well as the movie's most disturbing and eye-catching scene involving a character being choked to death on his own tongue.

The tongue scene was way disturbing back in the day due to the practical effect, and it's still equally effective today. That's the beauty of practical effects!

Unfortunately, the rest of the film doesn't quite hold up as well as it's most significant sequences. In short, the sum of its parts aren't quite enough to compensate for the lackluster film as a whole.

I could never really remember the plot all that well, and that's because it doesn't really have a plot. Some stupid kids steal a dead body and then start getting killed off, mostly in dumb ways.

None of the film's plot really makes much sense, nor the character motivations. You'll be left scratching your head the whole way through, especially given that the cops encapsulate themselves in nonsensical trifles while the main character kids just keep going in circles searching for one another. It's really that dumb.

I feel like someone came up with a script for a cool concept of this postmortem villain but failed to flesh out anything beyond his driving force to kill. They don't really explain his powers much, nor if he has any weaknesses. I'm to assume he's beyond the limitations of time and space, somewhat like the Tall Man from Phantasm, but once again the film doesn't really explain anything other than that the villainous actor is back from the dead.

I still ended up giving the film a 4 out of 10 stars because some of the death sequences are still filmed quite well, and the cremation sequence is still kind of harrowing even to this day. I just wish the rest of the film could have been cohesively structured better around some of the concepts the filmmakers brought to the table.

While a generic, gratuitously blood-lashed, lasciviously top-popping slasher can, on occasion, deliver a little bit of what you fancy, it is certainly no less joyous to discover unconventional horror films that take far greater risks with the material. The sardonic slasher classic 'Frightmare' digs somewhat deeper into the marvellously macabre bag of Gothic horror tropes and rewardingly unearths far less predictable results!

Ably written and directed by, Norman Thaddeus Vane, 'Horror Star' 'Frightmare' aka 'Horror Star' remains a compelling, enjoyably flamboyant Grand guignol gem. Utilizing a theatrical plot not entirely dissimilar to 'Theatre of Blood' or 'The House That Dripped Blood', this full-blooded shocker features an arrogantly twist-headed horror star taking their day job a little too seriously! In lieu of Lee or Price, 'Frightmare' stars urbane, Ferdy Mayne, who, entirely to his credit, imbues the washed-up horror ham with all the requisite lip-smacking, overcooked glee the barnstorming role demands!

An ill-considered Weekend at Bernies-style prank by boozy members of a collegiate horror society proves fatal. They 'borrow' the recently interred remains of, Conrad Ragzof (Ferdy Mayne) for their increasingly macabre soirée. Not long after they have brought the unlovely corpse of this once venerated actor back to their Adams Family-style mansion/clubhouse, the diabolical repercussions of their morbidly disrespectful jape began in earnest! On that very same fateful night, monstrously awakened by demonic forces arcane, the devil-possessed, supernaturally endowed Thespian zealously proceeds to chew up more than the scenery! The vengeful, Ragzof luridly dispatching the beleaguered members of 'The Horror Film Society' with theatrically grisly aplomb!

There is a wonderfully visceral pleasure a witnessing wickedly unrestrained, Ferdy Mayne gleefully Todd Slaughtering his sadistic way through the shadowy, cobwebbed confines of his immaculately spooky domain. The much neglected 'Horror Star' aka 'Frightmare' remains a high camp, eminently entertaining, readily rewatchable, old school 80s spook show!

Aaaaahhh, the classic B-movie horror films of the 70's and 80's... they don't make them like that anymore.

I had never heard of this film before my lovely lady bought it for me while she was away. Yesterday I decided to sit down and watch it... I loved it.

Now it has everything you can expect from a cheesy B-movie horror: Cheap gore, Lots of murders, Topless women, Bad acting, Terrible effects.

But the last 2 are not negative remarks... if the acting and the effects were good, it would not feel right.

The film is about an old horror actor, which i believe was an imitation of Christopher Lee, that dies and has his grave made into a crypt where people can go and see his body and see video messages from him. Some teenagers decide to steal his body from the crypt to have a party with it, but little did they know that when they took the body some black magic happened thanks to his widow and he comes back to life to take revenge on his kidnappers...

It is a great film... and it even has a young Jeffrey Combs in. He made this 2 years before he made Re-Animator. The only other face I recognised in this film was Scott Thomson. And I mainly know him for playing Chad Copeland in a couple of the Police Academy movies.

I will give this film 7 out of 10.

A really entertaining film which is comedy gold.

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Not to be confused with the 1974 Pete Walker horror film of the same name, Norman Thaddeus Vane's Frightmare is a goofy little film, the strange plot, weird atmosphere and offbeat performances resulting in a film that, while not particularly effective as a horror (genuine scares are in short supply), almost demands cult status.

The silly story sees ageing horror star Conrad Radzoff (Ferdinand Mayne, doing an amusing pastiche of Christopher Lee) bumping off two of his directors, one past and one present, before finally shuffling off this mortal coil himself. Soon after, Conrad's eternal peace is rudely interrupted by members of the local horror film society, who break into the actor's mausoleum and steal his corpse, treating it with a considerable lack of respect. When the horror star's wife is alerted to the fact that Conrad's body has gone missing, she hires a medium to contact her husband's spirit, and instructs him to return from the dead and teach the impudent scallywags a valuable lesson.

So what makes this film so batty? Well, for starters, Conrad's mausoleum is a high-tech marble monstrosity that makes bleepy computer sounds and comes complete with a neon sign, a motion activated video screen, and a vent that spews toxic gas. And when the crazy film kids get Conrad back to theirs, what do they do? Well, they invite him to dinner, dance with him and pose for photos with their idol. The death scenes are also a mite strange, the weirdest one seeing Conrad levitating his coffin to bash in a girl's head.

Without a doubt, the best thing about the whole film is Mayne's performance: whether it be alive as a hammy horror actor, or stone cold dead and motionless as a cadaver, he is utterly convincing and quite beguiling. Unfortunately, whenever Mayne is off-screen, the film is almost as lifeless as his character's corpse.

4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for the brief topless nudity from Donna McDaniel and the nice and bloody decapitation of a young Jeffrey Combs.

Conrad, a legendary star of classic horror films, is a narcissistic killer as monstrous in reality as he is on the screen. Shortly after his death, his corpse is stolen by a group of young cinephiles(among them is horror linchpin Jeffrey Combs in an early role). This prompts his devoted widow to enlist the aid of a mystic in retrieving the evil actor's soul from the fire-pits of Hell. Once reunited with his body, Conrad proceeds to wreak bloody vengeance against the young graverobbers.

FRIGHTMARE is a largely unimpressive and routine supernatural slasher with atrocious editing and exanimate characters. To the film's credit, however, it does manage to serve up sporadic atmospheric moments which are effectively punctuated by the creepy sound of multi-layered echoes and whispers. It's a prescriptive and nonessential 80s chiller overall, but it might suffice as a tolerable time-filler when nothing better is at hand.

4/10.

As you can guess by my rating I really did not enjoy this movie. I would not recommend this movie and perhaps others wouldn't give it such a low rating, but I thought the setup of this movie was bad and not fully realized. Deep inside of this movie there is actually a good movie, even an original good horror movie. But, writer/director Norman Thaddeus Vane kept leading me the viewer down the wrong paths towards a bad horror flick.

Ferdy Mayne (who interestingly looks a lot like Christopher Lee in this movie) plays Conrad Radzoff an old time actor. After we witness him kill, almost die, kill again and now he finally is dead (very poor set up in my eyes) a group of drama students (including Scott Thomson and an very early performance from horror vet Jeffrey Combs) steal his corpse and take him to an old creepy mansion where they can party for the night. Nita Talbot brings him back to life and he exacts his revenge on the youngsters. Yawn! Couldn't see that coming.

Who knows maybe I was too tired watching this sludge, but I thought it was confusing, not very well explained and the kills (other than the one involving the supposed hero in the coffin to be burned) are bad, cut away from and pretty near bloodless. There likely is an audience out there for this movie, I know it ain't me.

I thought maybe... maybe this could be good. An early appearance by the Re-Animator (Jeffery Combs); many homage's to old horror movies; the Troma label on the front… this movie could be a gem! I thought wrong.

Frightmare is a boring, overplayed, half assed homage to the fright films of yore. The story is an old one, young people breaking into a house, getting drunk, making love, and tampering with things that shouldn't be tampered with. The oft – recycled slasher film formula is used here, this time with a thought to be dead actor named Conrad Radzoff doing the killing. In fact, the performance by the Radzoff's actor Ferdy Mayne is the only redeeming quality of this film. He does the snooty Dracula style character very well. But as for the kids, its not so good, with Combs only having a minimal part.

The film lacks entertainment value, and only features one cool character, and one or two scenes that can hold your attention. I do not recommend this film unless you are desperate for something to watch, and this is the only movie left at blockbuster.

Look, this movie is obscure, brilliant, and a classic that should sought out by any means necessary. I suppose the powers that be have decided that it will forever be relegated towards the bargin bin; nevertheless, we could only pray for the chance to see this one on DVD. I would say that it even beats the great Phatasm. If you like a dark movie, with plenty of spooky imagery, look for this one and see how an 80s horror movie is suppose to be.

This is a movie that I heard about through podcasts. I most likely got this confused with the one from the 1970s and just had the title on my list of movies to see. I do know that Duncan from the Podcast Under the Stairs brought this one up on a podcast in fairly recent memory. I was curious to as what we would get here since the title is great.

Synopsis: when his loyal fans decide to steal his fresh corpse from the mortuary to party with it all night long, a true horror film star returns from the grave as a ghastly bloodsucker, bent on revenge. At least, will he spare his followers?

There are elements of that synopsis that are correct and others that I don't feel fit. Regardless, the star is Conrad Radzoff (Fredy Mayne). He's akin to a Vincent Price or Christopher Lee. The opening sequence is him shooting a commercial and butting heads with the director. I like that we see how unbalanced Conrad is. He pushes the director off the balcony, killing him. It looks like an accident though.

The movie then shifts over to a college. Conrad is there to make an appearance thanks to a horror movie society. This consists of Saint (Luca Bercovici), Meg (Jennifer Starrett), Eve (Carlene Olson), Bobo (Scott Thomson), Donna (Donna McDaniel), Oscar (Alan Stock) and Stu (Jeffrey Combs). Conrad has a heart attack. Back home, he talks to Wolfgang (Leon Askin) who is a director that helped make Conrad famous. Conrad's wife is also there, Etta (Barbara Pilavin). Conrad tells Wolfgang that he wants to make his funeral a spectacle. There is pent up animosity with the director that we see after the actor passes.

Our group comes to the funeral. They also get the idea as the synopsis said to steal the corpse as a prank. They also want to party with him. The news gets back to Etta that her husband is missing. Mrs. Rhomer (Nita Talbot) comes over to the help and does a ritual to find the body. What this does is wake it up from the dead. The coffin explodes and that is when our group of teens are picked off one by one.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap and introduction to the story. Where I want to start is that this is an odd little movie. It plays like a slasher film. I thought it was a good touch to set up that Conrad isn't a good guy. His fans love him and he does like that he is respected. It is when he's talking to Wolfgang or the other director that we see his bad side. He also doesn't like people coming into this crypt to steal his body. It does feel a bit contrived that he would have these videos pre-made, but he is a narcissist though. I can work around it.

Then to delve a bit more into this being a slasher of sorts. It falls in line with being supernatural since Conrad is dead. I don't recall him being a vampire or a bloodsucker of any sorts. He did play a vampire, but that it is. I do like though that Conrad was a horror movie star. It is given that he was classically trained and knew other great actors. He had a lot of success in horror, but he feels he's better than that. He is a diva so it feels like this might be mocking Marlon Brando a bit. I know that he became difficult later in life, like Conrad here.

Since I've talked about this being a slasher, we get a solid number of characters for this villain to kill off. I think that the deaths we get there are good. I know there's one that gets his tongue ripped out. Another that is bashed against a wall with a casket. I don't want to go through them all, but on the whole, they were good. I did have an issue with one just using gas, but I digress. I'd say that the effects were decent. They went practical which I appreciate. It was interesting to see Troma's name at the beginning. I do think they just did distribution.

I do need to go over to a negative though. This movie was boring. I struggled to keep my attention on what was happening. Part of it is the satirical nature. Looking at the horror genre with a meta approach can be effective when it is done well. I don't think that is done here. They also try to make Conrad be witty and almost like Freddy Kruger in those respects. All that did was take me out of it and I didn't necessarily laugh either. It doesn't do well with building tension either which didn't help.

Where I'll then go will be to the acting. Mayne is solid as Conrad despite me not liking the comedy. I think he hides how evil he is in life so when he comes back, I think they should have went darker. He can handle it from what I saw. Bercovici, Starrett, Stock, Olson, Thomson and McDaniel were all good as this group of friends who are the victims. Also with them is Combs and he's solid in this early role. Pilavin, Askin, Talbot and the rest of the cast also round this out for what was needed.

All that is left to go into would be with the filmmaking. I think that the cinematography we get here is good. It doesn't do anything that makes it stand out, but there were no issues. Same goes with the soundtrack. We get to hear voices that match missing friends, so I did like that. There is a good atmosphere with this mansion the society uses as almost a fraternity or sorority. The graveyard with the crypt is also a good setting that we use a few times.

In conclusion, there are good elements here. They don't come together well enough though. I thought that Mayne was good as our villain. My issue there is the comedic approach they have him take. The rest of the cast is solid with special credit to Combs and a Talbot appearance. The effects worked, I just wanted more of them. I also like the setting and there weren't any issues that I had with the filmmaking. This just was a struggle to keep my attention as I found it boring. I'd only recommend it to fans of supernatural slashers or quirky movies of the 80s.

My Rating: 5.5 out of 10.

Although I do agree that Frightmare is underrated, it isn't something to put too much work into finding.

The storyline is a semi-interesting twist on the life after death theme: A legendary horror actor [Conrad] dies mysteriously in his bedroom. At the funeral his 'last film' is shown: a short with him stating that there is life after death and that he's watching all of the people that are watching the film. A little later, a group of horror/drama kiddies decide to steal Conrad's corpse and bring him to the house where some of his movies were filmed. The kids slowly start to disappear, one by one...

The first few death scenes are the only downright amazing thing about this movie. It was nice to see some regular, down to earth 'mental murder' after watching two gore filled movies beforehand. But even that can't save it -- the murders start to get bloody in a very cheesy way, and them themselves become as boring as the movie itself.

I'd suggest renting this only if you have the money to blow and you aren't expecting a masterpiece. There's better horror films, but every once in a while you need to see something average to remind you of that.