Film House Fever

As I watched "Film House Fever" I couldn't help but wonder if this film cost more than $6.89 to make. And, the more I think about it, $6.89 might be MORE than they spent...it's that bad and that cheap...and has a direct to video look.

"Film House Fever" is a bit like a really bad and unfunny version of "MSTK3000" but instead of watching a single film and make comments, two guys instead watch clip after clip from various bad ultra-violent and soft core exploitation films from the 1960s through the 80s and say almost nothing. The clips are inserted randomly and with no finesse nor style. And, because of the randomness, they really aren't fun to watch in the least and it's all incoherent. It's a shame, as the idea MIGHT have worked had the filmmakers shown SOME skill or sense of humor.

So is there any reason to watch this film? There's only one I can think of....to see Steve Buscemi in one of his first movies. But apart from that, I think you'd be better off just seeing these exploitation films yourself instead of in clips. Or, download the films yourself and make your own clip movie...it certainly couldn't be any worse than "Film House Fever"! Or, better yet, just stare at a photo of Steve Buscemi for an hour....it STILL would be better than this movie.

A rare first appearance by now famous actor Steve Buscemi is the highlight here. He, and another actor, have "humorous" dialogs that wrap-around a mediocre collection of horror and Psychotronic film trailers and short scenes. The dialog isn't funny and the trailers/scenes are either over-seen or unimportant. For a better collection of trailers, check out Mad Ron's Previews From Hell and for a better collection of film scenes, check out Terror On Tape.

Like 'Mad Ron's Previews From Hell' this is a comp tape chock full of trailers.

Unlike Mad Ron's opus, the wraparound segments were more watchable, even if the trailers weren't as good.

The focus here is on the cheap and bad films.

H.G. Lewis' films get a lot of play here. And most of these seemed like early 70's crime/action jobs. The badness was almost laughable.

Cameos galore. You'll see David Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr., Russ Tamblyn, Harvey Korman, and a very young Charles Grodin.

Buscemi & Boone in the lead roles as the movies fans seemed like they could have been a decent comedy team. Some of the quips raised a laugh or three.

Another party tape with the boys. Crack your beers and just kick back.

I saw this movie because I found it on YouTube during the first lockdown caused by the pandemic (April 2020) because some days I ended up watching even three movies a day. And I could easily relate to the leads.

The movie hasn't really a plot. It begins with Vinnie and Tony (Steve Buscemi and Mark Boone junior) that after an entire week at home in front of the TV decide to go out for going to the movie theater and watch an entire day of non-stop movies! What follows is basically an entire series of clips and snippets of some very awful movies from the 1960s and 1970s made by some of the worst directors ever and when the movie day is over, everybody in theater turns into zombies!

This movie has an incredibly dated direct to video look and the clips of the movies that Buscemi and Boone Junior watch are at times pretty nasty and nauseating to watch. A truly unpleasant and worthless movie... and I can see why only 8 persons apart me dared to review it!

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the REAL reason to check this out -- mixed in among the public domain, z-rated echh-sploitation stuff, you'll find the ONLY legally issued pre-"Evil Dead" footage by young Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, and friends! Several segments from their Three Stooges-like comedy shorts "Torro, Torro, Torro" (about a lawnmower gone berserk) and "Cleveland Smith: The Waders of the Lost Park" appear here, reproduced from nice, crisp sources. Unfortunately neither film is shown in it's entirety (for that, you'll still have to resort to the smudgy, muffled bootlegs that have been making the rounds for years.)

• Ken Lieck