The Last Horror Film

Plot: Joe Spinell plays a guy who desperately wants to make a movie with his dream-girl a famous actress portrayed by Caroline Munro. His mom thinks the idea` is cuckoo but he travels to Cannes anyway to make his movie......

Form: The acting is splendid. The story has twists and hints all the way through and the ending, the finale, it`s eminent. Lovely movie by all means.

Who is it for?: Sensitive viewers should be advised, the movie is pretty harsh and contains violent images and a haunting atmosphere in the horror-filled scenes. It is not suitable for kids. Adult horror-fans with a taste for blood will probably enjoy this movie a lot.

Grade: 7 out of 10

This is a deliriously demented early 80's horror film with a curious self-reflective feel to it, that gives this a rather run of the mill camp tone to it, but with some brutal violence thrown in for good measure. The movie is driven by its central star Joe Spinell & supercharged in a visual fever dream with production boasting a fantastic atmospheric punch & a fun fantasy infused world. Dripped in sleazy tones & unhinged mayhem.

The plot follows Vinny Durand (Joe Spinell), a mentally unstable cab driver that believes that he has the ideal script for actress of his dreams Jana Bates (Caroline Munro), he heads off to the Cannes film festival to convince her, but as soon as he arrives people on her crew start getting brutally murdered one by one, is Vinny the killer though... who knows?

Joe Spinell takes on the role of the distressed and manic Vinny with extreme grit & hopeless sympathetic overtones & he knocks it out of the park with his fantastic performance. His co-star Caroline Munro really exudes beauty with an alluring performance as Jana Bates.

There is a subtext going on throughout on whether horror films can affect the minds of the viewer, which adds an interesting layer to the whole thing. When it comes to having anything to say about the nature of horror films & horror fans, it becomes rather confused, but ignoring that this is still a fun little horror flick with some great dream like atmosphere & a rather strange feel to the whole thing. The mystery angle doesn't quite work, but this is still a delirious good time.

This film is freely based on a true incident that happened in the early 1980s when a weird fan did an assault on US-president Ronald Reagan, just to impress his fave actress Jodie Foster whom he saw her in Martin Scorsese´s cult classic. Now, Joe Spinell plays a quite strange taxi driver who´s possessed by the idea to shoot a movie that stars his beloved horror star Jana Bates (as sexy as ever: Caroline Munro!). As soon as he arrives at the film festival in Cannes/France some bloody murders shatter the surroundings of the actress...

I know that this film was released in Germany under the title "Maniac 2: Love to Kill", however until its two main actors "The Last Horror Film" has got nothing to do with William Lustig´s explosive shocker! The gore keeps within the limits, some sedate humor is brought on and the sleaze factor is satisfied by some naked chicks running over the screen. Some surreal impressions are given by a few film-in-film-interruptions, the atmosphere of glamorous Cannes reminded me on a soap opera, though quite likeable at all, and the ending features a pretty surprise! Don´t expect a second "Maniac" or you´ll surely be disappointed! Enjoy this nice little horror thriller for the amazing appearance of great Caroline Munro and you´ll worship her like a Godess!!!

Crude, low budget shocker is undeniably fascinating for its setting, and its portrayal of the movie business. It reunites the two stars of "Maniac", Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro, in a story of NYC cabbie Vinny Durand (Spinell), a pathetic aspiring filmmaker who's obsessed with horror film star Jana Bates (Munro), tailing her to the Cannes Film Festival where she's promoting her latest film. In between Vinnys' desperate attempts to make contact with Jana, a psychotic killer is at work brutally dispatching various people in Janas' life. The film is co-written by Judd Hamilton, then married to Munro, and director David Winters, along with Tom Klassen, and Hamilton and Winters also play film directors on screen. Winters is more ambitious with his ideas and set ups than one would think, going for the surreal and laying on the creepy imagery at select points, and his framing is likewise interesting. The non stop pop / rock soundtrack helps to keep "The Last Horror Film" moving forward adequately, and there are some genuinely effective sequences, such as when a terrified Jana flees in terror from Vinny, clad in only a towel, and bemused onlookers think she's merely participating in a publicity stunt. Use of gore is entertaining - there's not a whole lot of it, but we do see a fair bit of the red stuff spilling. Cameos include June Chadwick and Robin Leach, and one truly compelling facet of this movie is the way it works as a snapshot of a particular place at a particular time, with many shots of posters of then current productions. Intriguing at every turn, "The Last Horror Film" also has a certain seedy ambiance going for it, with some nudity to go with its lurid thrills. Spinells' own mother Mary is hilarious as Vinnys' overbearing ma, and Munro is as gorgeous and appealing as she's ever been, but ultimately this is a vehicle for Spinell, who proves once again his ability to elicit some feelings of sympathy even when playing a disturbed character. This is not up to "Maniac", but it's not bad, and worth a look for fans of the stars. The final scene is especially funny, ending the movie on an irresistible high note. Seven out of 10.

A taxi driver is dangerously obsessed by a horror movie actress. He travels to Cannes to convince her to star in the movie he fantasises he is going to direct. A series of killings start.

On the face of it this is one of the many films from the early 80's slasher cycle. However, it's hardly typical of that genre. Sure, it has the usual slasher ingredients – lots of gory violence and lots of semi-nude girls – but overall the tone is quite different. There is a definite comic feel to this one. Much of that is down to lead actor Joe Spinell who plays the deranged taxi driver. Spinell is a good enough actor to make, what could easily be a very unlikable character, sympathetic. His interplay with his mother is also kind of funny and I suppose is a jokey take on the stereotypical mother-fixated psychopaths from these types of movies. Joe's delusional world view is illustrated with segments that blur fantasy and reality. We see him as a ludicrous tuxedoed famous director interspersed with the scenes of his grim reality. All of this stuff gives The Last Horror movie a definite difference from other movies with similar scenarios.

The film also stars Caroline Munro as the famous scream queen. And she looks pretty striking with her black and white mane of hair. Interestingly she is making a movie called 'Scream' and this was way before Wes Craven came up with his post-modern slasher. In fact, you could argue that this very film was playing around with a few of the ideas that Craven would use over a decade later to great commercial success. After all, this is a film that playfully points out the conventions of the slasher film while still essentially delivering various methods of bloody murder. What was also pleasing was the way that The Last Horror film winds things up with a pretty decent ending that wasn't obvious. So, all in all, this has to be considered one of the more innovative slasher flicks of the 80's.