Frightmare

My review was written in September 1983 after watching the film on a Vestron video cassette.

"Lensed in 1981" with the more appropriate title "The Horror Star", "Frightmare is an off-putting combination of homage, satire and shocks. Pic is already available in the home video market ahead of its theatrical release, at which time its new moniker is bound to create confusion with Pete Walker's 1974 unrelated British feature "Frightmare".

A very well-cast Ferdinand Mayne (better known in his billing in earlier films as Ferdy Mayne, e.g., Roman Polanski's nemesis in "Fearless Vampire Killers") toplines as Conrad, a classic horror film star modeled after Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee and others.

Idolized by the college film society led by students Saint (Luca Bercovici) and Meg (Jennifer Starrett), Conrad starts the picture off in a promising vein reminiscent of the Vincent Price black comedy "Theatre of Blood", as he kills two of his directors, announcing "Take 19...take 20", a riposte to their demands upon him as an actor.

Screenwriter Norman Thaddeus Vane (adding a director's cap on this one) quickly loses his way with an uncomfortable mixture of mockery and the standard gore saturate "teens in jeopardy" horror format. Giving an explicit credit to the Errol Flynn-John Barrymore incident, the film society teens steal Conrad's corpse from his mausoleum after he has died of a heart attack. Conrad's widow, Etta (Barbara Pilavin), brings him supernaturally back to life through the aid of a spiritual medium, Mrs. Rohmer (Nita Talbot), and Conrad follows her wishes to destroy the body snatchers. Quite improbably, the surviving teens remain rooted in a spooky mansion with Conrad, even though they are aware that their peers are being brutally killed right and left.

Vane encourages eye-popping overacting, ensuring that his film will be taken as black humor rather than straight horror, but it is as unfunny as any of the numerous flop spoofs of the genre made in recent years.

Though there are some marketable extreme gore effects on display (kid beheaded or having a tongue torn out by Conrad), tech credits are subpar, with smeared, whited-out window and sky shots and annoying, almost nonstop use of thunderstorm sound effects.

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.

Frightmare obviously will never win an academy award, but it is something that most low-cost horror movies aren't--scary. The star, an aging horror film actor, gets posthumous revenge on those who decide to kidnap his corpse. The sequences of their murders are suspenseful and chilling as they get picked off one by one. The easiest death is by gas chamber and the worst is by live cremation. For those who like mindless entertainment, tey may not like this movie. But for those who like movies about retribution getting served for a bunch of grave robbers, this would be up their alley. Though not the best horror film ever made, but it certainly isn't the worst either. It's worth the 99 cent rental fee.

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.

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...