O Armário do Diabo

Professor Owen Lansing is researching human psychic abilities hidden deep in the mind and he experiments on his young son Cameron. They're going quite well, until Cameron's unintentionally uses his powers to conjure up a demon. Lansing tries to put a end to the trouble, but his killed in a horrific 'accident'. So Cameron goes to live with his mother and her boyfriend, but the demon also follows and takes up residence in the boy's closest. Meanwhile, police detective Sam Talliaferro, who has been put onto the case after the unusual death of his mother's boyfriend. Is having bad dreams that seem to be linked somehow to Cameron. A psychiatrist Dr. Nora Haley is looking over Sam, but she also gets the case of Cameron. She discovers the boy's secret abilities. Nora and Sam go on to connect that everything is contributed to a demonic presence who has its eyes set on Cameron.

Oh, "Cameron's Closest" is quite an unremarkable low-budget horror film. Well, it's not completely worthless, even though it's nowhere near as flavoured and exciting like many of its counterparts within the same decade. This late 80s horror junk was mildly enjoyable in some silly patches and icky make-up effects, but ponderous pacing and muddled plotting makes for mostly a bland outing that keeps us in the dark to what's going on. There's potential in the interesting and novel premise of mixing the supernatural with science (which "The Howling" author Gary Barndner adapted his screenplay off his novel), but director Armand Mastroianni's unevenly fruitless and ham-fisted execution leaves a lot of its brimming concepts unfulfilled and sticks to the gimmicks. Lucky there are some nicely imaginative and downright bizarre deaths handed out by the evil dweller in the closet. The nasty make-up, especially from the zombies and death scenes are well conceived. Even some atmospheric visuals, in the shape of few brooding dream sequences promise something, to only bungle it with unintentional goofiness that destroys any unsettling mood that was there. Like that of special effects designer Carlo Rambaldi's (think of E.T.) plastically tacky monster creation. Sometimes the FX is questionably dire and overly sugar-coated, just stick around for the lacklustre climax between demon and child. It's pretty hasty when it wraps it up.

The material dreams a good concept, but its talky nature, convoluted angles (so many to choose) and senseless inconsistencies engulf the monotonously vague script, which could've done with occasional wit. The presentation is well-photographed and production values hold up, but the musical score was flat, lighting hazily dim and editing was terribly hack-eyed. The cast do a fine job, maybe better then the material actually deserved. Scott Curtis gives an appealing turn as Cameron. Cotter Smith is sturdily efficient as detective Sam Talliaferro and Mel Harris impress with a steadfast turn as Dr. Nora Haley. Tab Hunter plays the unfortunate father who cops it in the opening minutes. There's sound performances by the support cast Kim Lankford, Leigh McCloskey, Chuck McCann and Gary Hudson as the jerk boyfriend.

It's saved by over-the-top deaths, some laughably shoddy developments and capable performances. Just like Mastroianni's other genre efforts; "The Supernaturals" and "He Knows You're Alone", it's watchable.

I thought this movie was that one with the little boy who lost his father and featured a weird puppet, but that one was Making Contact I think. I am sure I saw this film back in the day, but other than Cameron asking if he could play with the doll and a few other scenes my mind was drawing a blank as I watched it recently. It was not too bad, the problem is that it has moments where it is genuinely creepy and totally a R rated horror; however, too many times it devolves into a rather tame film that spends an awful lot of time introducing new characters. Seriously, I was having a hard time keeping up at first!

The story, Cameron is a special boy whose father trained to use numerous psychic and telekinetic powers. Unfortunately, he trained his son too good and it costs the father his life. Cameron goes to leave with his mother and her boyfriend and then flashes to a cop who I thought was the boyfriend, but isn't, the cop is sent to a shrink who I thought was the mom which is how things get interconnected, but no, she is a different character, boyfriend killed and here comes a brother! Meanwhile, a demon begins to kill people and there are some really cool effects and it all boils down to an accidental demon summoning!

The cast is pretty good, though no one I recognize other than Tab Hunter as the father. Still, they seemed to know what they were doing, my guess I probably have seen them before in other horror films. They had that horror film vibe to them. The effects are good, but not all that many, too often the film is just the cop and kid bonding, which makes no sense seeing as how the two have no real connection before the death of the actor boyfriend.

It had its moments and was interesting to watch, I will say it is better than that Making Contact film. That one had the lamest endings ever featuring killer burgers and Vader. This one's climatic battle could have been a bit better too. The demon appears to be a hairless cat and since it scratches and knocks things over that is probably what it is.

A boy with telekinetic powers, and perhaps other psychic abilities as well as bowl-cut hair lives with his divorced father, a psychic researcher or something. The boy plays in his closet with a He-Man-like action figure, and a odd statuette he calls "Deceptor." His father hears a strange moan, makes an odd phone call to his research partner, and goes upstairs to the boy's room with a machete. He goes into the closet, vandalizes some things, and is in search of something. The machete moves by itself, and the father falls on it, decapitating himself.

The boy goes to live with his mother and her boyfriend. Meanwhile, a police detective who has sleeping problems has a reoccurring nightmare that is bothering him on the job, and is forced to see a shrink. More closet-related bizarre deaths occur. The detective befriends the boy, and the shrink helps him on the case.

The special effects are pretty uneven. The death scenes are fairly good. A pale grinning figure in the closet is pretty spooky. Dead people who reappear as zombies or as a demon appearing like them are pretty well done. The demon exerts its power by psychically dragging someone up a wall, and across a ceiling towards an out-of-control ceiling fan. The demon itself is pretty darn lame, however.

A young boy with telekinetic powers unleashes a force set on destroying anything in its path.

We meet Cameron, a child who has the ability to move things with his mind. He likes to play in his closet a lot of the time with his action figures. His father appears terrified of his powers and what something so simple as playing in his room can do thanks to his special abilities. Late one night, the man investigates the closet and is killed by a machete, it's made to look like an accident. The question to the audience is did Cameron control that killing or was it something more sinister?

After the traumatic event, Cameron moves to LA to live with his mother Dory and his rude stepfather Bob. We then meet Sgt. Sam Taliaferro who has been having a recurring daydream, with parts of it very similar to what Cameron has imagined. Meanwhile, Cameron starts hearing growling voices from his new closet which kill his stepfather late one night. With Sgt. Taliaferro on the case, and a psychiatrist who notices Cameron's abilities, can this evil lurking around Cameron be stopped?

There were a lot of mysteries to solve in this one. What was the connection between Taliaferro and Cameron, was Cameron's inner rage responsible for the murders, and who or what is the demonic presence lurking in the closet. The acting ws your average run of mill for a mid 80's horror film. I did think there was great chemistry between Talliaferro/Dr. Haley/Cameron throughout. Mel Harris was a standout.

Cameron's Closet definitely used ideas from other films, in particular Pulse (1988) and A Nightmare on Elm Street. There was a scene in this one very similar to Tina's death in NOES for example. Great special effects with all of the demon scenes, lots of well done gore as well.

Overall, Cameron's Closet is a very average horror film that uses elements from other films out at that time. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel or create suspense with twists and turns. It follows along the same cookie cutter path it's on from the beginning of the movie. The ending and final showdown may have been the most disappointing part of the entire movie. It felt rushed and all too expected for a horror fan like myself.

5/10.

I enjoyed the plot of this movie. Certainly, monster in the closet is not an original idea, but they put their own spin on it. Sometimes, old plots are the best plots. I don't want this to be a spoiler, so I won't reveal too much.

This movie is about a boy with telekinetic powers. From early in the movie, we know there is something evil in his closet. The plot builds up throughout the movie and comes together nice and tight at the end. This is not some movie with a bunch of weird supernatural stuff that have nothing to do with each other, like Friday 13th part 7. This one all comes together.

My favourite scene is the one with the ceiling fan. Very exciting, though I don't see how a mere ceiling fan is cause for that much alarm. Well, thats what I love about B-movies. Some people just don't get it. I gave this 7 out of 10. It is a good horror B-movie. Not a movie for harsh critics though. Its good fun, very imaginative, but some would think its pretty stupid. If you're one of those people who hate everything, don't watch this. If you like B-movies and have a good imagination, than this, like so many films I recommend, is for you.