Les frénétiques

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.

I bought this on DVD from a Poundland for, hey! - a pound. It was re-titled as 'Fanatic'. Actually it was a double bill. Another schlock flick who's title I forget was on the flip side of the disc. So in effect, I got the Spinell picture for 50p. I'd say it was money well spent.

This was shot on the hoof at the 1981 Cannes film festival. Joe is a taxi driver who goes there to seek out his idol/wet dream Caroline Munro. Caroline appears with her then real life spouse Judd Hamilton. Husband and wife are both dubbed, and Caroline looks pretty much as she did when she was a hostess on '3-2-1' with Ted Rogers. The film bears little resemblance to the previous Spinell/Munro vehicle, 'Maniac'. That was grim, gory and reprehensible. This is light, silly and incomprehensible.

'The last horror film' seemed to receive an inordinate amount of coverage in the British film fantasy magazine 'Starburst' at the time. I can now see why: Spinell appears reading a copy of said periodical. Reciprocal publicity. There are also numerous references to other films, especially Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' (which Joe appeared in). In fact, there is a vaguely interesting blurring of film reality and fantasy and 'real' reality and fantasy throughout. Generally, though, it's a mess. Scenes just seem to rear up out of nowhere. But if you're interested in such things, the footage of Cannes and the general nakedness of the female cast will provide fifty pence's worth of entertainment.

There's a nice story on the Spinell documentary included on the Anchor Bay 'Maniac' disc which pertains to the making of this film. The cast and crew were staying at a rather expensive Cannes hotel, and due to the penurious nature of the budget found themselves unable to foot the extravagant bill. Spinell, Winters, Munro and all concerned therefore decided to do a runner in the middle of the night and catch the nearest plane home. Pity they didn't film that little episode and stick it in here along with everything else.

Watch out for Joe's verbal sparring with his real life mother Filomena (aka Mary). Pretty funny.

Who knew watching a lonesome daydreaming New York cabbie Vinny with desires of being a famous filmmaker obsessively lament over a beautiful well-known horror scarlet to appear in his first film, while running around after her at the Cannes film festival could be so entertaining? To go along with that some unknown deranged serial killer staying in the shadows begins knocking off her entourage while filming it. Could they both be linked or is it pure coincidence?

"THE LAST HORROR FILM" wasn't what I expected it to be, mainly due to the unhinged tonal shifts. From an underlining comedic edge, it can turn depressingly downbeat to nastily macabre then back to kooky again. It's not over-the-top, but it sticks out because it puts a clever spin on the material, as it lures you into thinking it's something it is not. I kind of liked how the story evolved, being quite a delirious cocktail, as it kept you on your toes. Never too sure what direction it was heading. This led to an oddball climax to only be topped off by an enjoyably absurd ending that I don't see how anyone could predict. In all a very unorthodox experience.

What really came to the forefront is its true-to-the-facts information of the times it was shot to use as sort of a satirical social commentary of the influences of film on violence, where the script in more than one way was taking a shot at the narrow-minded assumption of those who see violent films to be blamed for the unstable descent of society instead of being a reflection of it. So with this viewpoint, making it the more interesting is having it set in Cannes, where the shot-on-location atmosphere added to the buzz. Still even with that feverish glitz of searching for stardom with a beautiful French Riviera backdrop, it's soaked in sleaze, unpleasant gore and a lingering dinginess when the killer hits the scene.

Then there's Joe Spinell. As he showed in "MANIAC", he's a live-wire that you simply work around. Just let him go, sweat and all, as his instinctive presence emits such weirdness, yet stays strangely appealing (when interacting with his real-life mom) in spite of being an emotional wreck leading to some crazy visions, and disturbing encounters in his on-going fascination towards the actress (the very capable Caroline Munro).

I saw this movie last night. I had got it in my collection for a good while but I've only now got round to see it and I must say that the first scene does make you think this is going to be just another one of those 'video nasties' done on a tight budget using horror and are naked women to sell it. Okay granted there are quite a lot of topless women in this movie :) which is nice :) and there is also a nice amount of gore for example, people getting their throats cut, decapitated, stabbed in the back, burned in the face, electrocuted in a bath, shot and chopped up by a chainsaw. I thought it was really good gore done in a not very serious way. The main character is really good he's a taxi driver who wants to be a movie director so he goes to the cannes fim festival to see his favourite horror movie star, but he can't get to her and people start dying. The comedy in the film in great the main charactor and his mum providing most of it and it has some good surprises in it, they even surprised me! it's a great plot if not perfectly executed and it's certainly worth going through the whole movie just to see the end which I thought was brilliant and was a lot better than I expected it to be. If you can ignore the badly dubbed voices you will find this movie quite enjoyable especially if you have a sick sense of humour. Also, watch out for Cannibal Holocaust being shown at a cinema he goes to and one of the germans from Allo' Allo' as one of the cannes film board. :) 8/10

I was expecting a lot from this so-called horror also know as the last Horror Film. Why, because the combination of Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro is back on the screen best know for their cult classic maniac (1980). Joe plays Vinny, obsessed with Jana Bates (Munro) who he wants to play in his last horror flick. He travels to Cannes to convince Jana to play in his flick but people surrounding Jana disappear.

I thought that this would be a brutal horror but it's really low on every part. Some scene's are clearly filmed at the festival without knowledge of the organization but it just doesn't work. Spinell's acting is okay and did remind me of Maniac especially when he's projecting Jana's face over his body. It's funny to see the promoting of flicks at the festival with a lot of posters and marquees. Also funny is the ending were Spinell has a scene with his real mother.

One to see for Spinell or Munro fans but horror buffs will be disappointed because this isn't another Maniac and is a bit low on red stuff, although it contains a bit of nudity. Not as good as expected.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5