Abraxas

Original title: Scared Stiff

1987
R
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

YOUR RATING

Andrew Stevens and Mary Page Keller in Abraxas (1987)

Strange visions come to haunt a singer when she, her son, and her psychiatrist-turned-boyfriend move into an old colonial house that is haunted by the ghost of a ruthless slave owner.

Play trailer1:28

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Horror

Strange visions come to haunt a singer when she, her son, and her psychiatrist-turned-boyfriend move into an old colonial house that is haunted by the ghost of a ruthless slave owner.Strange visions come to haunt a singer when she, her son, and her psychiatrist-turned-boyfriend move into an old colonial house that is haunted by the ghost of a ruthless slave owner.Strange visions come to haunt a singer when she, her son, and her psychiatrist-turned-boyfriend move into an old colonial house that is haunted by the ghost of a ruthless slave owner.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.8/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 1:28

Official Teaser Trailer

Photos46

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User reviews26

4.81K

Featured reviews

8jwht2

for practical horror effects fans

This movie has a wild variety of practical and early computer effects. It is certainly over the top at times, and some probably laugh at it as a result, but I found it a pleasure to watch. The opening in the slave market sets the tone that we are in for something different. Yes, the male lead is bland as hell but the mom and kid do a pretty good job for a movie of this budget. The final 30 minutes really ramps up and I kept saying "whoa!" out loud as things got wackier and wilder by the minute. I've seen so many crappy movies getting reissued these last few years that it's always refreshing to actually see something that people put a lot of effort into.

brandonsites1981

* out of 4.

Awful film about a family moving into a new house and falling prey to a rubber faced African voodoo monster that possesses Andrew Stevens and forces him to kill his family. The special effects are really that terrible, the entire cast is bland, and the situations that unfold in the film are a laugh riot. Good to watch and make fun of, otherwise avoid this piece of junk masquerading as a horror film. Rated R.

5thalassafischer

I Feel Pity For These Film Makers

Scared Stiff should have been a better movie and it probably would have been with a bigger budget. I can see where they were going and they didn't have the proper sets and equipment to make it work.

It is rare that I watch a horror flick and am like aw dang I totally get this and would be into it if this weren't so bargain basement and slapped together by some low paid amateurs.

I also feel like there wasn't enough done with the connection between the slaves introduced in the beginning and the magical powers in the voodoo charm. Some things could have been improved by a more thoughtful execution with what they had, which is why I am still only giving this middling 80s mess five stars.

6Stevieboy666

I wasn't scared stiff but I wasn't disappointed either

In the 19th Century some slaves put a curse on cruel slave trader George Masterson (David Ramsey). Move forward to the mid-1980's and pop singer Kate (Mary Page Keller, complete with mullet) moves into Masterson's Southern mansion, along with young son Jason and boyfriend Dr David Young. Needless to say strange and spooky things start to happen, eventually becoming more and more horrific. Back in the 1980's and 90's I was visiting video shops most weeks and I did have a poster for the UK VHS release of this movie yet strangely I don't think that I had actually watched it until last night. I recently acquired the Arrow blu-ray and a fine release it is too. Scared Stiff is very typical of the B movies that found themselves more or less straight to VHS, and that is certainly no bad thing as that period was awash with such films and it was a great time to be a horror fan. This one reminds me of "House" (1986) but with less humour plus it's not as good. The movie had a low budget but the acting is fine though the practical special effects (so much better than horrible CGI) are the real stars of the show. I have seen better quality but they are good enough. I clearly remember this for its wonderful Graham Humphrey's VHS poster artwork but can find very little mention of it in my horror movie books. Sad really, it's no classic but does deserve to be better known. For a late night movie, lights off and a few beers it's a pretty entertaining watch. And after the end credits have rolled don't be surprised if you have the song "Beat of the Heart" going around and around in your head, ha ha!

6tildagravette

Imaginative Low Budget Horror

I'm not going to sit here and say that Scared Stiff is some sort of lost classic of the genre. It's not. It has pacing problems and you're never quite sure if it's a haunted house movie, a "she's losing her mind" movie, or an installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, but when it gets something right, it really gets it right.

A single mother pop star moves into a spooky antebellum mansion with her child and boyfriend and not only begins to unravel the house's gruesome history, but starts to believe that she's actually seeing the previous owners in her day to day life.

Scared Stiff starts out as a typical haunted house film. The lead character is plagued with visions and dreams of the wicked slave owner who used to live there and she thinks she's losing her mind. All of a sudden, it seems as if her doctor boyfriend can't be trusted either and it turns into one of those "is she crazy or being gaslit?" movies, before pulling out all the stops in a genuinely imaginative and nightmarish final act.

It's not as if Scared Stiff is brilliant, but it's competent and the final act is incredibly memorable, creepy, and downbeat.

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Storyline

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Trivia
After the film's underwhelming performance, it was released on VHS and then LaserDisc, but then fell into obscurity. In 2004, film historian Robert Ellinger was in one of the last video rental stores that still sold VHS tapes when the film caught his eye. He loved the film's music, especially "Beat of the Heart", but no soundtrack had ever been released. This began his long obsession with the film. He began acquiring everything he could from the film: test posters, various foreign VHS copies and even a promotional paperweight from when the film was released to home video. He was able to reach the film's costume designer Beverly Safier, who sent him a piece of fabric from one of the dresses that Kate wears in the film. He wanted to see if the film had other fans, so he uploaded "Beat of the Heart" to YouTube and discovered that there were fans who loved both the song and the movie. Because Ellinger works in the music industry, he was able to locate the film's composer The Barber Brothers (who was really just one person, Billy Barber) and asked him if he had the original masters for the soundtrack, but they were lost. Unwilling to give up, Ellinger contacted producer Daniel F. Bacaner, who had disowned the film and was surprised to hear someone mentioning the film so long after its release. Ellinger told Bacaner that he should re-release the film to introduce it to a new audience. They were able to locate the original negatives in an MGM vault in Pittsburgh, where it had remained for thirty years, as well as a treasure trove of unused promotional materials. Bacaner contacted director Richard Friedman and was able to secure a restoration by Arrow Video, who also gave the film a Blu-Ray release. They were able to get some of the cast and crew to provide some background information on the film, and Friedman, Bacaner and Ellinger made a commentary track. Billy Barber even performed a piano cover of "Beat of the Heart." As thanks for setting the restoration in motion, Bacaner gave Ellinger some negatives from the film out of his personal collection.

Goofs
The workman's eyes clearly move after he is dead.

Quotes
Michael Murphy: [as a hallucination to Kate] Hi Miss Christopher... I'm fine now... wanna see?
[unzips his forehead, causing his scalp to fall off, displaying his pulsating brain]