Chillers

Intended to be slightly cheesy this film is fun. Locals will be more amused than others but it does have some laughs and scares. Especially effective is Brad Boll's performance as a crazed undead redneck. Definitely worth a rental.

My review was written in November 1988 after watching the feature on Raedon video cassette.

"Chillers" is a so-so example of regional horror filmmaking, heading to the home video market in time for Halloween plus theatrical exposure on its home turf at the West Virginia film fest.

Five-part anthology resembles a road company version of classic "Dead of Night" with folks waiting at a bus station, soon to be en route to Hell where there's definitely room for one more.

The passengers' tales, punctuated by plenty of blood but unimaginative makeup effects, include a young girl romancing a diver who actually died five years ago. Another woman falls for a tv newsman, imagines him talking back to her through the tv set and ends up involved with vampires. Most elaborate fantasy deals with the Ixpe demon of the ancient Aztecs, but suffers from cheap, unconvincing sets.

Lack of interesting twists and absence of name actors sink this one.

Horror is the genre, but not exactly the effect this movie evokes. Not an "even" film (pacing, transitions) and very reminiscent of the 60's B horror flicks, but it has some stellar moments. Those moments captured something that made me recall the grand horror movies that, as children, our neighborhood gang would plot all week long to watch on the TV's Friday night horror show. For nostalgia and some craft, I give it a score higher than many others.

While waiting for their bus, five passengers have just had horrible nightmares and decide to tell them to each other to help killing time. A swimmer, who has lessons in a swimming pool with a dead swimmer, tells the first one. A young boy, who goes camping with two friends and a crazy man as a leader, is the next. Then, a lonely woman, who has an infatuation with the anchor of a late night show, and finds that he is indeed a vampire. A young man, who finds he has the gift of bringing dead people back to life, brings a cold blood criminal back to life. Last, a skeptic professor of anthropology tells to his students about an evil Spanish creature from the Middle Ages called "Ixpe", and a young woman embodies it. When the bus arrives, they have a huge surprise.

"Chillers" is one of my favorite horror movies, but unfortunately it is very underrated in IMDb. I do not know how many times I have seen it, and I still like it very much. It looks like five episodes of "Twilight Zone" joined in the same movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Chillers – Passagem Para o Inferno" ("Chillers – Passage to Hell")

Quite enjoyable and never dull. I like the fact that this movie has a bunch of little movies in it so that it never gets boring. All the little movies are good, none of them suck.

My favorite, however, is the first one with the diving ghost guy. I love how all the people who ever died in the pool are there. I never thought I'd see a horror movie about a guy who died in a diving accident. It was so odd that it made me smile the entire time.

This film is made exciting by creative and original stories. I love the story about the newsman who ends up being a vampire. It makes sense that a newsman would be a vampire because he only works at night! And the rebelious little kids in the woods are great, they have the best lines.

Truly creative stories with a campy/humorous side. This movie is a keeper.