Blood Theatre

Going into Blood Theatre, I was aware of all the negativity surrounding it. Many people have called it one of the worst slasher movies ever made, but I've gotten through some pretty rough stuff and figured I'd give this one a chance and., having just gotten through it, I must wonder what all the fuss was about.

Sure, Blood Theatre isn't high art and it's not a very good example of a slasher movie, but it still kept me entertained. I'd even be hard pressed to classify this as a slasher film even if it follows a similar structure as many others.

You see, a theatre chain has bought a dilapidated one screen movie house where a string of murders have taken place and they've decided to turn it into one of their own. They gather a group of young folks to help bring it back to life and they die one by one. Is it a mad slasher or some supernatural force? Blood Theatre never says and leaves us on one of the most anti-climactic notes in film history. The film literally freeze frames on one of the single most insignificant shots and just calls it a day. One wonders if they just ran out of money and couldn't afford to shoot a legitimate conclusion.

At least Blood Theatre can say it boasts b-movie legend Mary Woronov. At first, it seemed like she might just have a blink and you'll miss her cameo, but I was surprised to see that she was featured pretty heavily in the film all the way up until the end. She at least brings some fun, zany energy to everything.

Looking back, it might be good that I went into Blood Theatre with the lowest of expectations, because I got to watch as each one was exceeded one after the other.

Movie House Massacre (1984)

* (out of 4)

Three college students are asked to clean up an old movie theatre so that it can open back up. It doesn't take long for the three to regret taking the job.

This forgotten film is out there under a couple different titles including the catchy MOVIE HOUSE MASSACRE as well as the better known BLOOD THEATRE. No matter what you call it, it's doubtful that you're going to be overly entertained by this thing, which tries to put the slasher genre inside an old theatre. Obviously one will think of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA but sadly there's just not too much going on here.

The biggest problem is that there are some really bad performances, not enough violence and what violence there is all happens off screen. For a horror movie, even by 1984 standards, this here is rather lame as it just doesn't feature enough to keep the viewer entertained. There are a couple quick shots of nudity but that's about it. The story has a few interesting ideas and a better screenplay would have helped but sadly there's just not enough going on here to make it worth watching.

The most hardcore bad film buff will be surprised by the overall ineptness of this grade-z "film". Mary Woronov, a clever actress best known for her roles as Mary Bland in Eating Raoul and Miss Togar in Rock 'N' Roll High School, is by far the best thing about this tripe. This film is almost too bad even for MST3K - honestly!

My review was written in January 1986 after watching the movie on Active video cassette.

"Movie House Massacre", made in 1984, is an unimpressive spoof of horror films which went directly to the home video market, bypassing theatrical release. Despite the presence of accomplished actress Mary Woronov, it plays like amateur night at the bijou.

Gimmick is a presumably haunted movie theater (originally a legit theater house), where many years ago the manager went nuts, started a fire (creating a panic) and stabbed the ticket booth girl to death. Now the owner of the 11-screen Spotlite Theaters chain attempts to reopen the accursed place, sending three hapless employees to clean up the site for the big opening night. Supposedly he will get a $25,000 reward from parties unknown for daring to reopen the joint.

Hokey subplot has one of the employees being a school cheerleader, so her fellow cheerleaders can visit her at the theater and become standard victims of the ghostly killer. Body count mounts until a botched nonending.

Filmmaker Alice Raley demonstrates an ignorance of rudimentary technique, with poorly matched shots, minimal sound mix and incompetent editing. Woronov keeps busy with irrelevant bits of business as tghe theater owner's assistant, but the rest of the cast is blah. Location filming at the Beverly Theater in Beverly Hills and Fairfax Theater in Los Angeles delivers some atmosphere.

If "Massacre" had been released theatrically, exhibitors would not have been pleased by its silly in-jokes, emphasizing a corrupt theater owner who is more interested in videotaping bootleg versions of films off his screen than in satisfying his (less lucrative) filmgoing clientele.

To truly appreciate this film you had to be there (acting?) or have been a crew member.

Yes, I am "Selena", and at the ripe old age of 42, have serious doubts about what we were doing/did.

It all started out to be like a "John Waters" type thing, friends acting badly in bad films. Somewhere along the line,the fun discontinued, people who were supposed to be friends didn't speak anymore, and BAD became worse.

I regret the bad image I might have projected.(Try to fit in size one gold spandex pants,)

Other than that, the film SUCKS so badly, I would not even make my mama watch it.

To my director, cast and crew I say,

"Why can't we just all get along??

It's been OVER TWENTY YEARS, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!