Silent Night, Deadly Night
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Charles E. Sellier Jr.
Screenwriter: Michael Hickey
Cast: Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Robert Brian Wilson, Linnea Quigley
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 79 / 85 Minutes
Release Date: December 5, 2018

“You see Santa Claus tonight you better run boy, you better run for ya life!”

1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night caused quite a stir when its marketing campaign suggested that Santa Claus was a knife-wielding psychopath. TV spots, which aired between episodes of shows like Three’s Company and Little House on the Prairie, led to enraged parents complaining that their children were terrified of Santa Claus. Community leaders and parent-teacher associations organized events at theaters and malls around the country to protest the slasher flick.

In response, TriStar Pictures, the film’s distributor, pulled all advertising for the movie a week after its release on November 15, 1984. Shortly after that, the film was withdrawn from theaters altogether. 33 years later, one of the most controversial films of the ’80s is back in a brand new high-definition Blu-ray release! Scream Factory’s two-disc collector’s edition comes with a new 4K transfer restored from the original film negative and hours of newly produced bonus material.

The Barn
Director: Justin M. Seaman
Screenwriter: Justin M. Seaman
Cast: Mitchell Musolino, Will Stout, Lexi Dripps, Cortland Woodard, Nikki Darling, Nickolaus Joshua, Linnea Quigley, Ari Lehman
Distributor: Nevermore Productions
Not Rated | 90 Minutes

I was super excited to finally get a chance to check out The Barn at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival. Emanating from the Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel in Iselin, NJ, the convention spanned the weekend featuring celebrities, horror movie reunions, cosplays contests, and screenings of new and old horror films. The Barn debuted last year and played the one night I could not attend the New York City Horror Film Festival. I toured the floor at the NJ Horror Con and found their merchandise table, where writer/director Justin M. Seaman and Director of Photography Zane Hershberger were sitting. These guys know how to sell a film! With a poster that feels cut and pasted out of an 80s video store, they have DVDs, VHS tapes (!!!), stuffed dolls of the three lead villains, board games, hats… you name it. The only question that remained was, is the film good? Simply put, The Barn is a killer good time.

More below.

Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings
Blu-ray
Director: Jeff Burr
Screenwriter: Constantine and Ivan Chachornia
Cast: Andrew Robinson, Ami Dolenz, Soleil Moon Frye, Mark McCracken, Steve Kanaly, Roger Clinton, Jr., Linnea Quigley
Scream Factory
Rated R | 88 Minutes
Release Date: November 18, 2014

Directed by Jeff Burr (Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings is the 1993 direct-to-video sequel to Stan Winston’s 1988 film about a vengeful demon that dismembers thrill-seeking teenagers.

1958. The Ferren Woods. An old blind witch, Ms. Osie (Lilyan Chauvin), tends to a deformed orphan named Tommy (Jean-Paul Manoux) – the offspring of Pumpkinhead. A gang of hot-roddin’ kids spot the boy and, convinced he’s some sort of demonic monster, chase him through the woods with switchblades and baseball bats.Eventually, the kids corner him at an old abandoned mine, where they stab him and throw him down into the mine, killing him.

Night of the Demons
Blu-ray + DVD Combo
Director: Kevin S. Tenney
Screenwriter: Joe Augustyn
Cast: William Gallo, Hal Havins, Amelia Kinkade, Cathy Podewell, Linnea Quigley
Scream Factory
Rated R | 90 Minutes
Release Date: February 4, 2013

“Let’s party.”

Directed by Kevin S. Tenney (Witchboard), Night of the Demons is an “˜80s splatter-fest and the bastard spawn of horror flicks like The Evil Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and Mario Bava’s Demons.

It’s Halloween night and Angela (Amelia Kinkade) and her friend Suzanne (Linnea Quigley) are throwing a party. The girls have decided to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve at Hull House, a condemned funeral home and the former site of a grisly mass murderer.

Joining them are Goody Two–shoes Judy Cassidy (Cathy Podewell), her boyfriend Jay (Lance Fenton), Sal (William Gallo), Frannie and Max (Jill Terashita and Philip Tanzini), and the trio of Helen (Allison Barron), Rodger (Alvin Alexis), and the pig-nosed, mullet-sportin’ Stooge (Hal Havins).