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Showing posts with label Linnea Quigley Film Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linnea Quigley Film Festival. Show all posts
Linnea Quigley both produced and starred in 1989’s Murder Weapon, the bafflingly silly story of two mafia princesses, Dawn (Quigley) and Amy (Karen Russell), who, after being released from a psychiatric ward for committing a murder years earlier, throw a party and invite all of their former boyfriends.
And from the looks of it, the two got around.
Among the attendees are Kevin (Stephen steward), Eric (Michael Jacobs Jr.), Cary (Allen First), and Billy (Richard Sebastian), as well as a handful of others. At first, things seem to be going well for the guys, a few of whom even rekindle their romance with the recovering beauties. Things go south quickly, however, when someone goes on a killing spree.
A horror / thriller directed by David DeCoteau (credited, as he was in Deadly Embrace, as Ellen Cabot), Murder Weapon gets off to a decent start, a flashback to when Dawn walked in on Amy having sex with her boyfriend. Not wanting to be left out, Dawn lured the unsuspecting guy into the shower, where she stabbed him to death with a kitchen knife, the very killing that put both girls in an asylum.
The film also does a fine job presenting the girls’ psychiatric sessions. Dawn is under the care of Dr. Gram (Lenny Rose), who proves something of a deviant himself, while Amy talks things over with the wise Dr. Randolph (Lyle Waggoner, who gets top billing). These sessions have an almost dreamlike quality to them, and both actresses are strong in what prove to be dialogue-heavy scenes.
Things get a bit… strange, however, once the party with the former boyfriends begins. At least 7-8 guys turn up, all of whom have a history with one of the girls, yet there is never any animosity between them. And none question why they are there in the first place! It just seems a little too bizarre of a guest list not to have raised any suspicions.
As expected, both Russell and especially Quigley spend a fair amount of time in the raw, and the kill scenes range from clunky to pretty damn impressive (there’s one in a basement with an axe that is especially gruesome). Also, in a fun nod to Quigley’s Nightmare Sisters, her co-stars from that film, Michelle Bauer and Brinke Stevens, appear briefly via a clip from the movie, which some of the guys are watching on TV as their fellow guests are getting lucky with the girls.
Ultimately, Murder Weapon proved more entertaining, or at least more interesting, than its synopsis would lead you to believe. It’s not a masterpiece, or at times even a good movie, but it’s far from a waste of 81 minutes. Rating: 6 out of 10
When it comes to horror films set during the Halloween season, a number of great titles leap immediately to mind. There’s John Carpenter’s 1978 masterpiece Halloween and its plethora of sequels and remakes (yes, even Halloween III: Season of the Witch). And in 1981, we were treated to both Hell Night and the exceptional TV movie Dark Night of the Scarecrow.
Another title that deserves its place of honor among the October elite is director Kevin Tenney’s 1988 classic Night of the Demons. A low-budget horror film (it reportedly cost $1.2 million to produce), Night of the Demons is an amazingly entertaining fright flick, and with its awesome make-up effects and some truly memorable scenes, it’s no mystery why the film has achieved cult status.
It’s Halloween night, and teen recluse Angela (Amelia Kinkade), with the help of her promiscuous friend Suzanne (Linnea Quigley), is throwing a party for a few of her classmates. The venue is Hull House, an abandoned mortuary in the middle of nowhere that, according to legend, has a rather ominous history.
Among those attending Angela’s party are Judy (Cathy Podewell) and her new boyfriend Jay (Lance Fenton); their friends Max (Philip Tanzini) and Frannie (Jill Terashita); and Helen (Allison Barron), Rodger (Alvin Alexis), and the obnoxious Stooge (Hal Havins). Rounding out the attendees is Judy’s former boyfriend Sal (Billy Gallo), who crashes the festivities.
Written by Joe Augustyn, Night of the Demons is an absolute blast, a fright flick that moves along at a brisk pace (especially once the demons make their presence known) and features a number of awesome jump scares. Tenney and his crew make the most of their limited funds; Hull House, with its dark rooms, decaying hallways, and the odd abandoned coffin, is one creepy locale, and the creature effects are outstanding (especially the possessed teens, whose yellow eyes and sharp teeth are the stuff of nightmares).
As for the performances, most range from decent to mediocre, with Amelia Kinkade stealing the show as Angela, who at one point even wows us with her dance moves (my favorite scene in the movie).
So, while 1978’s Halloween may be the granddaddy of them all, Night of the Demons should also be required viewing for horror fans once October rolls around. Rating: 9 out of 10
Well, I got news for you. It isn’t much of a thriller either!
Now a suspect in a double homicide, Chris (Ken Abraham) recounts, via flashback, the events that led to his tragic state of affairs. Hired by wealthy businessman Stewart Moreland (Jan-Michael Vincent) to be his live-in errand boy, Chris soon caught the eye of Moreland’s neglected wife Charlotte (Mindi Miller).
It seems that Moreland had fallen in love with his secretary Dede (Ruth Collins), and intended to divorce Charlotte the first chance he got. Moreland’s lawyer, Evan Weiss (Jack Carter), advised against the split, telling Moreland the unpleasant news that, because he didn’t have Charlotte sign a pre-nuptial agreement, she would be entitled to half his estate once the divorce was finalized.
As Moreland plotted for a way to prevent his wife from capitalizing on their faltering marriage, Charlotte was busy seducing Chris, who is himself in love with his longtime girlfriend, wannabe actress Michelle (Quigley).
It wasn’t long before Chris succumbed to Charlotte’s advances, and everything came to a head when Michelle visited Chris for a few days, causing a jealous Charlotte to take matters into her own hands.
Staying true to form, both Quigley and Bauer (who appears only in fantasy sequences as the “Female Spirit of Sex”) bare it all several times throughout Deadly Embrace, and even Miller (billed here as Ty Randolph) sheds her clothes a few times. The sex scenes are, indeed, erotic, and well-handled by Decoteau. Which is to the movie’s benefit, seeing as half of it is nothing but sex scenes!
As a thriller, though, Deadly Embrace is dead on arrival. Jan-Michael Vincent is limited to a handful of scenes, and his plans to somehow trap his wife, forcing her into an affair with Chris so he can cut her off without a cent, go nowhere (he seems even more inept when you consider the two are already having an affair under his nose). More effective, if only slightly, are the scenes with Miller as the jealous Charlotte, plotting for a way to break up Chris and Michelle so he will be hers. Charlotte even sets up a video camera outside of Chris’s room, shooting through a two-way mirror, that captures their sexual escapades.
It doesn’t hurt that Miller also delivers the film’s best performance, and is convincing as both the heartbroken wife and the alluring temptress. But even with her, the story falters and never truly develops into anything close to a suspenseful thriller.
Skin and sex are the selling points of Deadly Embrace, and with Miller, Quigley, and Bauer in the cast, that would have been enough to draw attention back in 1989. But all three have appeared in better films, both before and after. I recommend seeking them out instead. Rating: 4.5 out of 10
