Evil Toons (1992) [copyright 1990]

... aka: Gonoszkák (Wicked)

... aka: Magias do Mal (Evil Spells)

... aka: Qui a peur du diable? (Who's Afraid of the Devil?)

Directed by:

Fred Olen Ray

This has a lot in common with Jim Wynorski's Sorority House Massacre II. They were both filmed at around the same time on a budget of around 150,000 dollars, have a (very good) Chuck Cirino score and have the same basic plot about a handful of busty, nightie-clad babes trapped in an large old house where one becomes possessed by an evil spirit and starts killing off all the others. Both films are also filled with tongue-in-cheek humor and endless in-jokes that you can only appreciate if you've seen your fair share of exploitation / horror / trash movies, as well as a weird next door neighbor character who's always lurking around outside and appears to be stalking the girls. Oh yeah, and let's not forget a generous helping of T&A, as that's one of the chief reasons these movies were made in the first place and why they excelled on both the home video market and late night cable. In my opinion, Wynorski's film (despite being less ambitious) is the better of the two because the dialogue is consistently funnier and it somehow works as both a slasher flick (with plenty of the expected bloodshed) as well as a send-up of exploitation films, whereas this one doesn't work very well as a horror film and is more straight-up camp. Still, if you know what you're getting yourself into and are familiar with the director and cast, Toons is a silly, upbeat and pleasant enough way to kill 83 minutes of your time.

The home where sorcerer Gideon Fisk (a somnambulistic David Carradine) hung himself because of an evil, talking book many years earlier is now being sold by Burt Wentworth (Dick Miller), who's in need of a clean-up crew pronto before the new owners can move in. Enter Terry (Suzanne Ager, Ray's girlfriend at the time), Megan (Monique Gabrielle), Roxanne (Madison Stone) and Jan ("Stacey Nix" aka Barbara Dare), who apparently all work for some cleaning company but show up for work dressed like Hollywood Blvd hookers in cut-off Daisy Dukes and spandex. The girls are paid a whopping 100 bucks apiece to spend the weekend there and tidy the place up, but after some exploring around and an impromptu strip-tease, Carradine's character shows up at the front door to deliver a special package. Inside is the evil book and the nerdy Megan picks the wrong passage to translate; unleashing a wolf-like cartoon demon in the process. It promptly possesses Roxanne and she begins killing everyone off with eventual plans on releasing other demons from the book after she's harvested a few souls for Satan.

While this was heavily-promoted as a Roger Rabbit-style merging of cartoon and live action in a horror-comedy context, you'll be extremely disappointed if you expect too much. There are only two toon sequences in the film lasting just a few minutes apiece and only in one of them does the Chas Balun-designed demon really interact with one of the actors. That said, the fact they were even able to pull off that much for so little is impressive for the time and budget. There's not much plot to speak of but in lieu of that we get some spirited bad acting, lots of corny dialogue (only some of which is funny), a few semi-famous stars in small roles (Arte Johnson is also on hand as the pervert neighbor) and nude scenes provided by each of the female stars. Miller ends up with the most amusing bit and has a very funny scene watching himself in A BUCKET OF BLOOD on TV ("How come this guy never won an Academy Award?") and then spurning the sexual advances of his sexpot wife ("Special Guest Star" Michelle Bauer), who then is forced to retreat to her bedroom alone with her chainsaw!

The biggest surprise of the cast is certainly hardcore porn actress Madison, who's extremely lively and, eh, animated (may as well use a bad pun myself since this film is full of 'em!) in her role. Her over-the-top, eye-rolling facial expressions and bizarre Valley Girl dialogue delivery make for a welcome contrast next to the more wooden performances from many of her co-stars and it's actually kind of a shame she didn't end up in more of these. Madison appeared in both this and the R-rated NAKED OBSESSION (also 1990) very early on in her career so it's possible that at one point she was attempting a "legit" career in B movies before transitioning over to adult. Same can not be said for fellow adult actress Dare, who acted in this right as she was exiting the adult industry for good. While not a great actress, this may also be Gabrielle at her very best. She's oddly endearing playing a shy / innocent character for a change, plus her 'mirror scene' reveal is probably the most memorable moment in the entire film.

Ray, who also scripted under the alias "Sherman Scott" and co-produced, had initially attempted to get financing for this project from Roger Corman, but his request for 250,000 dollars was rejected because Corman felt it couldn't properly be done on such a small budget. Instead, Ray ended up mostly financing the film himself... and for 100K less! While the animation is minimal, it's fairly well-executed under the circumstances. Ray also provided a distorted voice over for the monster and book, while an uncredited Robert Quarry voiced the demon. As per his usual, Gary Graver did a fine job shooting it, though the mostly-subdued use of colorful lighting (this would have been the perfect time to go all-out!) feels somewhat like a missed opportunity.

After it made its VHS debut via Prism in 1992, Ray's company Retromedia handled subsequent distribution. There was a 2002 DVD release, a 2010 "20th Anniversary Special Edition" DVD release, which comes with a Ray commentary track, and a 2017 "25th Silver Anniversary Edition" Blu-ray release, which is a marked quality improvement over all previous releases, features a new Ray commentary track and lots of other extras.

★★1/2

Nightmare Sisters (1988)

... aka: Ölüm Melekleri (Angels of Death)

... aka: Sorority Sisters

... aka: Sorority Succubus Sisters

Directed by:

Dave (David) DeCoteau

Because he had so much fun making his previous horror-comedy, SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA (1988), and had leftover 35mm short ends from that shoot, DeCoteau decided to make a companion film starring the same three main actresses. Only this time the budget was significantly lower and the shooting schedule was significantly shorter (just 4 days), resulting in lots of long, static camera setups, minimal plot, minimal special effects and most of the action having to be shot in a small house. Thankfully none of that really diminishes the fun factor here thanks almost entirely to its three entertaining stars: Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer (billed here as "Michelle McClellan") and Brinke Stevens. These three actresses would reign as the Top 3 "Scream Queens" of direct-to-video horror in the 80s well into the 90s until the term "Scream Queen" was co-opted by every low budget horror actress and then used by the press to describe more mainstream actresses like Jennifer Love Hewitt who appeared in just one or two high profile horror films, and basically lost all of its meaning. Still, Quigley, Bauer and Stevens managed to carve out a special place in genre history before that happened.

On a related / interesting note, nowadays there are mixed feelings about usage of "Scream Queen" as a descriptor. Some view it is limiting, reductive, insulting, antiquated and / or even a bit misogynistic and sexist. This is all highlighted in an article penned by frequent horror actress Barbara Crampton a few years back called Don't Call Me a Scream Queen. After reading Crampton's article and the various views from industry people on this subject, I decided I'll still be using the term here. To me, this label only applies to a small number of actresses anyway, and only those who have earned such a title due to a sizable genre filmography. I use it with affection and it certainly doesn't mean that I think these actresses are only capable of screaming and playing victims. I know better. Most genre fans also know better. I just don't really see the point in having to type out "Actress Who Does a Lot of Horror Films But Can Also Do Other Genres!" each time I address a prolific female genre presence.

And none of that changes the fact that Quigley, Bauer and Stevens really ARE Scream Queens by the very definition of what a Scream Queen was back in the direct-to-video era. Combined, they've starred in hundreds of genre films over the years. During the 80s and 90s, they attended genre conventions as Scream Queens, did talk shows as Scream Queens, appeared in Scream Queens Illustrated and other genre magazines countless times and actively promoted themselves everywhere as Scream Queens. All three proudly wore that label then and still wear it today. No need to retroactively change course and refer to them as something else at this point in time. However, out of respect for other actresses like Crampton, who doesn't like that term applied to herself, I'll make sure to refrain from calling her that in the future. During the time frame we cover here, she wouldn't really qualify for it, anyway. Now back to the movie...

During the overlong opening sequence, wealthy Southern housewife Amanda Detweiler (Sandy Brooke) shows up at phony psychic Omar's ("Dukey Flyswatter" / Michael D. Sonye) to get to the bottom of why her husband vanished. Instead, demon hands emerge from his crystal ball and rip his head off. Some time later, we're on a college campus where nerdy college girl / hoarder Marci Feinberg (Brinke) has just returned to her sorority house from a flea market with a car full of junk, er I mean, antiques. She joins fellow sisters Melody Hoffmeier (Linnea), a buck-toothed wanna-be singer, and Mickey (Michelle), a compulsive over-eater dubbed "Thunder Thighs Johnson" by the men on campus for obvious reasons, on the couch to sort through things. Among Marci's acquisitions are pickle salt and pepper shakers, a coconut monkey head and a crystal ball... the late Omar's crystal ball to be exact.

Seeing how the rest of their sisters are away for the entire weekend, the girls decide to do something special: Throw a party. Only problem is, they're all unpopular and deemed undesirable by the guys on campus. However, Melody did go on an awkward date with shy fellow nerd Kevin (Richard Gabai) a month earlier. She calls him up, invites him to the party and insists he bring along a couple of his friends; Freddy (Marcus Vaughter) and Duane (William Dristas). Unfortunately for the guys, their frat brother superiors Phil (Timothy Kauffman), J.J. (Matthew Phelps) and Bud (C.J. Cox) find out and "ground" them; forbidding them to their leave their room for the weekend in an attempt to crash the party themselves. Kevin, Freddy and Duane sneak out of the window and go anyway.

At the party, Melody warbles "Row Row Row Your Boat" at the piano, Marci bores Duane to sleep with her photo album and Mickey pigs out on chips listening to Freddy's sad sack life story. Things are livened up a bit with a game of Twister in the backyard and livened up even more with a séance in the kitchen. There, they summon up Omar who tricks the girls into touching his crystal ball. They're shocked by lasers and transformed into topless demonic seductresses (a cave girl, a rocker chick and a sweet and innocent lollipop-sucking little girl [!]) who reduce victims to smoke via oral sex. Phil and frat bros spy on them, break in and attempt to cock block the action, paying for it with their lives. Eventually an exorcist, Lanchester Perrin ("Jeffrey Culver" / James R. Sweeney), is called in to try to save the ladies.

Considering the ultra low budget and insanely short filming schedule, this is smoother and less clunky than one might imagine. It's also enjoyably upbeat and lighthearted. Still, the plot and overall production is minimal, the camerawork isn't good, the jokes and one-liners in Kenneth J. Hall's script run the gamut from terrible to very funny and the acting from the male cast members is highly variable. The three leading ladies, however, are all excellent and manage to make the movie all by themselves. This is a perfect demonstration of why they became as popular as they did back then. In fact, it's a much better showcase for all three than its companion film Sorority Babes, which centered more around Quigley's biker chick character. Here the playing field is evened and all three are given a chance to shine.

While Quigley, Bauer and Stevens' looks and willingness to do nudity did play a part in their popularity, it's always overstated and doesn't really explain why these three in particular were the ones who became the stars out of the literally thousands of women who did nude scenes in 80s horror flicks. It obviously wasn't just the nudity itself that separated them from the pack, but that nudity included in a package that also contained talent, self-awareness, a sense of humor and on-screen charisma. The opening half gives them the opportunity to character act and play against type, and they're likable, funny and utterly charming as geeks (plus effortlessly glide through extremely long unbroken takes), while the second half has them in their expected seductive vixen personas and they're equally good there. Of course there's also an abundance of nudity, including one of the longest bathtub scenes in film history, but that's what drove the market back in the day. I remember hearing one of them, I believe Stevens, refer to nudity as an "occupational hazard" in an interview.

All three of the stars did their own makeup and costumes plus get to deliver some amusing inside jokes poking fun at themselves, like Quigley and Bauer sneaking in references to their roles in THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985) and The Tomb (1986) and Stevens discussing marine biology (her chosen field prior to acting). The final scene is filled with obvious nods to The Exorcist while a poster for DeCoteau's earlier film CREEPOZOIDS (1987) is seen on a wall. The soundtrack includes songs (including the memorable "Sorority Sister Succubus" theme song) by Sonye's band Haunted Garage, as well as "Santa Monica Blvd. Boy" by Linnea's band The Skirts, which she also performs in the film and is also great.

Nightmare Sisters received a limited theatrical and then VHS release from TransWorld Entertainment in 1988. It was first issued on DVD by Retromedia in 2003 and then was bundled on several Scream Queen sets distributed by Rapid Heart Entertainment and 88 Films. The Blu-ray debut came in 2016 courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome. In the early 90s, the actresses filmed brand new scenes to replace all of their nude ones so this could play on the USA Network's Up All Night program. These new bits include the girls in lingerie in the kitchen, bouncing on the bed with balloons and Linnea re-filming her entire musical number. This rare alternate TV cut is included on Vinegar Syndrome's release.

★★1/2