Mirror Mirror (1990)

... aka: Cauchemar Miroir (Nightmare Mirror)
... aka: Reflexo do Demônio (The Demon's Reflection)

Directed by:
Marina Sargenti

Deciding to get away from Los Angeles and start a new life after he husband passes on (and because her shrink recommends it), widow Susan Gordon (Karen Black) purchases a new home in a small Midwestern town that she and her troubled teenage daughter Megan (Rainbow Harvest) promptly move into, little realizing that a murder has already taken place there. Unlike Susan, who's kooky and aloof in that very distinctive Karen Black kinda way, puts up a bubbly appearance for the world at large and dresses in bright flowery dresses and a variety of big hats and “glamorous” wigs, Megan is sullen, pale, standoffish, can't get enough black in her wardrobe and overdoes it with the dark eye shadow and lipstick. Yes, she's Goth with a capital G and, while that may fly in the big city, it makes her an easy target for ridicule in her new small town; most especially at her high school. I'm not sure what middle schools and high schools are like nowadays for kids. Hopefully some of the newer anti-bullying policies and more awareness on the subject have helped matters somewhat but if you were a teen in the 80s or 90s, especially one living in a small town, all that acting or dressing “different” got you was a target on your back.

Immediately after Megan walks into her homeroom on her very first day, the snickering and finger pointing begins. Naturally, the most popular of the bunch, well-endowed rich girl Charlene Kane (Charlie [Spradling]), turns out to be the meanest, but none of them are anywhere near as sadistic and vicious as teens seen in other outcast-strikes-back flicks like CARRIE (1976), JENNIFER (1978), Terror Train (1980), EVILSPEAK (1981) or SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986). In those movies, the cool kids were doing things like dumping pig's blood on heads, tricking nerds into beds with naked corpses, taking incriminating nude photos and trying to get their unpopular targets raped, kidnapped or even killed. You know, things cruel enough to conceivably make one snap. In this one, they laugh, whisper and say the occasional rude, bitchy thing but keep their hands to themselves. Megan is lucky enough to find an ally in Nikki (Kristin Dattilo) right away, who befriends her on her first day of school, helps protect her and even gets her boyfriend Ron (Ricky Paull Goldin) to at least tolerate her. Not only that, but Charlene's good-looking jock boyfriend Jeff (Tom Bresnahan) finds himself attracted to her. In other words, she's hardly in a Carrie White type of situation. Still, some of her peers are decidedly not nice and manage to get on Megan's bad side. Luckily for her, a helpful little gift was left behind from the previous tenants (one rumored to be a witch): an antique mirror that has the ability to grant wishes. Only these wishes come with a nasty kick since the mirror is actually a portal to “the other side” where demons dwell.

Megan first learns of the mirror's power when she wishes her deceased father was still around. He shows up later that night in her bedroom, only in corpse form, and she quickly wishes him away. Because she asked it for something, the mirror then begins working its magic and takes it upon itself to start acting out Megan's innermost desires (whether she really wants it or not); eventually taking possession of her. The mirror bleeds and fester with flies, gives Charlene a nasty nose bleed and makes a science teach (Stephen Tobolowsky) have an asthma attack so bad he has to be hauled off on a stretcher. And then people start dying. All the while, Megan builds up enough self-confidence to be a bit more assertive and starts dressing sexier. Elsewhere, antique dealer Emelin (Yvonne De Carlo), who's in charge of sorting through the belongings from the old house, stumbles upon a diary from the previous tenant which talks about the mirror and its powers. She then studies up on her demonology and comes to the conclusion that she has to try to find a way to get it back again, even if that means breaking into the house and stealing it.

There's a decent amount of blood and gore to help offset just how derivative the whole thing is, including a stabbing, death by flying shards of glass, clawed demon hands emerging from the mirror to make someone's head a bloody mess, a lip getting bitten off and maggots festering in a chicken wing to ruin pet cemetery owner William Sanderson's din-din. The two most memorable bits are Black painting the kitchen red when her hand gets stuck in a garbage disposal and the voluptuous Spradling providing some nice nudity before getting hot steamed in the locker room shower. There's the occasional bit of strange humor (some of which is actually amusing) and clever POV shots from inside the mirror looking out, which utilize a blue hue and distorted sound. This also boasts above average performances from most of the cast. Black is her usual scene-stealing self as the quirky yet self-absorbed mom, De Carlo contributes a nice character bit and nearly all of the younger actors are good, most especially the extremely likable Dattilo as the fun, non-judgmental nice girl that pretty much anyone would want as a friend. Well except for Megan, who can't seem to appreciate much of anything. Speaking of Megan, I do have one major complaint about this one and that's with the casting and scripting of this all-important central role...

While Harvest isn't completely terrible in the part, what she does here could best be described as flat and uninspired. Though the script doesn't do her any favors, her character is almost completely devoid of personality. She's neither interesting nor sympathetic. She's just kind of there looking a bit bored. One gets the feeling that the petite, wide-eyed actress was cast simply because she resembles Winona Ryder, who just played a Goth teen in the horror-comedy hit Beetlejuice (1988). The hair and wardrobe people even style her exactly like Lydia Deetz. The difference? Well, Lydia is good-hearted, drolly funny, clever and likable behind her morbid facade while Megan is pretty much the polar opposite of all that. It's also difficult to get behind the character's “revenge” when she's befriended by a very cool chick her first day of school, gets the attention of the hottest guy there and has a mother who's actually interested in improving their relationship, not to mention the fact that the worst thing the bullies can come up with to do to her is organize a “Dress Like Megan” day and come to school all Gothed out. Lydia would have found that amusing.

The original VHS release from Academy came with a holographic cover featuring the mirror demon reaching its hands out with a tilt of the box.

Filmed in the summer of 1989, this received a limited theatrical release in 1990 from New City Releasing before being ushered out onto home video in 1991. Director Sargenti, formerly a music producer and a director of music videos and commercials, went on to make the TV movie Child of Darkness, Child of Light (1991), which also featured Dattilo. Producer Jimmy Lifton composed the score and went on to direct, produce, write and score the first of three sequels: Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dance (1993). He also produced Mirror Mirror III: The Voyeur (1995), co-directed by Virginia Perfili (who appears here as a teacher) and Rachel Gordon and Mirror Mirror IV: Reflection (2000), directed by his wife, Paulette Victor. All four titles were bundled together for a DVD release through Starz / Anchor Bay.

★★

China Lake (1983)

Directed by:
Robert Harmon

After working as a cinematographer on the documentary The Jupiter Menace (1982) and the strange and pretty good The Black Room (1982) and doing photo stills for Charles Band movies like Adult Fairy Tales (1978) and TOURIST TRAP (1979), Harmon made his directorial debut with this 35-minute, self-financed, 3000-dollar-budgeted short that he also wrote, produced and photographed. Filmed in 1981 over a 11 day period with the entire cast and crew working for free, China Lake was in post production for two long years before being shown theatrically. After being well-received at the Chicago International Film Festival, it then became a handy promotional tool for the director and helped him land an agent and other film jobs. Soon after, he secured the director's seat for the 6 million-budgeted studio film THE HITCHER (1986), which ended up under-performing at the box office but would eventually pick itself up a following of sorts. Both this and The Hitcher, as well as Harmon's later Highwayman (2004), share many things in common. All three involve a psycho targeting victims along desolate, picturesque stretches of quiet road. Producer / co-writer Beth Tate later co-produced a feature-length “sequel” (more like a remake actually) to this short called The China Lake Murders, which starred Tom Skerritt and Michael Parks and debuted on the USA Network in 1990.

L.A. motorcycle cop Donnelly (Charles Napier) has just earned himself a much-needed vacation, so how does he spend it? Catching up on his sleep? Going to the beach to work on his tan? Vegging out in front of the TV with a stack of horror DVDs? Nope, nope and nope. He's up bright and early as soon as the sun rises and back out patrolling the streets. This guy is dedicated. He's also unhinged. On a stretch of nearly-deserted desert road, Donnelly gets his kicks terrorizing anyone unfortunate enough to be driving through. His first victim is Helene (Gilmer McCormick), who's sober but subjected to a humiliating sobriety test anyway. After walking a straight line drawn in the sand, closing her eyes and touching her nose with her fingers and lifting one leg, she finds herself handcuffed and stuck in the trunk of her car. “Don't worry about it,” the officer soothingly tells her, “Somebody will be around shortly...I'm sure.” Donnelly swings by a closed gas station long enough to change back into civilian clothes and steal some gas after shooting the lock off the pump.

The next day, he swings in to a diner; the same diner he goes to the same time every year on his way up to visit China Lake. Waitress Kitty (Lindsey Fields) points out that China Lake is a dump but Donnelly explains its appeal to him: “I can go up there. I can be alone. Do what the hell I want to do. Nobody bothers me.” And “Do what the hell I want to do” is exactly what he does. This trip is a way for him to blow off some steam from work by violently venting out his frustrations on others. A pair of loud, dirty cement workers, which he nicknames Little Germ (William Sanderson) and Big Guy (Mickey Jones) in his voice-over, manage to piss him off by their mere appearance. He fantasizes about torturing one by burning his hand and tongue on a grill and, later, lucks out when one of the men gets a flat tire and he stumbles upon him.

Character actor Napier does typically fine work in the lead role (especially in the diner scene where he subtly alternates charm and menace), the desert scenery is great to look at it (and nicely shot) and there's some imaginative camerawork, with fast-moving POVs zooming down the highway and looking over the handlebars, with many shots attached to the side of a moving motorcycle. Fans of The Hitcher will also find this of interest and have fun spotting all of the similarities between the two. That said, the thrills and suspense are pretty much nonexistent and the concept of a "trust-worthy" rogue killer cop wasn't anything new by 1983 standards (about as "shocking" as a killer priest thanks to the dozen or so Italian gialli of the 70s that used that as a "twist"). Harmon went on to make the shitty box office flop They (2002), but did better on the small screen, receiving Emmy and Director's Guild nominations for his TV biopic Gotti (1996).

As with many short features from the 80s before DVD extras came into play, China Lake sat out for the entire VHS era. It went mostly unseen until the German company Kinowelt Home Entertainment included it as an extra on their 2 disc Special Edition release of The Hitcher in 2003. The short even comes with a text introduction and director's commentary track. This same release was distributed by Momentum Pictures out of the UK and Studio Canal out of France.

★★1/2

Savage Weekend (1979) [filmed in 1976]

... aka: Killer Behind the Mask, The
... aka: Upstate Murders, The

Directed by:
David Paulsen

Leaving her young son behind with her bitter, depressed ex-husband Greg (Jeffrey David Pomerantz), Marie (Marilyn Hamlin) decides to accompany her wealthy new stockbroker boyfriend Robert (James Doerr) to his upstate New York vacation home to watch some guys build a boat he's just commissioned. Marie's easy-going sister Shirley ("Kathleen Heaney" / Caitlin O'Heaney), Robert's sleazy married co-worker Jay (Devin Goldenberg) and the ladies' flamboyant gay third wheel of a friend Nicky (Christopher Allport) all come along as well. Ignoring a bat someone has nailed to the front door as soon as they get there, everyone gets to relaxing, nude sunbathing and pairing off to have sex. Little do they know but disturbed redneck Otis Crump (William Sanderson) in lurking around with his trusty binoculars. Years earlier, Otis was involved in a violent assault that involved beating a guy's head on a rock and then tying up a disinterested girl he had a crush on and branding an "H" right in the middle of her chest with a red hot iron. The "H" was meant to be a Scarlet Letter of sorts for "Whore" but Otis, well, he's not too bright.

Otis, who's in charge of building the boat, pays frequent visits to his father's grave to talk to the tombstone and gets enraged when he learns that Robert has brought Jay there to oversee construction because Otis is working too slow. Jay spends most of his time trying to get into Shirley's pants, which proves to be easier than he probably ever imagined. Richard tries to express his love to Marie, who's been numbed by a few rough turns in her life and finds herself instead drawn to gruff lumberman / single father Mac Macauley (David Gale), who seems to have a violent streak himself. All these people mix and mingle for nearly an entire hour before someone finally decides to slap on a creepy, bloody skull mask and kill everyone off. Though it takes awhile, there's death by strangulation / hanging, getting thrown out a window and impaled, a long needle jammed into a brain through the ear, table saw and chainsaw... and yet these prove to be the least interesting aspects of the film.

It's hard to imagine a less sympathetic group of characters than the ones featured here. Everyone casually cheats on whoever they happen to be with, poke fun at "Odious" right in front of his face and are all rather self-absorbed and elitist. The gay character beats up a couple of hick homophobes in a bar earlier on and later watches a couple have sex while mangling his own hand with barbed wife (?!) Marie is troubled by distracting violent and sexual visions throughout, with her former hubby acting as a sort-of mental cock block any time she finds herself in a sexual situation. During one scene, she suggestively fondles a milk cow's udder (?!) while trying to repress her urges to jump one of the guys. Bizarre as all this is, it's these offbeat character quirks that leave a greater lasting impression than the rather ho-hum horror scenes. It doesn't function all that well as a mystery either as the killer's identity is painfully obvious early on. However, inventive use is made of flash-forward in the misleading opening scene to try to throw viewers off. So while this isn't exactly good, it is at least somewhat interesting in spots.

Filmed in 1976 under the title The Killer Behind the Mask (a title it kept for some of the overseas releases) this wasn't released until three years later by Cannon Group under the Savage Weekend title. In other words, it's one of several dozen proto-slashers made in the 70s that managed to beat HALLOWEEN (1978) to the punch. The photography is pretty good in a dream-like / soft-focus kind of way but because it was shot open matte, the boom mic is often visible in the current full frame presentation (something a properly formatted DVD release could conceivably remedy). The soundtrack is comprised mostly of folk music and there's a decent amount of nudity in the uncut version. I'd say most fans of low-budget 70s flicks should get something out of watching this.

This was the film debut of not only Sanderson, who'd find his greatest fame a decade later playing yet another redneck ("I'm Larry. This is my brother Daryl and this is my other brother Daryl") on the TV sitcom "Newhart," but also of 7-year-old Yancy Butler, who would go on to some high profile film and TV work herself as an adult (like playing the lead in the short-lived series "Witchblade"). It was also one of the first films for Gale, who'd become a cult horror figure in the mid / late 80s after giving a memorable performance in Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985). Director Paulsen also made the slasher Schizoid (1980) with Klaus Kinski and then spent most of the rest of his career working on prime time soap operas like "Dallas," "Dynasty" and "Knots Landing."

Issued several times on VHS throughout the 80s and 90s, this made its video debut here in America on the Paragon label in 1985, It has since fallen into the public domain so now it's easy to find online to view for free or on DVD for cheap through various companies like Cheezy Flicks and Mill Creek.

★★