This October I was looking to recommend a couple of sleazy cult films for Halloween. For viewers who want to slum it a little. Here’s a couple:
Maniac, 1934, directed by Dwain Esper. Note an actor by Horace B. Carpenter. He has more than 325 credits, mostly in bit parts. In this exploitation, states-rights 51-minute celluloid garbage he’s memorable as the most insane, maniacal mad scientist on film. Working with a disgraced ex-vaudevillian who later kills him, he works to resurrect the dead.
A cat with its eyeball popped out; male mortuary workers leering over an attractive dead young woman; same young woman wandering partially nude in laboratory and later kidnapped and assaulted by a young man driven crazy by adrenaline; a creepy neighbor with hundreds of cats he raises to make fur attire; inserts of women in undies and showing their breasts; a hysterical wife wondering what the mad doctor did to her husband; real mad doctor lying dead in basement; cops to the rescue; sets too cheap for Ed Wood.
This has been described as the worst film ever made. It isn’t of course. It’s bad, true, but so unique you can’t take your eyes off the screen, at least the first time. Schlockmeister Esper directed. His wife Hildergarde Stadie, who worked in carnivals, wrote the hysterical script. As was the norm for these films, it pretends to be "educational," with inserts about the various forms of insanity the doctor is experiencing. It’s a combination of Poe’s The Black Cat and Murders in the Rue Morgue; throw in the ‘80s film Reanimator. It likely made a fortune at the box office. You can stream it free on many sites.
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Sleepaway Camp, 1983, directed by Robert Hiltzik. You’ll need a shower after watching this grubby little slasher at a teenager summer camp. A boy cousin and his “sister” come to the nastiest, dirtiest, most dysfunctional camp. The cook is an overt pedophile. His co-workers just giggle as he vocalizes his rape wishes. Said cook is punished with a fate worse than death. One strength of this film is the inventive slasher attacks and kills within its 88 minutes.
The camp includes a very strange, paranoid owner who lusts after a teenage counselor who is a bit of a sociopath herself. The backstory is a slow-building romance between two young, bullied teens, Angela, (Felissa Rose), and Ronnie. The rest of the film is just one murder after another. There’s a backstory with Angela and her cousin, Ricky, and one crazy-as-a-loon mom, which you’ll have to watch the movie to learn more about.
I like little touches in this sleazy, gory film, like flypaper in the kitchen literally covered with dozens of dead flies. A final, wildly inappropriate credits song plays over the jarring final scene shot adds to the kitsch.
The ending of this film is iconic in low-budget horror. It does pack a punch for the viewer. This is not a great film but it’s unique; tasteless but quite watchable. Also, lead actress Rose, who has become a regular at genre conventions, wisely underplays her role; in contrast to the rest of the cast. That adds to the impact of the finale.
You can find Sleepaway Camp for free on Tubi, Prime and YouTube; and probably more streamers. Several badly reviewed sequels have been released. I have not seen any of those. However, I do watch Sleepaway Camp every October.
