The year is 1986, and I've just started my Freshman year at Ben Lomond High School in Ogden, Utah. During my third period gym class, a person claiming to be a casting agent for a movie being filmed at our rival school, Ogden High, is looking for stand-in actors to be used in crowd scenes. Being the young and naive 14 year old I was at the time, I assumed that I had to have actual acting capabilities and previous acting experience, so I did not sign up to be a stand in actor. What a great mistake I made that day. The movie turned out to be Three O'clock High, released in 1987. Watching this movie today, it's fun for me to see many people I know in the movie, including a cousin.
High School reporter and bookstore clerk Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemaszko) is assigned to write a story about a tough new kid in school named Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson), who is seen as a bully and does not get along with anyone. Mitchell tries to call off the story when he confronts Revell in the school restroom, but then angers Revell who challenges Mitchell to a fight after school. Mitchell spends the rest of the film trying to figure out how to get out of the fight.
Mitchell has a knife planted in Revell's locker to try and get him suspended from school. He even steals money from the school bookstore cash register to pay off another student to threaten Revell. When that fails, Mitchell's last attempt is to try and pay off Revell to leave him alone. When Revell accuses Mitchell of being a coward, Mitchell decides to go through with the fight in the parking lot after school.
The 1980s was a time when teenagers became an important and marketable subject in film. By the mid-1980s, filmmaker John Hughes had cornered the market on the teen romantic comedy genre of films of teenagers in High School. His great classics include Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Ferris Buehler's Day Off (1986), and Pretty In Pink (1986). Not only did these films resonate with teenagers of the 1980s, but they all included iconic soundtrack music that defines the 80s decade.
Three O'clock High director Phil Joanou perhaps saw his film as an opportunity to cash in on the success of Hughes' teenage romantic comedy films that were so popular in the 1980s. Three O'clock High focuses less on any romantic aspect and more on the conflict of teenagers just trying to make it through high sSchool, or even just trying to make it through the day. We all know what it's like to have to deal with bullies in school. Three O'clock High taps into this problem, but does it in a way that is entertaining and fun. Happy viewing.
On Sunday night, Oct. 31, 2021, Top of Utah dwellers can watch the Utah-made cult film, "Troll 2." It's at The Monarch in Ogden, 445 25th Street. The film starts at 8 p.m. and is part of this year's 9Rails Film Festival. The Monarch opens at 7 p.m. Watching "Troll 2" is free, but it's a festival, and a lot is going on. There will be food for sale, a silent auction, a costume contest, lots of stuff to purchase, including art associated with Troll 2. After the film, one of the actors, Utah's Darren Ewing, will take questions from viewers. 9Rails had a previous festival for another Utah-helmed film, "Plan 10 From Outer Space."
"Troll 2" was filmed as "Goblin" more than 30 years ago with an Italian film crew in Morgan County with then-mostly inexperienced actors. Released quietly to video as "Troll 2," (it's not a sequel to the 1985 film "Troll," though) it slowly gained a cult following for its bizarre dialogue, outlandish plot and sheer enjoyment value. It involves a vacationing family, and a few others, discovering they have entered a town, Nilbog, full of murderous vegetarian Goblins, masquerading a humans. They want to feed the "Nilbog" milk and mostly green food to our protagonists; the better to make them plant-like and ready to consume. The film is so much fun and resulted in a well-regarded documentary, "Best Worst Movie," about the film, its characters and its steady cult following. It was directed by Michael Paul Stephenson, who played in "Troll 2," and actors George Hardy, and Ewing, were part of the documentary. You can watch "Best Worst Movie" on Tubi.
Here is our Plan9Crunch blog review. Hope readers will enjoy the film as much as we do. The three pieces of original art are from local artist Steve D. Stones.
Plan9Crunch review by Steve D. Stones
Ever see a movie so bad that it actually improves with each viewing? If you haven’t, I would highly recommend that you watch "Troll II." If your viewing experience doesn’t get better with each viewing, you may need to increase your dosage of Prozac, or just simply lighten up a little and relax.
After all, "Troll II" is just a little movie filmed in rural Morgan, Utah where the cows outnumber the local citizens 10 to one. In the case of "Troll II," the Goblins outnumbered the local citizens for several weeks of filming during the summer of 1989.
At the time of filming, a street sign was put up, changing the city to: NILBOG. What I wouldn’t give or pay to have this sign in my movie memorabilia collection! I would even trade a double-decker pastrami sandwich with all the works, hold the mayo and mustard please.
The Goblins in the film might not take too kindly to this trade, since they are vegetarians who sweat green and eat anything green. Young Michael Stephenson even saves the day in the film with a cold cut bologna sandwich, which repels the Goblins from eating him. My favorite scene in the film is when Michael Stephenson approaches a mirror to talk to the spirit of his Grandpa Seth, and ask for his protection and guidance against the Goblins that have him and his family trapped in a house.
A Goblin immediately jumps out of the mirror attacking Stephenson. Grandpa Seth appears with an ax, cutting off the left hand of the Goblin. The Goblin then jumps backwards through the broken mirror, and the scene cuts to Creedence Leonore Gielgud, the Goblin Queen, screaming in pain in her Goblin lair of a run down old church. She tries to heal her severed arm by shoving it into the crevice of a glowing magic rock.
The expression on the Goblin Queen’s face, played by Deborah Reed, is priceless, and worth the effort to watch or own the film. A later scene has Reed trying to seduce a teenage boy in a motor home with a cob of corn. She is dressed in a sexy black gown with black nylons and high heels, similar to Elvira, Mistress of The Dark. I don’t know about you, but I have a soft spot for those sexy raven-haired women dressed in black. Come to me Creedence Leonore Gielgud, sexy Goblin Queen!!
In my hometown of Ogden, Utah - the Union Station train depot located on Historic 25th Street and Wall Avenue hosts a Yeti Bash event every year during the first Friday of February. At this event, you will find art vendors and small local businesses selling their art and products, interactive art events for children and grown men dressed in Yeti (aka the Abominable Snowman) costumes. A beard contest is also a part of the event in which contestants are awarded cash prizes for the best categories of beard. Beer is also severed with plenty of food vendors outside Union Station to choose from while you enjoy the evening's festivities.
As an art vendor participant of this event every year, I get pumped up for this event by watching two of my favorite low budget Yeti films from the 1950s – The Snow Creature (1954) and Man Beast (1956). I even suggested to the person who invites me to this event every year, Josh Smith, that both these films should be screened somewhere inside Union Station during the event. The two films were not shown this year, but I am hopeful that in future Yeti Bash events to come, the two films can be shown as a fun double-bill for patrons of the event.
As a fan of both films, and after having viewed both films several times, it is hard for me to pick one over the other as my favorite of the two. Although both are of a very low budget and directed by unknown, not-so-famous directors, both films have something to recommend to any fan of obscure, low-budget science-fiction films.
From the stand-point of story and plot, I feel The Snow Creature is the most believable of the two films, but not necessarily the best of the two. The actual Yeti creature in The Snow Creature is not the most believable. He looks like a cross between Chewbacca of Star Wars and a Muppet from Jim Hanson's Muppets TV show. The actor who plays the Yeti creature is covered in hair except for his facial area, which makes for a hilarious looking Yeti. The Yeti creature in Man Beast, played by Rock Madison, is much more convincing.
The Snow Creature
A botanist named Dr. Frank Parrish, played by Paul Langton, travels to the Himalaya Mountains to collect plant samples for the Corey Foundation in the United States. Parish is accompanied by his field photographer Peter Wells and a group of natives who serve as porters for the trip. The entire group is led by a guide named Supra who is very familiar with the terrain.
A few days into the trip, Supra's wife is kidnapped by a Yeti creature. Supra's brother Leva travels to his location in the nearby town to inform him of this. Supra insists that Parish and the photographer Wells deviate from the planned trip and go after the Yeti to rescue his wife. Both Parrish and Wells are not convinced of Supra's claim and both deny the existence of any Yeti creature.
Determined to save his wife, Supra empties the guns in Parrish's tent one night and later forces him and Wells to help him and the rest of the natives find his kidnapped wife. Having no choice but to follow Supra, Parrish and Wells go further up the rugged mountain in pursuit of Supra's wife.
While taking shelter in a cave from the brutal weather outside, Parrish, Wells and the group come across the Yeti creature. Frightened, the Yeti causes a collapse of the cave, killing a female Yeti and her child. Parrish and Wells force Supra and the natives at gunpoint to tie up the Yeti creature and take him down the mountain to Supra's hometown.
Eventually the Yeti creature is flown to Los Angeles, where he escapes from a refrigerated container and ends up in the storm drains of the city, similar to how the giant ants end up at the ending of Them! (1954). Parrish and the Los Angeles police chase after the Yeti in the storm drains after he has committed a series of murders.
Connie Hayward, played by Virginia Maynor, arrives in a Himalayan town with her boyfriend Trevor Hudson. Connie seeks the help and guide of a local native to take her up the mountain to find her brother Jim who left days earlier with a scientific expedition led by Dr. Erickson. Jim has been diagnosed with a condition that demands that he return to the United States for a series of injections to save his life.
Connie and Trevor enlist the help of Steve Cameron as their guide up the Himalaya mountains to find Jim. Cameron informs them that another guide named Varga is the only guide who takes groups up the mountain, but with every expedition Varga participates in, at least one person is killed during the trip.
Ms. Hayward, Hudson and Cameron catch up to Dr. Erickson after a few days of aggressive climbing. Erickson informs them that Jim Hayward turned up lost one evening, and no one has seen him since. This makes Ms. Hayward even more determined to find her brother Jim.
The entire group eventually meets up with Varga, and Connie and Trevor become suspicious and mistrusting of him. Their suspicions prove to be correct when Varga kills Dr. Erickson after he reveals to him that he is part Yeti. Varga's goal as a guide is to kidnap women for breeding purposes for the Yeti creatures.
A large part of what makes Man Beast so unbelievable is that all the scenes of the actors climbing up the mountain for several days show them carrying small packs on their backs and nothing else. Every time they stop to make camp somewhere, large cabin sized tents seem to magically appear. Any camper and climber will tell you that when you climb up a mountain for several days, you better carry large packs full of food for several days and adequate shelter and cooking supplies.
The Snow Creature does not suffer from this same problem. The actors carry large packs full of supplies in every scene shown in the film as they journey up the mountain. Although the Yeti creature in The Snow Creature may not be as believable as the Yeti in Man Beast, the plot is much more believable, at least the first forty minutes of the film.
Once the Yeti creature is captured and brought to Los Angeles in The Snow Creature, the viewer must suspend all matters of disbelief. How a creature from the climate of the Himalaya mountains can survive the warm climate of Los Angeles is something the viewer cannot help but ask as the last 30 minutes of the film unfolds. His desire to hide out in the cooler temperatures of the Los Angeles storm drains does not seem believable enough.
As flawed as both films are, The Snow Creature and Man Beast make for an interesting and entertaining double-feature on a cold winter's night. Happy viewing!
This film is of particular interest to me because it was filmed in my native state of Utah. The composer who created the music, H. Kingsley Thurber, is a resident of my hometown of Ogden City. Thurber is responsible for composing music tracks for popular video games of the 1990s. With the exception of the four main actors in the film who play the young campers, most of the cast members were from Salt Lake City. Many scenes in this film were shot at Bridal Veil Falls, a beautiful mountainous location up Provo Canyon here in Utah. The film was banned in the U.K. in the 1980s as a "video nasty," and remains banned in that country to this day. Unlike many cult films, I actually loved this film the first time I viewed it. It usually takes me several viewings to appreciate a cult film.
There are many interesting "point of view" shots in the film. One shows the camper Joanie, played by actress Angie Brown, tearing through a sleeping bag after she has been strung up in a tree inside the bag as a prank from her boyfriend. As she tries to tear through the bag to get out, she witnesses the murderer of the film through a hole in the bag as he runs down a mountain trail and stabs her boyfriend in the stomach with a knife tied to a long tree branch. The murderer is similar to the maniac Jupiter in Wes Craven’s 1977 classic "The Hills Have Eyes." On the audio commentary for the film, director James Bryan describes the maniac-murderer as a Siberian-Shaman looking character.
One very creative murder sequence shows a young mother painting on canvas outdoors in the mountains as her infant is bouncing up and down in a baby swing. The canvas she is painting on has only been painted with green strokes of paint. Suddenly she is murdered and gushes of red blood splatter across the canvas, making an interesting use of complementary colors together. I don’t know how intentional this was in the film. For those of us who paint frequently and know about color schemes, it is an interesting sequence. There are also many "fake scares" in the film that set the audience up for thinking they may see the murderer attack a character in the film. Many of these sequences turn out to be a "fake scare" to add to the black humor of the film.
Although the humor sequences outweigh the serious ones, it is often hard to tell whether the film wants to be a full-blown black comedy, or a serious horror film, This may be one of the biggest reasons why I enjoyed the film the first time I viewed it, and continue to enjoy it with each viewing. If you pay careful attention to the film, you will notice that every time a new character is shown on screen in an awful costume, you can guarantee that this person will be the next to be killed. This is part of the black humor director Bryan is trying to get across in the film. Death comes to those with a horrible fashion sense.
If you are a fan of low-budget horror films and a native of Utah, I highly recommend that you view this film. The 25th Anniversary Edition DVD distributed by Media Blasters is full of extra features, such as a short featurette made by director James Bryan with cast and crew members, two audio commentaries and a poster and production still gallery of the film. You are guaranteed to get your money’s worth if you purchase this DVD. It is one of the most cherished DVDs in my collection.
This film is of particular interest to me because it was filmed in my native state of Utah. The composer who created the music, H. Kingsley Thurber, is a resident of my hometown of Ogden City. Thurber is responsible for composing music tracks for popular video games of the 1990s. With the exception of the four main actors in the film who play the young campers, most of the cast members were from Salt Lake City. Many scenes in this film were shot at Bridal Veil Falls, a beautiful mountainous location up Provo Canyon here in Utah. The film was banned in the U.K. in the 1980s as a "video nasty," and remains banned in that country to this day. Unlike many cult films, I actually loved this film the first time I viewed it. It usually takes me several viewings to appreciate a cult film.
There are many interesting "point of view" shots in the film. One shows the camper Joanie, played by actress Angie Brown, tearing through a sleeping bag after she has been strung up in a tree inside the bag as a prank from her boyfriend. As she tries to tear through the bag to get out, she witnesses the murderer of the film through a hole in the bag as he runs down a mountain trail and stabs her boyfriend in the stomach with a knife tied to a long tree branch. The murderer is similar to the maniac Jupiter in Wes Craven’s 1977 classic "The Hills Have Eyes." On the audio commentary for the film, director James Bryan describes the maniac-murderer as a Siberian-Shaman looking character.
One very creative murder sequence shows a young mother painting on canvas outdoors in the mountains as her infant is bouncing up and down in a baby swing. The canvas she is painting on has only been painted with green strokes of paint. Suddenly she is murdered and gushes of red blood splatter across the canvas, making an interesting use of complementary colors together. I don’t know how intentional this was in the film. For those of us who paint frequently and know about color schemes, it is an interesting sequence. There are also many "fake scares" in the film that set the audience up for thinking they may see the murderer attack a character in the film. Many of these sequences turn out to be a "fake scare" to add to the black humor of the film. Although the humor sequences outweigh the serious ones, it is often hard to tell whether the film wants to be a full-blown black comedy, or a serious horror film, This may be one of the biggest reasons why I enjoyed the film the first time I viewed it, and continue to enjoy it with each viewing. If you pay careful attention to the film, you will notice that every time a new character is shown on screen in an awful costume, you can guarantee that this person will be the next to be killed. This is part of the black humor director Bryan is trying to get across in the film. Death comes to those with a horrible fashion sense.
If you are a fan of low-budget horror films and a native of Utah, I highly recommend that you view this film. The 25th Anniversary Edition DVD distributed by Media Blasters is full of extra features, such as a short featurette made by director James Bryan with cast and crew members, two audio commentaries and a poster and production still gallery of the film. You are guaranteed to get your money’s worth if you purchase this DVD. It is one of the most cherished DVDs in my collection.
