Poltergeist (1982)

"Mosquito ever suck on you, son?"

I really do feel sorry for Tobe Hooper. His breakthrough film, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, set a benchmark in horror so high that it should have opened every door possible to him over the years that followed it. Eaten Alive just didn't connect with the audience in the same way Chain Saw did, despite going for a completely different tone and feel to it. His TV film, Salems Lot, put him back in public favour, but it wasn't until Steven Spielberg set the pieces in motion for him to direct Poltergeist that things really took off. With a string of big budget flops following quickly, it was back out into the wilderness for Hooper by the end of the 80's, and sadly he has never managed to 're-invent' himself for newer audiences in the same way that the likes of George Romero or Wes Craven have. 

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The Slayer (1982)

"Is it a nightmare? Or is it..."

The 'Video Nasties' list that was put together by the DPP in 1983 is a very mixed bag of horror and exploitation films. As the initial idea was to have the distributors prosecuted and have the films banned, you kind of wonder if they did any actual research into what they took a disliking to, or if they just went on word of mouth and outrageous video covers. Some on the list, such as Cannibal Holocaust, The Beast in Heat and Fight For Your Life, were (and still are) fairly offensive films that push the boundaries of taste to the extreme, while others such as Tenebrae, Visiting Hours and Dead & Buried were films that happened to have a few seconds worth of latex gore that set the DPP foaming at the mouth. Only half of the list were successfully prosecuted, while the rest were re-submitted under the Video Recordings Act 1984 and were passed, though most suffered minor edits to explicit violence at some point.

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No Holds Barred (1989)

"I WON'T be around when this check clears! "

Changing careers in entertainment can be tough; some stars have enough natural talent and charisma to go from being an actor to a singer, or vice versa. Others try and broaden their horizons, only to be met with scorn and ridicule. Many for good reasons. For every Will Smith or Mark Whalberg success story there is a Madonna or Paris Hilton lurking in the shadows. Quite a few wrestlers have attempted the cross over in the last couple of decades, all with varying degrees of low to mid-level success. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson doesn't seem to be going anywhere at this stage, and even Rowdy Roddy Piper is still getting regular film and TV work. It makes sense in a weird Hollywood way; sure they are big muscled guys who get beaten up in the ring every week, they perform as characters (acting, right?), they are popular and recognisable around the world... surely a transition to the big screen couldn't be that hard?

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Clownhouse (1989)

"He knew they would find him. All of them. Their faces, like painted nightmares... Sure as anything real, they would find him. It was as if they were already a part of him. They would always know, where he was hiding..."

There is a whole generation of people my age who are terrified of clowns simply from watching films. We had a pretty good run of it in the late 80's, with Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988), Clownhouse (1989) and of course, the king of them all, It (1990). The latter especially was responsible for many sleepless nights and ruined underpants. But just what is it that makes a clown so downright creepy? Is it the freedom of the face paint that allows the performer invade the viewers comfort zone, and quite often, their personal space? Is it the natural revulsion we humans have to 'uncanny' closeness to our own features and movements? Or is it the fear that what is lurking under that smiling face paint is something other than a pleasant person?

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Sixteen Candles (1984)

"I can't believe I gave my panties to a geek"

It isn't easy being Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwald; Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club). She has just turned sixteen, her family has forgotten her birthday, she is insecure about her body, and the hot stud of her dreams seemingly has no idea she exists. To top it off, her grandparents have set up residence in her bedroom as her older sister is getting married the next day. Things don't exactly improve for her when she gets to school. Whilst filling in a sex survey and attempting to pass it to her big haired best friend, Randy (Liane Curtis; Baby, It's You, Critters 2), she accidentally drops it and it ends up in the hands of Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling; Vision Quest, Mermaids), who also happens to be the piece of manly meat that she is drooling over. Well, at least he knows she exists now. The problem is, he is already in a relationship with super babe cheerleader Caroline (Haviland Morris; Who's That Girl, Gremlins 2: The New Batch). Even the girls drool over her in the shower.

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