A New Addition

Hey all! I added a new piece to The Brain museum this weekend.

This piece is courtesy of Chris of Bavbusters. He 3D prints all kinds of movie creatures and when my buddy Schwartz sent me a link to this listing, I knew it must be mine. Less than two days later, it is now holding court in my living room.

Check out his Instagram @bavbusters, you won't be disappointed.

R.I.P Tom Noonan 1951-2026.

I was sad to hear about the passing of Tom Noonan this Feb 14th. He was a genre giant, not only in stature also in the roles he left behind.

R.I.P Tom Noonan 1951-2026.

As a filmmaker and actor, he played in dozen of films and television shows, including memorable roles in The Last Action Hero, Robocop 2 and Heat. He had terrific range, as evidenced in his turns as Frances Dolarhyde in Manhunter as well as the Frankenstein monster in The Monster Squad. His screen presence will be sorely missed. Rest in peace, Tom.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One.

Next up is a movie I'd never heard of until my jaunt to the flea market last month, in Turi Meyers' direct-to-video effort Sleepstalker: The Sandman's Last Rites.

A serial killer dubbed The Sandman (Michael Harris) rises from the dead after his execution to go after the boy that got away. 

So there is a lot of sand in this movie. I mean, it's about a dude named The Sandman, but they really doubled down, nay tripled down, on the sand angle. The entire opening takes place in the desert and while the credits unfurled, I wondered if I hadn't put my tape of Dust Devil in by accident. No, I thought. This guy traipsing through the dunes didn't look nearly as cool as Robert Burke did. But I digress. One thing that did pump me up during this very sedate opening was the appearance of Gary Tunnicliffe's name. At least the effects would be good, right? RIGHT?

Shortly after, Jimmie Olsen and his wife get murdered by some weird serial murderer who recites nursery rhymes as he sprinkles sand in their eyes. For reals. However, before he can kill the son, the cops arrive and off him. Then, it eventually becomes apparent that this movie is really just NOES or Shocker or The Horror Show or The First Power, with a psycho using supernatural forces to come back from the dead to kill again. Which is fine, except Sleepstalker is not anywhere near as cool as any of those other films.

How many movies did you say have this plot?

While this movie does a have a whole bunch of fun supporting characters (which is at least an improvement over last week's title The Rain Killer), Ken Foree & Michael D. Roberts among them - man this would've been quite the dud without those two cats - the above the line cast are kind of mediocre. Michael Harris as The Sandman can't hold a candle to Mitch Pileggi or Brion James, and the lead Jay Underwood is severly lacking in charisma. Kathryn Morris as Megan is decent and pretty much the only one who gets to do a cool stunt at the very end of the movie.

This is not the look of a leading man.

I can't help but feel that the Sandman, which let's face it is ripped off from Marvel Comics, should be a lot cooler than it actually is. Despite the fact we get treated to some sweet nineties CGI for the times that real sand won't suffice, the character itself has many weaknesses, including sunlight, water and fire. Sure, he can fit through a keyhole, but that seems like a lot of disadvantages.

I could go on about some of the implausible subplots, like our whitest of whitebread hero's attempt to win a Pulitzer with a tell-all book about life on the streets, but it's really not worth the effort. Is this movie the worst ever? No, it's mildly entertaining, and may have been what got Meyers the gig directing Candyman 3 down the line, but I'd also say your time could be better served watching (or rewatching) those aformentioned titles instead. Or catch some Z's. Do want you want, I'm not your mom! Anyway, check back next week for my last serial killer yarn of the month.

Seek Shelter

Okay, here we are, another VHS Friday. This one is the 1990 serial killer thriller The Rain Killer.

A hardened cop Capra (Ray Sharkey) & an FBI agent Dalton (David Beecroft) attempt to track down a serial killer who strikes when it rains.

Hope you like that cover, because this pseudo-giallo was damp as fuck. I remembered the cover, which is why I picked it up in the first place and figured I'd seen it, as it would have come out during my tenure as a video store jockey, but I didn't remember thing one about it as it was unspooling. Though, of course, it could just be due to its super forgettability. But, let's break it down.

At the hop, I was met by some welcome sax and piano from Terry Plumeri (who a year later would score One False Move, one of the most underrated movies of the nineties) and watched some precipitation-bathed kill scenes for which I was onboard. However, then the energy just drained out of the movie, like water down an old rusty pipe.

Praying to the Rain God.

Perhaps the most prohibitive thing about it was the pacing. I mean, the movie starts off with three kills right away and then nothing for like an hour. In the interim, we had a lot of cop stuff and a thirty-minute obvious red herring setup that did nothing, except check the full frontal nudity box for whoever was keeping track at the production company.

The Rain Killer doesn't have anything to latch onto. The relationships, whether it be the frenemy duo of Capra & Dalton or the unsexy romance between Capra & Adele (Tania Coleridge), are just awkward and uninteresting. I re-watched Jeff Hathcock's Night Ripper last weekend, and say what you will about its quality (or lack thereof) there is at least something pure about it. This was shiny and wet, but far from appealing. And oh God, that sex scene in the living room... I wager zero blocking went into that scene. It's like they forgot they had to shoot it and just “banged” it out in one take before they hit the lights.

Ray Sharkey getting his Corey Hart on in The Rain Killer.

Michael Chiklis appeared as Capra's partner, but I found myself distracted by his headwear. As in plural. He had a new sports cap every few scenes - Chicago, New York, Boston, San Fran, like pick a team, man! It must have been intentional and a running joke on set, because if not, that continuity person needed to find a new line of work.

So anyway, once we finally limped to our conclusion, there's never any real explanation as to why the dude was killing chicks in the rain. Or how it was raining every day for two solid weeks in LA anyway. Like that doesn't happen normally, right? The Rain Killer cannot hold a sprinkle to last week's Relentless, which had a better cast, better banter, better set pieces, shit this director couldn't even make a car chase look interesting. I had to struggle just to pull a decent fucking GIF.

Anyway, I'm done with this movie. Hopefully, the next one is better. Have a good weekend and great Friday the 13th, kiddies!

Let Your Fingers Do The Killing.

Okay! As promised, this is the first of four February VHS Fridays. And the first is one I picked up at last October's Frightmare in the Falls.

Two detectives (Robert Loggia & Leo Rossi) are on the trail of a serial killer (Judd Nelson) who is seemingly picking victims at random from the phone book.

I have such vivid memories of watching Relentless in the theatre with my father. Like when Nelson's character says to his father's photo, “it's not my fault the police are stupid!”, I distinctly remember a dude behind me saying, “he wants to get caught?!” Rossi's speech about catching the Son of Sam by tirelessly going through parking tickets has also been lodged in my brain all this time. It's actually quite remarkable how much of this movie I remembered, considering it's been some thirty-odd years since I last saw it. Memory is a funny thing. You know what else just this moment struck me as funny? The concept of a phone book. I mean, I get listing phone numbers, but the idea that anyone could look up where you live? That's a little scary, don't you think?

I can tell you that I had certainly forgotten (if I ever realized it) that Bill Lustig directed this. That's probably why all the cops stuff is so punchy. Rossi and Loggia play off each other well and the all the references between LA & NY departments kind of make sense now. Nelson's turn as a psycho is pretty sedate, and probably did his career no favours at the time, but good for him for giving it a go. 

Additionally, there are tons of great supporting roles in this, like Eddie Bunker, Buck Flower, Meg Foster and Beau Starr (who I would have seen the year before in Halloween 4). Imdb told me that Joe Spinnell was supposed to play the police chief, but was too sick to fly to LA. That's a bummer, but the connections don't stop there, as Lustig's relationship with a young Tarantino (and his gig directing True Romance) fell apart here and Sam Raimi got a thanks in the credits for giving up the title, as he wanted to use Relentless for his sophomore effort Crimewave. I guess The Sunset Killer sounded too much like an early draft title.

Leo Rossi (left) & Robert Loggia in Relentless.

Jay Shataway's score is delightfully reminiscent of the time, with screaming guitars abound. And you can always count on Lustig for some good stunts. There's some solid car stuff, a rooftop edge-run that I'm still not sure how they did, and a high jump through glass that I remember being in every trailer and TV spot.

Relentless was fun to revisit, and I think I've only seen one of the three sequels which I will have to rectify. But first though, it would appear I have built up a number of serial killer VHS, so the goal is to knock those off in the coming weeks. So lock your doors and I'll see you in the dark.

Gifrific: Sam's New Muse.

Source: Send Help (2026)

January Horror Trivia Watchlist

To all those who came here from the event or the FB or Instagram page welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.

Phantasm (1979)

Phantasm II (1988)

Phantasm III (1994)

Phantasm IV (1998)

Phantasm: Ravager (2016) 

John Dies at the End (2012)

We Bury The Dead (2025)

Bubba Ho-tep (2002)

Let The Right One In (2008)

Planet Terror (2007)

Death Proof (2007)

Nosferatu (2024)

Mimic (1997)

The Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Sweet Home (1989) 

Crimewave (1985)

Darkman (1990)

Drag Me To Hell (2009)

Red Eye (2005)

Another Great Haul

I went to a wondrous place last weekend called the One of A Kind Antique Mall with my pal Ali and came away with some great stuff. This place is gigantic, with hundreds of vendors spread over three floors of a warehouse. We went there thinking four hours would be more than enough time to explore, but ended up having to rush through the top floor. There were countless booths offering random VHS, but there was only one that was serious about it, sporting hundreds of tapes in floor-to-ceiling cabinets. I actually had to stop myself at just five.

I intend to log some of these here in February... at least that's the goal. I should really be doing something productive while hibernating from all this ice and snow. Until then, stay warm kiddies.

SYNGENOR!!!

Hey all, it's the first VHS Friday of the year, and this is one I've been meaning to watch for a really long time. Let's take a look at William Malone's 1980 creature feature Scared To Death.

An ex-cop (John Stinson) is coersed out of retirement to help solve a string of brutal murders.

Full disclosure, I don't have a Betamax so I didn't watch the tape above (though I do own it). No, I spoiled myself with the Vinegar Syndrome Blu meaning I at least watched the best possible incarnation of it for better or worse. 

I did have fun with this one. While it is super low budget, it has a lot of charm. Malone goes against the general rule of writing locations you have access to, meaning that he ended up having to bribe and steal his way into many of the spaces (and sometimes even electricity) used in the film. He did a lot with his budget, a meager $74,000 and was even able to save some money on casting.

Bill Malone coming to you live from Glendale, CA.

And while a lot of Scared To Death feels familiar, the first crime scene exchange between the two cops seem to use every clichéd Dirty Harry line except “loose cannon” and everyone would agree that the creature resembles H.R. Giger's Alien, but I would also maintain that for everything Malone borrowed, others later responded in kind. The cinematography of the opening along the storm drain is remarkably similar to It, and I also recall another antagonist meeting a similar end in James Cameron's The Terminator four years later.

John Stinson & Diana Davidson in Scared To Death.

Despite its similarity to the Xenomorph, it still looks pretty good. Malone's background as a sculptor meant that he knew that he'd at least be able to deliver on the monster. I'd say there are only a few shots where it looks rubbery, but even Ridley Scott's creature had limitations, he was just better at hiding them. Malone's Syngenor was the first of many silicone nightmares he has delivered over the course of his career and was obviously memorable enough for producer Jack Murphy to re-use in an orphaned sequel.

Structurally, Scared To Death plays out like your average procedural slasher, but if the killer was a Synthesized Genetic Organism. However, I will say I was thrown by the leading lady switch halfway through, with Diana Davidson making way for Toni Jannotta.

Overall, an entertaining creature feature that paved the way for William Malone's ascent to Master of Horror.