Nostalgia Kinky

I often think about the video stores of my youth. Not the chains like Blockbuster that eventually came and took everything over in the nineties but the small local mom and shops VHS shops of the eighties. There was one in the small town of Newburgh, Indiana where my family moved in 1983 that had a wall of horror packed with those gorgeous Big-Box Wizard Videos amongst other sure to blow my young mind titles. We’d go there every weekend and I recall just staring at that wall plotting ways to see every film, the more twisted the cover the more I wanted to see it. A staple of that shop was a copy of the Vestron release of FRIGHTMARE, Norman Thaddeus Vane’s endearingly goofy but effective chiller now available as a special edition Blu-ray from Troma.

Clocking in at a brisk 86 minutes, FRIGHTMARE is a lightweight but fun little horror comedy. Self-referential and at times quite witty, Vane’s script concerning a recently deceased classic film star’s revenge from the grave plays like an early version of WEEKEND AT BERNIES at times but it’s mostly kind of charming. Along with the film’s effective gore and analogue effects, Vane interjects a real love for the genre that is winning.

Speaking of fun, German actor Ferdy Mayne gives a delightfully diabolical performance here as the vengeful trickster past his prime star Conrad Radzoff. Vane humorously places posters from some of Mayne’s real-life filmography like THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS in the background of some scenes. A number of past and future icons are on hand from sixties star Nita Talbot to future REANIMATOR legend Jeffrey Combs. An original American one-sheet of Lucio Fulci’s ZOMBIE also makes a welcome appearance.

Despite its numerous pleasures, FRIGHTMARE never became one of ‘my movies’ as a kid. Neither as funny or terrifying as the best horror comedies, FRIGHTMARE is wildly unambitious giving it a consistent if somewhat flatlined feel throughout. Despite its somewhat static tone, FRIGHTMARE is distinguished by the literally misty cinematography by Joel King, which manages to be quite sumptuously evocative despite the film’s obvious low-budget.

After a late 1983 Summer theatrical release, FRIGHTMARE did indeed become a middle-shelf special via that Vestron VHS before Troma unleashed the film’s original special edition DVD. Here are some clippings I discovered while researching the film for any interested:

The film hit HD in 2021 thanks to a now out of print Vinegar Syndrome release. Like THE LAST HORROR FILM and LUTHER THE GEEK, it appears that Troma are essentially making the VS restoration available again. For FRIGHTMARE, the 2k restoration from a 35mm camera negative looks splendid, making the case that Joel King’s behind the scenes work is the real star of the show. Vinegar Syndrome’s fine interview with King has thankfully been ported over and it is a terrific twenty minute talk. The three whopping commentary tracks have been brought over as well featuring tracks with the late director, Hysteria Continues and David Del Valle and David DeCoteau. Troma’s disc does not have VS’s original slip.

Since this is a Troma release, this edition of FRIGHTMARE has a number of company related extras with only the fun little intro with Llyod Kaufmann and Debbie Rochon being (sort-of) related to the film. Troma is doing a good job bringing these more affordable editions out of these out of print discs, although some of their menu authoring choices are kind of baffling. All in all though, for any that missed out on Vinegar Syndrome’s pricier limited edition, this new Troma edition is a fine option. You can snag it at Troma and on sale at MVD.

-Jeremy Richey, January 2025, originally posted at my Letterboxd***