October Movie Challenge: Slaughter High (1986)

Let's get into this properly now.

I am going to spend this year's October Horror Movie Challenge with a couple of themes in mind. The first is movies from 1985 to 1986 and movies featuring high schools and small towns.  There is some overlap between these two themes, so I am going to start with those. I am actually a little surprised by how many I haven't seen.

Slaughter High (1985)

Pretty much in the center of my Venn diagram is 1985's Slaughter High. Now I was sure I saw this back then; I mean, it has Caroline Munro in it, and I tried to catch anything she was in.  But I have no memory of this one. I mean, there is nothing special about it, to be honest; it is a fairly predictable flick but that doesn't not make it fun. Plus, there are some good ideas here. Though I wonder, are they predictable or did I see this and just forgot it? It does have an old abandoned high school, like my Jackson setting, but in my defense, I actually stole that idea from my own hometown.

The film starts in 1976, but the bulk takes place later on in 1986 during the high school class reunion. 

The idea of a class reunion to bring all the school bullies is a fun one. Too bad the acting is fairly terrible. 

Marty is the local geeky kid who gets picked on. So ten years after the accident on April Fools' Day that disfigures him, he gets all his former bullies to a fake high school reunion where he kills them off one by one. 

Sadly, Simon Scuddamore, who played Marty the slasher, died of a drug overdose shortly after filming.

One note. I am watching this on Tubi, where I am planning to watch a lot of these movies, and it is so dark it is hard to see anything at all in some scenes. Not sure if it is Tubi, the copy they have, or if that is how the movie was. I know it is not my TV, at least.

Jackson, IL Connections

I am also going to try, where possible, to talk about what I can use from these movies for my Jackson, IL Night World for NIGHT SHIFT. Failing that, NIGHT SHIFT, Thirteen Parsecs, and/or Advanced Witches & Warlocks. For AW&W in particular, it will be more of a tonal thing; these are the things in the media around 1985-86 that might have influenced me. 

Slaughter High at least gives me some ideas for class reunions, not necessarily for the current group of characters (and my much-talked-about NPCs), but maybe for the Class of 1976 back for their 10th reunion. This shows that the horrors of this town keep happening over and over again. In truth I kind of like that idea. 

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October Movie Challenge: Dracula (2025)

 I have a theme this year, but I need to get this one out of the way first. I had heard a lot about it, both good and bad, but a quote from Director Luc Besson filled me with dread. And not the good kind.

Besson had described the project as the "ultimate love story" and even going as far as to say (and I am trying to remember his exact quote) "if you read the novel it is a love story."

NO.

Dracula has NEVER been a love story unless you count Stoker's dedication in the novel to Hall Caine, aka "Hommy-Beg."  It was only a love story in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 Dracula. Well...yes other movies worked that bit of plot, but Christopher Lee's Dracula was never in love with his "brides." Bela Lugosi's Dracula was never in love. Frank Langella's...well, his Dracula was just lust-filled all the time. That is fine. 

I am ranting, and I have not even clicked play yet. And it is after midnight now.

Dracula (2025)

Ok. So right away, some liberties are being taken with the story. Not a big deal. Again, many characters are gone, and a few new ones are added. Set in France. Gods, this is going to be a pain.

I am a few more minutes in. One thing is 100% clear to me. This movie would have never exsisted without the FFC 1992 Dracula. Remove any Dracula movie in existence, and the others still survive, albeit with some minor changes. The 1979 shots would look different if the 1931 movie were removed. The shadows would be different in the 1992 movies if Nosferatu were removed. Remove the 1992 movie, and this one falls apart.

Matilda De Angelis appears as "Maria" our "Lucy" stand-in. Though Lucy represented the old world of Europe, the damsel in distress, the "weak-blooded woman." Maria is part of the old French aristocracy. Now. I do like this character, plus I adore Matilda De Angelis. If she were in this movie more I *might* enjoy it better. 

Christoph Waltz plays Van Helsing. Is he a priest here or just pretending to be one? No idea; they are not very clear on that. BUT as always, Christoph Waltz is fantastic and really great casting here. Too bad the rest of the movie is shit. 

Ok, on to our other actors. Caleb Landry Jones as Dracula. Maybe the worst Dracula casting since Jack Palance (although his movie was better). Maybe he was told to play Dracula like Lestat and ended up doing neither character justice. Zoë Bleu was okay as Mina and less so as "Elisabeta" (a character who never appeared in the book and only gained prominence in the 1992 movie). Ewens Abid played Jonathan Harker and was utterly forgettable. He didn't really do anything.

The movie is a mess, really. We are also supposed to believe that Dracula's ability to charm comes from a perfume he had manufactured in Paris? Did the French Film Board give them some kickback for this?

I like Luc Besson. I love The Fifth Element, Léon: The Professional, and even Lucy was fun. This? Fuck this was bad.

I own nearly every Dracula movie there is. Between VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray, you would be hard-pressed to find one I don't have. I am not buying this one. I did get a new Blu-Ray of Frank Langella's 1979 Dracula for my birthday last summer. I might need to pop that one in as a palate cleanser.

Jackson, IL Connections

So. For this challenge, I am going to try to make connections between the movie I watch and one or more of my current settings.  

This one is not going to make the cut. 

There is the question of whether Jackson should have a vampire, aside from the one or two I have in "Better Off Undead." But besides that, this one is not good enough to emulate. Maybe, MAYBE, an argument could be made that this is a better "Strahd von Zarovich" movie, since it features an obsessive love story. Maybe I could bring in Maria to that world. Christoph Waltz would make for a better Van Richten, to be honest.

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