This mini-theme here is all about people from our world and time going to another place and time of sorts. These movies are the horror versions of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. Though with some, the only horror was having to sit through them all.
House II: The Second Story (1987)
House was very much within my regular boundaries of movies, and I decided that House II would work as well. In truth, it was my rewatch of this that got me onto this idea. This one really doesn't have much to do with the first House movie, and that is fine. It has some fun lines ("Isn't Madonna the Madonna of the 80s?") and some good ideas. The basic premise is simple enough. Spooky house. Crystal skull (always fun!), and protals to other worlds/dimensions. What is not to love. This one, though, is less "horror" than House I.
Why I included it here: The portals to other lands/times/dimesions are absolute Jackson fodder. Plus I have not had a horror RPG where a crystal skull was not some sort of source of evil. I will admit, I own a couple of small ones myself.
.jpg "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)")
This one, and really all the Nightmare movies, deserve their own mini-marathon. I have seen all of them multiple times. But this one is one of my favorites. I have talked about this movie here many times before, but largely because of Jennifer Rubin and her portrayal of Taryn. I really loved the character. So much so that later I would have a character of my own named Taryn with questionable hair choices. She was so important to me that she is no less than Larina's own daughter.
Why I included it here: In this movie, the kids are being plagued by Freddy, and they learn to fight him by taking on aspects of their Dream Warriors. Taryn becomes a knife-wielding badass who may have imprinted a little too deeply into my psyche. But the connective tissue here is also Will Stanton, who becomes the "Wizard Master" in his dreams. Stupid name, but the idea works for me and what I need.
The Nightmare on Elm Street movies became less and less about horror and more about Freddy's one-liners and gore.
Waxwork (1988)
Outside of my theme boundaries, but only by a little bit. This one has a group of teens stuck in a wax museum where every display is a pocket dimension. The trouble is that each display is an homage to the "eighteen most evil beings" in literature, with the always-great David Warner as the Wax museum owner. It's a fun little flick with Zach Galligan and Deborah Foreman as our two stars, and Patrick Macnee playing... well, Patrick Macnee, but that is fine.
Why I included it here: Well, the pocket universe idea had a serious impact on how I played Ravenloft 2nd Edition. I would go so far as to say that this is one of the more influential movies on my Ravenloft games outside of Hammer Horror. Which is either cool or sad. The movie is not great, but it has it's moments. Though I was (and still am) a little indignant about how Dracula was killed.
Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983)
Is this one horror? It has some horror elements, to be sure, but I am not 100% sure I can call it horror. Anyway, this one was an attack of opportunity a couple of nights ago from American Horrors. It features Richard Hatch and John Saxon, so make of that what you will.
Why I included it here: Time travel and dimension hopping were reason enough. I'll count it as a "watch" but not a first-time view for this since I am having a hard time justifying it as horror.
Ok. So the first shock is I have never seen this one. I think I was avoiding it due to the name. It obviously has Dungeons & Dragons and Tron as its main sources of influence. That is the nice way to say "ripped off shamelessly." Ok, "ripped-off" might be too strong. Borrowed heavily might be better, but still no worse than any other movie from the time with this sized budget.
Also known as Ragewar and Excalibrate, it is ambitious in one respect. The movie is built around seven sequences, each by a different director and writer, though often the same person. Representing seven different worlds/levels/challenges.
They all focus on Paul Bradford (Jeffrey Byron), his supercomputer "Cal" (X-CalBR8), and his oft-ignored girlfriend Leslie Wing (Gwen Rogers). They get sucked into a fantasy world/computer world by Mestema, played to the hilt by Richard Moll (with hair). And he really plays it up.
So Paul and Cal (now in wrist-wear format) must fight through the seven different challenges.
There is only about 8 minutes per challenge. I would say the challenges are uneven in writing and directing, but the same can be said about the Twilight Zone movie, which is generally pretty good.
This movie does give us the immortal quote "I reject your reality and I substitute my own." Though I had no idea it was spoken by our hero to Richard Moll cosplaying as Satan in front of a demon puppet named Ratspit. And right before he summons a dragon that looks like Trogdor and WASP shows up...as WASP.
Metal, gratuitous nudity, dragons, magic, a stop-motion giant monkey, and computers? This is the most early 80s movie ever. We are just missing some ninjas.
It could have been more interesting, but it just kind of ends. Oh well. Still fun, but only minor horror trappings.
Jackson, IL Connections
Ok. This one is a little different. I have an adventure coming up that these movies are the foundation for. I am not ready to share it yet; I haven't finished it yet let alone played it. But the genesis of this adventure began with a snarky comment followed by "Look, A Dungeons & Dragons ride!"
In all of these movies, people from the 1980s get stuck in another world of horror or fantasy adventure. That is what I have planned.
These were also chosen because of how many of them influenced my actual D&D games back then, as I detailed above. Horror icons, crystal skulls, dreams, portals to other worlds. I think you all can still see some of that in these pages.
Ok. That is enough for one weekend. Work is going come very early and very rudely in the morning.
But more on this idea tomorrow.
October Horror Movie Challenge 2026
Viewed: 17
First Time Views: 9
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