Trailer Terrors: Fright Show (1985)



A journey into the bizarre world of horror and science fiction lunacy.

It's finally happened... I've found a horror movie that is so rare and low-key that there is no trailer for it that exists on the internet. In fact, it took me a good day or so to discover any footage from the film at all.

The directorial debut of Damon Santostefano (The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Bring it On Again) Fright Show aka Cinemagic is actually an anthology of "scary" stories much in the vein of Creepshow or (more accurately) The Willies. Clocking in at less than a full hour, the lack of budget really shines, but surprisingly enough doesn't ruin the entire picture. Speaking of which, each segment is hosted by an amateurish corny duo of cable access co-hosts who unfortunately make the production feel more like a overdone skit by a local college theatre group instead of Starlog Video. Oh, did I forget to mention? This film was produced by a group of Starlog employees, the now defunct parent magazine of Fangoria.

Since this video is so rare I have only managed to see one full segment in addition to the clip above, Illegal Alien (see below), and even it has an Asian-dubbed overlay. The other three shorts were titled Dr. Dobermind (see clip above), featuring a taxidermist turned ice cream man; Nightfright, in which two little boys learn to fear the beasts under their bed; and The Thing in the Basement, a 50s homage to alien invasions. This is most definitely B-movie territory, but that's what makes its infamy all the more sweeter. I only wish that I could see it in all its grainy, direct-to-video VHS glory.









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