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EERIE MIDNIGHT HORROR SHOW Starring Stella Carnacina, Ivan Rassimov, Chris Avram and Lucretia Love
The mid-1970s brought forth a flood of films that were "inspired" by William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist. The foreign market was saturated with the likes of films such as The House of Exorcism (a reworked version of Lisa and the Devil), The Antichrist (aka The Tempter) and Beyond the Door. Of these films came The Tormentor, a pseudo-psychadelic exploitation piece retitled for home video (probably to capitalize on the popularity of the musical Rocky Horror Picture Show) as The Eerie Midnight Horror Show. Released by the infamous Continental Video label in the mid-1980s, the film became a popular title. Now Alpha Video, a distributor of public domain films and classic film serials since the early days of home video, has released Eerie Midnight Horror Show on DVD to remind fans of genre films exactly what a weird movie is.
A female art student acquires a strange sculpture of a crucified man. One night, she is painting and the sculpture comes to life. She has a sexual encounter with the evil being, and becomes possessed. Many strange incidents where episodes of evil manifesting itself through her lead to her estranged parents (a subplot that is sure to have people wondering what it has to do with the main story; however, the estranged parents contribute to instability, as pointed out in the original Exorcist.....) to enlist the services of a priest. A long and strange battle between good and evil takes place, leading to a conclusion that seems to be common for films of this type.
Although not as well-made as the original Exorcist, Eerie Midnight Horror Show does have enough to keep viewers interested. Loads of nudity and some violent images make this film mildly entertaining. The film could have been slightly shorter, especially since the scene where the main character, wildly possessed, escapes from her room and goes on a rampage through the streets is so long that the viewer can get lost.
The Eerie Midnight Horror Show is presented 1.33:1. The film appears to be mastered from a VHS source, and has a video-generated, slideshow-style main credit sequence. The beginning of the film reveals problems, as the image jumps a great deal, distracting the viewer. The image is as dull and murky as the source it was taken from, and would benefit from a newer, cleaner film transfer. The Dolby Digital mono soundtrack is as good as the video presentation. There is no problem hearing dialogue, but would be better if more time and energy was put into the transfer.
There are no extras on this disc, except for a DVD cover gallery for other Alpha releases. The slideshow seems to go on forever; however, one can really appreciate the colorful cover art that Alpha produces. Sometimes they go overboard with the eye-catching art, especially since the majority of their releases are in black and white. Alpha Video has been in the home video business for a long time. Their budget DVD titles (averaging $5.00 each) sometimes leave much to be desired. Perhaps Alpha will re-visit their titles, and hopefully become recognized as the premier competitor amongst budget DVD distributors worldwide. |
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