Part Of The Collection

Quick peek at some of the classic 70/80s movies in the Gutterbox vaults.

Nightmare In A Damaged Brain

Its a nightmare alright

Nightmare In A Damaged Brain (1981) was another movie I picked up for on my travels for just £1. It was directed by Romano Scavolini and while im not aware of his other work, I can say that this slab of horror was pretty dire. It was banned in Britain not long after release and a distributor who refused to edit a particularly grisly scene was thrown in jail for 18 months. Personally I would have left it banned because for all the blood it may have, its not really very good.
Quick synopsis then; George Tatum is mentally ill and plagued by terrible nightmares. He escapes from the psychiatric hospital and ends up wandering the streets. And seeing as he's pretty much a homocidal maniac, you'd want to be giving Georgie a wide berth indeed.
Tatum has been fed experimental drugs (aren't all drugs in these movies 'experimental'?) which seem to cure him of the violent hallucinations he suffers from. Alas these tablets stir up a psychopathic storm that engulfs him and so he begins murdering his way across the USA as he makes his way home to Florida to snuff out a family member.
Interesting to discover the film was made in 1981 because when I watched it a few weeks ago, I thought it looked like something that was knocked up in the early 1970s. Indeed it looked quite ropey in places and this is coming from someone who loves retro stuff!
Nightmare In A Damaged Brain (or Blood Splash as its known in some countries) might have a reputation for being one of the goriest slasher flicks ever committed to celuloid but quite frankly this means nothing when one of the words I could use to describe it is 'boring'. I relished seeing the end credits appear almost as much as I relish opening a fresh bottle of Jagermeister.
Anyone can make a film bloody, buckets of fake blood are not hard to get hold of afterall. Decent stories and scripts however are much harder to find and this film suffers because it lacks both. As I said, boring.

Gutterbox Rating

The Return Of The Living Dead

The dead are not so dead

The Return of the Living Dead (1985) is a fun film. Zombies biting into skulls is fun? Believe me, it is in this! The movie was directed by Dan O'Bannon and it adds a dark, comedic blend to the well worn flesh eaters recipe. Other zombie flicks on the shelf focused on the gore and had a gloomy feel to them and I remember thinking The Return of the Living Dead was a refreshing change to the formula when I watched it in '85. Also due to having a punk/hard rock soundtrack featuring bands like The Damned and The Cramps, it ticked my music boxes too. (Metal fan for 30 years).
Story goes thus; two guys working at the Uneeda medical supply warehouse release a toxic gas from a steel drum that contained the body of an Army experiment gone horribly wrong. The hapless pair each get a faceful of gas (which eventually turns them zombie) and the stuff also gives a fresh cadaver in the warehouse a new lease of life. *Gulp*


Brainssss!

After chopping Mr Dead into pieces (and pinning his head to the floor with a pick~axe) chaos ensues when they ask a mortician for help and he burns the corpse in a crematoriam oven. Definately not a good idea as the vapours released into the air from the chimney mix with the rain and creates a downpour with a difference. (The difference between graveyards containing the peaceful dead, to ones that now sprout zombies like gothic dandelions).
Needless to say, the punk gang who are partying in the cemetery (remember the ghettoblaster?) get the suprise of their mohicans. Especially the emo/punk girl who has just completed a striptease on a tomb and waved her pert derriere across our screens. (My teenage self lived for these type of scenes). Its Punks vs Zombies! And while the Punks have the better music, the zombies want yer brains!
Without spilling all of its guts here, The Return of the Living Dead is a hoot of a film and ends with footage of 'zombified' scenes and a voicover declaring "the rains should wash everything away." No. It really won't. Most movies of this kind ended with a suggestion of further impending doom and I personally like it this way because it fits with how life really is; an ongoing struggle. We can win little battles and taste triumph but can never win the war.
In terms of cast, there are no early appearances from young Hollywood A listers to look out for like there are in some films (Johhny Depp in A Nightmare On Elm Street anyone?) but this sort of schlock~horror doesn't really need them as lets face it, the undead are the real stars here and well known faces will always be forgotten when sharing a scene with brain loving zombies. (See above pic). Most memorable actor for me is James Karen who plays soon-to-be-zombie Frank and his hilarious panicking over his 'future'. (Yeah fair enough, I would too).
To sum it up then, The Return of the Living Dead isn't my favourite zombie movie but it is certainly the funniest I know of and because of its excellent sountrack it gets an extra thumbs up from me. Or maybe that should be an extra devil horns? Cool stuffs indeed.

Gutterbox Rating