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The Strangeness (1985) / Nightwish (1989)




The first flick I watched in my double feature was a mid 80's monster flick called The Strangeness, about a group of people who go exploring a mine and stumble upon a weird ass monster.













The film begins with a young man and woman who go to a cave at night, having been sent there to do a job. While looking inside, they both get killed by something off-screen. Then we meet another group of people, including a geologist, a photographer, cave expert, etc., who are going into a cave to find the Golden Spike mine, which has an infamous history of miners having gone missing or mysteriously killed in the past. Since then, no one has entered it, until this group decides to venture in. While taking a break, one geologist gets attacked by a monster, causing the entrance to cave in. The others then set about to navigate their way around the various tunnels, in an effort to find another exit. Soon enough, they are attacked by the weird creature that's been lurking in the cave, and must hurry to find a way out before they become the next victim. 












The film has the standard 80's vibe of bad acting, that typical synthesizer music that's supposed to signal suspense, and the cliche assortment of characters, including villain, comedy relief, nerd, etc. It takes a while for the monster to be fully seen, but once it is, you'll find it either laughable or cool. The creature is some sort of blob-like thing with waving tentacles, and a strange mouth on its head that resembles a human orifice (just look at the photos). The monster is done with stop motion, adding to its strange, otherworldly feel. There are some cool scenes of gore throughout, and the monster attacks are all well done and entertaining. If you enjoy creature feature flicks that take place in a claustrophobic setting, then you should enjoy The Strangeness.












The next flick was an atrocious absurdity called Nightwish. It was clear the filmmakers were attempting to recreate the hallucinogenic quality of films like Nightmare on Elm Street, Dreamscape and Bad Dreams, but the results were…. well, not good.





The story begins with a young woman walking at night, when she’s suddenly pursued and attacked by an undead man. She then awakens in a sensory deprivation tank, with electrodes attached to her head. It turns out she’s a student who’s working with her classmates and professor on deep sleep research. After their initial discussion about the dream study, the students head to a house in the mountains, where they will meet with the professor to investigate paranormal activity at the location. Things eventually go awry as they get attacked by a supernatural entity, and they find themselves unsure of what is real.













Good Lord, was this movie terrible. I get that they were attempting to create a dream-like quality with the many odd things that happen, but the bad acting and silly script glaringly get in the way of the story being compelling. Regarding the cast, the actor who plays the professor hams it up, although he's not so bad, considering his character arc calls for it. Everyone else is simply awful. The 2 actresses are particularly cringey; the scenes where they are supposed to be scared are so forced that they're laughable. There is some pretty decent gore and special effects work, but the bad talent both behind and in front of the screen keeps you from taking any of it seriously. I found myself laughing for most of its runtime, and I doubt that this is what the filmmakers intended.




Speaking of humor, a few things that I found hilarious were that you can visibly see the boom microphones in multiple shots throughout the film, hovering above the actor's heads. There's also a handful of instances where you can clearly see crew members lingering to the sides. Another funny moment comes when one of the characters gets a finger from his right hand cut off, but then later, you see his left hand is the one that's bandaged up, only to switch back to the right hand for the rest of the film. Between these glaring mistakes, amateur acting and silly storyline, you'll have several good laughs.









Ultimately, Nightwish is of the so bad it's good variety. In an attempt to give the viewer a surreal cinematic experience, the low-budget elements turn it into a big joke. There are many lesser-known gems that were released in the 80's. Nightwish is not one of them. I could see this movie having gone straight to video upon release. If you enjoy terrible movies, you're sure to have a good time with this one. Both of these movies are on YouTube.








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