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Hollowgate (1988) / Lady, Stay Dead (1981)










 Hollowgate is an 80's slasher put out by Troma Studios, about a mentally disturbed guy who terrorizes a group of teenagers on Halloween night.












When Mark Walters was a young boy, his drunk, abusive father traumatized him during a Halloween party by holding his head down under water while bobbing for apples, because he wasn't able to get an apple fast enough. After his mother rescues him and gets into a heated argument with Dad, Mark sits sulking with his grandmother, telling her that he hates Halloween. Years later, he's grown up to be a disturbed psychopath. After attacking a girl, he gets put into a mental hospital. His rich grandmother uses her influence to get him released home, where she has him take psyche meds. After tricking her into thinking he's better, he kills her in a rage. A group of teens on their way to a Halloween festival end up crossing paths with crazed Mark, who stalks and terrorizes them while changing into different costumes and taking on the personality of the outfit (soldier, cowboy, etc.).











This movie was really, really bad. To call the acting awful wouldn't property describe how terrible it is. Several of the cast members completely overdo it, screaming their lines with outlandish enthusiasm. This is another one of those low budget, shot on VHS cheapies with really bad sound, with the characters' dialogue at times being inaudible. Despite that, it still manages to be entertaining, with some fun murders and the extremely hammy performance of the lead, taking on various accents when he changes costumes to stalk his victims. There's also several dull scenes with two cops that go on aimlessly, until their characters finally become useful in the climax. If you enjoy "so bad it's good" style horror, you may enjoy this cheesefest. It's available on Tubi.









The other film I watched was an early 80's Australian thriller about a crazed killer who terrorizes a woman who locks herself in a house to keep herself safe from his advances.











Gordon Mason is a handyman who works at the home that's owned by singer model Marie Colbey, whom he has a crush on but constantly berates him and is rude to her staff. After concluding a photo shoot, most of the crew leave. Gordon goes into the home and puts the moves on Marie, who screams at him to leave. Enraged, he attacks and rapes her, ultimately killing her by dunking her head into a fish tank until she drowns. Her sister Jenny comes to visit, and he must hurry to hide the body and cover his tracks. Jenny begins to suspect something is wrong when the hours go by and Marie hasn't shown up, until Gordon reveals his crazed intentions and terrorizes her, cutting the phone lines to keep her from calling for help, keeping Jenny trapped in the house, desperate to escape.















This movie is super sleazy exploitation, filled with a sex crazed killer, nudity, violence and some brutal kills. This is considered Ozploitation, a term used for low budget Australian genre films released in the 1970's and 1980's era. The actor who plays Gordon is hilarious, talking in a soft, mild mannered voice before flying into murderous rages. The character of Jenny is also a refreshing change of pace from the usual damsel in distress role, actually fighting back against Gordon to keep him from entering the house, hitting and attacking him, using various objects as weapons. Lady, Stay Dead is an entertaining, depraved thriller, also streaming on Tubi.












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