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The Horror Show

1989, Movie, R, 94 mins

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With a ruthless, seemingly indestructible villain who delights in murderous mayhem, and who is able to invade his victims' consciousness and cause terrible hallucinations, THE HORROR SHOW obviously intends to create yet another Freddy (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) Krueger-inspired horror movie character. Unfortunately, this movie is indeed a horror show, but for all the wrong reasons. Blessed with an impressive cast of veteran character actors, THE HORROR SHOW attempts to scare the wits out of its viewers with a barrage of bizarre and violent shocks, but the script is so absurd and the direction so disjointed (at least partly because Australian David Blythe was kept on only long enough to direct the dialog scenes, then replaced by special-effects man James Isaac) that this exercise in horror winds up as simply horrible, and often laughable. Mass murder Max Jenke (Brion James) has prepared for execution in the electric chair by practicing at home, so that when the switch is thrown, he becomes the electrically charged essence of pure evil (giving new meaning to the word "mean-spirited"). Jenke then torments Lucas McCarthy (Lance Henriksen), the veteran police detective who captured him, and the cop's family, several members of which are killed before the film's big showdown. Originally titled HOUSE III. leave a comment
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