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Deadtime Stories
(Camp/Frame Novella) 6******skulls
* Blood * Violent * Strong Language * Sexual Situations * Nudity *
* Gory *
1985/83 Min./Color/Scan Stuff Productions, Inc. & Continental Video (Cinema Group)/Rated ?
Director............Jeffrey Delman
Screenplay......Jeffrey Delman & Charles Shelton & J. Edward Kiernan
Music................Taj
Producer..........Bill Paul
Executive Producers......Steven D. Mackler & William J. Links
Director of Photography..Daniel B. Canton
Special Make-up Effects by Bryant Tauber & Edward French
Story by Jeffrey Delman
Dramatis Personae
Peter..................Scott Valentine
Rachel.................Nicole Picard
Strangling man.........Jeffrey Delman
Willie (wolf)..........Matt Mitler
Miranda................Kathy Flieg
Hanagohl...............Phyllis Craig
Uncle Mike.............Michael Mesmer
Little Brian...........Brian Depersia
Beresford (Papa) Bear..Kevin Hannon
Willmont (Baby) Bear...Timothy Rule
Florinda...............Anne Redfern
Vicar..................Gasper Roos
Goldi Lox..............Cathryn dePrume
Judith (Mama) Bear.....Melissa Leo
Seductress.............Barbara Seldon
Seductress.............Leigh Kilton
Grandma................Fran Lorate
Drugstore Clerk........John Bachelder
Lt. Jack Nimble........Robert Trumboli
Cpt. Jack B. Quick.....Harvey Pierce
Critique: Uncle Mike tells Brian three fairy tales: The old witch, little red riding hood, and the three bears. He's a bit bored, so the stories are jazzier than the average six year old gets--Two wicthes try to bring back their long dead sister by sacrificing some locals. Little red meets the big bad werewolf, and Goldi is a psychopathic Carrie who's anxieties about sex outdo even Carrie's--with some piercing effects on her suitors. The Bear family are lunatic thugs who think Goldi is swell. The shorts are consistently entertaining. Nothing too scary here--but the fairy tale hook keeps us amused. A good decision to save Goldilocks--a fully camp romp--for last. We enjoyed following the exploits of Goldi (born during the six day war) and the Bears. The body parts left around the house become so much part of the furniture, that even the squeamish will find them matter of fact by the end. An amusing twist of having the wolf suffer from lycanthropy--he also does a good job as an extremely sleazy townie before the change. All in all, it's pretty light stuff, but diverting enough. The reformation of the sister witch is outstanding FX work.
Plot Summary: Uncle Mike tells Brian to get to bed, and decides to make up a story. We start with the story of Peter, a fisherman's son who was sold into slavery, bought by two witches. There's a nice witch and a mean one. The mean one tells the boy to tell a Vicar from the town that there are two loely ladies that want to meet him. That night, he heads back to the shed with the man. The man arrives to find two women, one very aggressive, the other more demure. As they kiss, he is chained to the bed. The man sees beautiful women, but the boy, who looks on, sees only the hags. Next thing we know, an acid is put on his wrist, and his left hand is separated. He is unceremoniously struck over the head. The hand goes into a witches brew, and then is used to point the direction to their missing sister. Peter pushes a cart behind them to the paupers' field. He is charged to dig at the indicated spot, and there they find a door to a cavern below. The witches find the skeletal remains. They had been waiting 37 years for the full moon on a friday solstice. Peter is washed and he is to lure a woman back. They find a girl out by a well. He chats with her, in order to distract her so that one of the witches can chloroform her. She is tied down back in the shed as the witches squabble over who will get the eyes after the sacrifice. Peter asks to be the one to use the knife, and the nice witch hands him the knife. They pour fluid on the desicated heart of the sister, and begin the incantation--it beats in the witch's hand. The beating heart is placed in the skeletal ribcage, and it sprouts tentacles that form into the limbs and body. Peter throws the knife into the head of the mean witch at the last minute. The abducted girl subdues the other witch, and they flee. However, the reconstituted witch was last seen licking the blood of the dead sister. They meet up with the reconstituted sister, but, in fine fairytale form, Peter simply reaches in an pulls her heart out. Fin. except the boy insists on an ending in which they are strangled to death by the witch, Hanagohl. Brian tries to get to sleep, but the pictures on the wall are too scary. "Uncle Mike!"
Little Red Riding Hood. Rachel, home from cheerleading, carresses herself in front of the mirror, and there in the mirror, and lets a fantasy man in the mirror take over. Rachel goes jogging (with red hooded sweat suit) to pick up a prescription for her grandmother. Meanwhile, a sleazy wolf-type picking up some non-prescription drugs at the drugstore makes a little time with her, but she jogs off. Rachel shows up at her boyfriend's house, and they arrange for a sexual situation. The sleazy wolf inadvertantly got grandma's prescription while granny apparently got the drugs. Wolf shows up at granny's calling himself Willie. Granny doesn't let him in, and he leaves in a huff. Rachel and boyfriend are preparing for some huffing and puffing in the shed out back. Wolfie sits out on the lawn, waiting for Rachel to show up, but the moon is out, and he turns werewolf. After the big event, Rachel and her boyfriend hear something snuffling about outside. It's a false alarm, and they just head back to granny's house. Granny hears something at the garbage cans and pokes her nose out to see what it is. She sees them knocked over, and assumes it was a dog. When she hears the growling, she hurries back into the house--that doesn't hold wolfie back for long. Rachel arrives, and follows a bloody trail to granny. Outside boyfriend is quickly dispatched. She is attacked too, but puts a carving knife into it. Later, granny is still hanging in there at the hospital--she was pretty bit up by the wolf. Rachel looks anxiously over her. Next thing we know, grandma, what big teeth you have!
Uncle Mike! Mike is getting a bit peeved. Goldilocks. At Saints Preserve Us home for the hoplelessly insane, there's a breakout, as madman and son of the Bear family break out of the asylum, picked up by mom, who runs over the attendant as they leave. They show up at the "amityville" house. At the house, a girl with psychic powers has plunged a stake into a courtier. She brings him inside, where the room is filled with corpses of dates past. She watches the news, and the police talk about arresting ms. locks, and she psychically tosses the news room about. The Bear family arrive while Goldi is in the shower--someone's been sleeping in my bed. Goldi is a hit with the Bear family, and they prepare to live happily ever after, except that the police are preparing to assault the house. Goldi is busy sawing up some ex-suitors, and Baby comes courting. They hit it off with psychic earth tremors. The family, tired of their porridge, head out for pizza just before the assault. At the ammityville house, the police assault is so devastating that it was assumed that the Bear gang was in the house.
Brian is put to bed, and uncle Mike is allowed to go back to the playboy channel--missing Brian's being devoured by a demon.
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