Not to be confused with 2003's The Last Horror Movie, which is sort of a Man Bites Dog/ Henry: Portrait Of a Serial Killer found footage flick from Fangoria about a killer making a horror snuff flick... The Last Horror Film is a more interesting, and distinctly original, piece of work. It stars Joe Spinell as another loner psychotic, and forms a perfect trilogy with Maniac and The Undertaker. In fact, it's a better picture than The Undertaker, and possibly even Maniac, depending on your attitude. Maniac is a more of a controlled, cohesive character study of a disturbed killer, whereas Last is a wilder, unrestrained exhibition of Spinell's own unloosed psyche. To put it in form of an analogy, Maniac is to Kubrick as Last is to Fulci. So, okay, it might be hard to argue this is a legitimate better film, but it could well be a lot of peoples' favorite.
Last reunites Spinell with his Maniac co-star Caroline Munro, who instead of being the strangely genuine love interest of a deranged killer, is the perhaps more straight-forward, unwitting object of his obsessions. But that's about the only straight-forward aspect of this affair. See, Spinell is of course a down-on-his-luck madman again, but this time he's also an aspiring movie producer. And Munro is a Hollywood star. So he follows her to the Cannes Film Festival, intent on creating a horror film with her as the star, whether she consents or not. And what really makes The Last Horror Film The Last Horror Film is that this completely independent film production really went to the 1981 Cannes Film Festival and stole all kinds of footage, guerilla style, right in the middle of their biggest events and regalia. In a signature moment, Munro across a red carpet of reports and film stars, wearing only a towel and being pursued by a crazed Spinell.
And if you know your Maniac, you're familiar with how Spinell and his best friend - also on hand here - lifted the movie camera from the production at night to film their own improved scenes, which turned out to be quite compelling. Well, that's like half of this movie. We get everything from Spinell's vivid hallucinations of grisly murder to his daydreams of cross-dressing in a local nightclub. We get movies within movies and Spinell's mother charmingly playing herself. We're shown over-the-top extravagant production values set against cheap-looking, home video-like set pieces. Vampires! Strippers! Airplanes! Bubble baths! Classic cars! Castles! Paddleboats! Robin Leach! Death by jacuzzi! It's all here, and it all makes sense... at least in Spinell's mind.
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2014 UK 88 BD. |
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regular footage top; composited insert footage bottom. |
Audio-wise, we're given the original mono track in LPCM. That's one more point in 88's favor, since Troma's audio is lossy. Neither release includes subtitles, however.
And 88 wins again in the special features, although it's a closer race than you might guess. Troma did actually cook up some worthwhile extras for this film. First of all, Lloyd Kaufman gets into the spirit of things by filming his intro at Sundance. That's amusing, though as you might guess, it runs a little light on substance. But then they provide an audio commentary with Joe's friend and associate producer Luke Walter. It's moderated by a kid from Troma, who detracts about as often as he contributes, but Luke has a lot to share, having frequently been on set and involved closely with the filmmaking, including enabling Spinell's indulgent forays. It's a fun track with Luke pointing out who was an unwitting extra and who was an actual actor, telling risque personal anecdotes, etc. They also have the trailer and that Mister Robbie promo clip Spinell made hoping to get Maniac 2 financed. It makes more sense as an extra on Maniac, which it also is, but it's cool here, too, since these films are son closely tied together.
Anyway, all of the above are on both the Troma and 88 blus. But both discs have exclusives. Troma's exclusive, however, are all Troma-specific junk that has nothing to do with The Last Horror Film. There's something about TromaDance and a short film called The Return Of Dolphin Man... Unless you're a big Troma fan, you won't care. But you will be interested in 88's stuff. Well, most of it anyway.
First up is a short, nostalgic documentary called My Best Maniac (surely a play on My Best Fiend) where Walter takes us on a tour through Spinell's hometown. He talks a little about the film, particularly an anecdote up front, but it's mostly a tribute to Spinell as a person, ending with a stop at his grave. Then there's a short but great interview with William Lustig who shares with us what he knew about this crazy project, including how he was asked at one point to take over the direction (he declined). After that, it boils down to odds and ends. There's a promising sounding "Caroline Munro Q&A," but it turns out to just be a short clip with no connection to this movie. She's actually being interviewed about Slaughter High and doesn't even bring up this film in passing. I mean, it's still better than nothing I suppose, but what a let down. Besides that, there's a long reel of bonus trailers, and that's about it. The sleeve has reversible artwork, which is cool.
So yeah, The Last Horror Film is a must for any horror fan's collection, especially if you love Maniac, and extra especially if you've already sprung for The Undertaker. There's no question 88's blu is the way to go either (uncut, lossless audio, the best special features). And yes, it's a region free release, so go ahead and import it even if your player's locked. And I'll see if I can come up with another 88 Films release that's just as good for the next post. 'Till then!
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