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The Other April Fool’s Day Movie: ‘Slaughter High’ (1986)

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Shit!  April Fool’s Day is almost over and I forgot to talk about my favorite April Fool’s Day  themed movie!  This might shock you, but the movie is not…….April Fool’s Day.  Oh, I enjoy that movie and Biff from Back To The Future is in it and all – but my favorite movie based on April 1st is……..Slaughter High!  Which was actually called April Fool’s Day when it was filmed.  This is all very confusing.  Let’s watch the original trailer!

What the hell is up with that voiceover guy?  Is this a horror movie or a wacky 80’s teen sex romp?  Nevertheless, that theme music is the shit – and bad voiceover guy aside, Slaughter High is a pretty underrated 80’s slasher movie in my opinion.

It has the classic ‘kid gets bullied and comes back to kill all of his tormentors‘ storyline, some great death scenes (gut-buster anyone?), and a villain that actually could have spawned some sequels had the actor who portrayed him not passed away after the film was shot.  Well that was a downer.  Ummmmm……how about that theme music?!?!?  The lesson in all of this (other than a voiceover guy can use too many bad puns), is to remember Slaughter High when you think of another April Fool’s Day themed movie to watch on April 1st.  Did I mention that theme music btw?

Give Me The Creeps: Arcane’s Transformation Scene In ‘Swamp Thing’ (1982)

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As a 7-year-old boy, I had a lot of guilty pleasures.  Astro Pops candy.  Digging up worms in the backyard.  And the movie, Swamp Thing.  Bear in mind that I’m aware that Swamp Thing isn’t really that good and I always forget that the man who directed A Nightmare On Elm Street (Wes Craven) directed it, but it’s the definition of a guilty pleasure to me.  Of course as an impressionable young boy, Adrienne Barbeau’s breasts in the movie didn’t hurt in the pleasure department.

We’re talking creepy shit in this post though, and believe it or not – Swamp Thing actually gave me the creeps.  It’s one scene in particular, where our villain Arcane (Louis Jourdan) drinks the magic potion and proceeds to turn into a hairy life-size He-Man character.  It’s before he gets all hairy though where the creep factor was really in full effect.

Yeah – that Arcane monster costume is pretty ridiculous.  But focus on what happened in the clip before he got to that point.  The blood running down in his face while his hands are bubbling and smoking.  The Harry Manfredini spooky soundtrack full of eerie strings.  It’s creepy shit.  And I’m not afraid to admit that it still kind of makes me shudder.  You know what doesn’t make me shudder though?

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