30 September Slashers: Day 15-Terror in the Aisles

What do horror clips, Donald Pleasence, and contests all have in common?  Besides all being awesome, they are all featured on tonight’s installment of 30 September Slashers.  With October quickly approaching, no doubt we will soon be bombarded with horror movie countdowns and scariest movie moment features.  Most usually feature people like Ice-T, Eli Roth, the Miller Light Girls, and an assortment of has-beens preaching about why they love horror films.  These typically aren’t very stimulating and make me run for the changer right away.  In 1984, a horror movie compilation was released that not only brought the goods but was also hosted by slasher film(and horror for that matter) royalty.  That film was the appropriately titled Terror in the Aisles.

Day 15: All Killer No Filler…..Terror In the Aisles

Why do we watch horror films?  Why do we like being scared?  These are all questions that are tackled in this collection of horror movie moments.  Icons of fright, Donald “I shot him six times” Pleasence and Nancy Allen, host a collection of horror film clips from the setting of a packed movie theater.  Instead of just listing movies and showing shocking scenes from each one, the film instead deals with different themes involving horror including sex, villains, terror itself, and why we use horror as an escape.  The film at one point uses stock footage of an interview with Alfred Hitchcock where he explains suspense in cinema. The documentary primarily focuses on films from the late seventies and early eighties but does show some clips from more “classic” horror films and gives historical perspective.  Some of the films included in this doc. are Halloween, Carrie, Klute, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13^th, several Hitchcock films, and a plethora of others.

This horror doc. is far and above better than anything compilation that you will see released today.  Mr. “Pure Evil” himself serves as the perfect host and hams up his performance every second he is onscreen.  It’s almost as if you are watching wacky Dr. Loomis host this instead of Pleasence.  Nancy Allen’s presence I could take or leave, most of the time it was as if she was reading off of a damn cue card.  The soundtrack was fantastic, although very simple at times, reminded me very much of a Carpenter-esque score.  The only downside to the film is that it does not give you film titles or film introductions.  Therefore, if you are interested in learning more about a film or watching it, then you are shit out of luck unless you do some research from the film credits.

Although I think it is a crime that this has never seen a release past Laser Disc, I can see why this film has never had an official DVD release.  Securing rights to these film clips would be a nightmare, especially since this film would be appreciated by such a limited audience.  If your looking for a good compilation to get you in the mood for Halloween and would like an alternative to Bravo’s countdown of horror flicks, then this might be the film for you.   I know I enjoyed the hell out of it and will be watching it again.

Are you ready for the Contest?  Destroy the Brain is giving away an OOP original VHS copy of Terror in the Aisles. The first person to respond with the correct answer wins.

Question: In New Year’s Evil, what is the name of the show that Blaze’s son Derrick auditioned for?