Editorials
[It Came From the ‘80s] Camp Horror and a Comic Book Monster in ‘Cellar Dweller’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
Before Full Moon Pictures, Charles Band’s Empire Pictures carved out its own niche in the world of B-movie horror in the ‘80s. Turning out fan favorites Ghoulies, Re-Animator, Rawhead Rex, From Beyond, Troll, and so many more, all with a quick turnaround and low-budget approach, Empire Pictures is responsible for a lot of horror movie memories of the decade. Band’s business model meant reteaming with many of the same crews and directors, so it’s no surprise that a quick cursory glance through Empire’s catalog will see one name pop up again and again: director and special effects makeup artist John Carl Buechler.
Buechler’s output during the ‘80s was incredible, frequently juggling multiple film projects at a time at various stages of production, making it difficult to imagine he ever got any sleep. Cellar Dweller came along at a time where Buechler and his effects shop Mechanical and Makeup Imageries Inc. were already hard at work on Ghoulies II, The Garbage Pail Kids, and The Caller. When most would pass on the extra workload, Buechler picked up duties as director and creature effects designer. His second credit as director for a feature length film, it’s easy to see why Cellar Dweller appealed to Buechler.
Written by Don Mancini (under pseudonym Kit Dubois), Cellar Dweller opens with a cameo by Jeffrey Combs as 1950s comic book creator Colin Childress. Childress looks to a book of magic for inspiration on his latest comic when he accidentally conjures up a demon from his own imagination. He manages to stop the demon at the cost of his own life. Cut to 30 years later, where new comic book artist Whitney (Debrah Farentino) releases the demon once more when she sets up her studio in Childress’ former home. Also look for The Munsters’ Yvonne De Carlo as Mrs. Briggs.
Mancini’s original script was much grander in scale, but scaled back for the Empire model. What it lacked in budget, it more than made up for in camp. Though, that does give it a bit of charm. Cellar Dweller was filmed at Empire’s studio in Rome and came together at warp speed, giving Buechler and his crew a very small shooting schedule to work with. The director and his crew were clearly well versed in working under pressure. Buechler embraced the camp, incorporated the comic book format into the film for scenes, and delivered on gore and fun creature effects.
It’s irreverent and schlocky, and pure ‘80s creature feature entertainment. A balance of effects and humor. Buechler would follow up this directorial effort with the far more popular Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, and deliver memorable special makeup effects on A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. All of which were released in 1988, along with Celler Dweller, just to paint a picture of how full his dance card was at any given time. His list of credits is extensive, and his influence on the genre (especially in the ‘80s) invaluable. With sad news of his battle with cancer, it seems only fitting to shed a little more light on the man behind so many great movie monsters.
Cellar Dweller isn’t Buechler’s best feature, but it does a great job conveying his style, work ethic, artistic talent, and flair for lightheartedness.
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
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