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.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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