THE LAST HORROR FILM (1982)
Label: Troma
Region Code: Region Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes 19 Seconds
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: David Winters
Cast: Caroline Munro, Joe Spinell, Judd Hamilton
Maniac's Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro reunite just a year after that slasher classic for a strange guerrilla-style slasher shot partially without permits at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. Spinell plays Vinny, a somewhat disturbed NYC cab driver who lives at home with his dear mother, who is played by Spinell's actual mother Filomena Spagnuolo, their shared apartment is Spinell's actual apartment, too. Spinell who was fantastic as the nut job in Maniac does some similiar work here, maybe not as insane as Frank Zito from Maniac, but prone to oddball daydreams about making it big in Hollywood as a director. The cabbie has saved up enough to by a ticket to Cannes and a pass to the festival, when he tells him mom about his plans to travel to Cannes and cast b-movie queen Jenna Bates (Bond-girl Caroline Munro, Slaughter High) in his movie "The Loves of Dracula" she thinks he crazy, and she might be right, but before you know it the cabbie is in Cannes trying to rub elbows with the stars.
Jenne Bates is in Cannes promoting her latest movie "Scream" along with her manager and ex-husband Bret Bates (Glenn Jacobson, Trick or Treats), and the film's producer Alan Cunningham (Judd Hamilton, Maniac), who is also her current boyfriend, and Vinny just can't seem to get close enough to make his pitch, which drives him a little crazy, so he walks around the festival with his 16mm movie camera filming the starlet as best he can from afar until he can find a way to make his move and offer her the role.
Jenna and those close to her receive notes reading "You've made your last horror film.", and later that night she goes to her manager Brett's room only to find him beheaded in the bathtub. When she reports the crime the police they arrive and find that there's no body, the local cops chalk it up to Jenna and her manager drumming up some press through an ill-advised publicity stunt.
After that more people begin to disappear without a trace, we as viewers see them die one by one, but the bodies continue to disappear, and the killer is filming the murders on 16mm. We're left to ask the question, is Vinny so disturbed by the brush-off from Caroline that he would kill? Clearly Vinny is a whack job, prone to strange visions, it may well be, he's so off his rocker he thinks that it would be appropriate to break into Jenna's room through a bathroom window while she's showering, offering her champagne, which as you can imagine does not go over so well.
The movie was shot on a shoestring budget from the looks of it, with a script that must have been just a few pages long with plenty of opportunity to ad lib, I would assume, shot largely guerrilla style at the actual Cannes Films Festival, which I must say that was inspired idea. The stolen shots offers the film-within-a-film some decent production value, with some fun forced cameos from Karen Black (Burnt Offerings) and Kris Kristofferson (Blade), which is fun, as well as banners and marquees for Cannibal Holocaust, Possession and Pink Flamingos, which were being promoted at the festival that year.
Scenes of Munro running through the crowds in a only towel as she escapes Vinny after he crashed her shower are fun, Spinell has no trouble playing crazy, and this might be one of Munro's more substantial roles in a movie when I think about it. Just as an aside, Munro has some of the greatest '80s hair of all time in this movie, a two-tone coif for the ages. It helps that there's just something about Spinell that is magnetic, he's truly a schlub of a man, but his eyes are so expressive, there's a mix of frailty and insanity about his face that the camera loves, and even if the script is threadbare the actors manages to pull you into the insanity.
Spinell and Munro both turn in great performances, everyone else is pretty blah to be honest, but they save it time and time again, I sort of love this movie, maybe more than it deserves, but the Spinell/Munro combo is a winner, and at east believable this time around. Watching Maniac, as much as I love it, you struggle to see what Munro's character could possibly see in Frank Zito, truly a beauty and the beast scenario, here she is rightfully repulsed by the creepy guy. The movie has some decent gore, too. Some real and some of it not so real within the context of the move-within-a-movie, but all of it is pretty satisfying. We have some decent variety, from burning to stabbing, beheading, a shooting and even a chainsaw attack ...what more do you need?
The Last Horror Film is an odd and uneven movie all the way around, it has some truly inspired moments and a few that just don't work, but even still I enjoyed it. I liked the obsessed cabbie character, his deranged nightmares, and the way they shot it at Cannes without permission and got some gorgeous shots - this Spinell/Munro team-up is magic yet again, not quite on par with Maniac, but a totally fun watch.
Audio/Video: The Last Horror Films arrives on region-free Blu-ray Troma in 1080p HD framed in the original widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio. This would appear to be the longer uncut version that Severin released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray back in 2023, running 87 Minutes and 20 Seconds, sourced from a 4K scan of the OCN with additional scenes sourced from a 35mm print discovered at the Cinematheque Francaise. It looks terrific, nearly blemish free, the source is highly textured, grain is present and unmolested throughout. Gone are the murky VHS inserts from the last Troma Blu-ray, and colors look terrific and black levels are solid, and the additional bits of gore and violence are a revelation! In typical Troma fashion though they have opted to go with a lossy Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 dual-mono track with optional English subtitles, but it is serviceable.
We get all the extras from Troma's previous Blu-ray plus some carryovers from the Severin release which I thought was pretty shocking. Archival stuff comes by way of a 4-min Intro by Lloyd Kaufman, an Audio Commentary by Joe Spinell's Best Friend Luke Walter moderated by Evan Husney, the eight-minute short film 'Mr. Robbie' (aka Maniac 2) wherein Spinell plays a deranged clown who exacts revenge on a young girl's parents who mistreat her, this is a gem of a short, shot by director Buddy Giovinazzo who directed Combat Shock (1984), it was shot as a short to help finance a full-length feature, but Spinell passed away before it happened. We also get a selection of Theatrical Trailers for the film that runs about 2-min.
Other archival extras include the 5-min Highlights from the 2015 Tromadance Film Festival, 10-min A Full episode of Troma's Latest Web series Kabukiman's Cocktail Corner: starring Paul Booth, the 5-min The Return of one of Troma's Beloved Characters, Dolphin Man and a selection of Troma Trailers.
Other goodies are not new but come from the Severin release from 2023, these include an Audio Commentary by Actress Caroline Munro and Frightfest's Alan Jones, plus a newer Audio Commentary with Joe Spinell's Best Friend Luke Walter, Moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory, which is a bit more on task than the original commentary with Walter. We also get the 21-min Luke A Father - Sal Sirchia Remembers Soe Spinell who talks at length about how he met Spinell, their friendship, the 19-min My Last Horror Film Ever Archival Interview with Producer Judd Hamilton who talks about how he came to work with Spinell with some terrific Caroline Munro stories, plus the 14-min
The Last Horror Film - New York and Cannes Location Visit with Michael Gingold touring the NYC Locations and Severin's David Gregory touring Cannes.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Intro by lloyd Kaufman (4:07)
- Audio Commentary by Actress Caroline Munro and Frightfest's Alan Jones
- Audio Commentary with Joe Spinell's Best Friend Luke Walter
Moderated by Evan Husney
- New Audio Commentary with Joe Spinell's Best Friend Luke Walter Moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory
- Luke A Father - Sal Sirchia Remembers Soe Spinell (21:11)
- My Last Horror Film Ever Archival Interview with Producer Judd Hamilton (18:58)
- The Last Horror Film - New York and Cannes Location Visit (14:23)
- A Short Film by Buddy Giovinazzo - Mr. Robbie - A Short Film By Buddy Giovinazzo (Combat Shock) , starring Joe Spinell (8:04))
- Original Theatrical Trailers (1:59)
- Highlights from the 2015 Tromadance Film Festival (5:21)
- A Full episode of Troma's Latest Web series Kabukiman's Cocktail Corner: starring Paul Booth (9:44)
- The Return of one of Troma's Beloved Characters, Dolphin Man (4:48)
- Troma Trailers: Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol. 1 (3:24), Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol. 2 (1:48), The Toxic Avenger (3:31), Class of Nuke 'Em High (3:23), #Shakespeare's Shitstorm (3:14)
This new Troma release is a very significant upgrade over the previous Blu-ray, and the Severin produced extras they've ported over are fantastic, this comes highly recommended if you don't own the Severin 4K UHD.
Screenshots from the Troma Blu-ray:
Extras:
Buy it!
#ad