"Why make up horrible things when there is so much real terror in the world? Perhaps we invent artificial horrors to help us cope with the real ones."
That is one of the many observations that you will find in the 1984 horror documentary "Terror In the Aisles". Narrated by Don Pleasance and Nancy Allen in what appear to be separate theaters of actors pretending to be movie goers .. "Terror In the Aisles" attempts to examine exactly what makes horror movies and their fans tick. I think Ronnie recently pointed out that "Terror In the Aisles" is sort of a guide to the horror movie rules we often joke about now.
"Terror In the Aisles" has been out of print for years and thought to be lost in the copyright issues that have kept so many of our 80's favs from ever making it to DVD no less Blu-ray. But in what has to be one of the coolest extras ever, you can find "Terror In the Extras" of the recently released 30th Anniversary edition "Halloween II" blu-ray.
I had the pleasure of watching it for the first time in years last night and it was a total blast. I truly believe the best way to watch it is to not read anything about it and just hit play.
"Terror In the Aisles" is loaded with vintage clips from some incredible horror films from the early 80's and before. And while you might want to know the title of the movie each clip is associated with, I actually found it fun to guess the movies as they namelessly popped on screen. My only complaint is the fact that they showed the ending to several of the films which I don't think was quite necessary. Would have been better to tease me more to seek out the movies to discover what happens.
But don't worry if you don't recognize every clip .. the end credits give you all the movie titles and you can quickly start connecting the dots.
You might actually cheer when one of your favorite horror movies appears on screen. Oh I almost forgot.. there is some terrific interview footage of the legendary Alfred Hitchcock meshed in the mist of Terror as well.
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree, V. It's such a cool extra (deserving of its own separate release, but you essentially get it for free), and the best way to watch it is to "play along." But it's far from the best documentary: It's too short, the narration is really trite (always good to see Pleasance and Allen though), and some of the film selections are not horror and truly baffling (The only thing that I could think of was that they got the clips cheaply and had to pad out the running time.)
For a much better documentary, check out "Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film" (2006).
Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
Valley Dated Julie From 'Valley Girl' (allegedly!)
Member # 1322
posted
Crash .. that is a great documentary and I highly recommend it too!
Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
| IP: Logged |
posted
Good documentary! And I love seeing Donald Pleasance & Nancy Allen.
The clips are awesome.. a few of them do go on for the longest time though ha. And I found it odd that they don't show you the names of the movies until the end, in the credits.
Such a cool idea to add it to one of my fave 80s movies.. HII. Another good reason to own the blu ray!
Posts: 4807 | Registered: Oct 2002 | Site Updates: 39
| IP: Logged |
pleasance makes me laugh
Posts: 1605 | From: Lake Chicamocomico | Registered: Feb 2011 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
pettyfan
Livin' next door to the Klopeks
Member # 2260
posted
I saw Terror in the Aisles for the first time about 3 or 4 years ago. I think it was on Flix or Encore. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I also liked the Going to Pieces doc too.
Posts: 2902 | From: Home Sweet Home | Registered: Jan 2004 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
Helen_S
Hiding behind the shower curtain.....
Member # 5804
posted
my brother and i were talking the other day about donald pleasance in the carpenter movies, did you notice that his character is the one to deal the final blow to the main antagonist in each movie?
Posts: 1605 | From: Lake Chicamocomico | Registered: Feb 2011 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
posted
They've been showing it alot lately on TV in HD. I saw it several times when I was younger too, I don't really remember it not being avaliable. Maybe I just got lucky.
It was because of this movie that I was able to find films such as Night Hawks, Vice Squad even though showed the ending of those two films it didn't spoil them for me. It also inspired me to watch Dressed to Kill, The Brood, The Birds, Alone in the Dark and many other films that when I watched it when I was little had no idea about other than this movie.
It's strange I must have been really young because I thought it was a movie itself, not realizing what a documentary was, the plot seemed a bit hard to follow by I just went with it.
Posts: 168 | Registered: Nov 2011 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
