ThrillerVideo was a horror home video series that began being released in February 1985 to 1987 by U.S.A. Home Video and International Video Entertainment (I.V.E.).
Released on VHS and Betamax, many of the "films" released by ThrillerVideo were actually episodes of the British TV shows Thriller and Hammer House of Horror . Many of the titles in the series were hosted by TV horror hostess Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who declined to be associated with slasher movies and films involving animal cruelty, [1] so titles such as Make Them Die Slowly , Seven Doors of Death , and Buried Alive as well as later videos featuring episodes of Thriller were simply released without her. Several of the Thriller episodes included two to three minutes of additional footage that was not seen in the original British broadcasts. [2]
A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools such as knives, chainsaws, scalpels, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic term for any horror film involving murder, film analysts cite an established set of characteristics which set slasher films apart from other horror subgenres, such as monster movies, splatter films, supernatural and psychological horror films.
Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that were criticised for their violent content by the press, social commentators, and various religious organisations in the early 1980s. These video releases were not brought before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) due to a loophole in film classification laws that allowed videos to bypass the review process. The resulting uncensored video releases led to public debate concerning the availability of these films to children due to the unregulated nature of the market.
Robert Lawrence Stine, sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor.
Danielle Andrea Harris is an American actress. She is known as a "scream queen" for her roles in multiple horror films, including four entries in the Halloween franchise: Halloween 4 (1988) and Halloween 5 (1989) as Jamie Lloyd, and Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009) as Annie Brackett. Other such roles include Tosh in Urban Legend (1998), Belle in Stake Land (2010), and Marybeth Dunston in the Hatchet series (2010–17). In 2012, she was inducted into the Fangoria Hall of Fame.
Creepshow is a 1982 American horror comedy anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, making this film his screenwriting debut. The film's ensemble cast includes Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, and Viveca Lindfors as well as King himself. The film was primarily shot on location in Pittsburgh and its suburbs, including Monroeville, where Romero leased an old boys' academy to build extensive sets for the film.
Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series, which ran for seven seasons on the premium cable channel HBO from June 10, 1989, to July 19, 1996. The show's title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name, published by William Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein. Most of the program's episodes are based on stories that originally appeared in that comic or other EC Comics of the time, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, and Two-Fisted Tales.
Cassandra Gay Peterson is an American actress and former go-go dancer and showgirl. She is best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV in her stage persona as Elvira, hosting Elvira's Movie Macabre, a weekly B movie presentation. A member of the Los Angeles-based improvisational and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings, Peterson based her Elvira persona in part on a "Valley girl"-type character she created while a member of the troupe.
Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is known for developing and writing the screenplay for the slasher film Scream (1996)—which launched the Scream franchise—along with those for Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 4 (2011). He is also known for creating the WB teen drama series Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), the CW supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017), the Fox crime thriller series The Following (2013–2015) and the CBS All Access thriller series Tell Me a Story (2018–2020).
Tales from the Crypt is a 1972 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on the Tales from the Crypt short stories by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, and Bill Gaines. The film was produced by Amicus Productions and filmed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England.
Terence Fisher was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films.
Tom Atkins is an American actor. He is known for his work in the horror and thriller film genres, having worked with writers and directors such as Shane Black, William Peter Blatty, John Carpenter, Fred Dekker, Richard Donner, Stephen King, and George A. Romero. He is also a familiar face to mainstream viewers, often playing police officers and tough authority figures and is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Alex Diel in The Rockford Files (1974–1977).
Pamela Franklin is a British former actress. She is best known for her role as Sandy in the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), for which she won a NBR Award and received a BAFTA Award nomination.
Curse of the Faceless Man is a 1958 independently made American low-budget black-and-white horror film, produced by Robert E. Kent, directed by Edward L. Cahn, that stars Richard Anderson, Elaine Edwards, Adele Mara, and Luis van Rooten. Science fiction writer Jerome Bixby wrote the screenplay. The film was theatrically released in the U.S. by United Artists as a double feature with It! The Terror from Beyond Space.
Fright is a 1971 British thriller film starring Susan George, Ian Bannen, Honor Blackman, and John Gregson. The film follows a babysitter who is terrorized one evening by her employer's deranged ex-husband. Its original working titles were The Baby Minder and Girl in the Dark before it was titled Fright. It is said by many horror fans and commentators to be one of or even the first film in which an isolated babysitter is stalked by an unrelenting and psychopathic antagonist, rendering it the forerunner of dozens of movies to use similar premises over the following decades.
Touch of Death is a direct-to-video Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film was developed as part of a series for direct-to video and television films titled I maestri del thriller which had eight other films in the series. Fulci was invited to join the project originally as a supervisor, but brought in his own story for Touch of Death which began filming on 22 June 1988. The films were later released to home video under the heading of "Lucio Fulci presenta" by Formula Home Video, but were sued by the producer Carlo Alberto Alfieri who owned the home video rights. The films in the series were later released by Avo Film on VHS and DVD.
Buried Alive is a 1990 American made-for-television horror thriller film directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Matheson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Atherton and Hoyt Axton.
Buried Alive II is a 1997 American horror thriller television film directed by Tim Matheson and written by Walter Klenhard. It is a sequel to the 1990 film Buried Alive, and stars Ally Sheedy, Stephen Caffrey and Tracey Needham. Matheson also reprises his character from the previous film, Clint Goodman. It first aired on June 18, 1997, on the USA Network.
The Evictors is a 1979 American crime-horror film written and directed by Charles B. Pierce, and starring Vic Morrow, Michael Parks, and Jessica Harper. A period piece set in 1942, it follows a couple who are terrorized by a mysterious man on the property of their new home in rural Louisiana, which is the site of various unsolved homicides from years prior. Released in April 1979, it was one of the last films distributed by American International Pictures.
"Haunted House" is the fourth episode of the horror black comedy series Scream Queens. It was first aired on October 6, 2015, on Fox. The episode was directed by Bradley Buecker and was written by Brad Falchuk. In this episode, as Halloween approaches, Zayday makes a stunning announcement and in response, Chanel concocts a devious plan. Pete and Grace visit a mysterious woman connected to Kappa's past. And as Hester starts to grow closer to Chad, Dean Munsch struggles to keep Wallace University open after the whole murder spree by the Red Devil.
Wolves at the Door is a 2016 American horror film directed by John R. Leonetti and written by Gary Dauberman. The film is loosely based on the murder of Sharon Tate, the wife of Roman Polanski, and her friends in 1969 by members of the Manson Family, and, though not considered an installment in the franchise, takes place within The Conjuring Universe. The cast features Katie Cassidy, Elizabeth Henstridge, Adam Campbell and Miles Fisher as four friends who are stalked and murdered by a group of intruders at a farewell party, with Eric Ladin reprising his role as Detective Clarkin from Leonetti's 2014 film Annabelle.