This week in horror history, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things introduced fans to Orville, a lovable dead guy who is horror’s answer to Bernie (of Weekend at Bernie’s fame.) When a groups of wacky theater folks dig him up fail to bring him back to life with a bit of dried baby blood and a book of black magic, they decide to keep him as their mascot, making him do all sort of things not fit for a corpse. What the group doesn’t know is they actually managed to reanimate the other occupants of Orville’s graveyard, and these zombies are hungry.
The poster for House is so much more promising than the actual film. It's intent is confusing – the movie was rated R, but feels like a kid’s horror movie. House tells the story of troubled horror writer Roger Cobb who moves to his aunt’s house after she committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. His wife has left him and his son has disappeared. The house begins to play tricks on him. He suffers from hallucinations, is attacked by beasties, and in a moment of terror, conveys all his concerns to his annoying neighbor, played by George Wendt. Of course he isn’t crazy and (spoiler!) this house is a portal into an evil netherworld.
In 1987 my all-time favorite installment of the Elm Street franchise hit theaters, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Why is this the best Nightmare on Elm Street? Well for one, Freddy kills Zsa Zsa Gabor on a talk show, but most importantly, because of the amazing Taryn White. She is totally ahead of her time and, in her dreams, transforms into some kind of punk rock beauty queen to fight the razor-fingered Freddy. Her demise is equally killer.
Title: Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
Released: February 28, 1973
Tagline: You're Invited To Orville's "Coming-Out" Party...It'll Be A Scream...YOURS!!!
Title:House
Released: February 28, 1986
Tagline: Ding Dong, You're Dead
Title: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Released: February 27, 1987
Tagline: Freddy's just around the corner...