Mindwarp (1992)

Mindwarp (1992)

aka Brain Slasher

Dir. Steve Barnett

I suspect the reason there's a sliver of Ash in most of Bruce Campbell's characters is because there's a lot of Bruce's own personality in Ash.

He maybe accentuates certain traits, but they spring from something real. Furthermore, if he's one of the main stars of a film, then there's a good chance he'll be facing off against some kind of evil creature. Mindwarp is no different.

It goes for a 70s style version of the 21st century, which is something that I really like; the poor-man's pre-Matrix (1992) VGA port in the back of the neck was hilarious.

The synthetic world that the female protagonist (Marta Martin) wants to escape is kind of similar, too, but the remainder of the film isn't.

Much of it is set underground where the lighting is bad, but on the plus side it helps hide budget limitations and makes sense because underground is where the aforementioned evil lives.

The Evil Dead Trilogy (1981-92)

The Evil Dead (1981)

Dir. Sam Raimi

I'll never tire of watching The Evil Dead. It wasn't the first film to use the isolated cabin in the woods scenario, but it remains one of the most successful in the horror genre.

Raimi doesn't waste time with a traditional slow build-up. He goes straight to horror town with the use of low, rushing camera movements. The way it interacts with the environment, even knocking parts of it over, places us as viewers directly into the action.

The point of view shots showing the same scene from different angles, pursuer and pursued, accompanied by subjective audio was a genius idea. It shows that both subjects (or objects) are in the same location but suggests they’re slightly out of sync, like the real and reflected or the breaking of a different kind of fourth wall from the wrong side.

Maniac Cop Trilogy (1988-93)

Maniac Cop (1988)

Dir. William Lustig

Maniac Cop turns the slasher movie premise around, making a thing traditionally associated with protection, a cop, into a malevolent killer who hides in convenient shadows with knife in hand.

His inhuman strength and bullet-sponge ability makes it all seem partially supernatural; if you reject that aspect then it all seems rather silly.

Tom Atkins plays the caring homicide Detective well. The usually reliable Bruce Campbell doesn't get to use his awesome B–Movie charm and struggles to make us care about his two-dimensional character. Conversely, the ladies, Laurene Landon and Sheree North, both get stronger roles and do a grand job with them.