RETURN TO HORROR HIGH 1987
The film-in-a-film concept used here was ahead of its time. Unfortunately that doesn't mean it's any good. A low-budget production of an unsolved true crime thriller is being shot at the scene of the actual crime - a high school. People start dissappearing which must mean the real killer has returned. All of the characters are unlikeable. This is supposed to be a horror-comedy but it's generally pretty unfunny. Alex Rocco plays the producer. George Clooney plays a young actor who is killed in the first ten minutes. Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick has a weird turn as a perpetually arroused policewoman. The ending "revelation" is inconsistently fucked up compared to the rest of the pretty bland story. There are a few inventive moments, but not enough. It's bad in a way that makes you unsure of when it's joking. There are several quick shots of bare breasts. Rent Scream 3 instead; it's essentially the same story. *1/2
MONDO BOLARDO
Jayne Mansfield stars in the "story" segments that tie the documentary footage of this mondo curiousity together. Shot in Itallian, Mansfield dubs her own voice in Engish when her lips are clearly speaking English on screen. The dubbing is pretty bad. There are two bell-hops that peep Mansfield's room - evidently played by famous Italian comedians. They are exhaustingly obnoxious. Mansfield wears a black wig and dances in a dream sequence. She does a bedroom striptease too, but doesn't show the goods - still sexy though. The mondo footage appears to be part real and part staged. It's a fun watch and one of the rare mondos without any major gross-outs - which could be good or bad I suppose. **1/2
The film-in-a-film concept used here was ahead of its time. Unfortunately that doesn't mean it's any good. A low-budget production of an unsolved true crime thriller is being shot at the scene of the actual crime - a high school. People start dissappearing which must mean the real killer has returned. All of the characters are unlikeable. This is supposed to be a horror-comedy but it's generally pretty unfunny. Alex Rocco plays the producer. George Clooney plays a young actor who is killed in the first ten minutes. Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick has a weird turn as a perpetually arroused policewoman. The ending "revelation" is inconsistently fucked up compared to the rest of the pretty bland story. There are a few inventive moments, but not enough. It's bad in a way that makes you unsure of when it's joking. There are several quick shots of bare breasts. Rent Scream 3 instead; it's essentially the same story. *1/2
MONDO BOLARDO
Jayne Mansfield stars in the "story" segments that tie the documentary footage of this mondo curiousity together. Shot in Itallian, Mansfield dubs her own voice in Engish when her lips are clearly speaking English on screen. The dubbing is pretty bad. There are two bell-hops that peep Mansfield's room - evidently played by famous Italian comedians. They are exhaustingly obnoxious. Mansfield wears a black wig and dances in a dream sequence. She does a bedroom striptease too, but doesn't show the goods - still sexy though. The mondo footage appears to be part real and part staged. It's a fun watch and one of the rare mondos without any major gross-outs - which could be good or bad I suppose. **1/2