Betty Chandler as Allyson, the nymphomaniacal inmate of S.F. Brownrigg’s DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT.
from HALLOWEEN itself, Tyler gives us a mish-mash of alleged high-school hijinks, red herrings, dream sequences and amateur gore, while failing to supply a single element that could satisfy even the least demanding slasher fans. Even at a running time of a mere 71m, THE LAST SLUMBER PARTY taxes one’s patience as badly as it assaults the eyes. The DVD release proclaims the “un- rated” version (yes, even Block- buster Video carried this title in an R-rated cut back in the day), but there’s nothing on display here that threatens to push the envelope.
VOLUMES 1 and 2 are the only ones to actually identify themselves as part of the SCREAM THEATER lineup on the discs themselves. VOLUME 3, the only 2-disc set in the
collection, is a repackaging of VCI’s previous S.F. Brownrigg double feature. The director’s creepy Southern gothic DON’T OPEN THE DOOR (85m 17s) was filmed in 1975 but not released until 1979. The film toplines Su- san Bracken as the trauma- haunted Amanda Post, who reports to her ancestral mansion believing she’s needed to care for her dying grandmother. Once there, she discovers that nobody in town wants to see her claim her rightful inheritance. Brownrigg maintains an oppressively sleazy atmosphere within the confines of a PG rating, and the fullscreen transfer (which needs to be zoomed up to fit comfortably on a widescreen monitor) serves the film decently—if, of course, a bit darkly. Supporting players Gene Ross, Hugh Feagin, Annabelle
Weenick and Rhea McAdams are all instantly recognizable from the far-better-known co-feature, 1973’s DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (89m 4s). As re- ported in VW 51:57, this title has had something of a rocky home video history. While the original Gorgon Video VHS release was completely uncut, VCI’s release of the same title featured the cen- sored television print (indicated by the appearance of the film’s title as originally presented: in lowercase letters superimposed on the bottom of the screen, as opposed to the garish full-frame insert card seen on the Gorgon release). Subsequent public do- main DVD releases have always featured the Gorgon print, but VCI’s new version, while in wide- screen (1.78:1) for the first time and still uncut, features an
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