Yes once more Arrow saves one of those movies once found on
the shelves of video stores that screened on as few big screens as possible and
found their way direct to video. That’s not always a bad thing though and for
many who grew up during that time period the mom and pop video store offered
them their first glimpse at horror films. Those folks will love having the
chance to revisit those memories but are more than likely to discover the
movies weren’t as great as they remembered.
SCARED STIFF begins with a slave auction in 1857 where slave
master George Masterson is enraged. He travels to his mansion where his wife
has given shelter to several slaves who are in the midst of a ceremony creating
an amulet to protect her from his rages. Before all is said and done we’re
swept away to the present year of 1987.
Kate Christopher (Mary Page Keller) is a pop singer who had
a nervous breakdown and has moved to a small town with her son into an old
colonial house with her boyfriend David Young (Andrew Stevens). Yes this is the
same house that Masterson owned years ago. It isn’t long before she begins
having nightmares and fears she’s losing her grip on reality once again.
But then her son starts having nightmares as well. David,
who was her psychiatrist before becoming her boyfriend, finds nothing
supernatural in what’s taking place and has more concerns about a relapse. When
she discovers an old diary kept by Masterson’s wife and starts seeing him
around the house things go from bad to worse.
The movie is well made on a technical level but story wise
leaves a lot to be desired. It feels like we’ve seen this before, enough so
that most of the film feels more like a cliché than a new film. But for some
there is comfort found in formulaic films so that’s a good thing for fans of
the genre. The acting is solid enough, the special effects well done and the
direction better than one would expect. All in all it’s not bad but nothing to
spend hours searching for.
And yet in spite of all that Arrow Video has once more proven
why they are the go to people when it comes to resurrecting movies that might
otherwise have dissolved into the ether. Their release of the film on disc
offers the movie in a brand new 2k restoration from original film elements
making it even better looking than those old VHS tapes of the film fans still
hang on to. And the extras are solid as well. Those include a brand new audio
commentary track with director Richard Friedman, producer Dan Bacaner and film
historian Robert Ehlinger, MANSION OF THE DOOMED: THE MAKING OF SCARED STIFF a
new documentary featuring interviews with Friedman, Stevens and more, a new
interview with composer Billy Barber, an image gallery, the original theatrical
trailer, a reversible sleeve with 2 original artwork options, a limited edition
O-card featuring original artwork by Graham Humphreys and a fully illustrated
collector’s booklet with new writing on the film by James Oliver.
If you have great memories of scanning the shelves of the
local video store for the latest horror film to be released then by all means
make a point of picking this one up. The odds of it helping those memories
remain fresh are pretty good.
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