Leofwine_draca
TERROR IN THE AISLES is essentially a compilation of lots (and lots) of scare (not gore) scenes from a wide variety of films, not just horror but science fiction and thrillers too. All decades are covered, from the '30s to the '80s. Unfortunately most of the clips are from popular films like HALLOWEEN, THE SHINING, and THE EXORCIST, which, while justifiable, isn't too interesting for the horror fan who has probably seen these clips, and films, a million times beforehand anyway.I would have preferred to see clips from rarer, perhaps tackier films, which would have been a lot more fun and interesting. Saying that, there are a couple of clips from films like THE THING WITH TWO HEADS and ALLIGATOR, which make me really want to see these films. Donald Pleasence is on hand to comment on what makes people scared, and he's pretty good value as he gets excited and supposedly frightened about the clips that are showing, and his tongue is firmly in cheek (so you don't really take any of what he is saying seriously, although it sounds good). Nancy Allen also gives commentary, but appears relatively briefly, with most screen time being given to Donald (which is no bad thing). The film was released theatrically, so it must have been an experience to watch a film set in a cinema while actually in a cinema, which isn't something that happens every day (unless you're an obsessive DEMONS fan who owns your own movie theatre).TERROR IN THE AISLES is fun and passes the time quickly, showing you the best scares from a whole slew of different films, and so it makes a pleasant change from standard viewing. The only problem is that a huge amount of films are spoiled, so be warned in advance. The films included are as follows: Halloween, Jaws, Poltergeist, Carrie, Scanners, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, The Omen, The Shining, An American Werewolf in London, Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th Part 2, Night of the Living Dead, Alien, Psycho, The Wolf-Man, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Birds, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Halloween 2, The Fog, The Thing, Videodrome, Cat People, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Howling, The Fly, Konga, Alligator, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Midnight Express, Nightwing, When a Stranger Calls, Dawn of the Dead, The Seduction, Vice Squad, The Silent Partner, Ms. 45, The Brood, Saturday the 14th, Alone in the Dark, Dressed to Kill, Food of the Gods, Frogs, The Thing With Two Heads, Sisters, Bug, To Catch a Thief, Marathon Man, Scared Stiff, Alfred Hitchcock: Men Who Made the Movies, The Fury, The Phantom of the Paradise, Suspiria, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Hold That Ghost, Jaws 2, Play Misty For Me, Klute, Strangers on a Train, Wait Until Dark.
lakewoodmatt67
Back before "Scream", "Saw" torture porn and endless sequels became the norm in horror films, moviegoers were treated to legitimate, creative and well thought out scares and shocks when they wanted to see a scary movie. "Terror In The Aisles" is both a retrospective of that time, and the ultimate love letter to that genre. A documentary type film, hosted by Donald Pleasence (Halloween) and Nancy Allen (Dressed To Kill; Robocop) take us on a ninety minute guided tour of the horror film genre. Along the way, we get all the best parts of so many great horror films from the last half of the twentieth century. Since Pleasence is basically the host of this memory lane trip, "Halloween" is given ample exposure, but make no mistake: If it was a scary film from the 60's on through the mid 80's, it's represented here, in some form.No matter if it's Linda Blair barfing up pea soup from "The Exorcist", Jack Nicholson's iconic freak out in "The Shining" or David Naughton turning into a very scary werewolf from "American Werewolf In London", if you were young in the last half of the 20th century, you probably saw most of these films, you remember what made you jump, scream, have nightmares, and then laugh about it all later with your friends. And it's all here, in all their gory, creepy, grisly glory. Along the way, several themes are discussed: Why do we like scary movies? What really scares us? Are we afraid of evil monsters from space or from Hell, or are the monsters within our own minds and subconscience even scarier? As we go along, we get lots of nifty montages from similar types of horror films: people being killed, bad guys and monsters moving in for the kill, people running for their lives, sometimes escaping, sometimes not. From a film editing standpoint, "Terror In The Aisles" is the ultimate horror remix. We've seen all these clips before many times, but put together in this format, with this type of presentation, they feel fresh and exhilarating once again.Even films that weren't strictly classified as "horror", such as "Marathon Man" and "Nighthawks", still contained harrowing visual shocks and nerve wracking suspense so their inclusion into this potpourri of terror feels quite natural.And at the end of it all, you can appreciate just how carefully and skillfully the American film industry has cultivated the art of horror films through the decades.Great retrospective film! Check it out! (And with the lights out while you watch it, if you dare, hee hee hee...)
Michael_Elliott
Terror in the Aisles (1984) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen host this documentary telling (and showing) us why horror and suspense films are so important. Both actors are sitting in a theater where they add a few comments before showing us clips to dozens of movies including Halloween, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Play Misty for Me, The Ting, Sisters, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Friday the 13th, The Exorcist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alligator, Scanners, The Shining, Alien, The Howling, Firestarter, Alone in the Dark and countless others. I think a nostalgia level is going to be the biggest highlight for some people on this one. For one, it's doubtful this film will ever be released onto DVD just because of how many different studios have material on here. I'm shocked it was ever released to theaters in the first place but I doubt Universal would pay the bill to get these clips released today. This leaves us with the VHS, which is faded and has all the films clip's in pan and scan, which is probably how many of us first saw the film way back in the day. Pleasence and Allen don't add too much in the way of funny or interesting comments but it's always nice to see them. Pleasence even gets to throw a few comments towards himself in Halloween. From what I've read the MPAA originally gave this an X-rating even though all the movies here received a R-rated on their own. Oh, the good ol' days of horror films.
