Teen Wolf

Year: 1985
Director: Rod Daniel
Writer: Jeph Loeb, Matthew Weisman
Genre: Comedy, Werewolves

During the 80s Michael J. Fox was huge. It was all thanks mostly to Back to the Future which came out in '85. That wasn't the only movie the same year to star him though. Here's Teen Wolf and it's an extremely 80s experience.

The story focuses around Fox's character who's mostly a scrawny loser kid on the basketball team in high school. One day he comes to realize that he (and other males in his family line) are werewolves. They don't change during full moons though it's more of a stress thing. If he gets really angry he can turn into one although he's not really in control of when it happens either.

Instead of a regular response which would be to run far away the high schoolers think he is completely awesome. He becomes king of the school and even catches the eye of the "popular girl". It's super goofy and 80s through and through. Obviously, there's not a thing wrong with that but the film lacks substance. It's a lighthearted teenage tale just spiced up a bit. It'd probably be good for a group watching.

Troll 2

Year: 1990
Director: Claudio Fragasso
Writer: Claudio Fragasso, Rossella Drudi
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Troll 2 is the worst movie ever made. It isn't, but that's the award it held for some time unofficially via IMDB's bottom 100 films list. It's easy to be a bad film, but to fail so spectacularly that everything becomes hilarious is rare to find. It's because of this "so bad it's good" quality that this is one of the greatest movie treats I've had in a long time.

For a long time, I'd heard many great things about Troll 2. Because of that, I avoided it nearly constantly. I didn't wish to find that the movie wasn't nearly as good as everyone had built it up to be. Before watching it, I'd seen the documentary (Best Worst Movie) as well as seen a small clip ("They're eating her! Then they're going to eat me! Oh my goooooooooooooood!"). Between those two things, I really had no urge to see the film any time soon. Out of sheer boredom and attempt to please a guest, I decided to watch it finally. Everything everyone has ever said about the movie is true.

Every second is horrible. The story is held together well enough that it ins't incomprehensible, even if it is silly as hell. The script is awkward at many points and characters talk in unnatural ways. This is attributed to the scriptwriter and director who apparently was much less of an English speaker than he is now. The characters are your typical American family doing a sort of house exchange with countryfolk for a vacation. Of course, things go terribly wrong when goblins (not trolls!) in the town want to eat the happy family.

The movie is full of terrible and equally memorable moments. There's a bit involving corn that made me bust out laughing and so many other unintended gags. Certain characters seem legitimately crazy. A kid pees on his family's welcome dinner. This is the kind of movie to watch with friends. Alongside Final Flesh, I've yet to see anything wackier.

Terrorvision

Year: 1986
Director: Ted Nicolaou
Writer: Ted Nicolaou
Genre: Horror: Slasher

Usually when I haven't heard anything about a horror movie that means there's not much great going on in it. With a name like Terrorvision I had supremely low hopes. However, as soon as I started watching I realized it was one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a good while.

Terrorvision plays out like a movie made in the 2000s mocking 80s culture. This is strange because it was made in the 80s and is strangely able to perfectly lampoon so much of the 80s. I don't know how it happened but it is excellent. Beyond that fact, the movie is just a huge romp.

It's a story of a family. The parents are swingers, at least they want to be. The kids are a cute little boy and a teenie bopper sister with a metal-loving boyfriend. The grandfather is an army vet and just a little bit off. They get some new satellite TV and get straight to enjoying it. Unfortunately, the satellite dish receives an alien transmission which beams a horrifying blob creature into their world. The blob monster is able to come out only when the TV is on (although it has a habit of turning the set on itself) and predictably eats people. What follows is a hilarious tale of an off-kilter family and how they handle an alien menace in their living room.

I really enjoyed the movie. It was so much better than I had thought. I especially loved that there was an Elvira knockoff known as Medusa. One of the silliest parts is when the Medusa show is about to go to break. The camera slowly zooms in on her before break however it zooms ever closer into her massive cleavage. Honestly, she was more impressive than Elvira. Anyway, it was a great time. I wholly recommend this movie.