A Horror Film Blog

1988, Idiana.  Three girls attend a heavy metal concert, pick up some guys and take them to one of the girls' parents nice pad to drink, take drugs, play Never Have I Ever, get jiggy ... and carnage ensues. I will admit I watched wanting next to nothing in terms of mental stimulation, and was really in search of things lurid and sleazy.  But We Summon the Darkness was ... much better than I expected.  So much so that I didn't feel disappointed when it failed to deliver the lur and sleaze. Instead of a flatlining exploitation flick channeling Last House on the Left, what I got was surprisingly fun comedy.  The cast are good, the direction shows flair (and on one occasion, flare). "This is not what I meant when I said I wanted things to get hot!" While no-one will mistake the screenplay for Tolstoy (thank God) it is witty and clever, addressing the (resurgent, if it ever actually went away) conservative Satanic panic nonsense associated with rock music, drinking, drug...

This is a Troma film. If you don't know what that means, avoid. You won't regret not experiencing the Troma trauma.  If you have encountered Troma before, you know what to expect - terrible script; dire performances (with the exception of Carla Ferrigno [aka Mrs Lou 'Incredible Hulk' Ferrigno] who appears in a spikey cameo); clueless direction (the director would go onto to do script work on some notable films, bizarrely) awful special effects; gratuitous nudity; witless, juvenile humour. This one has the added 'attraction' of a bad metal soundtrack.  Because this is shamelessly piggybacking on the 80s 'Satanic panic' about how Alice Cooper was going to make our children worship Belzebub, or some such.  Basically, a terrible light metal band announce they are going to do a special show at the dead end town of Mill Basin. MILL BASIN!! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?! In spite of never having toured before, they are apparently the biggest thing in the universe and ...