Over the years of covering home video releases, I have discovered some new favourites; equally, I have been subject to some of the worst films I’ve ever seen. One of the latter was Doom Asylum, a film so inept I was speechless. The director of that film was Richard Friedman, now, in 2019, Arrow Video have beautifully remastered another title from his filmography with Scared Stiff. To say I went in with low expectations would be an epic undersell.
Opening in the colonial age of America as well-to-do George Masterson (David Ramsey) is selling a black family off, it’s as much of a way to open a movie as any. During this auction, he is cursed, a curse that will continue to cling to his house and family until revenge is had. Jumping to the 1980s, we are introduced to pop starlet Kate (Mary Page Keller), her son Jason, and her partner, psychotherapist David (Andrew Stevens); together they are moving into the Gothic manor house that Masterson once called home. From that germ weird stuff starts happening, from seemingly omnipotent pigeons, references to the Omen, floating masks, old computers being self-aware, all of which culminates in a final act which seems to be cut from the same cloth as 1980s B-Movie series, House. House II, particularly.
One of my many, many major complaints about 1986’s Doom Asylum was that it completely failed to live up to the promise of its premise. Scared Stiff? Much more ambitious and to the extent that it may feel like a pastiche, rather unfairly due to this over-reaching, paired with how regular these films were produced during the 80s.
Without those final few moments, Scared Stiff would have a reputation as a silly bout of midnight movie along the lines of Waxwork, The Gate or House.
SCARED STIFF
A favourite scene sees Jason’s toy cars and trucks come to life and move of their own volition and become sentient, thanks to those omnipotent pigeons. There’s a sentence I didn’t think I would ever type. And therein is the best way to approach Scared Stiff – treat it as a late-night horror movie. Don’t approach it and expect a coherent narrative, just go in expecting a weird film (think The visitor (1979) only without the peyote) with some cool happenings in the final act and you’ll get everything you’ll need. Eventually.
Director Friedman makes you wait for possession, body horror, time-travelling, pulsing brains, practical effects, ungodly creatures, psychological weirdness and what I can only describe as Chekhov’s Lamp. And to its credit, all of it is pulled off with a gusto that became commonplace in regional horror of the 80s – they didn’t know how everything was done but they’d give it one hell of a try [backed up in the newly made 30-minute making-of, Mansion of the Doomed *]. Scared Stiff is a charming chancer once it builds up that momentum.
Unfortunately, it is almost entirely sabotaged by a horrible final scene that questions everything, effectively turning the film into nonsense. Those few short moments are a clear effort by the filmmakers to suggest something more significant was afoot or even to suggest that the horror isn’t yet over but it can only really be described as misguided. Without those final few moments, Scared Stiff would have a reputation as a silly bout of midnight movie along the lines of Waxwork, The Gate or House. For my personal feelings to change in from appreciative to annoyed in the space of 90 seconds says about everything I could ever hope to about Scared Stiff.
It may be wise to practice some selective internal editing when sitting down with Arrow Video’s latest, it’s the only way the movie stands a chance. This being said, the difference between a film being an abject failure at everything it tried, from casting to execution, to something which is undone by one unwise narrative twist too many and cheap-looking effects. Clearly the director improved in all the ways that mattered, making this worth a look.
SCARED STIFF IS OUT NOW ON ARROW VIDEO BLU-RAY
CLICK IMAGE BELOW TO BUY SCARED STIFF DIRECT FROM ARROW FILM
