Halloween is a holiday of ghosts, monsters and scary movies, but there is an alternative for people who enjoy a bit of horror without peeing on themselves. Campy horror movies offer a mix of murder, madness and tackiness.
But before appreciating the horrible acting, bad special effects and cheesy plot lines of these films, it is important to understand what “campy” really means.
MSN.com defines “campy” as “deliberately and humorously outrageous.” While it is true campy horror flicks are ridiculous, this definition lacks substance.
Dictionary.com outlines “campy” as “providing sophisticated amusement by virtue of having artificially (and vulgarly) mannered or banal or sentimental qualities.” Although this definition is complex, it gives a clearer concept of the term. “Artificially and vulgarly mannered” means fake and smutty, and “banal and sentimental” means obviously dull and overly emotional.
After applying this definition to horror movies of the ’80s, it is obvious the ’80s spawned an endless supply of campy horror movies that still are available, and just as funny, today.
“Prom Night,” released in 1980, kicked off the decade of campy movies. The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis, the Queen of Scream, and Leslie Nielsen.
The movie begins with four devilish kids chasing a little girl through an abandoned schoolhouse yelling, “kill.” They chase the little girl onto a window ledge and she falls to her death.
Six years later the same four kids – Nick, Wendy, Robin and June – involved in the little girl’s death receive horrific phone calls the day of their prom. That night a killer dressed in black is on the loose at Hamilton High and they are the targets.
Although this movie may sound freaky, it is not. With moments like kids chanting, “kill,” disco dancing at the prom and Leslie Nielsen attempting a serious acting role, “Prom Night” brings laughs with a twinge of suspense.
The campiest moment, which falls under the “banal and sentimental” portion of the definition, is the end when Curtis kills the murderer with his own ax, and he turns out to be her brother.
The mid ’80s brought some of the best campy horror movies such as “Return of the Living Dead.”
This sequel to “Night of the Living Dead” takes the brain-eating zombie story to higher levels of cheesiness. When the new worker at a medical lab, Freddy, opens a vat of chemicals used by the army on marijuana plants, the toxins cause dead animals and humans to come alive as zombies.
In one scene, an obviously computer generated dog that’s been cut into pieces comes to life and tries to attack Freddy and his boss.
By far the strangest scene is when Linnea Quigley’s punk character becomes turned on while describing her fantasy of old men eating her flesh bit by bit. Her arousal inspires her to take off all her clothes and run around the cemetery seductively.
Quigley remains butt naked for a while before the corpses fulfill her dream and eat her. “Return of the Living Dead” captures the vulgar part of the definition of campy.
A year after “Return of the Living Dead,” one of the worst horror movies ever made was released in 1986. “Troll” exemplifies the term “campy” with the movie’s outrageous plotline, terrible acting, characters named Harry Potter and Harry Potter, Jr. and hilarious, snot covered trolls.
“Trolls” takes place in an apartment complex threatened by trolls who want to take over of the world. Torok, the head of the trolls, captures the new little girl in the building, Wendy Potter, and uses her body to sneak into the apartments undetected and turn the tenants into trolls. With an extended troll chorus scene while a midget recites “The Faerie Queen,” this movie’s unbelievable existence is sure to make audiences cover their stomachs laughing, rather than covering their eyes in fear.
Capping off campy ’80s horror flicks is the 1988 movie “Waxwork.” The main characters are Mark, played by “Gremlins” legend Zack Galligan, and Sarah, played by Deborah Foreman of “Valley Girl.”
After an unknown wax museum in a ritzy neighborhood opens up, townspeople go missing. And when Zack and Sara’s friends disappear after a visit to the museum, they discover its power to suck visitors into the actual waxwork scenes of vampires, werewolves and other common fright characters.
This movie must have had a tiny budget, because the waxworks obviously were real people who did a bad job of looking still.
The storyline falls under the “artificial” portion of the definition of “campy.” When Mark’s grandfather’s friend comes to his rescue, the movie instantly fulfilled the sentimental characteristic of “campy.”
The final fight scene between the wax figures and really old townspeople is utterly laughable, especially with the old man in a wheelchair flinging a sword.
The list of campy ’80s horror movies goes on and on with other classics such as “Critters,” the “Nightmare on Elm Street” collection, “My Bloody Valentine” and “Killer Klowns from Outer Space.”
For more lists of campy horror movies, GGGG.com offers two top ten listings, “Campy Cut Cool Horror flicks of the ’80s” and “Campy Creepers: 10 Fun Chillers for a Stormy Night.” The lists on the Web site include reviews, synopsis and purchasing information.