The Horror Show backdrop
The Horror Show poster

THE HORROR SHOW

1989 • US HMDB
April 28, 1989

Vowing revenge on the detective who apprehended him, serial killer "Meat Cleaver" Max Jenke returns from beyond the grave to launch a whole new reign of terror.

Directors

James Isaac James Isaac

Cast

Lance Henriksen as Detective Lucas McCarthy

Lance Henriksen

Detective Lucas McCarthy

 Brion James as Max Jenke

Brion James

Max Jenke

 Rita Taggart as Donna McCarthy

Rita Taggart

Donna McCarthy

 Dedee Pfeiffer as Bonnie McCarthy

Dedee Pfeiffer

Bonnie McCarthy

 Aron Eisenberg as Scott McCarthy

Aron Eisenberg

Scott McCarthy

 Thom Bray as Peter Campbell

Thom Bray

Peter Campbell

 Matt Clark as Dr. Tower

Matt Clark

Dr. Tower

 David Oliver as Vinnie

David Oliver

Vinnie

 Terry Alexander as Casey

Terry Alexander

Casey

 Lewis Arquette as Lt. Miller

Lewis Arquette

Lt. Miller

 Lawrence Tierney as Warden

Lawrence Tierney

Warden

 Alvy Moore as Chili Salesman

Alvy Moore

Chili Salesman

Zane W. Levitt

Executioner

Stephen A. Henry

Morgue Doctor

 Greg Finley as Tom Ippolito

Greg Finley

Tom Ippolito

 Greg Kean as Delivery Man

Greg Kean

Delivery Man

Meshell Dillon

Little Girl
Fantasy Horror Thriller
👍 👎 🔥 🧻 👑

Comments

Comments (0)
Log in to comment

Crew
Production: Sean S. Cunningham (Producer)
Screenplay: Alan Smithee (Writer) — Leslie Bohem (Writer) — Allyn Warner (Writer)
Music: Harry Manfredini (Original Music Composer)
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg (Director of Photography)

REVIEWS (1)

Marco Castellini •
A psychopathic killer is executed in the electric chair, but instead of dying, he receives new energy from the electric shock and escapes from prison. He immediately goes to the house of the policeman who had arrested him to take revenge on him and his family. The film, produced by Sean Cunnigam (the one from "Friday the 13th" and "The House of Helen"), has had a troubled existence, halfway through filming the Australian director David Blythe abandoned the project and thus the production replaced him with James Isaac, with rather poor results; the protagonist of the film is the star of the TV series "Millennium" Larce Henriksen. Apart from a few good semi-splatter sequences and the decent cast, the film is very little, especially because of a rather unoriginal screenplay.
👍 👎 🔥 🧻 👑

Comments

Comments (0)
Log in to comment

COMMUNITY REVIEWS (1)

Wuchak

Wuchak

6 /10

When electrocuted killers come back

In the late ’80s several movies were made about a violent criminal being executed by electric chair and coming back with a vengeance. “Prison” and “Destroyer” preceded this one by a year and it was followed by “Shocker” six months later and “The First Power” six months after that. I suppose it’s most similar to Wes Craven’s “Shocker,” minus the sense of humor, yet beat it to theaters. Ironically, it heavily borrows from Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” flicks but isn’t anywhere near as effective.

It was originally conceived as the third film in the “House” franchise, however, MGM forced modifications for a fresh beginning with an anticipated new iconic villain; that is, Max Jenke played by Brion James, who hams it up. Hence the name “The Horror Show” for America audiences while it was still called “House III” in other markets.

The first half is quite good with Lance Henriksen as the cop protagonist and lovely Dedee Pfeiffer as his daughter. Regrettably, I found myself getting bored in the second half by the perfunctory storytelling. This is augmented by how reality and a character’s visions are intermixed and so you can’t discern what’s real and what’s not.

The first two “House” flicks are all-around more entertaining, not to mention amusing. A direct-to-video fourth installment would come out in early 1992.

It runs 1h 35m and was shot in Aug-Oct 1988 in Los Angeles, including San Pedro for the power plant sequence.

GRADE: B-/C+

Reviews provided by TMDB