After 1980 delivered us four festive fright flicks, the following year we got a respite from the Yuletide horrors - whether we wanted one or not! However in 1982, once again a deranged killer was on the prowl at Christmastime once again in The Dorm That Dripped Blood.
Released somewhat early on 10th September 1982, this low budget slasher was the brainchild of film students at the University of California in LA. Directed by Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow, written by Carpenter and Stacey Giachino, this little movie was very much inspired by the success of Friday 13th, and had the working title The Third Night. Using the university’s cameras and film equipment, the movie itself was shot over the Christmas vacation on the UCLA campus in December 1980, now with the title Death Dorm.
The plot is fairly straightforward, it's the end of term, and one of the dorms on campus has been condemned and is going to be demolished over the Christmas vacation. A small team of students led by Joanne (played by Laurie Lapinski) have stayed on to clear the building of its furniture and effects. However, as I'm sure you have guessed, a mystery killer begins picking them off one by one in a variety of bloody ways…
In many regards this is a typical early slasher movie - it has a seasonal theme, there is a mystery as to who is doing the killing, it was made quick and cheaply, and the acting is of variable quality. However like a great many low budget horror movies, one of the cast would go on to bigger and better things. For, making her screen debut here is Daphne Zuniga, who would go on to star in movies such as The Sure Thing (1985) and Spaceballs (1987) and in hit television shows Melrose Place and One Tree Hill.
Now this little movie managed to get picked up for worldwide distribution, probably thanks to the film industry being terribly keen to find another Friday 13th. However the distributors decided that the title Death Dorm wouldn’t do and instead renamed the movie Pranks. Quite why they thought this was a good title is anyone’s guess - too much eggnog perhaps? Because the plot doesn’t feature any practical jokes, and the title would better fit an April Fool’s Day slasher (and yes, there were a couple of those). Funnily enough the movie performed poorly as Pranks in both the US and the UK, and so it was re-released with yet another title, The Dorm That Dripped Blood.
But what of the movie itself? Well, while the movie sounds like a cookie cutter early slasher, The Dorm That Dripped Blood does have a few tricks up its sleeve that set it apart from the pack. Firstly shooting on location in a down and dirty fashion does give the movie a gritty and grimy feel that is more akin to the rough and raw original Texas Chainsaw Massacre than polished cinematography of Halloween or the expertly staged set pieces of Friday 13th.
Secondly there are the kills. This movie paces out the mayhem very well so you're never too far away from another one. But also the make-up effects done by Matthew W. Mungle - who would go on to work on a plethora of big name movies and TV shows - are way above average. They are inventive, brutal and realistic - which is why the first released cut of the movie in the UK wound up on the video nasties lists, although some swift trimming of the gore did get it out of that particular movie jail.
Also knocking it out of the park is the movie’s score which is way better than you would expect for this sort of low budget production. Here Obrow and Carpenter got very lucky, for the young composer they hired, who had never written for movies before, was none other than Christopher Young, who would go on to write music for movies such as Hellraiser, Swordfish, Entrapment and Sinister.
But the movie’s ace in the hole is the ending, which of course I will not spoil here. However suffice to say a great many reviewers claim that this ending alone elevates the whole movie, and I can attest it still packs a punch even today. And while the festive elements are fairly minimal in this movie, The Dorm That Dripped Blood has more than enough positives - including an excellent drill through the head, gore fans - to compensate for its rough edges.
So then moving on, oddly enough 1983 was to be another fallow year, but seemingly to make up for it, 1984 would bring us two festive fright flicks, one very well known, one rather obscure. Now the first movie is so well known that people often forget it is a Christmas movie. And this isn’t because it is contentiously Christmassy - yes, I’m looking at you Die Hard - for this film is drenched in the festive spirit. There’s snow, decorations galore, and carol singing. The little town in which it is set very deliberately recalls Bedford Falls of festive classic It’s A Wonderful Life. But most importantly of all, the entire plot hinges around an early Christmas present… a Christmas present called Gizmo…
For yes, our next movie is of course Gremlins! Written by Chris Colombus, the script attracted the attention of Steven Spielberg who promptly bought it and assigned Joe Dante to direct. Now I’m sure Gremlins needs no introduction, but it is interesting that people often forget it is a Christmas movie. Now partly that is down to the fact that this movie, the most Christmassy of all the beloved 1980s classics, was released in the US on 8th June 1984… Yes, I know, all those millions of dollars in Hollywood and yet no one can afford a bloody calendar. However in the UK and other European countries it got a far more seasonal release in December.
However the other reason that Gremlins is an overlooked Christmas movie is that while it was a huge box office hit, Joe Dante’s blend of humour and extreme violence has made the movie a little troublesome for television showings. On one hand, little kids love the cute Gizmo, but tend to get a bit traumatised when gremlins get beheaded, microwaved, diced up in a food processor, or melt into goo. Hence while Gremlins has been shown on TV, it has never quite taken its place alongside other enduring telly festive favourites due to these darker elements.
Now other Yuletide horror from 1984 is quite obscure, and possibly rightly so. For this is a British slasher movie called Don’t Open Till Christmas. Released on 19th December, the film was produced by Dick Randall who had made a whole slew of exploitation movies in a variety of genres, however he had a big hit in 1982 with a slasher movie Pieces. In the early 1980s, Randall relocated to London and set about making another slasher film, which would star Shakesperian actor Edmund Purdom, who had appeared in Pieces as the dean. And for reasons I’ve not been able to discover, Purdom also landed the job of directing the movie too.
So then, filming began back in December 1982, but the movie soon ran into trouble, with the producer and director clashing, which resulted in Purdom abruptly leaving the movie. A new director was hired, Derek Ford, but he was fired after two days, leaving editor Ray Selfie to take over the reins. This resulted in rewrites and reshooting many scenes. But then Purdom returned, meaning further reshooting and editing. And eventually Don’t Open Till Christmas finally got finished and released just in time for the festive season, around two years after filming had begun.
As you might expect the resulting film is, if you will pardon the pun, a bloody mess. The pacing and plotting is eccentric to say the least. However it does have a unique gimmick for a Christmas slasher. For instead of a killer in a Santa outfit slaying all and sundry, the plot of this flick has a psychopath offing anyone dressed as Santa, while Scotland Yard attempts to apprehend the mystery maniac.
Now Don’t Open Till Christmas is not a good film, however it is so demented it is a lot of fun. The Santa slayer’s rampage takes us on a tour of the seamier side of London, visiting strip joints and back street bars, and often throws in truly bizarre scenes such as a cameo from the great Caroline Munroe performing a pop song for no readily apparent reason. It’s not unlike going through a Christmas stocking filled up by a complete looney.
However if you think this is the strangest festive fright flick on this list, think again, for we have yet to get to the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise which went to some truly deranged places…
DIRECT DOWNLOAD - Door 13: Do Not Open Until Christmas
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