Summer of Fear

Customer Reviews:

Performance of a lifetime by Jeff East.......2006-11-14

Fran Drescher is a hottie but Jeff East steals the show. Those that comment on his hair are just jealous--that's his natural look--no perm added! i suggest people see this movie and I bet they will be overwhelmed with pleasure.

To be more than honest with you..........2006-01-15

I really enjoyed this considering it was in the bargain basement (most of them aren't uusually worth picking up). I was forewarned that the front cover-art had nothing realling to do with the film (ie. skeleton). When I looked at the back of the cover and saw some of the scenes from the film with Linda Blair, I vaguely remembered seeing this years ago on TV.

I finally watched the DVD the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's one of those films that you cannot take seriously, but just treat it as a bit of escapism. While the storyline is totally far-fetched, the acting makes up for it. Lee Purcell was great as the cousin who is nothing but a nasty witch.

This 1978 movie turned out to be an enjoyable afternoon's viewing. Worth a look (just don't take it too seriously).

Gives witches a bad name........2005-09-23

I'd have given it 2 1/2 stars if i could.
A demon mama shows up at Linda Blair's house,seduces her family and friends with magic and it's up to poor Linda to fix it.
The performances were good ,good enough that i found myself yelling stuff like "she stole her bf and you think that it's ok that they still live in the same room, mom???" at the tv.
It could've been better if the witchcraft savvy professor had been given more screen time.
He was a fairly interesting and underutilized character.
Dumbest thing about the movie was all the witchcraft themed stuff.
Wicca aren't evil and they aren't like vampires who can't be seen in photographs.
This movie is worth renting but not buying.

Summer of Fear (1978).......2004-06-27

Entertaining telechiller from Wes Craven starring Linda Blair. Blair plays Rachel, whose cousin Julia (Lee Purcell) comes to live with her and her family at the farm, but macabre events begin to happen and Rachel soon suspects that Julia is practicing witchcraft and voodoo. I wasn't expecting much out of this thriller but in my opinion, it worked very well and was surprisingly scary. Blair does a good job as Rachel and we are with her every step of the way, and Purcell is great as Julia. Wes Craven gives the film a slick, hard look and an impressive atmosphere (this was Craven's first 35mm film), and the script by Glenn M. Benest and Max Keller is riveting and suspenseful. Lois Duncan's acclaimed novel gets a nice little fright of a treatment with this little TV gem.

Fun TV movie!!!.......2004-06-23

When young Julia's (Lee Purcell) parents are killed in a car accident, she moves in with cousin Rachel (Linda Blair) and her family. At first, things are seemingly normal, but Rachel quickly comes to believe that the distant newcomer is a witch who's out to steal her boyfriend, her father, and her new party dress.

The story is based on Louis Duncan's (I Know What You Did Last Summer) well-regarded young adult novel. For Linda Blair, the role marks a transition between her prepubescent "Exorcist" character and the flashy roles she'd play a few years later. In the same way, for director Wes Craven, the film is a huge step away from his early exploitation attempts (Last House on the Left, The Hills have Eyes) and toward mainstream respectability (A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream).

Produced for CBS television in the 70's, as A Stranger in the House, standards and practices at the time didn't allow any gore or extreme violence -- a pair of demonic eyes and a car crash or two is all you're gonna get, so don't expect any more than cheesy 70's PG-13 violence. But comparing Wes Craven's early efforts, Summer of Fear is actually his most accomplished film, at least technically. His first feature shot on 35mm, Fear looks slicker, is generally better acted, and comes from acclaimed source material, which it sticks pretty closely to.

That's not to say Summer of Fear is an undiscovered classic. The film is very campy, and offers plenty of unintentional laughs. Craven's direction is often rough and amateurish, but he shows some flair with background/foreground compositions and even throws in a few classic Craven-ian dream sequences to appease the Elm Street gang. I also like the fun supporting cast, including an appropriately bitchy Lee Purcell as the bad girl, a young Fran Drescher as Blair's best friend, and even Superman himself, Jeff East, complete with a bad perm.

This is a fun film to say the least, recommended for fans of the novel and those anxious to see Craven's Pre-Scream films. Don't expect anything special and you will have a good time. Thank you Artisan, for releasing this forgotten, but never lost, TV movie.

Average customer rating:
Skinned Alive: Skinned Alive/Demon Summer/Midnight Skater/Something to Scream About
Starring: Skinned Alive
Manufacturer: Bci / Eclipse
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0008ENIJS
Release Date: 2005-05-24

Average customer rating:

Ambitious attempt, but doesn't quite get there.

READ THIS IF YOU LIKE NAKED LADIES!!

It ain't momma's cookies

2 for gore

a fine low-budget horror flick

Demon Summer
Starring: Joe Adkins (II) , John Ed Bishop , Andrew Campbell (VIII) , Erin Gannon (II) , and Roza Haidet
Director: Andrew Campbell (VIII)
Manufacturer: Tempe DVD
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Midnight Skater (DVD)

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Splatter Rampage Wrestling

Slime City

ASIN: B000228SI2
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Description

Every small town has secrets. 20 years ago, the small town of Louisville was stunned by the gruesome death of a local teenaged girl. The case was shrouded in mystery and never solved, and the only man who knows the terrible secret of what really happened that night wanders the streets in silence. Two decades later, a group of meddling high school kids with a summer full of time on their hands get too curious about the mystery and inadvertently resurrect the town's demons. Now this sleepy suburb will be forced to remember...evil hides in every town. DEMON SUMMER is a fast-paced, gore-drenched Splatter Rampage classic in the tradition of the cult hit EVIL DEAD series!

Customer Reviews:

Ambitious attempt, but doesn't quite get there........2007-04-13

Demon Summer (Luke and Andrew Campbell, 2003)

After the exceptionally pleasant, and gruesome, surprise that was Midnight Skater, I figured I'd give the Campbell brothers' best-known film, Demon Summer, a shot. I was expecting bad no-budget horror, of course, having been exposed to Campbell flicks previously, but even so, the film surpassed my expectations-- and I don't mean that in a positive way. I didn't hate it as much as the IMDB crowd seem to have, but Midnight Skater this isn't.

In fact, it seems almost as if they looked at Midnight Skater and tried to do everything exactly the opposite. Where the previous film was over the top in every respect, Demon Summer almost seems restrained in everything but the gore (and even that is toned way, way down). The intentional humor is absent, let alone the unintentional humor, and no-budget mayhem does not good straight horror films make. (Judging by my recent horror film viewing, this is a lesson that a whole lot of indie horror directors need to learn, so no points off to the Campbells for it.) The story is straightforward and just keeps going, unlike the surprising complexity (and willingness to veer off into any sort of useless tangent at the drop of a hat) of Midnight Skater-- the most impressive thing about that movie, in my estimation.

I was about to write "were this a big Hollywood production, I'd say the filmmakers were trying to churn out another movie to capitalize on their first unexpected hit." Then I realized that Hollywood has nothing to do with it-- that's exactly what this feels like. I still give the Campbells a lot of respect for throwing caution (and sense) to the wind and mortgaging their souls to make cheap horror films, and I hope someday another movie as good as, or better than, Midnight Skater pops out of Speed Freak Productions. This, however, isn't it. **

READ THIS IF YOU LIKE NAKED LADIES!!.......2005-12-07

I guess my star rating is biased since i was in this film. If you're interested at all in other works from the speedfreaks, check them out at [...]. They just finished up another great horror flick in "The Red Skulls," which doesn't have a national distributor yet, but you can purchase from their website. Also they are in post-production on "Cordoba Nights," which is a comedy/drama in the vein of "Repo Man." Thanks for reading. Sorry about the bogus teaser.

It ain't momma's cookies.......2005-05-26

The low budget horror genere is fill with horrible cookie cutter pictures that are pretty much good only because they are bad....Demon Summer is good for more reasons than that. The story might seem old, the camera work might not seem all that spectacular but the entertainment and laugh factor is very very high. Most people think of a horror movie as all screams. But any true horror fan knows that some of the best horror comes with tons of laughs, the more campy, the more funny, the more gorey, the better. This film provides and then some.

2 for gore.......2005-05-15

The gore was the ONLY reason i gave this 2 stars. The acting sucked, very very low budget filming. It's like it was done with JoBlows video camera. Take some good advice and stay away from this terrible home-made movie. Trust me, i have probably seen amost every horror movie ever made since 1970, and with the exception of Zombie Island, this has got to be one of the worste i have seen.

a fine low-budget horror flick.......2004-09-23

this is an excellent feature from the speedfreakproductions crew! i wasn't planning on writing a review for this movie until i saw the filth in the previous review for it. this movie has a great story line, creative shots and gore and plenty of comic relief. this movie flies straight over the heads of anyone who gives it a bad review. it is low-budget horror, i mean what did you expect?! go back to your cookie-cutter regurgitated hollywood crap if you don't like this and quit complaining. i am not quite sure what the bad reviewers expected. maybe if SFP would have put in some more explosions, car chases, nudity and Ben Affleck they would have liked it more. anyways enough of my rants, this is a great movie and a must have for any fan of indie movies or aspiring filmmakers.

[6 Pack of Horror Flicks BOX SET] Skinned Alive / Jungle Virgin Force / Demon Summer / Midnight Skater / Hell Hole / Something to Scream About

Average customer rating:

[6 Pack of Horror Flicks BOX SET] Skinned Alive / Jungle Virgin Force / Demon Summer / Midnight Skater / Hell Hole / Something to Scream About

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000E4S9E6

DVD:

DVD

DVD