Terror in the Aisles [Blu-ray]

Director: Andrew J. Kuehn, Andrew Kuehn Andrew J. Kuehn

Overview

Director Andrew Kuehn has excerpted brief segments of terror and suspense in a wide variety of horror movies and strung them together with added commentary, as well as some enacted narrative, to create a compilation of cinematic, fright-inducing effects. Donald Pleasance and Nancy Allen provide the commentary on topics such as "sex and terror" (Dressed to Kill), loathsome villains (Nighthawks, Vice Squad), and the occult (Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist). Alfred Hitchcock presents his concepts of how to create suspense in a clip from Alfred Hitchcock: The Men Who Made the Movies, in one of the better segments of this anthology. Horror film buffs may chafe at the selection criteria, the truncated clips, and other scholarly points -- non-specialists will still get an overview of aspects of the genre.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/13/2020
UPC:	0826663211528
Original Release:	1984
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:24:00
Sales rank:	17,830

Special Features

New Interview with actress Nancy Allen; New Interviews with Composer John Beal and Editor Gregory McClatchy; New Audio Commentary with Pop Culture Historian Russell Dyball; Alternate Television Cut (In Standard Definition); Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Donald Pleasence	Actor
Nancy Allen	Actor
Sylvester Stallone	Actor
Jane Fonda	Actor
Jack Nicholson	Actor
Clint Eastwood	Actor
Dustin Hoffman	Actor
Laurence Olivier	Actor
Faye Dunaway	Actor
Michael Caine	Actor
Anthony Perkins	Actor
Jamie Lee Curtis	Actor
Sissy Spacek	Actor
John Hurt	Actor
Deborah Harry	Actor
Doug Timm	Composer
John Beal	Composer

Technical Credits

Margaret Doppelt

Andrew Kuehn	Producer,Director,Director
Margaret Doppelt	Screenwriter
Stephen Netburn	Producer
David Stone	Sound Editor

Editorial Reviews

Though it's not much of a documentary, this compendium of "horror's greatest hits" has a lot more going for it than such later efforts as Boogeymen. Full of excellent, mostly gore-free excerpts from a wide variety of thrillers, slasher flicks, and creature features, Terror in the Aisles was a box-office hit upon its theatrical release, and rightly so. The film's voice-overs, by Halloween star Donald Pleasence and Carrie actress Nancy Allen, add a knowingly campy framework to the assembled frights. The staged scenes of people freaking out in movie theaters give Allen and Pleasence the chance to savor the witty narration, including the creepy tagline: "It's only a movie...but sooner or later you must leave the theater, perhaps alone!" A wonderful, though recycled, interview with Alfred Hitchcock functions as the sole stab at scholarly commentary, but at least it's smartly intercut with an example of the methodology the old master's explaining. Of course, the majority of the fun lies in the clips themselves. It's a lot of fun to watch Hollywood classics such as Klute and Strangers on a Train rub shoulders with indies and obscurities such as Ms. 45, The Phantom of the Paradise, and even Alligator. The excerpts are tantalizing, and only the most obsessive genre buffs will have seen all of the 60-plus assembled films. Of course, those who rush out to view the actual movies may learn in some cases that the clips salvage the only decent scenes from total duds; 1979's When a Stranger Calls comes to mind. Nevertheless, Terror in the Aisles features killer outtakes from so many first-rate movies that it can't help but be as good as the sum of its many enjoyable parts.