It’s that time again Los Angeles Fright fans!
Sebastian O’Brien and I are giddy with devious excitement over our Friday Night Frights presentation this coming Friday night (midnight at The Cinefamily). We will be presenting an extremely rare big-screen presentation of the early-80’s oddity, The Unseen, directed by Danny Steinmann (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning) and starring Mrs. Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, and the incomparable Sydney Lassick (firing on all cylinders here).
This film is somewhat legendary around the Creature Corner sectors of the CHUD message boards, as it has been notoriously championed by forum demi-god Phil for years. As Phil was instrumental in my own discovery of the special brilliance that is The Unseen, I asked the man himself to help us construct our FNF blurb of power:
A veritable Terrence Malick of schlock, the elusive Danny Steinmann has helmed only a handful of brilliant, crunchy exploitationers in the last few decades: the filthy girl vigilante vehicle Savage Streets, the notorious ‘70s porno High Rise, the strangest Friday the 13th sequel of them all (Part V, the one without Jason in it) and the mighty The Unseen, which contains a hidden secret so whacked that once it’s uncovered, it can never be…well, unseen! A sexy three-woman news crew is forced to spend the night in a spooky old farmhouse owned by an unsavory effeminate innkeeper (the late, so very great Sydney Lassick). Unbeknownst to the ladies, another visitor is lurking in the basement, just itching to say hello! With all the makings of what could’ve been just a routine gutmuncher, this bugged-out cult classic finds ways to deliver much more than genre trappings; forgoing cheap sex and gore, Steinmann instead seeks to delight you with pure old-school frights, before finally rattling your moral core with a taboo-twisting climax as iconic as that of Sleepaway Camp.
Fun fact: the trailer for The Unseen was heavily referenced by Edgar Wright for his Grindhouse contribution, “Don’t.” This is a truly special, sadly forgotten horror gem, and this is quite likely your only chance to ever catch it on the big screen with a crowd. So be there squares!
CONTEST
As always I will be giving away some FREE TICKETS (all with a +1) and one two-person couch to some lucky Chewers. All you need to do is send me an email (wormmiller@gmail.com) with THE UNSEEN in the subject line and tell me the most frightening thing you’ve ever found in a house! It can be a one word response; no need for a whole story, unless you feel it needs context. Make sure to include for full name, and just because you have won in the past doesn’t mean you can’t win again!
FYI: I will only be contacting the winners. But even if you don’t win, I hope to see you laughing and screaming at the show anyway!