The Worst Film Ever

Don't Believe the Hype

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1982) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Billy became an orphan at the age of three when his parents were killed in an accident. He went to live with his Aunt Cheryl (Susan Tyrrell). Fourteen-years after the accident the aunt is still watching and caring for Billy (Jimmy McNichol) but when he starts to show interest in another girl and in moving away it causes the aunt to slowly breakdown into madness.BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER is a film that i had heard about long before I actually got a chance to see it. I had heard some pretty crazy things about the picture but in all honesty, nothing you read can prepare you for what an incredibly strange picture that you're going to see. I've seen a lot of very weird and very surreal movies in my life but there's really not another picture out there like this one. Is that a good thing? Probably so because this thing is just so out there in so many ways.It's hard to label this film but it's certainly not a slasher as some have labeled it. To me it fits in with the "hag" movies from the 1960s like WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? as you've pretty much got an incredibly strange older character who is beyond anything you've ever seen. Tyrrell certainly steals the picture as the bizarre aunt who is constantly pouring out this strange sexuality towards her nephew. The entire performance is just so out there yet it's never over-the-top or campy. It's hard to even say if it's a great or bad performance. It's just so original, so different and so strange that it's hard to believe what you're watching.Another thing that really stands out is the Detective Carlson character played by Bo Svenson. There's a murder that happens early in the picture that Carlson is investigating and his main goal is to pen it on Billy who he think is a homosexual. This character has a certain hatred of gay people that is rather striking to see. Look, I know this type of thing was different in 1982 than it is today but the hatred shown here is still pretty eye-opening and shocking. The way the homophobic attitudes hang throughout the film and play into the story just adds a touch of craziness.For the most part the performances are good. As I said, Tyrrell is just something else. Svenson is excellent in his role as he plays the part extremely tough and unlikeable. You've got a nice performance by Julia Duffy as the girlfriend and McNichol is good in his role as the adult Billy. Britt Leach adds good support as does Steve Eastin. You'll also notice Bill Paxton in an early role. As weird as this movie is, there's no question that there are some major flaws with the picture. The timing isn't all that good and I'd argue that there's not enough tension throughout the picture. The middle portion of the picture also really drags in spots as the story never really progresses as it should. With that being said, BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER is just so strange that it's impossible not to recommend it.

Bill is moving up in the world, he's got 2 separate speaking scenes, including a fight scene where he gets milk poured over his head (I have no idea who anyone in this movie is apart from Bill).Night Warning starts as a thriller, ending up as a slasher horror.The female lead is definitely a source of inspiration for Kathy Bates 9 years later.Watch the 1st 3 minutes. You wont be disappointed.

You've heard the term "they don't make 'em like they used to?" Well, I don't think they EVER made them like Night Warning. This film is in a class all on its own. Part Lifetime movie, part post-Baby Jane psycho biddy camp, part V.C. Andrews, and part slasher flick, Night Warning really is something special.Billy's Aunt Cheryl is a real pain. She always wants him home and doesn't think he should go off to college. She also just killed a repairman and the cops think Billy did it, because he was in a threesome relationship with the repairman and his lover (who happens to be Billy's basketball coach). As the case heats up, Cheryl gets dangerously close to the edge of sanity and everyone around her is about to pay the price.It would be a damn crime to reveal any of the delicious and juicy twists found in Night Warning, so all I'll say is that you'll be shocked and amused more times than you can count. It's one wild ride, especially thanks to Susan Tyrrell's gutsy and deranged performance. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's part Bette Davis in Baby Jane, part Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, and part Piper Laurie in Carrie. She's a force of nature.The new DVD from Code Red has been, thankfully, taken from a nice film print and cleaned up a good deal, so you don't have to suffer with those dark and washed out messes on the VHS releases. Pick up a copy, call your friends over, open a bottle of wine, and enjoy the craziness of Night Warning.

This is a real oddity of a film, dealing with insanity and family madness in the vein of all those '60s shockers starring Bette Davis, such as WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?. This film features a barnstorming central performance from Susan Tyrrell as an absolute nutter of an aunt, who has sexual designs on her own nephew and who bumps off anyone who gets in the way. Tyrrell hams it up and screams and shouts with relish, shearing off her hair at one point to make her look even more wacky; this is an extreme physical performance and as such, Tyrrell is very disturbing in the part. You can't imagine anyone else playing it just like her. Is the actress mad too? You'd think so on the strength of her acting here.The first hour of the plot is very slow and sedate with only a bloody knife murder to recommend it to horror fans (the subsequent blood-on-beast shots, apparently a pathological trigger for psychopaths, gained it a notorious 'video nasty' classification and a subsequent banning in the UK). Director William Asher was more at home with goofy '60s flicks like MUSCLE BEACH PARTY and he seems at home when dealing with small-town American life as he does here. However, the last twenty minutes of the film add a Grand Guignol punch to the proceedings as things become extremely over the top and the film turns into your typical slasher fare. People are stabbed, shot to pieces, impaled on pokers and have their limbs lopped off; there's also a pickled head in a jar which is always a fun plot ingredient for the horror film. Gore fans are sure to get their money's worth in this bloody climax which makes up for the slow-moving first hour.Compared to Susan Tyrrell, the rest of the cast are a little dull; certainly the young male lead seems wooden in comparison. There is one sympathetic male character, a basketball coach played by Steve Eastin, but he's hardly in the movie. B-movie fans may spot Bo Svenson, star of the original WALKING TALL; here he's another enforcer-of-the-law, except this time in the shape of an extremely nasty and homophobic small-town detective. My money's on Svenson as the real villain of the film; at least Tyrrell has madness as an excuse. Film fans may also spot Bill Paxton in a very small role as a bully; hell, this was even before his bit part in THE TERMINATOR! As for the film, well, it certainly packs its punch and delivers a powerful climax; at least it achieves some moments of true horror, and the same can't be said for many an inferior imitator.