Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)

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.

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.

When his parents are tragically killed Billy goes to live with his aunt who appears to be fixated on keeping him with her at all costs. When the aunt kills a man who won't sleep with her the police detective investigating suspect the aunt is protecting Billy who he thinks was having a relationship with Billy.An incredibly dark thriller with some very strange events. Bo Svenson who plays the lead cop on the case has to be one of the most unlikeable characters in horror film history, he is so unpleasantly homophobic/sexist/racist it makes it quite difficult to watch. Susan Tyrrell as the psycho aunt is brilliant and plays her with a truly demented edge, Jimmy McNichol as Billy and Julia Duffy as Julie are also very good. Writing overall is good, the character aunt Cheryl story's come out bit by bit and is always interesting(especially her relationship with Billy) as is the climax, but the detective story is so deliberately offensive it does undermine some of the story. The make-up effects are very good, the opening scene is impressive as is the violent set-pieces at the end. The atmosphere is excellent, the tension mounts and builds to a very strong finale.Not a gory or exploitative horror but a well made and brilliantly put together picture. How this well thought of film was banned as a video nasty and then rejected by the BBFC is astounding, this does deserve a release on DVD it has been on the shelf too long.

We all go mad when we try to be protective with someone we love, but this crazed and sexually disturbed aunt goes too far... Thank God because we get excellent gore and wicked situations.The aunt steals the show and delivers a wicked, violent, raw and obsessive performance. The reason why she's always protective over her niece is because she's sexually attracted to her. Not only sexually but she has "deep feelings for her". That's all you need to know.Although the movie offers great gore it is until the last part of it when the show really begins. The ending is nerve tensing filled with chasing sequences and a good execution to end the nightmare.The video nastie label makes this even a more desirable movie. Watch it and witness a tale of twisted passion.