The Last Horror Film

The beautiful practicality of horror films is that they require very few resources:  a cabin in the woods, some fake fog, clever camera angles and a used mask from the sporting goods store and you’re ready to roll.  This isn’t meant as an insult, it’s part of what makes the genre so accessible.  But it’s also what makes The Last Horror Film (1982) such an outlier in the crowded slasher-giallo category.  Shot on location during the 1981 Cannes Film Festival, director David Winters uses the glitz and glamour of the actual event as the backdrop for his Taxi Driver-inspired tale of audience obsession and industry backstabbing.

Reuniting stars Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro from 1980’s Maniac, the film follows Vinny, a deranged New York cabbie and wannabe filmmaker who travels to Cannes to track down his favorite scream queen, Jana Bates. Armed with a camera, delusions of grandeur, and an unhealthy attachment to his mother, Vinny’s pilgrimage quickly turns sinister as members of Jana’s entourage start disappearing one by one. 

Winters leans into the meta setup until the audience isn’t sure what’s staged and what’s happening only inside Vinny’s wacked-out skull.  But there’s so much to look at and listen to – including a soundtrack of ‘80s originals as cool as Kenny Loggins – that the logic of it all is inconsequential. Instead of the seedy authenticity of Maniac, The Last Horror Filmplays like a horror home movie that stumbled onto the world’s most glamorous stage.  Every scene features a nostalgic backdrop of familiar posters and movie marquees – Possession, Excalibur, For Your Eyes Only – or caught on the fly footage of celebrities walking the red carpet.  And Winter’s manages to seamlessly wedge his cast amidst the chaos like a cheap suit at a black-tie event.  The twist at the end is overkill, but then again, so is the entire film.  It’s not quite satire, but a weird one-of-a-kind cinematic prank.  While none of us may ever make it to the south of France, consider this your invite to the afterparty!

Lost to history for a while, Troma’s original DVD in 2009 was followed by a limited edition (and currently out of print) 4K edition from Severin Films that debuted additional scene from a recently discovered 35mm print.  At this point, the best option for anyone that missed out is a new Tromatic Special Edition Blu-ray from the Troma team themselves.  The feature itself looks terrific after the opening credits – which are in French.  But a few of (what I assume to be) the reinstated gore scenes are problematic and well below HD quality.  And, as usual, Troma president Lloyd Kaufman and company appear in several special features that shameless promote themselves in embarrassing fashion.  So hold your hose and buy this one anyway.  It’s a budget friendly version of one of the genre’s most unusual films that doesn’t compromise on quality.