Double Feature: Texas Chainsaw 2 and Invaders from Mars.

Tobe Hooper went from working with Spielberg to working with Cannon in three years. That's a progression that usually moves in the other direction... But, in 1982 Polterguiest came out under Hooper's direction (and Spielberg's supervision) and in '85 and '86 he cranked out Lifeforce, Texas Chainsaw 2, and Invaders from Mars for Cannon. If you haven't checked out Lifeforce, please do, but in the meantime here's a suggestion for the most polarizing horror double feature from a single director we can think of.

Texas Chainsaw 2:

12 years after making Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tobe Hooper gives us a look into what Leatherface and crew are up to. This stallment in the TCM series could be considered the most playful of the series partially due to Dennis Hoppers crazed as the Texas Marshall and Bill Moseleys as the iconic Chop-Top. Aditionally, the Massacre family competes in chili cook offs, kidnaps radio hosts, and live in an abandoned amusement park. If you ever wondered where Rob Zombie got most of his influence from, this is it!


Invaders from Mars:

An 80's remake of a 50's B-movie, Invaders from Mars successfully retains the fun of campy horror while delivering really great special effects. Basically it's equal part's Invasion of the Body Snatchers and creature movie, with a script co-written by Dan O'Bannon and starring the ever wonderful Karen Black!




Why this makes a good double feature: These two movies cover two very different tones of horror, and are directed by the same guy. It's a pretty great illustration of how wide the genre and fandom can range.

We finally watched the directors cut of Toby Hooper's epic space vampire movie Lfeforce.

 Lifeforce.

This was a movie we'd had in our pile of possibilities for months and last night, our regular movie screening buddies decided, was the night to watch it. Here's what we thought:

It's certianly epic. In some of the final scenes there are literally piles of extras in considerable amounts of makeup lying dead in the streets of London. The sets and locations are fantastically grandiose.  The “weightlessness” of space and some of the acting are Over the Top, only adding to the fun. The pice de resistance? Patrick Stewart... with a full head of hair... kissing a dude.  

The first ten mins of the movie take place in space (where the "weightlessness" seams heavier than normal) where a crew of space dudes finds an abandon space ship with three completely naked humanoid survivors. After some of the other astronauts mysteriously die, our main protagonist astronaut returns to earth with the crystalized, sill naked, humanoid survivors who instantly run amok. Things only get weirder from there...  

Thank you for deciding for the group Hannah, it truly was high time we watched Lifeforce.