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Just what I expected

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Everytime I went to the movie store I saw the cover of the movie and wonder why my dad never rented this movie. Today in 2018 I watched it. Wow, this is a terrible movie!!! If you think it's funny I'm happy there are movies for special people out there.

A certain generation will probably find this spoof of monster and haunted house movies more appealing than today's Scary Movie bunch. Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss (husband and wife real life) inherit creepy house in will, not realizing a book of evil (cue the lightning) is on the shelf in the study, later opened by son Kevin Brando, unleashing monsters from each page! Vampires Jeffrey Tambor and Nancy Lee Andrews are looking to get ahold of that book, while arch nemesis Severn Darden's Van Helsing tries to as well. Even in 1981 the jokes were considered hokey and hit and miss. The title could be misleading as this isn't a slasher spoof like Student Bodies. It has monster rubber suit extras spending most of their time in the kitchen or peeping through windows. You have the television set in the living room only playing Twilight Zone and the front door no longer allowing the family to leave, greeted by stormy wind, fog, and bright light. In fact, the house is infested with fog. No doubt, for me the showstopper has foxy, leggy Kari Michaelsen having her bath intruded upon by the Gillman, chasing her around the house, with her only in a bathrobe. Prentiss is bitten on the throat by Tambor (not seen but the bite and her pallor, along with her change in behavior tell us this for sure), and suffers an attic attack from bats obviously mimicking Tippi Hedren's from The Birds. Benjamin plays the oblivious all-smiles dad, never breaking a sweat or ill at ease at all; it's pure tongue-in-cheek. Derden sends up the Euro monster hunter archetype, with thick accent and heavy take-control bravado...I enjoyed the twist about his ulterior motives when it comes to the book but the duel with Tambor was just a bit too over the top for my tastes. Loved the use of fog with the monsters, although they're ridiculously 50s Z-grade costumes. The family are all in on the joke, complicit in its cheeky handling, just going with it. Maybe this spoof would work ideally as a charming double header with the superior Full Moon High. The severed cop neighbor head gag has to be seen to be believed. Brando is a wide-eyed, spirited kid who has as many moments to shine as his veteran movie parents. To me Michaelsen has some of the best scenes: she does have as much trouble with the pizza delivery guy as the Gillman! Tambor as a vampire alone should be enough to recommend this, and he has good chemistry with Andrews. Many of the jokes are cringe-worthy and come dead on arrival, but the spirit of it all won me over. Good cast helps the material even when it doesn't always work. Monsters include a fishman, antenna-eyed alien monster, and furry ape-like monster... although not the least bit convincing, there's a reach back to times past that work in their favor.

This movie was made as a spoof at a time when it was at about the same quality as what it was spoofing. On other review on this page says that the jokes and costumes are outdated and cheap. Well, maybe if you watch the current horror films. Personally, I prefer the old horror movies, from the black and white to the corny 70's gorror films. This film really does work, but you have to have a certain taste in film and comedy, so it isn't for everyone.If you like Evil Dead, the original Friday the 13th, The Birds or those old, grainy horror films, I suggest that you at least watch it and see if you like it. You won't lose anything and you'll probably get a few laughs out of it. The worst thing about this movie, the one thing that drives me up the wall about it, is that it's usually very hard to find. It's not incredibly popular and it's rather old. Sometimes you can find it from a video retailer or one of those subscription/mail-in DVD dealers, but you're really basing it a bit on luck. As an overall, something to seriously check out, if you can find it. I hope you enjoy it.

A family inherits a creepy old house in which there exists an ancient evil book. When son Billy (Kevin Brando) opens the dusty tome, he unwittingly frees the nasty creatures imprisoned within its pages.I revisited this dreadful spoof horror after over 25 years for one reason only: to see if actress Kari Michaelson, who played the teenage daughter of Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss, was as hot as I seemed to recall.The good news is that my memory hasn't failed me: Michaelson is very yummy, particularly in her bath scene, which proves to be the highlight of the film, not only because it gives viewers the opportunity to have a letch, but also because it actually displays some level of invention (I'm convinced that it must have been the influence for a very similar scene in A Nightmare On Elm Street).Everything else about the film is as bad as I remembered: the script is utter garbage; the comedy is very hit and miss, with the emphasis on miss; the acting is dreadful; and the special effects are extremely amateurish. Admittedly, the approach taken by writer/director Howard R. Cohen and his cast is 'knowingly bad', but that doesn't make proceedings any more fun for the audience: groaning at a crap joke just ain't the same as laughing at a good one!