Writer and director Norman Thaddeus Vane here creates an interesting little horror film that makes the most of its meagre budget. It comes highly recommended to those horror fans that crave atmosphere, because for Vane the atmosphere takes priority over the gore.It's a nice melding of 60s and 80s styles, and gives a juicy lead role to an actor who definitely deserves to be better known: Ferdinand "Ferdy" Mayne. Mayne shows that he had what it took to be a major genre star a la Lee, Price, and Carradine, not that he did too badly for himself, appearing in things like "The Vampire Lovers" and "The Fearless Vampire Killers". He brings dignity and theatricality to his role as Conrad Ragzoff, an egotistical horror star who passes away. Unfortunately, some dopey, foolish film students get it into their heads to make off with his corpse and have some fun. Unfortunate for them, as Conrad's widow Etta (Barbara Pilavin) uses a medium (Nita Talbot) to allow Conrad to come back to "life" to terrorize and brutalize the kids.One thing that really hurts "Frightmare" (alternately titled, appropriately enough, "The Horror Star") is sluggish pacing, but otherwise Vane does a creditable job at building up some tension and menace. The music score, by Jerry Mosely, is especially effective. The deaths aren't terribly imaginative, but they're still entertaining; highlights are a decapitation and a human torch sequence.In addition to capable veterans like Mayne and Talbot, other familiar faces include Leon Askin, as a bitter film director, Luca Bercovici (director of "Ghoulies"), Scott Thomson (a cast member of same), and Chuck "Porky" Mitchell as an investigating detective. Jennifer Starrett, daughter of film director Jack Starrett, is appealing as the character of Meg. But "Frightmare" will definitely be intriguing to the genre fan for featuring an early film appearance by future "Re-Animator" star Jeffrey Combs, who's basically just one of the gang here.This movie is good enough to warrant more attention, and in the end it's hard to resist any film that shows vintage Christopher Lee footage to stand in for the clips from the Conrad Ragzoff filmography. All in all, it offers a fair amount of fun.Seven out of 10.

Legendary hammy and arrogant horror movie star Conrad Radzoff (splendidly played with wicked sardonic aplomb by Ferdy Mayne) dies of a heart attack. A bunch of drama school students steal Radzoff's corpse from its crypt and take it to a rundown mansion so they can party with it. Radzoff comes back to life and picks off the rude youths for desecrating his grave. Writer/director Norman Thaddeus Vane concocts a fresh, original, and even pretty stylish spin on the usual body count premise, offers a neat evocation of the glitzy Hollywood milieu, and does a sturdy job of maintaining a pleasingly misty and spooky ooga-booga atmosphere. The kill set pieces deliver the grisly goods, with a gal being set on fire, a juicy decapitation (the severed head rolls right down the stairs and onto the lawn so a raven can peck away at it!), and another poor lass being crushed with a levitating coffin rating as the definite gruesome highlights. Kudos are also in order for the stellar cast of familiar B-flick faces: Mayne has a deliciously eye-rolling ball with his flashy role, Leon Askin contributes an amusing cameo as bitter washed-up director Wolfgang, Nita Talbot adds some class as flaky psychic medium Mrs. Rohmer, plus there are nice turns by Luca Bercovici as jerky drama student ringleader Saint, Jennifer Starrett as the sweet Meg, Jeffrey Combs as the geeky Stu, and Scott Thomson as the nerdy Bobo. Popping up in cool bits are Chuck "Porky" Mitchell as a detective, Patrick Wright in one of his customary policeman parts, and Tallie Cochrane as a corpse. Joel King's polished cinematography gives the film an attractive glossy look. The moody score by Jerry Mosely likewise hits the shuddery spot. A fun little fright flick.

Frightmare is an interesting attempt to combine the old thirties style horror with eighties slasher. Ferdinand Mayne stars as Conrad Ragzoff, an arrogant old ham horror actor who dies of a stroke. Some of his fans steal his body from his tomb(what fans!) and all heck breaks loose. Mayne is lots of fun, appearing on a special monitor in the tomb and taunting his soon to be victims. The opening parts of the movie are wonderful; showing Conrad's old movies, him taking care of an unlikeable director, etc. The scenes in the old house, where Conrad stalks the kids, are a little more basic, but still entertaining.Jeffery Combs is good, but the movie really belongs to Mayne. He seems to enjoy himself and makes the movie lots of fun. So basically, it's not one of the great horror movies or anything like that, but still well worth seeing for fans of eighties horror.

Look, this movie is obscure, brilliant, and a classic that should sought out by any means necessary. I suppose the powers that be have decided that it will forever be relegated towards the bargin bin; nevertheless, we could only pray for the chance to see this one on DVD. I would say that it even beats the great Phatasm. If you like a dark movie, with plenty of spooky imagery, look for this one and see how an 80s horror movie is suppose to be.