Night of Fear and Inn of the Damned are two of Australia's first horror films. Their director, Terry Bourke, would go on to create this film, a quasi-slasher stalker film that's packed with plenty of weirdness.Gordon Mason is a handyman that's obsessed with Marie Coleby, a young singer who treats everyone around her with snarling contempt. The film starts with what seems like him taking care of her needs, but he really just has a blow up doll that he pretends is her. She treats everyone around her like garbage, but Mason demands an apology from her, unlike everyone else. Later, he spies on her being tied up by a boyfriend.Later that day, he breaks into her apartment, continually plays one of her songs and rapes her, thinking that it's what she wants from what he watched before. Oh yeah - this dude also spends much of the film wandering around in mirrored shades, wearing a speedo and showing off one hell of a porn mustache.After all that, she ends up biting Mason, so he holds her upside down and drowns her in a fish tank. Welcome to Australian film!Mason gets caught by a neighbor, so he kills the man and his dog, too. But the killer had no idea that Marie's sister, Jenny, is coming to visit. She instantly finds Marie's jewels in the fish tank and the neighbor's dead dog. Soon, Mason has transferred his stalkerly affection to her and only two policemen (the younger one being Roger Ward from Mad Max and Turkey Shoot) can save her.What follows are the kind of antics that set Australian films apart: cops being set on fire, dead bodies being hidden in sheds, people being shot over and over, cops trying to drown their suspects and so much more.This film didn't come out in the US until 1986 and has never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray in this country. Is it worth a release? There have certainly been worse films put out. It's cheesy and not a little ridiculous, but it ends up being pretty tense by the end.

"Lady Stay Dead" may be the most inept horror movie I've ever seen.It's the kind of movie where you stop paying attention to whatever's supposed to be happening on screen and start tallying off every mistake the director made.Like when the lady discovers her neighbour's body hanging in his shed - why did the killer move it to such a prominent position? Could it be that the plot wasn't going to continue moving unless she realised he'd been killed?Or what about the scene where the killer and the lady are playing tug of war with a garden tool through a hole in the front door? Cuts from the killer to the lady show they are obviously holding opposite ends of something completely different. The director doesn't even bother to make this appear convincing.The killer, bearded and bespectacled, is the least threatening example of such a man I've ever seen in a movie. He's more like Forrest Gump than Jack the Ripper; indeed, in a scene where he is supposed to be strangling somebody, you can clearly see he only has the gentlest possible grip around her neck.The police that arrive to help her are also among the most useless I've ever seen in a film. At one point a motorcycle mounted policeman rides his bike straight at the killer with no regard to his own safety. Of course he goes flying, but on second thought this may have been the safest option for him: these police are so pathetic with guns I was waiting for the moment when one missed so badly they shot themselves in the face instead. They arrive in pairs with weaponry, and are almost immediately in the same position as the poor young girl, at the killer's total mercy, and you're thinking: don't they have training or something for situations like these? How can a killer this moronic immediately bring two policemen to their knees?Every scene of violence is so badly done you have to guess at what you're supposed to be seeing. There's a rape scene, for example, that looks more like the perpetrator is trying to push a couch into place. He drowns the victim, but at one point she obviously moves inside the bag she's been placed inside. Is this why the movie is called "Lady Stay Dead"? Well, no matter, she does "stay dead". The movie forgets about the fact that she is apparently still alive and does nothing with it; she's a corpse in all future scenes.It defies belief that this was made by the same guy who did "Night of Fear" and, especially "Inn of the Damned". It also defies belief that it was made by someone who had ever directed a movie before.

Someone noted (elsewhere) that the theme song is a bit of a stinker within the realm o'guilty pleasure-genre'. I agree, but especially the fact that it keeps coming back over and over and again, does not help in any way, shape or form.Back to LSD (Lady Stay Dead, that is): the 'protagonizing' psycho is not half bad: nice, cooperative, clean, and of course a total whack job when the (fragile female) situation calls for it. The 'story' spirals down rather quickly (and, in a way, surprisingly), and the tension is built up pretty nicely from time to time, as well, even if tempo is lacking just as much. And, unfortunately, really good exploitation scenes are sparse, but what the hey - decent exploitation scenes are good enough.Other than that, some decent acting (nothing to write home about), but the nice settings and the fine camera-work make up a lot. O, and some tasteful tasteless nudity is in here, as well.At least a good 6 out of 10 from yours truly.

I was warned from beforehand that the first half hour of "Lady Stay Dead" would be quite dull and derivative, but I can't say I fully agree with that. True, the concept of misogynistic violence was quite popular around that time, but this film definitely does bath in a strangely uncomfortable and sinister ambiance right from the beginning. There's a creepy guy, with beard and glasses, fondling a life-size mannequin doll to the tunes of a song by his favorite singer/actress Sheena. That's slightly disturbing, to say the least, especially if you know that this same freak is employed by Sheena (who's real name is Marie Coleby) as her gardener and handyman around the house. He – Gordon the pervert, as I'll refer to him as from now – secretly peeps at Marie when she's working out on the beach. He actually digs little holes in the sand to … you know … masturbate! Yeah, Gordon the pervert is quite the sicko! But then Marie yells at him quite mean and Gordon the pervert snaps. He viciously rapes her and barbarically drowns the poor girl by holding her upside down in the fish tank. All this stuff occurs during the first half hour, so how can you even think for one second that "Lady Stay Dead" is a boring film? After his little moment of temporary insanity, Gordon the pervert has to get rid of Marie's body – as well as those of the noisy neighbor and his dog – on the exact same day that her sister Jenny planned to pay an unannounced visit. Only around this time slot, there's a slight dip of boredom in "Lady Stay Dead", as it takes a little too long before Jenny realizes something isn't right around the house, but the pacing automatically repairs itself for a virulent and exciting finale. Jenny eventually locks herself inside the house with Gordon the psycho pervert trying to get in by using all of his gardening tools. "Lady Stay Dead" is a raw and mean-spirited early 80's Aussie shocker with a similar set-up like the American exploitation hits "Maniac" and "Don't Answer the Phone". Basically, these are all very sick thrillers with misogynist killers that are introduced straight from the beginning and containing explicit footage of violence against women. The body count in this film is relatively low, but Gordon the pervert insists on exhibiting the bodies of his victims in various macabre positions. That's quite disturbed enough already, I'd say.Interesting trivia detail for horror buffs: "Lady Stay Dead" comes from writer/director Terry Bourke, almost ten years after he made what is generally considered to be the very first Australian horror movie "Night of Fear".