PLAY DEAD (aka SATAN'S DOG) (1983) / DEVIL DOG: HOUND OF HELL (1978) MOVIE REVIEWS

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Following the worldwide success of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, theaters were flooded with “animals attack” films, featuring everything from terror bears (Grizzly) to killer whales (Orca) to giant rats (Food of the Gods) and even voracious worms (Squirm). Unsurprisingly, there was also a wave of titles featuring crazed carnivorous canines, everything from Dogs (1976), The Pack, Zoltan: Hound of Dracula, and Day of the Animals (all 1977).

PLAY DEAD (2012) movie review

Play Dead (2012) d. Rupe, Shade / Teller (USA) 

Originating as an off-Broadway production, this superb interactive theatrical mélange of murderous tales and ghoulish sleight of hand keeps audiences giggling even as the hairs rise on the backs of their necks. Todd Robbins is our master of ceremonies in this recorded concert-film version of the show, oozing malevolent charm as he guides us through a half dozen tales of serial killers and macabre practitioners, pulling the occasional unwitting individual from the crowd to assist him. Co-written and directed by Teller (of Penn and Teller), then captured on film by Shade Rupe, this is a fun night of fright.

Fantasia Day 9 (Friday, July 27)

After a slow movie day on Thursday, we stepped it up a notch, taking in six features in addition to an extended interview with the team behind the sterling documentary, My Amityville Horror.

Producer Andrea Adams and writer/director/producer Eric Walter were joined in conversation by special guest Susan Bartell (a therapist who ends up playing a major supporting part in the film) to discuss their exploration of the reputed haunting’s effects on Daniel Lutz, who was 10 years old during the much-discussed/debated haunting.