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.

I thought maybe... maybe this could be good. An early appearance by the Re-Animator (Jeffery Combs); many homage's to old horror movies; the Troma label on the front… this movie could be a gem! I thought wrong.Frightmare is a boring, overplayed, half assed homage to the fright films of yore. The story is an old one, young people breaking into a house, getting drunk, making love, and tampering with things that shouldn't be tampered with. The oft – recycled slasher film formula is used here, this time with a thought to be dead actor named Conrad Radzoff doing the killing. In fact, the performance by the Radzoff's actor Ferdy Mayne is the only redeeming quality of this film. He does the snooty Dracula style character very well. But as for the kids, its not so good, with Combs only having a minimal part.The film lacks entertainment value, and only features one cool character, and one or two scenes that can hold your attention. I do not recommend this film unless you are desperate for something to watch, and this is the only movie left at blockbuster.

Strange horror film from the early '80's that is just bleeding with style, freaky imagery, and atmosphere. Lacking in the blood and gore, but full of imagination. It's too bad that many scenes were shot in complete darkness. I enjoyed this film.It looks as if it were trying to be a modernized take on the old Dracula movies of the '30's and'40's. The horror themed music that is filled with snarling growls that plays through the film sounds as if it were meant for a Halloween haunted house, and thats a good thing. Fog is constantly rolling through each shot, and the characters play their roles straight. This movie gave me a very spooked feeling when I viewed it. Story is about movie obsessed teens who steal the corpse of a recently deceased horror star and are soon bumped off in supernatural ways at the hands of said horror star, who wanders around the Gothic mansion looking like Dracula. Features a creepy possession scene, woman set on fire, floating casket, ripped out tongue, Porky from Porky's, Jeffrey Combs and the guy who directed Ghoulies. As I said, low on blood and gore, but just flowing with creepy imagination. Troma re-released it, and the sound is awful. Three stars.

Not really bad this peculiar mix of teen slasher and 30's horror movie, with good direction, creepy atmosphere, Jeffrey Combs in one of his earliest role, and a very good lead in the role of the old horror star returning from the grave to punish his fans (well, they have stolen his body and made fun of his corpse, so they deserve their fate). To search, find and enjoy