What are young people in 80s horror movies supposed to do with themselves? All they wanna do is have sex, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and generally party-hearty. Yet there’s always somebody trying to kill them!
In the case of 1989’s “Nightmare Beach“, the killing often occurs via electrocution, which leaves the victims as charred, smoking husks.
I’ll come right out and say it: this movie is a hoot!
The setup is a mix of familiar plots. First, an accused killer from a biker gang, Diablo, is executed by electric chair. Then, thousands of college kids celebrating spring break descend on the sleepy oceanside town Diablo operated in. Next, a mysterious, helmeted motorcycle-riding lunatic shows up and starts killing these libidinous young people. And, get this, it turns out Diablo’s body is missing! Has he risen from the grave to seek vengeance?
The acting is a mix of terrific and atrocious. I knew I’d seen the alcoholic, guilt-ridden doctor before, and it turns out he was the detective in “Wicked” (reviewed here recently). That acclaimed thespian, Michael Parks, was a fave of directors like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith.
John Saxon, star of a million schlocko movies as well as a main character in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series, shines.
But some of these young actors were hilariously bad. There’s a scene when a girl announces that her sister was murdered, and the guy she’s talking to gives her an expression like, “Shucks, that’s a bummer.” (She gets him back though. Later, when he announces that his best friend is buried out in a quarry, she offers a completely unenthusiastic “oh no.“)
The soundtrack is nonstop obscure heavy metal songs, particularly the eighties permutation that was a species of distorted pop metal. Think of the early albums by the band KIX if you are familiar.
The kill scenes are brutal gems of plastic head models catching fire and disintegrating. Particularly ghoulish is a moment when the killer abandons electrocution and uses a flaming gas pipe to incinerate his screaming victim. (Variety is the spice of life.)
“Nightmare Beach” is a pure blast of fun (plus hideous deaths).
