The Horror of Full Moon Films

My first run in with the Full Moon line of films came as a child watching the sci-fi channel one summer day. I was home ill and hoped some scary movie might get me back in good spirits. What I found was a marathon of Puppet Master films. I watched eagerly and in all honesty despite the obvious b-movie stature these films seemed to take pride in I was glued. Each puppet seemed to have a life of it's own and the rich twist were enough to spark a desire to learn more about this Full Moon Films.

I devoured each Puppet Master film with a true hunger for random horror and crazy puppet mayhem. Maybe it was the catchy title or the very cool logo, but something inspired me to learn more about Full Moon. I learned that they released several horror films all of which kind of stuck to the true b-movie approach. Subspecies, Demonic Toys, and of course Puppet Master fueled the way for horror movie fun.

I kind of grew away from my obsession with Full Moon and my passion for horror films from other companies flourished. New Line had Freddy and I was very much a Freddy kid. As time passed I seemingly abandoned my Full Moon passion, but then that faithful day at the video store it all came back.

I was browsing the horror section, as I often did every Tuesday night. Tuesday meant movies were a buck a piece and I was going to be up all night rotting my brain with vampires, zombies, and what ever other ghoulie seemed logical at the time. There sitting by it's lonesome was a film called The Dead Hate The Living. I picked it up and read the back. There nestled like a bedbug in a rug was the classic Full Moon logo.

I had almost forgotten that cloudy image of the moon but now it was all coming back to me like words from a song you just could not remember the day before. I had to have it. While walking along the section I spotted another Full Moon release, Sideshow. That night would be a Full Moon at my house.

The Dead Hate The Living was cheesy, and very much low budget, but I loved every second of it. The story line was so unusual and the zombie characters, Gaunt and Maggot were completely new takes on the genre. Full Moon had caught my attention once again. I felt like a 30 year old who just spotted a He-man figure at a yard sale and had to have it simply to relive that begone childhood memory.

I admit Sideshow was a bit of a let down after watching The Dead Hate The Living but still it was typical b-movie greatness that I had long since come to expect from Full Moon. These guys brought me such amazing characters as Blade, Pinhead, and of course now Maggot and Gaunt. I took the videos back and began scouring the store for more Full Moons that I may have not been aware of. In vain I am afraid I found none. I can say that night I returned to the world of the Puppet Master and got my fix for the moment.

Time had once again made me a bit forgetful of my Full Moon escapades under the cover of night. Suddenly while browsing Amazon for horror movie spoofs I discover two very interesting titles. Gingerdead Man, and Evil Bong. Had Full Moon lost their ever loving mind? Of course I had to check them out so I ordered Evil Bong 1 and 2. That is right there was a sequel, in fact a third one has since been made.

I watched with the glee of a high schooler at prom. Each scene as silly as the last but all the while the attention could not be diverted. I was loving every bit of the film. As a kid my dad loved Cheech and Chong films and thought they were the funniest things going and I would occasionally watch with him. Seeing Tommy Chong come to save the day at the very end of Evil Bong was worth the cost of the film and then some.

I would end up watching Gingerdead Man online and what can one say about Gary Busey playing a pastry gone evil? It was a glorious pile of crap. I know that makes little to no sense but let me explain. The story was actually pretty entertaining but the film was intentionally filmed in the traditional b-movie style that made so many Full Moon films classic to horror fans. The acting was sub par and the effects horrid but the reality is you still could not look away because what you seeing was so unique. That unique quality is what drove the Full Moon line home for most horror fans. They always did the unexpected and they generally did it very well.

It has been several years since I was introduced to Evil Bong and Ginger Dead but I still look at my collection of horror films and smile knowing a large chunk of those titles are Full Moons. Puppet Master, Killjoy and even that Evil Bong are a huge part of my collection. I even have a DVD of The Dead Hate The Living and watch it every chance I get.

Why has Full Moon been so vital to my horror fandom? I often think that maybe I am just as twisted as the creators of this morbid films but more or less I believe it is their sheer lack of fear the film makers have. They approach ideas that seem down right unmakable and turn them into films that any movie fan can enjoy. Puppet Master is a great example of that. They have re birthed the story several times, even shifting the evil puppets into good guys a time or two.

Their horror is more than cheap scares and gruesome effects. It is more emotional. Most people look at killer clowns and see It and the classic Pennywise but Killjoy is equally as terrorfying and much more unstable. Full Moon holds so little back with their films that we actually get great stories, memorable characters and all of this tends to come packaged as a b-movie. Any horror fan worth their salt is going to be all about b-movies.

In conclusion I encourage you to explore some of the Full Moon titles out there. I recently picked up all the Puppet master films, and Killjoy 1 to 3 at Dollar General for 8 bucks. That is amazing if you ask me. Amazon is booming with Full Moon titles fresh for the pickings. I hope that my rambling here may have sparked a little desire to look at Gingerdead Man and think, wow, Gary Busey is crazy. Or perhaps you will check out the Evil Bong and find yourself cheering Tommy Chong on as a hero. For now scare well my friends.