Terror in the Aisles

"Terror in the Aisles" is an interesting documentary about horror movies. Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen host this movie which feature scenes from 75 movies that deal with horror, science fiction, suspense, or crime that have scared moviegoers over the years. You get scenes from classic horror films such as "The Exorcist", "Psycho", "Halloween", and "Rosemary's Baby"; sci-fi flicks such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "The Thing", and "Alien"; crime pictures such as "Nighthawks", and "Vice Squad"; and suspense thrillers such as "Wait Until Dark", "The Seduction", and "Klute". You even get to see a little comentary from the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock (scenes from a couple of his films are featured in here). Not a great documentary, but a good one.

*** (out of four)

Terror in the Aisles is essentially just a clip show of showcasing the many highlights of horror Cinema from the 1930s up to the films time period of 1984. There's quite a wide variety shown & some are even broken down into topics such as satanic occult films & the dangers of sex in horror movies. Beyond that there's nothing really to the movie than to just enjoy a montage of random scenes. One bad thing though is that a lot of the climaxes from the films shown are spoiled and that really hurts the audience who's never seen those yet. Not to mention some films shown like Strangers on a Train and Klute feel pretty out of place here. You do at least get Donald Pleasence narrating through the segments & combining that with the cheesy and phony reactions from the film's theater goers it makes for a solid enjoyable watch.

"Terror In The Aisles" is not a definitive compilation film of clips from terror movies,but it is still good.

It contains a lot of interesting clips from movies,many of which are often famous terror movies.

The film,however,has two main difficulties.

One,the narration by Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen rings flat. two,as famous as the different scenes from the movies mentioned often are,THEY ARE NOT SCARY out of the context of the original films that they are from.

Almost anyone who has seen most of or all of the movies that these film clips are from will have a lot of fun recognizing what scenes are from what movies,especially before the names of those movies are mentioned in the closing credits to this film.

Overall,"Terror In The Aisles" is a good movie,but it DOES HAVE ITS LIMITATIONS.

I give this movie a rating of 6/10.

I had a lot of fun watching 'Terror in the Aisles,' despite its shortcomings. This has nothing to say about horror movies; its narration by Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen is just patter designed to lead us into the next clip or montage. Unless you're bowled over by revelations like "scary movies tap into your childhood fears," or the news that special effects used to be primitive but are now more advanced, you're going to get nothing out of this as a documentary.

But the way in which various scenes are cut together is entertaining. Sometimes there are extended segments in which two or three films are intercut at length, leading to climaxes in which, for instance, 'Ms. 45' ends up taking out the killer from 'Klute.' You'll get a quick idea of the plots of several films, even enough to get caught up in them a little (it's funny how effective the first twenty-odd minutes of 'When a Stranger Calls' still are, even broken up and spread across an hour and a half). Other parts have no narrative at all, with a dozen different films cut together for a montage of horror-type things happening, but it sure looks neat. Occasionally this remembers it's supposed to be a documentary and we'll see Leatherface, Damien, Bruno Antony and Baby Jane go across the screen as Pleasence notes that great movie villains range in appearance.

What does it add up to? This was made by a company that normally specializes in movie trailers, and they don't seem to have changed their approach at all to make this film: it's a feature-length mashup, all cutting technique and big moments. If you're familiar with most of these movies it will be a snappily edited trip down memory lane; if you're not but wish you were, it'll be a pretty good advertisement (although, maddeningly, it doesn't tell you which clip comes from what). I'm a real horror nut, especially for the 1960s-to-early-1980s period this spends most of its time on, and I enjoyed it.

Another one of my favourite VHS rentals as a kid was Terror in the Aisles. Essentially a compilation of clips from horror movies, this is That's Entertainment for weirdos. And it works beautifully.

A major reason why this works is the sheer breadth of the films that are used from the old to the new, the well known to the obscure. There are also films used that aren't strictly horror movies but are still examples of how suspense can be brilliantly generated in a film (Midnight Express, Night Hawks).

This film was also extremely popular in the UK as it contained clips from movies that were either banned by the BBFC (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) or discreetly removed from video shelves by them (The Exorcist).

Another masterstroke by the movie are the links that involve horror royalty Donald Pleasance and Nancy Allen in a cinema pontificating on horror tropes and what makes them work. These sequences are priceless. Look out for a young Angel Salazar as a 'feature moviegoer'.

Themes such as the villain and the victim/Final Girl are examined with the respective appropriate clips being used to illustrate the filmmakers points. Theres also a lesson in suspense by the master himself, Mr Alfred Hitchcock.

This is a great compilation for either the young horror hound looking for new thrills or the seasoned purveyor of all things cinematically depraved. I never thought this film would see the light of day because of the logistical nightmare associated with a compilation like this and rights issues. I'm very glad to say that I was wrong. A few years back Universal released Halloween 2 (1981) on Blu ray with Terror in the Aisles as one of the bonus features. An essential purchase.