Cameron's Closet

"Cameron's Closet" is a bit of a relic and time capsule for a much simpler time in my eyes. It was a staple of many a late-night horror- movie marathon and subject of numerous Friday-night rentals at the local Video King when I was growing up in the early 90's. And of the handful of people who I know that have seen the film... that seems to be the common trend.

It's one of those late-80's horror features that frankly fell off the map when Video Stores fell out of vogue and streaming took over during the past ten years. Its entire life seemingly spent as one of those lost, faded video-cassettes that you only discover after an hour of picking through video-shelves at your rental store of choice.

So it was a bit of a surprise finding it uploaded online not too long ago. Excited to relive a childhood "classic" that I had "discovered" in the video-store and rented over and over again, I clicked the play button, sat back...

...and was pretty underwhelmed.

While it does indeed have a fair share of thrills and chills, director Armand Mastroianni and writer Gary Brandner (creator of the "Howling" franchise) are never able to build the film up beyond the level of mediocrity, rendering it a generally ineffective tale. And while it may be a fun treat to revisit for the sake of nostalgia for 80's and 90's kids who are now all grown up, it's definitely best to understand that this is most certainly a "nostalgia goggles" affair. There's nothing here that hasn't been done far better in other far better films before.

The film is based on 10-year-old Cameron Lansing (Scott Curtis), a boy with latent telekinetic and pyschic abilities. After his research scientist father is killed in a grisly "accident", he is sent to live with his mother and her boyfriend. However, a series of twisted and gruesome deaths begin to surround the child, and it quickly becomes apparent that demonic forces are at play, who wish to get their hands on the boy for their own devious purposes...

When it's at its best, the film does competently deliver some satisfyingly chilling thrills and jumps. One particular stand-out scene involving a ghostly re-animated man with an inhumanly large smile still sends shivers down my bones. And there is a lot of fun to be had with the good, old-fashioned 80's practical creature and gore effects on display. Especially as they came courtesy the same genius that also created the animatronics in films like Spielberg's "E.T." and the titular "Alien" in the Ridley Scott classic. But it's at the service of a relatively cliché and standard (even at times sub-standard) storyline with forgettable characters and ho-hum development.

Perhaps the harshest thing I could say is that outside of the title, I didn't remember much about the film from my childhood. And in trying to write this review not that long after having re-watched it... I'm straining to think of much to say in regards to it. Either good or bad. It's a wholly mediocre film that's just watchable enough to kill some time on a rainy afternoon, but you'll also forget it within a week.

And so, I'm giving it a slightly under-average 4 out of 10. Mainly for the few effective moments and some creative scenes that take advantage of the promising premise. This is one of the few horror films that I honestly wouldn't see being remade... It's got a good idea behind it. But the film as-is just isn't particularly special.

My review was written in April 1989 after a Midtown Manhattan screening.

"Cameron's Closet" is an ambitious but very disappointing horror film. Pic arrived tardily in Manhattan theaters months after its poster went up in subway displays, just in time for its appearance in video stores.

Attempt at a minor league "Exorcist" on a puny budget is a mistake. Levitation and other effects are merely okay and the pic lacks the scope of a horror epic. Gary ("The Howling") Brandner merely has fashioned a convoluted tale of a monster in the closet of little boy Cameron (Scott Curtis).

The kid has been experimented upon (a la Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom") by his dad Tab Hunter, combining psychokinesis with demonology to unleash a monster (a demon worshipped by the Mayans, no less).

Hunter exits early, killed by the demon, and mains tory psychically (and unconvincingly) links Cameon with the police detective (Cotter smith) assigned coincidentally o the serial murder caused by the hellish critter. Smith's real-life mate, Mel Harris of tv's "thirtysomething", is cast as a psychiatrist treating both Curtis and Smith (!), latter suffering from blackouts caused by the demon.

Not helped by flat lighting of interiors and dullish Armand Mastroianni direction, pic plods to several confrontations with the monster, poorly executed by Carlo Rambaldi to look like Batman wearing his cowl. An extraneous near-incest scene is pointlessly thrown in near the end like an audience wakeup call.

Harris adds plenty of class to the proceedings, while Smith is bland and little Curti merely competent. Chuck McCann scores in a non-comedic role as a boozing ex-scientist.

Armand Mastroianni("Blood Wedding","Distortions")directs this slightly gruesome horror film about young boy named Cameron who has telekinetic powers.When his father and a psychiatrist run experiments on him,they unknowingly release an Aztec demon from hell who makes his home in Cameron's bedroom closet.As the demon eliminates all the adults one by one,Cameron realizes that he alone possesses the ability to defeat him."Cameron's Closet" is a pretty mediocre and bland horror flick.Still there are at least four very violent and gory scenes,in which certain characters die for no real reason.The monster from Carlo Rambaldi,who helped build the monster for "Alien",is basically a head which isn't the least bit menacing.The acting is decent,but the storyline is completely predictable.Overall,If you are a rabid horror fan like I am give it a look.6 out of 10.

As 80's horror flicks go Cameron's Closet is much better than most. The acting is decent, the effects are quite good and the death scenes are well shot. What more can you ask for? The monster is quite cheesy and you don't get to see much of him, but it somehow works. There's a few nice death scenes which are actually more gory than a lot of 80's horror flicks. I do think things started to slip a bit towards the end, and the ending itself wasn't too amazing.

Cameron's Closet is by no means an essential watch for horror fans, but if you come across a cheap copy you can't go wrong. It's decent entertainment for one night.

I thought this movie was that one with the little boy who lost his father and featured a weird puppet, but that one was Making Contact I think. I am sure I saw this film back in the day, but other than Cameron asking if he could play with the doll and a few other scenes my mind was drawing a blank as I watched it recently. It was not too bad, the problem is that it has moments where it is genuinely creepy and totally a R rated horror; however, too many times it devolves into a rather tame film that spends an awful lot of time introducing new characters. Seriously, I was having a hard time keeping up at first!

The story, Cameron is a special boy whose father trained to use numerous psychic and telekinetic powers. Unfortunately, he trained his son too good and it costs the father his life. Cameron goes to leave with his mother and her boyfriend and then flashes to a cop who I thought was the boyfriend, but isn't, the cop is sent to a shrink who I thought was the mom which is how things get interconnected, but no, she is a different character, boyfriend killed and here comes a brother! Meanwhile, a demon begins to kill people and there are some really cool effects and it all boils down to an accidental demon summoning!

The cast is pretty good, though no one I recognize other than Tab Hunter as the father. Still, they seemed to know what they were doing, my guess I probably have seen them before in other horror films. They had that horror film vibe to them. The effects are good, but not all that many, too often the film is just the cop and kid bonding, which makes no sense seeing as how the two have no real connection before the death of the actor boyfriend.

It had its moments and was interesting to watch, I will say it is better than that Making Contact film. That one had the lamest endings ever featuring killer burgers and Vader. This one's climatic battle could have been a bit better too. The demon appears to be a hairless cat and since it scratches and knocks things over that is probably what it is.