1983 frightmare be an odd little film . the director seem to be try to combine the atmosphere of classic 30s/40s style horror movie with the shock factor of the then explode 80 slasher genre . it isn not totally successful ( mostly due to very obvious budgetary restraint and and the less than professional caliber of it cast of young actor ) but it still have it moment and mostly due to the classy performance ( classy than the movie deserves ) by the late german actor ferdinand mayne and who play an age old time horror movie star ( ala vincent price ) name conrad ratzoff . at the beginning of the movie we meet the have be horror star a he shoot a commercial for denture and we quickly learn that ol conrad be a bit of a hoity toity and prima donna jerk off . just when you think he couldn not be any more un likable and the commercial director berates conrad for blow a take for the umpteenth time and the old goat push him off a balcony to his death . nice and huh . conrad then visit some fan at a college campus horror movie club and unfortunately he suffer a heart attack in the middle of his speech to them and eventually end up back at his mansion wait to die . still feisty even at death door and he manage to do away with a despised business associate by smother him with a pillow before he finally kick the bucket himself . conrad be then lay to rest in true hollywood style in a high tech neon tomb with video screen above the casket and which will play personal video message from conrad himself for visitor who enter to pay their respect . it be at this point that the kid from the college horror movie society decide to pay conrad grave an after hour visit and break into the tomb and take his body back home with them for an all night party . ( not exactly my idea of fun and but hey and these be character in an 80 horror film . logic have no place here . ) the college kid spend the evening have dinner with conrad body seat in a place of honor and pose for photo with it and even dance around the room with it and before park conrad and his coffin in the attic and plan to return him to his crypt in the morning . in the meantime and mrs. ratzoff and distraught over the theft of her husband body and have call in a psychic friend to try and reach conrad through a seance . you can pretty much figure out the rest from here . since conrad wasn not a very nice guy in life and it not much of a stretch to assume that he would not be any friendly in death . psychic lady make contact with conrad and he re awakens in predictably tick off fashion and then spend the rest of the movie stroll around the corridor of the student ridiculously huge house and pick off the young grave robber one by one . this be where the movie fall apart . endless scene of teen wander around empty hallway say hello . be anyone there . be intercut with occasional burst of violence ( we do get a pretty gnarly decapitation scene and which be the highlight of the movie ) before the last two survivor finally figure out ( way later than any semi intelligent people would have figure out the same thing . but again and be in an 80 horror film . ) that the only way to stop the mayhem be to get conrad body back to it crypt where it belong . the sluggish pacing be pad out with a lot of weird lighting and dry ice fog effect back by a soundtrack make up almost entirely of sound effect rather than music ( thunder and moan and groan and howl and etc . ) that become severely annoy after a while . i can not really recommend frightmare to anyone who do not grow up watch cheap movie like this on late night cable back in the 80 . modern horror fan will doubtlessly find frightmare incredibly slow moving and goofy . if you come of age in that magical decade and however and you may get a blast of nostalgia from frightmare . fan of jeffrey ( re animator ) comb may also want to check it out and a the future dr. west appear in an early role here a one of the unlucky film student . i will advise the reader to avoid the version of this film on the eastwestdvd label ( pair with roy ward vault of horror and sell at dollar store ) because the print quality be terrible . i be tell the film have get a deluxe release via the fine folk at troma and which seem appropriate . if youre a troma kind of person then frightmare will be right up your alley .