Search - Boardinghouse on DVD

Boring House

Desiree | Missouri, USA | 07/19/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"OgeeeezGAWWwd!! Wow, this sucks the worse thing it could find. Best way to describe this mess...filmed as a cross between a daytime soap and a porn flick, meaning same exact quality of film, "effects" lol, music, directing and "acting". Oh, they threw some piles of red paint or whatever it is everywhere periodically so they could call it horror. Just take my word for it and save your money, it's not even worth one of those bunch of dollars that they have the nerve to ask for this junk. I like all of the Code Red releases of cheesy stuff I've seen, to some degree or another (The Forest, Sole Survivor, The Dead Pit, The Chilling) , but not this heap! I Always thought Sub Rosa Films were the worst, the way they film in that really bad home movie style with very poor or no acting/directing skills...until now. Those of you who have viewed any of those films know just what I mean. Well, this is WORSE."

A Masterpiece of "Bad" 80s Horror! (Focus--white light!)

Lemmy Caution | San Francisco, CA | 02/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I recommend this film to anyone who wants to laugh until their stomach muscles ache. I first saw it, about 10 years ago, at a screening at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, presented by Bill Landis, author of Sleazoid Express, an excellent book on exploitation cinema. "Modern Art" aptly describes this shot-on-video time capsule of awful early-1980s clothing, hairstyles, computer graphics, and extremely cheesy music and pathetic "special effects". The end result?

A masterpiece of horror that defies description. Throw in the most ridiculous script, dialogue and acting outside of an Ed Wood or H.G. Lewis film -- and you're in for a wild ride! We were falling out of our seats at the SF MOMA, shaking with uncontrollable laughter, and dumbstruck with awe that Boardinghouse was ever made, that it actually existed in the same universe as our own.

A recent (shaky) on-camera interview with director Wintergate and star Kalassu is interesting chiefly for their attempt to convince us that the film was meant to be a spoof -- and that their efforts at parody were overruled by the producer, who apparently believe Boardinghouse would work better as a serious horror movie! I'm not sure what to believe.

The transfer quality is about what you'd expect -- high-def digital video cameras didn't exist in 1982 -- and the filmmakers claim this was shot in "broadcast-quality" video, then transferred to 35mm celluloid for theatrical projection. Huh. Most of it still manages to look as if they used consumer-grade equipment typical of the time. This disc was apparently transferred off the original video source material, so it's certainly watchable (as well as laughable).

Don't take my word for it: rent or buy this movie, and you will realize that your life could never be complete until you've seen Boardinghouse -- and stay with it right until the mind-melting, soul-shattering, bloodcurdling finale: FOCUS! WHITE LIGHT! FOCUS! WHITE LIGHT!"

Seperates the the REAL exploitation fans from the tourists..

A. Copp | USA | 11/16/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"BOARDINGHOUSE is the kind of horror movie that is very rarely made anymore and is even more rarely appreciated for the out of touch with reality entertainment it offers. To put the movie in the right perspective the viewer has to watch it in the frame of mind that someone would have encountered it in 1981, stumbling into a Drive-in or grindhouse theater, probably assisted by some mind altering medication and being side swiped by this deviant blast of Northern Californication Occultic blarny. Boardinghouse takes you head, twists off the top and does unmentionable things to your gelatin matter whether you like it or not. The movie ENJOYS making a mess of your brain on a fifty cent budget.

Sure the acting is bad, the videography hurts your eyes at times, and the singing by the star is out of whack. But all of this adds up to the experience of being from an entirely different planet. A planet where a middle aged occult hustler just needs to put an ad in the Sunday paper to get a half dozen babes to move in with him and at the height of his powers can make a bar of soap zoom around the bath tub with his mind! It has boobs, gore and video generated shadow monsters! It was only the second movie ever to be shot on commercial video and released to theaters (the first being Frank Zappa's 200 MOTELS) so for that alone it is a landmark.

It is movies like BOARDINGHOUSE that separate real cult/exploitation film fans from the tourists who just watch the "cool" stuff that Fangoria or Maxim would feel safe recommending. Loving real trash like this alienates people, but once you get past that feeling that is where the real gems are.

The DVD from CODE RED is a labor of love with a riotous commentary and featurettes with the director and star these days."