The '80s is quite possibly my favourite decade for horror, with iconic characters, practical effects, and a sense of fun. Of course, they're not all winners. Cameron's Closet is a messy supernatural horror that piles on the silly demonic mumbo jumbo with a disregard for narrative cohesion, as though director Armand Mastroianni expected viewers not to care about a decent story or logic, just so long as he delivered the occasional death scene and a scary monster. This approach might have worked better if the direction was more stylish or if the special effects were a whole lot better, but Mastroianni isn't Argento and FX guy Carlo Rambaldi's work on the film is particularly weak: he might have given us the Xenomorph in Alien and E. T. The extraterrestrial, but he was either having a serious 'off day' with Cameron's Closet, or he didn't have a decent enough budget to work with.
Cameron (Scott Curtis) is a kid with telekinetic powers. He's encouraged to use his ability by his father Owen (Tab Hunter), and scientist Ben Majors (Chuck McCann), but in doing so Cameron unleashes an ancient demon that sets up camp in the boy's closet. After his father is decapitated while poking around Cameron's room, the boy is sent to live with his mother Dory (Kim Lankford) and her boyfriend Bob (Gary Hudson), but the demon follows and kills off anyone who goes near the closet. Cop Sam Talliaferro (Cotter Smith) and psychologist Nora Haley (Mel Harris) investigate the case.
The film delivers dream sequences (so popular after A Nightmare On Elm Street), ridiculous special effects scenes (Cameron dragged up his bedroom wall towards a ceiling fan), and daft deaths (Bob has his eye's burnt out and is thrown out of a window) but it's so random and lifeless that it's hard to remain invested until the end, which sees Sam enter the closet to battle the demon, none of which makes any sense. The best moment comes when Sam's cop friend Pete (Leigh McCloskey) discovers the zombie-like Bob in the closet, the appearance of the grinning, eyeless corpse being an effective scare (although its presence amongst the clothes hangers is never explained).
3.5/10, rounded down to 3 for Rambaldi's dreadful monster.
Cameron (Scott Curtis) is a kid with telekinetic powers. He's encouraged to use his ability by his father Owen (Tab Hunter), and scientist Ben Majors (Chuck McCann), but in doing so Cameron unleashes an ancient demon that sets up camp in the boy's closet. After his father is decapitated while poking around Cameron's room, the boy is sent to live with his mother Dory (Kim Lankford) and her boyfriend Bob (Gary Hudson), but the demon follows and kills off anyone who goes near the closet. Cop Sam Talliaferro (Cotter Smith) and psychologist Nora Haley (Mel Harris) investigate the case.
The film delivers dream sequences (so popular after A Nightmare On Elm Street), ridiculous special effects scenes (Cameron dragged up his bedroom wall towards a ceiling fan), and daft deaths (Bob has his eye's burnt out and is thrown out of a window) but it's so random and lifeless that it's hard to remain invested until the end, which sees Sam enter the closet to battle the demon, none of which makes any sense. The best moment comes when Sam's cop friend Pete (Leigh McCloskey) discovers the zombie-like Bob in the closet, the appearance of the grinning, eyeless corpse being an effective scare (although its presence amongst the clothes hangers is never explained).
3.5/10, rounded down to 3 for Rambaldi's dreadful monster.