Anguish, 1987

STARRING: Zelda Rubinstein (Mother)

Rubinstein is best known for her role as the diminutive exorcist Tangina in the Poltergeist movies. She has been a popular character actress ever since.

Michael Lerner (John)

Lerner has appeared in many movies and series’ in supporting roles such as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Godzilla, as well as the short-lived Clueless TV series.

PLOT: John is under the control of his mother and kills at her beck and call. Soon we realise that this is just a movie being watched by an audience. A psycho who believes he is John kills off audience members one by one.

Violence, gore, some language, 18/R

THOUGHTS: Apalling! Like most sane people I liked the old lady from Poltergeist so I picked up this obscure title for 50p out of curiosity. This movie is so bad! It’s one of those movies that thinks its clever and really isn’t. I was bored out of my mind and the constant going back and forth from the movie to the 'real' world did me some minor brain damage, I’m sure. In the end we realise it’s just another movie making this an oh-so-clever movie within a movie, within a movie! Genius, I don’t think. The effects are terrible, so is the acting and the storytelling. I was shocked to discover how well liked this is in certain circles.

CAN I BUY IT? Region 1 DVD.