Fiend (1980 — Triskaidekafiles

FIEND

WRITER: Don Dohler

DIRECTOR: Don Dohler

STARRING: Don Leifert as Eric Longfellow

Richard Nelson as Gary Kender

Elaine White as Marsha Kender

George Stover as Dennis Frye

Greg Dohler as Scotty

QUICK CUT: A music teacher moves into a new home, and tries to get along with his neighbours.

THE MORGUE

Gary - A husband in the neighbourhood who is always complaining about his neighbours. Unfortunately, his surly attitude brings him to the attention of the Fiend

Marsha - Gary’s wife, who puts up with his grumpiness because he does seem like a good guy otherwise. She is so out of the loop in the plot.

Eric Longfellow - A new music teacher in town, who is so surly as to make Gary look all smiles and rainbows. He doesn’t get on with anyone, and is very authoritarian.

Dennis Frye - Eric’s assistant at the music academy. Smart, but mousy, and almost honest to a fault, even if he will lie for his boss when the need arises.

TRISK ANALYSIS: Welcome Triskelions! Things are back to abnormal this week, after last review’s extra short runtime. Although I am pleased that I squeezed out a lot from it, but I digress.

Funny story, this was supposed to be the end of the month review, but I goofed and watched it first, and since I already had the notes, decided to roll with it. This changes nothing, this affects nothing, but whoopsie doodle, we're talking Fiend, another movie by Don Dohler, who has quickly become a favourite here at Trisk.

Readers with good memories will remember this was a movie I got with Alien Factor on the same disc, and at the time I lamented not being able to get the Blu of the former movie, because they're pretty expensive. But the good news, I DID get the Blu Ray for Fiend, so there's that.

In fact, the difference is immediately clear, because the Blu-Ray version of the film starts with a text card explaining what a "fiend" is. And considering it gives some of the movie's magic away, I can see why some versions left it off.

They grow them grasshoppers big down in Jersey.

The movie opens as we watch a red spectral form of energy float over a cemetery, and enter one of the graves. Meanwhile, a couple is just hanging out, as the reanimated corpse crawls out of the dirt.

It's not long before the Fiend makes this couple his first victims, both restoring the body's looks and youth in the process.

We jump ahead a month, and to a nearby town called Kingsville. The Fiend arrives, yanks a for sale sign up out of a lawn, and claims the house it was in front of.

You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan

So, he just takes the house? Just bringing the sign inside doesn't mean it's off the market? What about the realtor? How does this work? I guess it was the 70s, and things were different then.

Then it's another jump in time like six months, and we see a woman being dropped off in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure that won't end badly.

As a matter of fact it does, as she bumps into the Fiend, who makes her his latest victim.

The Fiend returns home, and he feeds his cat. Oh! He has a cat?? He can't be THAT bad! ...Okay so dumping the can of cat food onto a paper plate and bashing it with a knife to serve it is a bit weird, but we all have our quirks!

After he feeds Dorian, we watch as the Fiend relaxes, and eventually head into a shrouded alcove in his basement. In there, he has a bunch of photographs, and he attacks one with a knife. Like I said, quirky!

Once the Fiend has dealt with his anger issues, we jump to the movie's ostensible hero, Gary. He's driving home from work, and hears the news of the recent murder.

Following some character stuff with Gary, we learn that the Fiend has taken on the identity of Eric Longfellow, Gary's neighbour, and the head of a local music school. We also meet Longfiendow's assistant, Dennis Frye.

Now, don't you go touching any round things!

You know, sometimes I feel bad that every time George Stover appears in a movie here for Trisk, I go back to the well of jokes because someone in Galaxy Invader weirdly described a ball as a "round thing".

At least this fiend is less science crazed, and more music crazed.

The Fiend calls to let Mr. Frye know he will be late, because he has plans to make another feeding. So, that's one yesterday, one today, the guy is clearly grumpy and impersonable...how has he gone six months without getting caught??

We watch as Longfellow goes in search of his next victim, and it's a decent little bit of moody stalking. He eventually grabs a woman outside her home, and chokes her out with a chain when she tries to run away.

Gary and his wife dutifully react to the murder in the newspaper, to keep this humanized, and not focus solely on the titular character's point of view.

That night, Dennis is going over the books with Longfellow, and his boss tells him he must hurry, he has a private lesson starting soon, and wishes to be left alone.

Unfortunately, Dennis forgets his stuff, and interrupts the Fiend before he's about to kill again. Dude, you JUST ate, and I do not want to make a Chinese food joke.

The horror of music school administration, aiiiieeee!!

Longfellow is very upset and chews out his employee, and it just drives home how irritable this fiend creature is.

Fortunately for the woman who came by for lessons, while he is dealing with Frye, the Fiend sees her boyfriend sitting out in the car, waiting. So he's not getting home delivery tonight.

The Fiend is feeling the need...the need to feed, before he starts to get too rotten again. So he targets a child who lives in the same neighbourhood, and kills her behind his house.

And yes, this will be a crucial mistake. I also do appreciate that even the Fiend takes pause at this, and it looks like he knows this is a bad idea.

Gary and his wife return home just as the ambulance is taking the little girl away, and we learn most people weren't home. The only one in any position to hear or see anything was Longfellow.

And wouldn't you know it? He was busy listening to music on his headphones, and he has his assistant lie to support his alibi!

Our hero doesn't take this well, and starts to put things together, mostly because he just doesn't like his neighbour.

I mean sure, he's not WRONG, but that's always a bit frustrating to see.

This looks like a time to...jump to conclusions!

So, Gary goes to visit the house of the Red Death, and ask a few questions. As angrily as possible. Longfellow plays it cool, and has an answer to everything.

Eventually, Gary asks for a drink, and while Longfellow is upstairs, he pokes around. Gary discovers the stabby photo alcove, and it's all a bit weird, innit?

Also, there's a moment when Dorian hops up and surprises Gary, and he comments about how Longfellow isn't superstituous of black cats. But Dorian is black with white paws, and markings. The superstition doesn't even apply here.

Why don't we see how many lives YOU got, Gary!

Shortly after Gary leaves in a huff, Dennis calls asking why he was asked to lie to the police. He knows a child is dead, and none of this is sitting well. But Longfellow is his typical friendly self and makes it clear to stay quiet, or lose his job.

The next day, the Fiend feeds again, and how is there not dozens of body piled up over the last six months??

But I digress, as this latest attack is interrupted. But the guy who stops the Fiend is no match for his vampiric glowy hands of doom. Once the would be hero is taken care of, there's a lengthy pursuit that eventually leads to the original victim's death.

Meanwhile, Marsha asks Gary if he can pick up a book for some project she's working on with the kids in town, and on the way, he stops to question Dennis. He doesn't change his story, but Frye is not a good liar.

We get some exposition from Gary, who talked to a state trooper friend, about a string of strangulations that started like eight months ago at a cemetery, and go see the start of the film. He then heads outside to enlist the neighbourhood kids in a "see something say something" program.

As he heads home, Gary sees Longfellow return and despite having just eaten TWO people, he looks like hell, with his pallor even worse than usual, and his hair turning grey.

Look, teaching music is a stressful job, okay?!

Later, Longfellow sneaks off into the woods, and one of the boys sees him and follows him. He sees the teacher head into a storm drain, and eventually meet with his assistant.

It looks like Frye's performance review for this quarter isn't going well, as Longfellow decides to terminate his employment...and his employee, as Dennis meets the same fate as everyone else up to this point.

Longfellow heads home, and calls up the school to inform them of Dennis going on an extended trip, as an excuse for his sudden disappearance.

Meanwhile, Gary is going through a book he got from the weird bookstore he had to go to for his wife, and finally learns about fiends, in a stunning bit of coincidence.

This sends our hero off to the cemetery from the beginning of the movie to look around, and he runs into the caretaker. He reveals the dead man had the same name as Longfellow's cat, and he was a music teacher. Dun dun dunnnn!

He also shows Gary the man's obituary, and the photo is the same man who is living next door to him. The plot thinnens.

People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead

Gary returns home, and while he's getting settled in from his roadtrip, the kid who saw the Fiend kill Dennis shows up, and wants to speak to Gary.

But he won't say why to Marsha, and keeps things to himself, and geeze, she is SO far out of the plot loop with this movie. Everyone knows more about what's going on than Marsha does. Everyone keeps telling her they'll tell her what's going on later.

Also, this kid has been popping up throughout the movie, and it is only now, with 15 minutes left to to, that we learn his name is Scotty.

Gary comes downstairs, hears Scotty had something to tell him, and rushes over to the kid's house to find out what he knows.

Son, it's a time we had a talk about the birds and the fiends.

Meanwhile, Marsha gets a call from Mr. Longfellow asking for some help, since he hasn't been felling well. And all that being kept out of the loop is about to hit her hard. This is why you don’t wait to fill people in.

So, with a few minutes left, everything is finally coming to a head. Gary gets the information out of Scotty, while Marsha pays the Fiend a visit.

Marsha lets out a scream, and her husband comes running. He's too late however, as he finds his wife dead on the ground.

The Fiend actually gives Gary credit for figuring things out, and Gary attacks the man for killing his wife. The pair struggle, and under most circumstances, the glowy red hands of doom would likely win out.

However, Scotty is also there, and marks the Fiend good with a sword that was hanging on the wall.

With everything else he's been through, the damage is too much, the body dies, and the Fiendish Force flies off into the cosmos, probably looking for a redhead to possess next.

TRISK ASSESSMENT

Video: The original DVD didn’t look half bad, for a quicky transfer to DVD, but the Blu Ray looks fantastic, for a low budget very indie flick. This are maybe a bit washed out for my liking, but it has a good solid late 70s video feel to it.

Audio: A little soft, but not bad.

Sound Bite: “Incident? When an innocent little girl gets murdered in my own neighbourhood, I consider that to be more than an incident!"

Body Count: Dude was hungry and ate up every person he came across, and I appreciate that.

1 - Four minutes in, and the Fiend glowfists a woman to death

2 - He snaps another woman's neck, a few minutes and several months later

3 - The Fiend claims another victim by hanging her with a chain.

4 - A child becomes the latest victim of the Fiend

5 - The Fiend chokes a man interrupting his latest meal.

6 - He then resumes his regularly scheduled murder.

7 - Dennis gets drained by the Fiend to tie up loose ends.

8 - Marsha gets killed next by the Fiend

9 - Scotty stabs the Fiend good.

Best Corpse: Most of the deaths aren’t much more than choking until the body falls over, so they’re all very samey. But Longfellow’s dead body wins out, with some nice makeup at the end.

Blood Type - C+: Not much blood, but the ‘rotting/decaying’ makeup is really well done, and has some nice touches to it as the film goes on. And I’m giving a little extra for the glowing effects, just cause they’re well done for this budget film, and add just that added touch of a unique visual.

Drink Up! Every time someone says Longfellow

Movie Review: This is definitely one of my favourite Dohler films. I’ve heard it’s not the most popular, because it’s a bit slower paced, and smaller scaled, with fewer monsters, but I dig that. I like the slower pace, spending time with the characters, and even getting to know the villain. It gives it a good vibe, and a slow, methodical nature to it, which works with the stalking. Dohler was great at making these schlocky monster movies, and elevating them to something entertaining without being outright bad. That sad, I feel like it could have used a little more polish, maybe think through some logic a bit more, but overall, this is a solid b movie. Three out of five cats.

Entertainment Value: This is an instance where there isn’t quite something so bad to be entertaining, but Liefert chews scenery nicely as Longfellow, and he has some great presence as the Fiend. It’s very late 70s in tone, and the slower pace doesn’t lend itself to a lot of laughs, but it’s a solid piece of entertainment. Two out of five glowing hands.