771 Puppet Master (1989 )

 This  film  went  straight  to  video  but  became  so  popular  it  established  a  franchise You  can see  why there  were  doubts  about  its  viability  for  the  cinema. The  first  half  hour  tests  your  patience  as  you  haven't got a clue what's  going  on  but  it  then settles into a  superior haunted house movie  with a twist. It could do with a more  personable  lead  than heavy-browed Paul Le Mat as  Alex   and  his  hideous  mullet but it's not bad  otherwise.

Irene Miracle ( as Dana)

Sex : Dana propositions Alex but he turns her down 

Death : Dana has her throat cut by the Blade puppet

Irene was born in Oklahoma  but  first  appeared in Italian cinema in the mid seventies. She is best known for her role as Brad Davis's  girlfriend in "Midnight Express". She  appeared to have retired in 1996 but  reappeared in a horror  film in 2024.

Robin Frates ( as Megan )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  was  Robin's  scond  film.  Although she  had  a  respectable career n  film and TV  up to 2002, little is known about her.

Kathryn O'Reilly ( as Carissa )

Sex : Carissa has sex with her boyfriend as a psychic experiment

Death : The Driller puppet drills into her brain 

Barbara Crampton ( as Woman at Carnival )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  brief cameo  in a largely irrelevant scene  is  a  strange choice by Barbara.

770 A Nightmare On Elm St 5 : The Dream Child (1989 )

 This  fifth  instalment of  the  Elm St  Franchise endeavours  to introduce some more adult  themes  and provide a bit more back story to Freddie  with  sporadic  success. Alice from the last  film  returns now  pregnant  and  finds that Freddie is  infiltrating her world through her unborn son. This time round , Freddie's  mother is  the  key  to  defeating  him. Fans  didn't like  it  much and  the  ending's  muddled  but  most  of  it's  watchable  enough.

Lisa Willcox ( as Alice )

Sex : Alice has sex with her boyfriend

Death : Survives

Lisa  returned from the first film.  For her nude scenes  she  used both a body double and (sometimes visible)  swimsuit.

Kelly Jo Minter ( as Yvonne )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Kelly Jo  was born in Trenton and first appeared on TV in the mid-eighties as a teenager. She has made  a  fair  few  films  but  usually  in  bit parts. She  was  married to singer Georgio and co-produced his film "Tapped Out". Since 2004 she has developed a successful handbag design business and has only made a  couple of screen appearances.

Erika Anderson ( as Greta )

Sex : No

Death : Freddie forces her to eat herself to death

Erika was a former model making her film debut . Two  years  later she played the  titular role in a forgotten Nicholas Cage film, "Zandalee" but she was unable  to  capitalise on it  and  her  acting  career was over by 2000.

Beatrice Boepple ( as Amanda Krueger)

Sex : Raped by inmates ata a mental asylum

Death : Commits suicide (off screen)

Beatrice was born in Vermont but spent part of her childhood in Japan. Her acting career looked to have ended in 1992 but  in the last few years she has made a comeback in horror films.

Beth De Patie ( As Anne )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Beth  was a production assistant who took occasonal bit  parts until 1995 when she stepped up to be a production manager.  She seems to have left the film industry in 2009 after working on the remake of "Fame".

Stacey Elliott ( as Girl in Locker )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  was the second of  just three screen appearances for Stacey.

769 Fright Night 2 (1989 )

 Amanda Bearse declined  to  appear  in  this  sequel  and  probably  made  the  right  choice.  Director Tommy  Lee  Wallace  differentiates it from its  prdecessor  by  upping the  comic  element  but  ends  up  with  a  film which  is  neither  funny  nor  scary  with a  quartet of  New  Romantic vampires  tring  to  outcamp  each  other. William  Ragsdale  and  Roddy  McDowall  reprise  their  roles   and  the  film relies  heavily  on  the  skills of  the latter  to  keep  it  afloat . It's still a bit of  a  drag  though.

Traci Lind  ( as  Suzie )

Sex : Suzie has  her  breasts  fondled  in  a car

Death : Survives

Traci was a former  teen model who first appeared on TV in the soap Ryan's Hope  in 1984 aged 16. She broke into films  a  couple of years  later. She  had  supporting roles in The  Handmaid's Tale, Bugsy and The Road To Wellville. In 1996, she  made  allegations of domestic abuse against her former boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed. She  retired the  following  year  citing a desire for privacy.

Julie Carmen ( as Regine )

Sex : Regine  uses her  seductive powerrs to bring men close

Death : Shrivels up then catches fire when exposed to daylight

Julie  was  born  in  New  York  of  Latin  heritage. She   made  her  TV  debut  in  Guiding  Light in  the  late  seventies  while  at  the  same  time  working  as  a  dance  teacher.  In  Film  she  is  probably  best  known  for  In  The  Mouth Of Madness. She  lectures  on  women in film  and  is  also  a  trained  psychotherapist  though  she  hasn't  given  up  acting  yet.

Rochelle  Ashana  ( as  Art Major )

Sex : No

Death : Drained of blood by a vampire

Rochelle is  from California  of  Filippino  heritage. This  was  her first  film  in  a  short  career , the  highlight of  which  was  appearing  with  Jean-Claude Van Damme in Kickboxer. She  retired in 1996  and now has  a  photography  business.

Neith Hunter ( as Young Admirer )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Neith  is  from  San  Francisco and  acted,mainly  in  horror  films, between  1985 and 1989.

 

768 976-Evil ( 1989)

 This  was  Robert "Freddie Krueger" Englund's first  outing  as  a  director and  it's a  curate's egg of a film. He  manages  to  give  the  film  that   distinct  Elm  St  look but fails  to  make sense  of  the  scripy. One  scene  of  a  woman  getting  killed  outside  a  shop  seems  to  have  been placed  completely  at  random.  Stephen Geoffreys plays Hoax, the oldest  school kid since  Rizzo in Grease, a  bullied outsider  who plots revenge against his tormentors with the help of a demon on the end of a phone line. That's simple enough  but the presence of a  cool cousin, Spike, who's big enough to protect him and uses  the line first, a  religious sadist mother , a guy who doesn't know whether he's a cop or a journalist and a teacher's sudden elevation to final girl status make it horribly confused.

Lezlie Deane ( as  Suzie )

Sex : Suzie has sex with  Spike

Death : Bitten by poisonous spiders 

Lezlie  was born in Texas. This  was  her  first film  after a  string of TV appearances. She  went on to appear with Englund in a couple of Elm St projects before putting her acting career on hold to join lesbin pop group Fem2fem in 1993. Wikipedia  currently makes wholly  fictitious claims about UK success for the group. She briefly returned to acting in 1997 then became captain and coach of  a  roller derby team.

Maria Rubell ( as Angela )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  was  the  first  film for  Maria  whose brief  acting career was  coming to an end.

Wendy J Cooke (as Gang girl )

Sex :   She has to do a strip tease for the gang

Death :  Survives ( in the absence of evidence to the contrary)

Wendy was a bit part  actress active  in film and  TV  for  ten years from 1995. Her biggest achievement was a three episode run in The Wonder Years .

Roxanne  Rogers ( as Waitress)

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Roxanne is the sister of actor  Sam Shephard. Her  career apparently  ended  in 1990 after a handful  of  films but  she  unexpectedly  returned to  film in 2013 and is still working.

Mindy Seeger ( as Victim )

Sex : No

Death : Fatally  injured by flying glass

Mindy  was  the  daughter of  director Hal  Seeger. She  was  mainly  active  on TV  where she is best remembered for  playing  Chris in  The  West Wing , after which  she  retired.

767 Leviathan ( 1989 )

 This  science  fiction  horror  movie  got  a  critical  mauling  for its  lack of originality.  It  is  basically  an  underwater amalgamation  of  Alien  and  The Thing  and  has  very  few  surprises   but  nonetheless  it  is well  performed  and  a  solid  monster movie. The  crew  of  an  underwater  mining  operation  discover  a  recently  sunken  ship, go  inside  and  bring something  nasty  back with  them. You  know the  rest.

Amanda  Pays ( as  Williams )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Amanda  signs  off  from  horror  films with  a  very  physical  performance  in  which  she's  frequently  wet  through.

Lisa  Eilbacher ( as  Bowman )

Sex : No

Death : Slashes her  wrists  after  discovering she's infected

Lisa  started  acting as  a  teen and  appeared  in  guest  roles  in many  popular TV  series of  the  seventies ( Gunsmoke, Streets Of San Francisco, The Waltons, Man From Atlantis ). Her  film career was  slower  to  get going  but she made a good  impression in An  Officer And A Gentleman and Beverley Hills Cop. She got  married in 1988 and her appearances became less  frequent  before she  retired  altogether in 1995..

  

766 Kadaicha (1988 )

 Another helping  of  Abo-centric horrror from Australia  as  a  group of  teens  start  getting  picked  off by posssessed animals  after a  residential development  is  built  over  a  graveyard , a la Poltergeist. The  cast  are  attractive but  the film  is  derivative and mediocre.

Zoe Carides  ( as Gail Sorensen )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Zoe  is  from  Sydney and  this  was  her  first  film. She  is  mainly  a  TV  actress in  Australia  and  her  career is  ongoing.

Fiona  Gauntlett  ( as  Fizz )

Sex : No

Death : Drowned  and possibly bitten by a  giant eel

This  was  the  first  film  of  Fiona's very brief acting careeer in the eighties.

Natalie McCurry ( as Tracey )

Sex : Tracey promises her  boyfriend sex at  the weekend but never gets the chance to deliver

Death : Tracey has her throat torn out by a jackal

Natalie  made  her  screen debut  in Sons and Daughters  in 1986  but  is best  remembered as the  female  lead  in  cult  thriller Dead End Drive-In. Her career continued  in  film  and TV until 2004. She  died  of  cancer  in 2014.  

Sarah Dakin ( as Deb )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  is  Sarah's only film role.

Terry Markwell ( as Gloria )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Despite  being  American by birth ,Terry made  her  screen debut in famed Aussie soap Return To Eden in 1986. This  was her first film role. She  is best known for her role in the  revived  Mission Impossible TV series in the late eighties . She disapears after 1997.

 

765 The Dreaming ( 1988 )

 This  Australian chiller can't make  up  its  mind  initially  whether  it's  a  political drama  or a translanted Egyptian curse movie but  in  the  end  it  settles for  being a re-run of The Fog with a strikingly  similar finale. A  young  doctor is disturbed by the  death of an Aboriginal activist  under  her  care, the  trail leading  to  her own  anthropologist  father.

Penny Cook ( as Cathy )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Penny  was  from  Melbourne, This  was  the  first  of  only  two  feature  films  she  made but she  was  successful on  Aussie  TV  with a  big role  in  A  Country  Practice and  stints on E Street  and  Neighbours. She  was  also  active  in  the  theatre. She  died  of  cancer in 2018.

Kristina Nehm ( as  Warindji )

Sex : No

Death : Hacked  to death by a whaler

Kristina  was an Aboriginal actress who had a  brief career in Australian TV and film in the eighties. She  is  credited as an assistant director on  the  mini-series Heartland.