Terror in the Aisles


Terror in the Aisles is a 1984 American documentary film about horror films. The film is directed by Andrew J. Kuehn, and hosted by Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen. The original music score is composed by John Beal.

Plot

Director Andrew J. Kuehn has excerpted brief segments of terror and suspense in a wide variety of horror films and strung them together with added commentary, as well as some enacted narrative, to create a compilation of fright-inducing effects. Halloween actor Donald Pleasence and Dressed to Kill star Nancy Allen provide the commentary on topics such as "sex and terror", loathsome villains, "natural terror", the occult and spoofs. In one segment of the anthology, legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock presents his concepts of how to create suspense in a clip from Alfred Hitchcock: Men Who Made The Movies.

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Universal Pictures on October 26, 1984. The film grossed $10,004,817 at the box office.

Reception

of the Chicago Tribune gave the film zero stars out of four, explaining, "Scary movie scenes work best when they're set up by some expository foreplay, which is why this compilation of horrors doesn't really work." Vincent Canby of The New York Times thought the commentary from the hosts was "pretty dumb" and concluded, "Because 'Terror in the Aisles' is composed entirely of climaxes, it has none of its own." Variety called the film "poorly conceived and executed," adding, "Applying the rapid editing and juxtaposition techniques to a feature-length project results in simply ruining many classic film sequences rather than preserving them." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times thought the film was "often fun" but criticized the "cornball, patently phony audience reaction shots." Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "The That's Entertainment of horror movies—in other words, its dexterity at pasting together clips from a selection of scaries, old and new, is not matched by a glimmer of the historical awareness, or even filmic appreciation, that would make the exercise worthwhile."

Home media

The film was released on VHS and CED Videodiscs by MCA Home Video in 1985. On September 13, 2011, the film was released to digital format as a special feature on the 30th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray of Halloween II. On October 15, 2012, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on DVD as part of its Universal Vault Series.
The film's DVD and Blu-ray release is presented in the same 1.85:1 aspect ratio of its original theatrical release, which also cropped any segments from other films that were originally produced using the anamorphic process.

Archival appearances