Continuing my run of watching horror movies in October for the Halloween season, I was curious to see Nightmare Beach (1988) aka Welcome To Spring Break on the basis of its memorable poster painted by Renato Casaro. It’s also intriguing for how the film feels both like a giallo (an American giallo at that) and a slasher movie. Who directed it has been in dispute from Umberto Lenzi (the Italian director behind Spasmo and Nightmare City) working on it to screenwriter Harry Kirkpatrick credited as James Justice who apparently took over when Lenzi left the project. The result is that there is an Italian-American genre infusion, shot on location at Miami but worked on by key Italian crew members. The plot: it’s Spring Break, and the streets and beaches are swarming with young people ready to party. But at night a leather clad, motorcycle-helmet wearing psycho (the giallo influence clear in that mysterious look) cruises around the streets, grabbing jerks and babes to electrocute to the point where their heads turn into flammable plastic moulds. Could it be the resurrected spirit of a motorcycle gang leader who was convicted and electrocuted for murder in the opening scene (and whose name is Diablo)? It’s up to a sensitive jock (Nicholas de Toth) and a bar tending babe (Sarah Buxton) – the sister of the woman murdered by the bike gang leader – to investigate Scooby Doo style. All the while genre stalwarts such as John Saxon (as the surly police chief) and Michael Parks (as the alcoholic doctor) bring their mighty talents to ground this genre trashfest. The true nightmare is the high intensity of 1980s junk culture – spring break, heavy metal, wet t-shirt contests, bad taste pranks and gags – on display throughout. Claudio Simonetti from Goblin provides the chugging guitar score, which only comes out occasionally between the wall to wall metal and power ballad tunes on the soundtrack. Trademark nudity and violence abound and there’s also a twist or too that makes Nightmare Beach a satisfying story. I had a fun time. If you’re into trashy giallo or beachside slashers, this is for you. Recommended.
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