I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A taxi driver is dangerously obsessed by a horror movie actress. He travels to Cannes to convince her to star in the movie he fantasises he is going to direct. A series of killings start.On the face of it this is one of the many films from the early 80's slasher cycle. However, it's hardly typical of that genre. Sure, it has the usual slasher ingredients – lots of gory violence and lots of semi-nude girls – but overall the tone is quite different. There is a definite comic feel to this one. Much of that is down to lead actor Joe Spinell who plays the deranged taxi driver. Spinell is a good enough actor to make, what could easily be a very unlikable character, sympathetic. His interplay with his mother is also kind of funny and I suppose is a jokey take on the stereotypical mother-fixated psychopaths from these types of movies. Joe's delusional world view is illustrated with segments that blur fantasy and reality. We see him as a ludicrous tuxedoed famous director interspersed with the scenes of his grim reality. All of this stuff gives The Last Horror movie a definite difference from other movies with similar scenarios.The film also stars Caroline Munro as the famous scream queen. And she looks pretty striking with her black and white mane of hair. Interestingly she is making a movie called 'Scream' and this was way before Wes Craven came up with his post-modern slasher. In fact, you could argue that this very film was playing around with a few of the ideas that Craven would use over a decade later to great commercial success. After all, this is a film that playfully points out the conventions of the slasher film while still essentially delivering various methods of bloody murder. What was also pleasing was the way that The Last Horror film winds things up with a pretty decent ending that wasn't obvious. So, all in all, this has to be considered one of the more innovative slasher flicks of the 80's.

I don't know about a film that starts off with a man (Joe Spinell) pleasuring himself in a movie theater as an inflated babe (J'Len Winters) gets electrocuted in a hot tub.This film brings back Spinell and Caroline Munro, who made Maniac two years prior.In this film Vinny (Spinell) is a taxi driver and wannabe director that stalks Jana Bates (Munro) at Cannes trying to get her in his film. Thing is, people around Jana are dying and she is receiving ominous notes. Is it Vinny? Set in Cannes, you can be sure that there is an overabundance of boobage. There are more tatas than blood. Vinney is getting nowhere as his New York cabbie appearance doesn't get him in any doors at Cannes.So the whole film is Vinney trying to get in touch with Jana with the background of a film festival.You've seen enough to know how this is going to end.Good job by Joe Spinell, but there just wasn't enough to keep the interest for a full 87 minutes.

I bought this on DVD from a Poundland for, hey! - a pound. It was re-titled as 'Fanatic'. Actually it was a double bill. Another schlock flick who's title I forget was on the flip side of the disc. So in effect, I got the Spinell picture for 50p. I'd say it was money well spent.This was shot on the hoof at the 1981 Cannes film festival. Joe is a taxi driver who goes there to seek out his idol/wet dream Caroline Munro. Caroline appears with her then real life spouse Judd Hamilton. Husband and wife are both dubbed, and Caroline looks pretty much as she did when she was a hostess on '3-2-1' with Ted Rogers. The film bears little resemblance to the previous Spinell/Munro vehicle, 'Maniac'. That was grim, gory and reprehensible. This is light, silly and incomprehensible.'The last horror film' seemed to receive an inordinate amount of coverage in the British film fantasy magazine 'Starburst' at the time. I can now see why: Spinell appears reading a copy of said periodical. Reciprocal publicity. There are also numerous references to other films, especially Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' (which Joe appeared in). In fact, there is a vaguely interesting blurring of film reality and fantasy and 'real' reality and fantasy throughout. Generally, though, it's a mess. Scenes just seem to rear up out of nowhere. But if you're interested in such things, the footage of Cannes and the general nakedness of the female cast will provide fifty pence's worth of entertainment.There's a nice story on the Spinell documentary included on the Anchor Bay 'Maniac' disc which pertains to the making of this film. The cast and crew were staying at a rather expensive Cannes hotel, and due to the penurious nature of the budget found themselves unable to foot the extravagant bill. Spinell, Winters, Munro and all concerned therefore decided to do a runner in the middle of the night and catch the nearest plane home. Pity they didn't film that little episode and stick it in here along with everything else.Watch out for Joe's verbal sparring with his real life mother Filomena (aka Mary). Pretty funny.

Scream…. but so much better. This film start the inimitable Joe Spinell in a part that only he knows how to deliver. Aspiring filmmaker Vinnie (Spinell) is an obsessive fan of scream queen Jenna Bates (Bond-girl Caroline Muroe) and wants to make his own film, with her as a star. This doesn't quite work out, and he stalks all the way to the Cannes film festival where things go from bad to even worse. This film from 1981 is made on a budget that wouldn't cover the first week's catering on some of the slick so-called Horror movies (i.e.: some teens running around screaming) but is so much better than most of them. The characters are a lot more believable than the stereotypes you see in the mainstream Hollywood so-called horror flicks in Scream and the Bad Guy (with all his good intentions) is much scarier than the ridiculous Freddie in his own much too famous film series. The atmosphere is extremely unsettling, which is enhanced by little things one could easily miss (like a theatre at Cannes advertising to show Cannibal Holocaust - a film you would hardly expect to play at today's Festival). One prophetic scene is saying a lot about the aforementioned Blockbuster Horror movies that Hollywood chunks out. During a press conference the star in the film Jenna Bates is asked if she is at the Cannes Festival to promote her new film. "Yes, and it is called 'Scream', is her answer. 'Now, that is bound to sell a lot of popcorn'. And this is fifteen years before Wes Craven released his ridiculous kiddies-horror - just an example to show where many filmmakers get their inspiration: from TROMA, of course. Highly recommended.