Once again, the bi-yearly fest known as the Hudson Horror Show came around to the town of Poughkeepsie. As is tradition, I got there about an hour early to look at merch. In my conquest, I bought cheap DVD copies of the films Mutant, Futurekill, The Killing of Satan and Redeemer:Son of Satan. I met up with my friends David and Joe, who I normally hang with at this event and we grabbed some popcorn and soda before checking out the first film. The line up this year was I Spit on Your Grave, Deathrace 2000,a mystery movie, The Howling, The Hitcher and Robocop.

I Spit on Your Grave

Before the film played, the host, Chris Alo warned the audience, which did include several teenage girls about how extreme this movie is. For those that don’t know, I Spit on Your Grave is a highly controversial film that is Roger Ebert’s most hated movie of all time. I’d seen this film once before a few years ago after buying it at Wal-Mart.

It’s the story about a young writer named Jennifer who moves from New York City to the country side to work on her novel. During her writing, she’s stalked by a gang of thugs who lust after her and also want to use this lust as the perfect way to get their mentally challenged friend laid. One day while outside on a hammock in her bikini, she is gang raped by the guys and crawls to her house. When she tries to call the cops they find her, rape her again, tear up her book and leave her to die. Two weeks later she is revealed to have not died and goes about getting revenge on these dogs.

While the film is very disturbing it is also very entertaining. The rape scene is one of the most gruesome out there thanks to character development. The ways she gets back at the guys are really fun to watch as these guys deserve everything she gives to them. The film’s lack of score also gives it a really eerie mood.

Death Race 2000

After the intermission came on the film I was mostly here to see, the Roger Corman classic Death Race 2000. The film is a set during a 1970’s look at the future where the world’s most popular sport is a race where contestants race cross country, but unlike traditional racing, the goal is too get as many points as possible before you make it to the finish line. The racers get points by running people over, where the age of the person killed depends on the score they get. Among the racers are then-unknown Martin Cove, David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone.

I had not seen this film since I was around 15 years old, so seeing it again was refreshing. It reminded me how hilarious and over-the-top the film is, and I’d consider it to be Sly’s best film that isn’t Rocky or Rambo. After this was the mystery film, which I won’t reveal, but I will say it was a real treat as it is the best film to involve a box and one of my all time favorites. As great as Robocop, The Howling, and The Hitcher are, I was getting tired and decided to go home after another fun night at Poughkeepsie’s Cinema 8.