Movie Info
Movie Name: Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell
Genre(s): Documentary/B-Movie/Horror
Release Date(s): September 14, 2010
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
If you can’t trust horror movie recommendations from these guys, whom can you trust?
In a closed theater, a special kind of midnight movie is being shown. Projectionist Mad Ron (Ron Roccia) has assembled the nastiest of nasty horror movie previews, and his audience is the zombies of the towns. With Nick (Nick Pawlow) hosting with his zombie friend Happy Goldsplatt, Mad Ron is getting the zombies riled up with all the blood and guts…and the might not leave hungry.
Directed by Jim Monaco, Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell is a preview clip show. Originally made in 1987 but receiving an official release in 2010, the low-budget film gained a cult following over the years.
When we were young, my friends and I watched horror whenever we could. Not being old enough to rent the films ourselves, if we got a hold of a film, we watched it over and over again. One of our favorite movies was Terror in the Aisles which was a horror clip show which actually got theatrical release. Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell feels like the flipside of Terror in the Aisles (and even cheesier).
The zombies are getting restless
The movie creates a wrap-around plot. The clips are being shown to zombies, and the host gives jokes and some lead in to some of the previews. The acting is embarrassingly bad and the writing is both juvenile and unfunny. There are sex jokes which bomb and just make you feel dirty. You cringe your way through the scripted films and just hope to see more previews.
These previews also aren’t your average previews. The movie dives into grindhouse type pictures which often have multiple titles. The trailers aren’t clean and precise like you often see now on YouTube and it adds to the atmosphere of the films being covered. Many of the films you will have never heard of but some films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre are better known. It does provide a nice blueprint for finding “new” horror films.
Some of this movie will just make your eyes (and ears) bleed…
What is unfortunate but also makes the film watchable is the cringe-worthy nature of the film. It appears like something shot by friends and then passed around by friends (which it largely was). The fact that the movie is now a bit of a cult classic probably wasn’t on the minds of people when they were making it.
Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell isn’t good, but it also really isn’t meant to be good in the theatrical sense. It is supposed to be fun and in that fun you get a sense of nostalgia. You can debate it is worth watching a clip movie, and with the availability of YouTube and other streaming platforms, a younger viewer probably wouldn’t understand the fun of just watching a show of trailers you can’t skip through. I would say if my friend and I had gotten a hold of Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell in 1988, we would have worn the VHS out.
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