Seizure (1974)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It's commonly known that Oliver Stone served in Vietnam and that his most acclaimed masterpieces, most notably "Platoon", are based on his own traumatic experiences and the agonizing real-life horror situations that he witnessed over there. Perhaps his Vietnam luggage turned him into one of the greatest directors of all times, but it also must have caused a bit of permanent brain damage, if you ask me! How else would you explain the madness of "Seizure"; his long-feature debut released not that long after he returned from his tour of duty? This is a truly bonkers horror movie, half brilliant and half unendurable, but fascinating and hypnotizing enough to keep you glued to the screen. Jonathan "Barnabas Collins" Frid stars as Edmund Blackstone, a writer suffering from recurring nightmares featuring the villains of the horror story that he's trying to finish. Nothing but a bad case of writer's block, you'd say, but when Edmund and his wife are hosting a party during the weekend and welcome several guests in their lakeside house, the trio of villains literally pops up at the dining room window! They are: the ravishing but deadly Queen of Evil, the black and heavily mutilated giant referred to as Jackal, and the viciously cruel dwarf named Spider. They start killing off the guests, which isn't a bad thing since they are truly horrible people, but poor Edmund can't seem to figure out if they are real or hallucinatory. Debuting director Stone generates a reasonably tense and mysterious atmosphere, and "Seizure" certainly contains a few strong sequences, but the film is overall too dull and far too talkative. Especially Edmund's "reflective" moments, guided by a voiceover, are immensely long and meaningless, but the Queen of Evil also jibbers too much and even the dwarf would have been far more petrifying if he shut his mouth a little more! As mentioned already, the supportive characters are downright nasty. You often see in horror movies that an alleged group of friends doesn't get along, but these people here are the most arrogant, selfish, treacherous and despicable trolls I've ever seen! There's not a lot of gore, obviously, but nevertheless a few efficient shock-moments and solid performances from Jonathan Frid, Joseph Sirola and the breathtaking Martine Beswick! The eviler she gets, the sexier she becomes! The finale is logical and effectively abrupt, but not exactly original. There's a certain horror milestone from 1962 that ended with a similar twist already.

I remember viewing this many years ago on video and loved it and now recently I came across this title again and gave it another viewing and again enjoyed it. Given the fact that this was made by a well known director Oliver Stone, you'd think that this movie would be better known, its shame that it isn't because I would love to own this movie on DVD.The set a writer Edmund is having a weekend get together with family and friends, then three of the characters he created in his mind have somehow come to life, an evil queen, a dwarf and a scarred executioner have gate crashed the party and have taken the group hostage and are forced through a series of strange tests so that by sunrise only one of them will be left, just one.This isn't your typical stalk and slash feature, as some of the deaths are really strange and plus some of the stuff don't quite make sense, but in my opinion that's all part of this movie's charm, and okay I wouldn't say that this movie's to everyone's taste, but the gritty realism of the situation does send you an uneasy feeling inside. There are several scenes that are strange but fun, like the knife fight between the main man and the trophy wife was a hoot, and when 5 of the characters are forced to race each other which were nerve racking.I also loved the quirky arrangement of characters, which makes the whole thing more interesting, the main star Edmund is played very well by Jonathon Frid and his wife Nicole also played very well by Christina Pickles (Ross's mom from Friends), nice to see her in her younger days, and see her in something different, very likable, Roger De Koven as Serge was also decent as was the loopy wife Eunice (Anna Meecham) who I would have liked to have seen more off as she was fun and the tragic outcome of what happens to her was quite moving. But the millionaire and his wife stole the show for me, Joe Sirola was outrageous as the pervy millionaire who hates his trophy wife and Mary Wornovo was also a highlight, especially with they're banter which I found great.The movie is acted well by the cast Martine Bestwick clearly steals the show as the evil queen balancing out nicely with her beauty and then deadly at the drop of a hat and stealing every scene she's in and convincingly commanding authority from the terrified guests. Spider the dwarf (Henry Villechaize) was also very good and was brilliant when he jumps through the window and starts attacking the guests which was a highlight of this movie and no one should dismiss because of his size, he's just as convincing as the other 2 and finally Jackal the axe man, stone silent and looks scary and terrify you even when he just stands there. Stone smartly keeps the invaders rarely glimpsed until the suspense is heightened to its fullest extent. All in all Seizure is a decent movie, okay does have a few flaws and it does cut away from the bloody stuff, but I enjoyed it.

This is the type of movie that's just barely involving enough for one viewing, but I don't think I could stand to watch it again. It looks and plays like a mid-Seventies TV movie, only with some gratuitous sex and violence thrown in.I agree with several previous posters -- Herve Villechaize is NOT very menacing, and at times even comes off as unintended comedy. At least the other two villains make up for that. Also, it was jolting to see Jonathan Frid is such a pedestrian role, which definitely under-utilized his enormous talents.But I think the basic problem with "Seizure" is in the storyline. The evil trio that are conjured up from Frid's mind are seen too early and too often. They appear to everyone at once, and announce their (murky) plans too early in the picture. In fact, Stone takes this idea and literally shoves it in the viewer's face, with a series of challenges for the guests; challenges that it doesn't seem like they have any chance of winning, anyway. How much more effective would have been keeping the evil ones in the shadows, preying on each house guest in turn, sowing confusion and doubt among the remaining house guests, who don't know who or what is causing the carnage. By having the trio appear early on, to all the "assembled guests", and announcing their plan (confusing as that plan is), much potential for tension and suspense are lost.Also, a more gradual appearance of the evil ones would indicate Frid is slowing losing control of his subconscious. To have Frid subconsciously conjure up these baddies, because he's got hidden grudges against his wife and friends, would have been a far more logical plot device. Instead of having Frid play an intended victim from the get-go, it would have worked better to have him slowing becoming helpless to control the menace he's created, with mixed feelings of guilt and satisfaction as his shallow, superficial friends are killed off. The plot Stone offers up is confusing as to the origins and, most importantly, the motivations of the evil trio, and never gives any explanation why Frid, from whose mind they came from, can exercise absolutely no control over them. Confusing is the word that best sums up the whole picture, and the end feels like a total cheat. Better to have some great showdown in which Frid is finally able to banish the creations of his own tormented mind.Oliver Stone has done some notable work in his career, but sadly "Seizure" is not among them.

I enjoyed Oliver Stone's debut film of SEIZURE (1974). It was extremely frightening on the count of that I saw it when I was little around the same time as GRIZZLY (1976). The part I enjoyed was Joseph Sirola's head getting chopped off. The film is basically about a horror writer (Jonathan Frid-Dark Shadows) who creates his own horror monsters but they become real his frightening dreams and realisim make it better. The monster hold the writer and his family and friends hostage and kill them. One monster the Queen of Evil is played by Herve Villechaize. One part which is very popular in the 70's was their dog hanging from a tree. the cast and crew handle the film in bizarre ways probaly soon it should be avialble on DVD Hopefully!