Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987 Video) User Reviews

VHS Store Memories

[BaronBl00d · 7/10 · 10 November 2012]

I was surfing Netflix and came across this streaming. Then it occurred to me that I seen this "box cover" before countless times in the video stores in the late 80s and the 90s. Who would not remember such a wonderfully imaged artwork as he was looking through video boxes on shelves. Those were the days. I love streaming, but I do miss those old-fashioned Mom and Pop video stores that were everywhere. Now, you get everything from home. I digress. This offering has a wrap-a-round story of zombies going to a movie theater to watch prevues from Mad Ron the projectionist, Happy a puppet zombie and Nick - the "normal" gut with the bald head and glasses. The zombie shuffle about, bring goodies to eat, take the goodies there at the concession stand to eat, pour blood over popcorn, shuffle about more, and sit down for some gory fun. The dialog between Nick and his Happy puppet is mostly fairly lame but fun nonetheless. The zombie make up is generally good for something like this. The prevues are all entertaining. I was writing down titles of things I must see - many of these I still have not seen. There is a whole host of various horror movie trailers from the 70s primarily though we get some 60s as well. We get some Mario Bava, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and some pretty famous films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas, and we get some lesser known offerings like Torso, Three on a Meathook(I have seen that one), and Africa: Blood and Guts(looks like a very nasty film). There are a few weird and exploitative ones too like the very uplifting Wildcat Women. The Ilsa trailer is very extensive as is the one for Night of the Bloody Apes, and as another viewer wrote, very, very gory. Overall, I recommend this as a neat little diversion. I enjoyed the movie trailers, the in-between segments, that wonderful artwork, and my brief yet vivid walk down memory lane. I bet the actual video today is worth a bit.

Entertaining, If Pointless

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 27 July 2015]

Deranged projectionist Mad Ron shows a movie theater full of rowdy zombies a diverse assortment of horror and exploitation film trailers from his private collection while ventriloquist Nick Pawlow and his foul-mouthed zombie dummy Happy Goldsplatt provide lowbrow comic relief.

So, this is completely pointless. A ventriloquist with terrible jokes, and over an hour of trailers from various horror movies. But despite being pointless, it is still sort of fun to see these old trailers, and many of the movies shown are not ones that are commonly known about. Sure, there are some big ones ("Night of the Living Dead"), but plenty of obscure foreign flicks.

Interesting bonus: Jordu Schell (who is now quite famous thanks to "Making Monsters") was involved. He also happens to be a really nice guy.

Bills Reviews For Short Attention Spans

[bipbop13 · 6/10 · 25 February 2019]

I wouldn't say it's an easy task to do a review of a set of movie trailers, because there is no plot or story to go by. But this particular one has a kind of wrap around story; or better yet it reminded me of the old horror host television movies I used to watch when I was a kid. The movies usually being older than death, or just really bad, you had a host that would make up kooky stuff during the movie breaks to make the experience that much more enjoyable, or laughable depending on the host and your mood.

And that brings us to Mad Ron's Prevues From Hell. A definite tongue-in-cheek trailer compilation. This is probably not the first compilation ever released, but it's from 1987, so it is one of the early ones to be sure. These days trailer compilations are plentiful, and there is no wrap around story, or guest host..... just two to four hours of trailers. Not saying that it's a bad thing, but sometimes you need a few minutes break from the trailers to get a breather in, and Mad Ron's compilation allows that with its silly and irritating hosts Nick (Nick Pawlow) and his demented zombie puppet Happy.

The "plot" of the "film" goes like this: Nick and happy are hosting a series of Mad Ron's (Ron Roccia) movie trailers for a theater full of zombies. Mad Ron himself is chained to the movie projector to be able to show the previews and not hurt anyone. There are some corny, funny and embarrassing gags along the way. Blood-buttered popcorn, arguing zombies, and some horrible jokes told by Happy and Nick. An interesting note: the makeup was done by a young Jordu Schell, who would go on to do makeup effects for such films as The Mist, Cloverfield, Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem and Avatar.

As far as movie trailers, if you've seen quite a few trailer compilations, then you've probably seen most of these.... but here is some of what you'll see: Wildcat Women (a 3-D trailer, and I didn't have my glasses handy, so I'm not sure if the 3-D worked or not), I Drink Your Blood, Ilsa, Deranged, Three on a Meathook, Love Me Deadly, Cannibal Girls, Deep Red, Toxic Zombies, Black Christmas, Blood and Lace, Bay Of Blood, Last House On The Left, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Blood Spattered Bride, I Dismember Mama, Torso, and Beyond The Door. Some of these are shown under alternate titles, which is fun to see.

People should really try to hunt this title down and pick it up. I've seen it quite cheap at different places. It used to only be available as a VHS tape, but it is on DVD now. You'll be able to see an early example of what trailer compilations used to be like before the grindhouse craze came along.

Fun Trailer Compilation

[Michael_Elliott · 3 January 2017]

Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987)

*** (out of 4)

If you grew up in the 1980's and remember the great time when you could walk into a Mom and Pop video store and walk out with all sorts of goodies then you'll probably also remember the various trailer collections that were out there. The most popular with the likes of FILMGORE and THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE (hosted by John Carradine) but this one here was also quite popular and to this day it still has a rather strong cult following.

As you can tell from this list of trailers below, there's quite a bit of great stuff on here. These trailers were made during a time where you really had to sell the picture with a great title, a catchy tagline and of course hints at the depraved and gory things that they'd be seeing if they bought a ticket. Just check out the trailer for the double feature of I DRINK YOUR BLOOD and I EAT YOUR SKIN where the second feature has zero clips shown because it was a B&W film. NIGHT OF BLOODY HORROR has to be the highlight since they don't show any clips from the movie saying that they would be too shocking. Obviously a great way to get people to buy a ticket to see what's so shocking.

The movie has a projectionist and his zombie telling a few jokes and doing some skits in between all the trailers. Usually this type of thing is quite annoying but I thought it was rather well-done and funny here. The highlight has to be a sequence where the zombie talks about his girlfriend. There's also some gore in these scenes to go with what we see in the trailers.

If you're a fan of these type of trailer compilations then this here is certainly one of the best. The trailers shown include:

I DRINK YOUR BLOOD-I EAT YOUR SKIN, THE Texas CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, DERANGED, THREE ON A MEATHOOK, THE CORPSE GRINDERS, THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS, LOVE ME DEADLY, CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, THE MANIACS ARE LOOSE, CANNIBAL GIRLS, TORSO, THE BLOOD SPLATTERED BRIDE-I DISMEMBER MAMA, THE GHASTLY ONES, THE WIZARD OF GORE, BEYOND THE DOOR, DEEP RED, SISTERS, DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE, THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM, LADY FRANKENSTEIN, FLESH FEAST, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE VAULT OF HORROR, HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES, BLOODEATERS, ORGY OF THE LIVING DEAD triple feature, THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z, Africa: BLOOD AND GUTS, NIGHT OF BLOODY HORROR, SILENT NIGHT EVIL NIGHT (BLACK Christmas), THE MUTATIONS, THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED, BLOOD AND LACE, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, GOD TOLD ME TO, HORROR ON SNAKE ISLAND, ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS, MAN FROM DEEP RIVER, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, CARNAGE (A BAY OF BLOOD), COLOR ME BLOOD RED, MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND, SILENT NIGHT BLOOD NIGHT, BLOODY PIT OF HORROR, NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES,

A mostly brutal watch

[pmtelefon · 3/10 · 22 August 2020]

"Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell" is an almost okay watch. The trailers they selected are good ones. That's not the problem. The problem is all of the lame puppets and zombie stuff that surrounds the trailers. That stuff is very low budget and is very annoying. After a little while "Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell" becomes a very long watch.

Cool Collection of Trailers

[goreboy80 · 10/10 · 24 September 2001]

Hosted by Nick and his demented zombie puppet Happy, they treat a theater full of zombies to 83 minutes of cool trailers from horror and gore flicks from 70's (mostly). Between trailers Nick & Happy tell some pretty lame jokes. Two things would've made this a little better.

1.Less of Nick and his annoying puppet

2.More obscure films

Overall, its one of the best trailer tapes ive seen (and i've seen a few). 8/10

Here's a a few of the trailers on the tape -

I Drink your Blood

Deranged

Three on a Meathook

Love me Deadly

Cannibal Girls

Deep Red

Toxic Zombies

Black Christmas

Blood and Lace

Bay of Blood

Ilsa

Last House on the Left

TCM

Blood spattered Bride

I Dismember Mama

Torso

Beyond the Door

Oh yeah and by the way, Mad Ron is the cannibalistic projectionist chained to the projector.

Party tape.

[haildevilman · 10/10 · 10 February 2006]

Next time you have a bunch of guys over for beers, pop this in.

The trailers were excellent. And you'll definitely find a few things you'll want to look for at the video store later.

I think Nick Pawlow's segments were just there to give us the excuse to get another beer. It did slow the fun down a little. I heard those parts were filmed in Philly. (My hometown) And NO ONE will be able to watch this only once.

I'm proud to say I've seen most of these since and now even own a few of them. Great fun here. Some of them are still hard to find though. I'm surprised they didn't have more of the Cannibal-Zombie films here.

It even had Africa: Blood & Guts. Featuring scenes that were missing for years.

A terrifically trashy compilation of choice lurid trailers

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 19 September 2010]

Deranged projectionist Mad Ron (essayed with suitably unhinged drooling panache by Ron Roccia) shows a movie theater full of rowdy grunting zombies a diverse assortment of wild, slimy, and graphic horror and exploitation film trailers from his private collection while nerdy ventriloquist Nick Pawlow and his foul-mouthed zombie dummy Happy Goldsplatt provide amusingly lowbrow comic relief. The trailers cover all the essential pleasingly sleazy bases: giallo (Dario Argento's "Deep Red"), Nazisploitation (the notorious "Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS"), zombies ("Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Horror of the Zombies," "Bloodeaters"), classic drive-in horror ("Night of the Living Dead," "The Last House on the Left," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), mondo shock docs ("Africa - Blood and Guts"), hardcore splatter ("I Drink Your Blood"), anthology flicks ("Tales from the Crypt"), demonic possession ("Beyond the Door," "The House of Exorcism"), and slasher romps (the seasonal slice'n'dice trailblazer "Silent Night, Evil Night"). Herschell Gordon Lewis fans will be in hog heaven thanks to the spectacularly grimy'n'grisly coming attractions for "The Wizard of Gore," "Blood Feast," "2000 Maniacs," and "The Wizard of Gore." A faux newsreel promo for a doublebill of "The Blood Splattered Bride" and "I Dismember Mama" is a totally over-the-top hoot and a half while the outrageously bawdy trailer for "Wildcat Women" rates as arguably the raunchiest of the whole sublimely sordid lot. Moreover, the wrap-around segments deliver plenty of tacky gore (zombies sprinkle blood on buckets of popcorn, one zombie rips another's eye out, a would-be bootlegger's eyes blow up real good and squirt the red stuff all over the place, etc.) and a handy helping of cheerfully shameless and tasteless humor. The crude shot-on-video cinematography, the cheesy shuddery synthesizer score, and primitive dime-store make-up effects add to rather than detract from the infectiously scroungy charm of the entire seamy enterprise. A sensationally scuzzy and unapologetic serving of prime putrid grindhouse slop.

Off The Wall, Indeed....

[Flixer1957 · 9/10 · 29 October 2006]

Produced by the aptly-named Off The Wall Video, this is the gore-hound's equivalent of being a kid locked in a candy factory. Trailers include THE UNDERTAKER AND HIS PALS; WILDCAT WOMEN; CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS; DERANGED; TALES FROM THE CRYPT; THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED; THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE; MAN FROM DEEP RIVER; THE CORPSE GRINDERS; DEEP RED; COLOR ME BLOOD RED; MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND; THE MUTATIONS; HOUSE OF EXORCISM; GOD TOLD ME TO; SILENT NIGHT BLOODY NIGHT; BLOOD AND LACE; BLOODY PIT OF HORROR; DIABOLICAL DR. Z; LADY FRANKENSTEIN; BEYOND THE DOOR; I DRINK YOUR BLOOD; THE GHASTLY ONES; THREE ON A MEATHOOK, and many more.

Some previews, like the one for LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, are too short to do the movie justice. Others, such as the ILSA and NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES trailers, not only wallow in gore but rub your proboscis in it. Of special interest is the preview of Africa BLOOD AND GUTS which features animal slaughter and actual executions of humans–something to offend everyone! Others show gory little tidbits that never made it into the finished pictures. Fangoria's Dr. Cyclops found the framing device wearisome; I personally got a big kick out of watching the scatological–and undead–Happy and his nerdy pal screening the trailers for an audience of festering, limb-chomping, eyeball-munching zombies. (In the background at one point is a lurid poster for Andy Milligan's BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS–this is my kind of theater!)

Great Collection That Still Holds Up

[blake-mccurdy-871-354253 · 9/10 · 10 November 2018]

Yes it's low budget and features a ventriloquist. It's also great. Perfect for Halloween viewing with your kids say, at least fifteen by today's standards (warning there are dead rats being burnt.) I loved it! Great collection of disturbing 70s horror. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Drink Your Blood, Three on a Meat Hook etc. all broken up by a goofy ventriloquist with a zombie dummy. Check it out!