Help me with a horror movie title from the 1980s

Ok, I’ve been trying to think of the name of this movie for a while now, even if the movie may not be very good. ;) (Though I don’t know, I haven’t seen it.)

First off, the movie came out sometime in 1985 or 1986 or 1987.

It’s set in the Ozarks (the mountainous area in southern Missouri/northern Arkansas), and also set in the early 1800s. Something about a family of pioneers living in a cabin there. And horror. It got decent-ish reviews at the time, mostly because it was a horror movie that wasn’t a slasher film, I think. It probably wasn’t a great movie though. It did play in cinemas, if briefly. Not a straight-to-video thing.

Any help?

That’s not a lot to go on, what was the nature of the horror? You say it wasn’t a slasher, was it a creature feature? Demon possession? Alien invasion?

In the crowded field of horror movies involving pioneers settling the Ozarks in the 1800s that were released in 1985 and 1986, this one stood out a bit. :D

To try to narrow it down: it was definitely an indie flick, though it did get a limited run in theaters. And seaching a master list of horror films from 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987 comes up with nuttin’.

And I think it was some kind of supernatureal creature or demon who was our menace in this film.

Well, whatever this is, someone better come up with the title, because I want to see it. It wasn’t one of the Legend of Boggy Creek movies, was it? I don’t think any of those are period pieces, but they’re definitely Arkansas.

-Tom

Nope, this was definitely a period piece, which was what was so striking about it.

Yeah, this one is stumping me. I can find pioneer horror, horror filmed in Missouri and Arkansas, and horror from the mid 80s. But damned if I can find anything that meets all those criteria. My own memory doesn’t give me much either, all I can think of are The Town That Dreaded Sundown or Dark Night of the Scarecrow, but neither of them are pioneer or late 1800s movies. I need to think about this.

Something tells me it wasn’t filmed on location, but just set in the Ozarks…but that may just be me misremembering.

So, triggercut, was it like an Ozarks take on Ravenous (1999)? Presumably it was a relatively low-budget production, so no one recognizable, right? Even though it was a horror, maybe we should look under off-beat Westerns to see if anything sparks a memory?

Yeah, I can’t imagine this thing had much of a budget. And honestly, it may have only played in theaters in St. Louis, KCMo, Columbia, Springfield…and maybe Little Rock, Rogers or Fayette in Arkansas.

@triggercut, you have a high level of confidence that it came out mid-80s?

Well, I lived in Little Rock in the mid-80s, so you’d think maybe I would be familiar with it. And maybe when we find out the name it will ring a bell. Still drawing a blank so far.

Here’s an obscure, period piece horror film that could fit the bill.

THAT’S IT

LMAO!

That’s awesome. I liked this little bit of trivia on that page:

" Only major live-action role for Rob Paulsen, who later gravitated to voice acting and became better known as Pinky from Pinky and the Brain (1995) and Yakko from Animaniacs (1993)."

Nicely done, MrTibbs!

A friend on Facebook that I know I saw this with in college also remembered the title, mostly because she’s smarter than I am.

And if anyone is dying to see what may be a terrible movie, here it is on Youtube:

And per IMDB, apparently it was shot on location in Missouri. Huh.

Wait, what? That’s where I spent almost all the 80s. Did we go to the same school? Did we know each other? Did we at least have mutual friends? Or are you just too young for us to have crossed paths?

-Tom

I remember you mentioned living there on the podcasts and around here on the forums - I don’t think we went to school together. For one thing, when we moved to L.R., my mother was all paranoid about the state of public schools there so she put me in a private school. Also, I think you’re maybe a few years older than me (I’m a few weeks short of 47) so I probably would have been an annoying kid to you in those days. But who knows? Totally possible we crossed paths and never knew it.

Now, I’m just imagining young Tom walking by you in a 7-11 parking lot, knocking a slurpee out of your hands and high-fiving his friends.