Body Bags was John Carpenter's attempt to produce an anthology series for Showtime. This movie is all we have of what it would be like with the director appearing as a morgue attendant who drinks formaldehyde as he hosts the three stories. Amusing lines abound throughout. The first segment titled "The Gas Station" has a young woman (Alex Datcher) on her first night as the titled attendant all alone. First there's Pete (David Naughton) getting some gas and flirting with her. Then a stranger asks for bathroom keys. When he doesn't return the lady investigates...Watch for cameos by horror directors Sam Raimi and Wes Craven. Robert Carradine also appears. Carpenter's direction makes this a pretty good atmospheric start. Second segment called "Hair" has Stacy Keach wanting badly to keep from going bald. David Warner on TV provides the solution. Soon, Keach and his girlfriend, Sheena Easton, can't stop making love. But soon after his barber cuts some of the new hair, they start to move...Hilarious and creepy at the same time, this one is so wonderfully weird that I'd rather you be surprised at this one. Carpenter hits the bulls-eye with this segment. Look for Deborah Harry as a nurse and Kim Alexis as a beautiful blonde who Keach notices in slow motion. Final segment "Eye" has Mark Hamill as a baseball player who's scoring is off the charts. Then he gets in a car accident that causes him to lose one eye. Doctors Roger Corman and John Agar give him a new one but then Hamill starts acting strangely which makes his wife (Twiggy) very worried...Tobe Hooper really gives the chills with this one as he haunts with various images that really give Mark Hamill something to work with. The end is especially frightening with the closeup of a bible passage spread with blood after Hamill stabs his "criminal" eye. So, in summation, see Body Bags if you're a big horror fan of all of the above directors I've just mentioned and I hope you don't end up in John Carpenter's morgue..
Body Bags
(1993 TV Movie)
Body Bags is scarily atmospheric for John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper fans
16 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers