“Now let me get this straight. You're telling me that these, these things are inside the Golden Gate Bridge, one. Two, that they only come out at night. And three, that they're responsible for the death of fifteen or more kids and three of my police officers? [breaks down laughing]” What’s so hard to believe about that? It is 80s horror, you know. Join your faithful Grue-Crew - Crystal Cleveland, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr - as they journey to the Golden Gate Bridge to battle monsters who are inexplicably known as Neon Maniacs (1986).
Decades of Horror 1980s
Episode 195 – Neon Maniacs (1986)
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A group of teenagers in San Francisco discovers a nest of homicidal monsters living in a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, but when they try to tell authorities, no one believes them.
IMDb
Director: Joseph Mangine Writer: Mark Patrick Carducci Selected Cast: Clyde Hayes as Steven (as Alan Hayes) Leilani Sarelle as Natalie Donna Locke as Paula Victor Brandt as Devin (as Victor Elliot Brandt) David Muir as Wylie Marta Kober as Lorraine P.R. Paul as Eugene Jeff Tyler as Wally Amber Denyse Austin as Lisa (as Amber Austin) James Acheson as Ray (as James Atcheson) Chuck Hemingway as Gary Joseph Shirley as Ape Barry Buchanan as Archer Scott McKenna as Archer Douglas Markell as Axe James H. Smith as Axe Mark Twogood as Decapitator Andrew Divoff as Doc Robert E. Veilliux as Hangman / Juice Scott Guetzkow as Juice Chuck Cohen as Mohawk Zac Baldwin as Punk Biker Solly Marx as Punk Biker / Samurai (as Solly Mark) Doyle McCurley as Samurai Mario Valdez as Samurai (as Mario Valdes) Jerome L. Dennae as Scavenger Kathy Hooker as Scavenger Chuck Secor as Scavenger Daniel Burrell as Slasher Joel-Steven Hammond as Slasher (as Joel Steven Hammond) Allan Aperlo as Soldier
Neon Maniacs is Chad’s pick and he thinks it’s pretty cool. He loves the randomness of the story and let making sense be damned. Where do they come from? Why do monsters who can be destroyed by water live underneath a bridge? No one knows. Crystal loves Neon Maniacs, especially the music and the battle-of-the-bands sequence. Calling the story nearly nonexistent, she still thinks it’s awesome. Bill likens monsters vulnerable to water living under a bridge to vampires hiding in a garlic factory over a silver mine where they make crucifixes. According to Bill, Neon Maniacs is typical 80s horror with an ending that seems to be building up to something and then… fade to black and go home. Though the story is filled with huge holes and the police are more clueless than usual, Jeff had fun with Neon Maniacs, watching it with a big smile on his face.
Though Neon Maniacs is not a good movie by any measure, it is a fun watch. If you choose to do so, it is currently available to stream on Tubi and on YouTube, and on Blu-ray as Spanish or German imports.
Every two weeks, Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1980s podcast will cover another horror film from the 1980s. The next episode’s film, chosen by Jeff, will be Scarecrows (1988), mostly because its one-theater theatrical release was in Des Moines, Iowa.
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