Friday Flix: November 1982 : The Retro Network

It’s time to put away the Halloween costumes and get out the stretchy pants for Thanksgiving. Well, not so fast! There are still a few horror movies to watch in November 1982.

If horror isn’t your thing than you can watch a wacky comedy or some animated movies.

Grab a turkey leg and let’s jump into the movies of November 1982.

Movies from November 1982

The Man from Snowy River

I saw this movie in the theater. The movie is one of my mom’s favorites. I don’t remember much about it though. It has a bunch of horses, probably a man and a snowy river too.

The one scene that stays in my mind is when he jumps over the side mountain and starts charging downhill at a gallop. Not sure why that’s the scene that I remember but it always stuck with me.

I remember liking the movie, but I don’t think I’ve seen it since 1982. I might need to watch it again and see if it holds up.

You can watch The Man From Snowy River on Starz.

Piranha II: The Spawning

Most people refer to Jaws as the movie that keeps them out of the water. Not me. As a kid growing up in the Midwest I’d never seen the ocean let alone swim in it. I never gave a thought to great white sharks in the rivers and lakes I swam in.

You know what does swim in rivers and lakes? Piranhas!

I saw the first Piranha movie on the CBS Late Movie and I’m sure that’s where I watched Piranha II as well.

If you’ve every been in a lake and had a bluegill come up and nibble on your leg you’d know the fear this movie can put into a kid. After I saw the movie the fish were no longer innocent bluegill, they were blood thirsty piranha. Older sisters trying to freak me out didn’t help either.

Piranha II isn’t a great movie, it’s not a good one either. The piranha in this movie are bio-engineered to fly. It’s like a bad sequel to Sharknado.

The ‘official’ director for the movie is James Cameron, yes, that James Cameron. He acknowledges the movie but doesn’t count it as an official directing job.

“I was replaced after two-and-a-half weeks by the Italian producer. He just fired me and took over, which is what he wanted to do when he hired me. It wasn’t until much later that I even figured out what had happened. It was like, ‘Oh, man, I thought I was doing a good job.’ But when I saw what they were cutting together, it was horrible. And then the producer wouldn’t take my name off the picture because [contractually] they couldn’t deliver it with an Italian name. So they left me on, no matter what I did. I had no legal power to influence him from Pomona, California, where I was sleeping on a friend’s couch. I didn’t even know an attorney. In actual fact, I did some directing on the film, but I don’t feel it was my first movie.”
James Cameron on “directing” Piranha II: The Spawning

Creepshow

I didn’t see this one in the theater. Once it hit the home video market my sister rented the VHS. I sat with her in the dark basement and watched the movie. I loved it!

Creepshow, directed by George A. Romero is an anthology horror movie split into five different stories all written by Stephen King. Creepshow features a star studded cast from 1982; Ed Harris, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Stephen King, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver and many more.

The stories are great and there are great scenes throughout the movie. Growing a funky green beard after touching the meteor, Ted Danson buried to his neck in the sand as the tide comes in and that box of cereal full of roaches…ewwwww.

Creepshow opened at #1, knocking First Blood out of the top spot. Creepshow made over $21 million during it’s run. The success of the first movie led to a sequel in 1987. A third movie was released in 2007 and no one cared, it’s junk.

In 2019, Shudder created a Creepshow TV series which is highly popular and consists of three seasons.

You can watch Creepshow on Shudder.

They Call Me Bruce?

This is a fun, goofy movie about a man looking for a woman. Bruce moves to America after his dying grandfather tells him to go and look for the most beautiful girl.

Bruce doesn’t have much luck finding her and ends up working as a cook for a bunch of L.A. gangsters. The gangsters are having a hard time moving their cocaine and devise a plan for Bruce to drive across the country to look for the girl.

While he is on the trip he delivers ‘Chinese flour’ to friends of the gangsters. That’s about it. The movie follows Bruce across the country and the wacky interactions he has while delivering drugs, er, Chinese flour.

This movie has more of a 70s movie vibe to it, than an 80s. It’s a funny movie that worth watching. If you like action/comedy you’ll enjoy this movie.

You can watch They Call Me Bruce? On Tubi TV.

Other movies released in November 1982

Here’s the other movies released in November 1982.

We talked about Slumber Party Massacre II last month. I may need to watch the original movie in the next week or so before I transition out of the Halloween season. White Dog and Alone in the Dark are more horror movies I may watch. One of my big pet peeves in life is horror movies released after Halloween! Why, Hollywood, why?

The Bugs Bunny ‘movie’ is a bunch of cartoons stitched together and thrown on the big screen. While I love Bugs Bunny I never saw the movie.

If you’ve seen any of them let me know in the comments below.