Macabre…ish Horror Review: Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator
Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator, 1989/ 98 min
A man, Paul (William Dame), is kidnapped from a hanger while working on a plane and wakes up alone, dressed in a tux, lying on the floor of a mansion. After wandering around the house for a while, he finds a woman in a wedding dress, asleep on a bed, in one of the bedrooms. She seems to know what’s going on and who he is.
Confused, the strange woman, named Stephanie (Catherine Dee), tells him dinner will be ready soon and Roberta will be pleased. A bell rings and the dinner table is set, Roberta is there and she is weird. Paul thinks he’s been brought here to be Stephanie’s date and so he sits and eats while trying to figure out what’s actually going on.
He wants to know what’s in it for Roberta, who he surmises, wants to watch. When Paul tries to leave, he discovers all the doors are locked. When he returns to the table, Roberta is gone. But he and Stephanie are still locked in.
He wakes up the next day and Roberta is sitting right in front of him. She’s disappointed that he did not sleep with Stephanie last night. She gives him a $60,000 piece of jewelry, if he’ll do it. But he’s offended and angry that they’ve been kidnapped and are being coerced. Once again, Roberta and her goons vanish when his back is turned.
Paul finds Stephanie again and finds out she’s been here for months, at least. And she’s brainwashed. He promises to help her escape. Then over the loud speaker is Roberta’s voice, reminding him that escape is impossible. And informing him that she can hear and see everything. She tries again to get Paul to sleep with Stephanie.
Instead, he short circuits the house’s electricity by sticking knife in an outlet and they climb up the chimney and on to the roof.
Meanwhile, Roberta (M.R. Murphy) and her goons search the grounds for them. And they take refuge in the basement and are found the next morning. And with deed done in the basement the night before. Roberta wants Paul to do to her what he did to Stephanie. If he does it then he can go. Instead he laughs in Roberta’s face.
So Roberta decides to convince him to do it by putting Stephanie in a torture chamber until
he changes his mind. Just as Roberta is about to kiss Paul, she stops and in a man’s voice asks if he has to go through with it.
💥 Major Spoiler Alert 💥
The scene is cut and they go to separate rooms to take off their makeup and costumes.
The next day at breakfast they are totally different people and pay Robert/a for his performance. It turns out Paul and Stephanie are actually, Jared and Casey, and they are married in real life and wealthy, they throw these intricate dinner theatre parties regularly even hiring actors.
Casey is in a loveless, miserable marriage with strict and oppressive rules but she has a lover in town. Jared has an obsession with theatre and performances and he expects his wife to play her part in his performances. That usually puts her in some sort of danger. So she resists the next one until he offers to pay her.
That evening Robert breaks in and Casey almost shoots him while he rummages in a drawer for valuables. They end up talking about ways to get rid of Jared and share his fortune, 35/65.
In Jared’s next play, Casey isn’t in it and it will take place on an island. When Casey tries to talk to him about having a real life and remember their first months together. He informs her that she had it wrong, that was their first theatrical performance and she’s devastated. Her last hope for this marriage working, are gone.
When Casey and Robert execute their plan, they are majorly out played. And in the end they are all mortally wounded.
But is it real? Or more theatre.
This is a Troma but it is written and directed by Don Nardo. This is one of the least deranged Troma films and it well composed and paced concept. It’s the russian dolls of movies to say the least. It is not horror but more of a thriller, maybe a mystery even. It’s pretty good for what it