ThrownMuse Oliver Stone's feature film debut concerns a horror author named Edmund (played by Dark Shadows' Jonathon Frid) who is plagued by nightmares. When he and his wife have a bunch of guests up to their isolated house for a relaxing weekend. After a few go missing, Edmund's friends and family are confronted with three awful beings who are manifestations of his nightmares. The guests are either killed or forced to go through a series of tests to see who deserves to live. Can anyone put a stop to this hellish nightmare? What a strange film! It's obviously very low-budget and has a distinct gritty 70s quality. The characters from Edmund's dreams are each fascinating and truly make a scene. We have the lovely Martine Beswick as the provocative and sultry "Queen of Evil," who appears to be the matriarch of the evil trio. There's also the exotic strongman giant Jackal (Henry Judd Baker) and a dwarf named Spider (none other than Hervé Villechaize!) who may be tiny but is just as evil! The trio's antics are amusing, but also very unsettling. The cast also features Troy Donahue in a random role as well as the iconic Mary Woronov, who plays a straight-forward "bored wife" role (yet still oh so very funny!), proving again that she has much more to offer than the camp factor. The score in the film is very fascinating and varied. At one point, there's a sudden persistent and deafening siren-like synth that I swear was swiped by Tarantino for "Kill Bill." While the film is eerie and unpredictable most of the time, it also has a very charming sense of humor that suits it well. I'm thrilled this rare film finally made it to DVD, but it really deserves a better treatment. The print is hard to see, especially in the nighttime scenes. Still, any fan of 70s horror should check out this quirky and original film.

Michael (Barnabasat45) Back in the spring of 1974, I was a freelance writer in Manhattan, New York. While at distributing office in New Jersey, the editor and publisher of the magazine " Castle of Frankenstein" asked me if I wanted to do an interview with Jonathan Frid, about his new film SEIZURE. Well having been a fan of both Frid and Dark Shadows, I jumped at the chance. After interviewing Frid in his apartment, I also had a telephone interview with Oliver Stone, who told me of his future projects. I, at the time was only interested in his current project, SEIZURE. Little did I know how important Mr. Stone would someday be. After meeting with and buying some photo's from the films photographer and co-star Herve' Villachaze " meeting him was a treat in itself" I did the article. After 6 month the film was released in New York. The best and only safe place to see it was, believe it or not, the Lyrick theatre of 42nd street. Now, not that Seizure was a masterpiece, but,in a time where horror films were almost non-existent this was a nice treat. The music, photography and editing were all top notch, as well as the entire cast, who all played their parts as over the top as humanly possible. Seizure was a high guilty low budget film, that to this day has gone nowhere. In the late 80's the film was released on video, but was soon pulled off the market mainly due to Oliver Stones objections. Too bad, with all of the high budget c.g.i. horror films out today, it would be nice to see a tale like Seizure, a low budget film that is packed with high quality acting and writing.

MovieCriticMarvelfan I don't think any of the people who have commented on this film have seen it. I have the pleasure of buying the original video for this film at $5 (Amazon sell its for a laughable $20), and I wasn't disappointed.Oliver Stone, the legend, the man, Vietnam Viet, makes his directing debut with this great horror flick about a writer (Jonathan Frid from Dark Shadows), who keeps having his nightmares that he is about to die, along with the rest of his family. This is a great flick, lots of suspense, some gore, and a twist at the end.I have no doubt this flick inspired movies like "Nightmare On Elm Street" with it's emphasis on evil, illusions and nightmares that come to life.Very hard to find, but it's well worth.Oliver Stone can do it all.

eddy-28 I enjoyed Oliver Stone's debut film of SEIZURE (1974). It was extremely frightening on the count of that I saw it when I was little around the same time as GRIZZLY (1976). The part I enjoyed was Joseph Sirola's head getting chopped off. The film is basically about a horror writer (Jonathan Frid-Dark Shadows) who creates his own horror monsters but they become real his frightening dreams and realisim make it better. The monster hold the writer and his family and friends hostage and kill them. One monster the Queen of Evil is played by Herve Villechaize. One part which is very popular in the 70's was their dog hanging from a tree. the cast and crew handle the film in bizarre ways probaly soon it should be avialble on DVD Hopefully!