Cameron's Closet
Tags: paranormal

Plot synopsis:
10-year-old Cameron Lansing (Scott Curtis) is an introverted, solitary boy with telekinetic and telepathic abilities who lives with his father, Owen Lansing (Tab Hunter), a research scientist. Owen has subjected Cameron to intense psychological testing from a young age in an effort to unbury the hidden powers of the human mind. During a series of mysterious and bizarre circumstances in their rural house one night, Owen is decapitated by a machete, yet the authorities can find no evidence of foul play and rule it out as an accidental death believing he simply fell on it. Cameron goes to live with his mother Dory Lansing (Kim Lankford) and her obnoxious actor boyfriend Bob Froelich (Gary Hudson) in Los Angeles. Both Dory and Bob are unaware of Cameron's paranormal abilities.
Sergeant Sam Taliaferro (Cotter Smith) of the Homicide Division of the LAPD has sleeping trouble and a recurring nightmare which is affecting his work. Taliaferro's partner, Detective Pete Groom (Leigh McCloskey) complains about Taliaferro's frequent bouts of absent-mindedness in the line of duty caused his lack of sleep, and so Taliaferro is ordered to go see a psychiatrist who works with the department, Dr. Nora Haley (Mel Harris). When Bob Froelich is horrifically murdered in Cameron's room, having been thrown out of the second-floor window with his eyes burnt out of the sockets, Sam Taliaferro, Pete Groom and Nora Haley are put on the case. As they investigate the perplexing case, Taliaferro befriends Cameron and realizes that deaths are occurring always around the boy, and that his nightmares seem to be linked to the boy. Under her counselling sessions Nora Haley also realizes that the boy has paranormal abilities, even being able to foresee future events. It also becomes apparent to Taliaferro that whatever Cameron concentrates on hard enough or focuses on is manifesting itself into reality.
Cameron plays an imaginative game with a figurine his father gave to him he calls the "Deceptor", actually an ancient figure of a Mayan demonic entity said to be terrible beyond description in Owen Lansing's texts. Cameron's imagination makes the creature real and it takes up residence in Cameron's bedroom closet. Soon, numerous inexplicable and gruesome deaths are occurring around the closet in Cameron's room, and people who have already died seem to be mysteriously reappearing in an undead state. Bob Froelich is horrifyingly resurrected in Cameron's closet and murders Detective Pete Groom when he looks inside the closet.
Taliaferro and Haley seek out Owen Lansing's assistant, Professor Ben Majors (Chuck McCann) at his home in the woods, where they learn the truth about Cameron. Taliaferro is stalked through the woods by Pete Groom's ghost, who warns him that the evil is "out of the closet now." The demons soon wish to destroy Cameron, thus severing their link to limbo and sealing them within reality and in our world. Majors kidnaps Cameron and takes him back to Cameron's house where Majors is then murdered by the demon, his blood boiling in his veins. Only Sam Taliaferro and Nora Haley are able to protect Cameron. Cameron goes back to his room to face the demon in the closet once and for all and destroy it before Cameron loses his powers to it.

Review: Not bad for an 80's horror flick.
As 80's horror flicks go Cameron's Closet is much better than most.
The acting is decent, the effects are quite good and the death scenes are well shot.
There's a few nice death scenes which are actually more gory than a lot of 80's horror flicks.
I do think things started to slip a bit towards the end, and the ending itself wasn't too amazing.
Cameron's Closet is by no means an essential watch for horror fans, but if you come across a cheap copy you can't go wrong.
Very Good B-Movie, imaginative.
I enjoyed the plot of this movie.
Certainly, monster in the closet is not an original idea, but they put their own spin on it.
I don't want this to be a spoiler, so I won't reveal too much.This movie is about a boy with telekinetic powers.
From early in the movie, we know there is something evil in his closet.
The plot builds up throughout the movie and comes together nice and tight at the end.
This is not some movie with a bunch of weird supernatural stuff that have nothing to do with each other, like Friday 13th part 7.
This one all comes together.My favourite scene is the one with the ceiling fan.
Very exciting, though I don't see how a mere ceiling fan is cause for that much alarm.
Well, thats what I love about B-movies.
It is a good horror B-movie.
Not a movie for harsh critics though.
Its good fun, very imaginative, but some would think its pretty stupid.
If you're one of those people who hate everything, don't watch this.
If you like B-movies and have a good imagination, than this, like so many films I recommend, is for you..
Okay horror film..
Armand Mastroianni("Blood Wedding","Distortions")directs this slightly gruesome horror film about young boy named Cameron who has telekinetic powers.When his father and a psychiatrist run experiments on him,they unknowingly release an Aztec demon from hell who makes his home in Cameron's bedroom closet.As the demon eliminates all the adults one by one,Cameron realizes that he alone possesses the ability to defeat him."Cameron's Closet" is a pretty mediocre and bland horror flick.Still there are at least four very violent and gory scenes,in which certain characters die for no real reason.The monster from Carlo Rambaldi,who helped build the monster for "Alien",is basically a head which isn't the least bit menacing.The acting is decent,but the storyline is completely predictable.Overall,If you are a rabid horror fan like I am give it a look.6 out of 10..
Renting out closet space..
Professor Owen Lansing is researching human psychic abilities hidden deep in the mind and he experiments on his young son Cameron.
They're going quite well, until Cameron's unintentionally uses his powers to conjure up a demon.
Lansing tries to put a end to the trouble, but his killed in a horrific 'accident'.
So Cameron goes to live with his mother and her boyfriend, but the demon also follows and takes up residence in the boy's closest.
Meanwhile, police detective Sam Talliaferro, who has been put onto the case after the unusual death of his mother's boyfriend.
Is having bad dreams that seem to be linked somehow to Cameron.
A psychiatrist Dr. Nora Haley is looking over Sam, but she also gets the case of Cameron.
She discovers the boy's secret abilities.
Nora and Sam go on to connect that everything is contributed to a demonic presence who has its eyes set on Cameron.Oh, "Cameron's Closest" is quite an unremarkable low-budget horror film.
Well, it's not completely worthless, even though it's nowhere near as flavoured and exciting like many of its counterparts within the same decade.
This late 80s horror junk was mildly enjoyable in some silly patches and icky make-up effects, but ponderous pacing and muddled plotting makes for mostly a bland outing that keeps us in the dark to what's going on.
There's potential in the interesting and novel premise of mixing the supernatural with science (which "The Howling" author Gary Barndner adapted his screenplay off his novel), but director Armand Mastroianni's unevenly fruitless and ham-fisted execution leaves a lot of its brimming concepts unfulfilled and sticks to the gimmicks.
Lucky there are some nicely imaginative and downright bizarre deaths handed out by the evil dweller in the closet.
The nasty make-up, especially from the zombies and death scenes are well conceived.
Like that of special effects designer Carlo Rambaldi's (think of E.T.) plastically tacky monster creation.
Sometimes the FX is questionably dire and overly sugar-coated, just stick around for the lacklustre climax between demon and child.
It's pretty hasty when it wraps it up.The material dreams a good concept, but its talky nature, convoluted angles (so many to choose) and senseless inconsistencies engulf the monotonously vague script, which could've done with occasional wit.
The cast do a fine job, maybe better then the material actually deserved.
Scott Curtis gives an appealing turn as Cameron.
Cotter Smith is sturdily efficient as detective Sam Talliaferro and Mel Harris impress with a steadfast turn as Dr. Nora Haley.
Tab Hunter plays the unfortunate father who cops it in the opening minutes.
There's sound performances by the support cast Kim Lankford, Leigh McCloskey, Chuck McCann and Gary Hudson as the jerk boyfriend.It's saved by over-the-top deaths, some laughably shoddy developments and capable performances.
Just like Mastroianni's other genre efforts; "The Supernaturals" and "He Knows You're Alone", it's watchable..
rubber monster in the closet; good deaths, bad demon.
A boy with telekinetic powers, and perhaps other psychic abilities as well as bowl-cut hair lives with his divorced father, a psychic researcher or something.
The boy plays in his closet with a He-Man-like action figure, and a odd statuette he calls "Deceptor." His father hears a strange moan, makes an odd phone call to his research partner, and goes upstairs to the boy's room with a machete.
He goes into the closet, vandalizes some things, and is in search of something.
The machete moves by itself, and the father falls on it, decapitating himself.The boy goes to live with his mother and her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, a police detective who has sleeping problems has a reoccurring nightmare that is bothering him on the job, and is forced to see a shrink.
More closet-related bizarre deaths occur.
The detective befriends the boy, and the shrink helps him on the case.The special effects are pretty uneven.
The death scenes are fairly good.
A pale grinning figure in the closet is pretty spooky.
Dead people who reappear as zombies or as a demon appearing like them are pretty well done.
The demon exerts its power by psychically dragging someone up a wall, and across a ceiling towards an out-of-control ceiling fan.
The demon itself is pretty darn lame, however..
The book wasn't much better then the movie.
Gary Bradner has to be one of the most offbeat horror authors of all time.
Based on his 1987 book, Camerons Closet is about a boy with telekenetic powers who unleashes a monster from hell, and is living in his closet.
Aside from that, I'm not really sure what else this movie is about, as the script goes laughably all over the place, and not having any real direction to go.
The film seems to be following a detective around more then the child, and with a title like Camerons Closet, you're just not expecting that.
While this was a far cry from a good movie, there seems to be something about preventing it from being a bad movie either.
The kills are somewhat shocking and funny at the same time, you're left pondering the unthinkable, so at the very least, the film is not predictable.
The ending was a bit anti climatic, everything was rushed, and surprisingly unbelievable.
I was shaking my head, thinking: "Yeah!
If it were THAT easy, what was stopping this kid from ending this movie a long time ago?" I'm not seeing anything here that's really worth renting or viewing, but if you are curious, be warned that the violence and special effects are extremely dated, but have some respect for the special effects done here....this was way before they polluted the film pool with the CGI bullcrap, and I have to give them props for that.
If you want to laugh, laugh, but at least know that this was made back in a time when we actually put efforts and imagination to work to get the effects that we needed to make scenes work.
I just wish Camerons Closet relied heavily on a better story line.
"Cameron's Closet"- A strange little relic from yester-year that never quite comes together despite a few chilling sequences..
"Cameron's Closet" is a bit of a relic and time capsule for a much simpler time in my eyes.
It was a staple of many a late-night horror- movie marathon and subject of numerous Friday-night rentals at the local Video King when I was growing up in the early 90's.
And of the handful of people who I know that have seen the film...
that seems to be the common trend.It's one of those late-80's horror features that frankly fell off the map when Video Stores fell out of vogue and streaming took over during the past ten years.
Its entire life seemingly spent as one of those lost, faded video-cassettes that you only discover after an hour of picking through video-shelves at your rental store of choice.So it was a bit of a surprise finding it uploaded online not too long ago.
Excited to relive a childhood "classic" that I had "discovered" in the video-store and rented over and over again, I clicked the play button, sat back......and was pretty underwhelmed.While it does indeed have a fair share of thrills and chills, director Armand Mastroianni and writer Gary Brandner (creator of the "Howling" franchise) are never able to build the film up beyond the level of mediocrity, rendering it a generally ineffective tale.
And while it may be a fun treat to revisit for the sake of nostalgia for 80's and 90's kids who are now all grown up, it's definitely best to understand that this is most certainly a "nostalgia goggles" affair.
There's nothing here that hasn't been done far better in other far better films before.The film is based on 10-year-old Cameron Lansing (Scott Curtis), a boy with latent telekinetic and pyschic abilities.
After his research scientist father is killed in a grisly "accident", he is sent to live with his mother and her boyfriend.
However, a series of twisted and gruesome deaths begin to surround the child, and it quickly becomes apparent that demonic forces are at play, who wish to get their hands on the boy for their own devious purposes...When it's at its best, the film does competently deliver some satisfyingly chilling thrills and jumps.
One particular stand-out scene involving a ghostly re-animated man with an inhumanly large smile still sends shivers down my bones.
And there is a lot of fun to be had with the good, old-fashioned 80's practical creature and gore effects on display.
Especially as they came courtesy the same genius that also created the animatronics in films like Spielberg's "E.T." and the titular "Alien" in the Ridley Scott classic.
But it's at the service of a relatively cliché and standard (even at times sub-standard) storyline with forgettable characters and ho-hum development.Perhaps the harshest thing I could say is that outside of the title, I didn't remember much about the film from my childhood.
And in trying to write this review not that long after having re-watched it...
Either good or bad.
It's a wholly mediocre film that's just watchable enough to kill some time on a rainy afternoon, but you'll also forget it within a week.And so, I'm giving it a slightly under-average 4 out of 10.
Mainly for the few effective moments and some creative scenes that take advantage of the promising premise.
This is one of the few horror films that I honestly wouldn't see being remade...
It's got a good idea behind it.
But the film as-is just isn't particularly special..
Mel Harris was also in the same year's "K-9", but this is the true dog.
No this movie is just a sorry excuse for a 80's horror film.
Camoron Lansing is a introverted little tyke who has telekinetic powers.
People always seem to die around him.
Can the dashing police detective save the day?
Will Dr. Nora Haley (Mel Harris of "K-9" 'fame') admit his secret desires?
and most importantly, with all the atrocious acting, crap special effects, and groan inducing plot, will anyone give a damn??
Directed by Armand Mastroianni, who after "The Supernaturals" and "He knows you're alone" obviously just doesn't know any better.My Grade: D-.
Armand Mastroianni's real masterpiece was Tom Hanks's debut, not this one.
If the name Armand Mastroianni rings a bell, it's because he directed "He Knows You're Alone", most famous as Tom Hanks's movie debut.
This is the only other movie of his with which I'm familiar.
A number of the horror flicks that I've seen on FearNet - even if they lack a masterful plot - have some great music ("Down", "Blood Diner" and "Waxwork" are the prime examples).
"Cameron's Closet" doesn't even have that.
How ironic that the man who directs these sorts of movies gave a debut to a back-to-back Oscar-winning actor.
Cameron comes out of the closet!.
No, it's not a gay coming of age film!
Just a bog-standard horror B-movie that would have worked quite well as a 30 minute episode of a series like "Tales of the Darkside," or a similar type programme.
But as a full length film, it soon outstays it's welcome.The child actor is quite reasonable and not as 'cute' as they tend to be in these roles.
Not helped by the dialogue or the clichéd plot of 'the monster that lurks in the cupboard.'All eminently predictable and forgettable, better to go watch numerous old episodes of 'Tales from the Crypt,' to get exactly the same plot done a bit better..
Is this a horror movie or an 80's music video?.
so Cameron is a psychic kid who accidentally brings a ferocious demon up from hell into his closet...
Sounds like it might have potential.
Though this movie is tad creepy, it had some real major lows to it.
Examples: the stomach growling noises coming from the closet, the almost 80's music video special effects (no wonder the thing died at the end, I think I would too if someone shot bad special effects at me through their finger tips).
So, you should only preview this movie to see if you really like it first, but I don't recommend buying right away, especially without a preview..
Cameron is a psychic boy.
He somehow brings a demon to life byusing his powers on a statue.
The demon then hides in the boy's closet.
The demon is vanquished in a hail of bad FX.
This movie deserves to be MST3K'd oh so very badly..
~Spoiler~ Cameron's Closet is a fine slice of 80's horror.
It stars Scott Curtis as a young boy with telekinetic powers who accidentally summons an ancient demon who dwells in his closet.
The film (written by Gary Brandner of The Howling fame) has some truly inspired moments and even some decent scares.
Many of the death scenes are quite memorable.
The closet decapitation, Bob flying through the window, and the maniacal ceiling fan are my favorite bits.
Carlo Rambaldi (E.T., Dune) is handling the effects and they are well done for the most part.
The only area of the film that is lacking is the ending.
It was very weak and the film suffers for it.
The demon just doesn't do too much after he finally comes out of the closet (pun intended).
Also, I felt the explanation as to how this kid conjured the demon was a little vague.
Surely they could have elaborated a bit more.
Cotter Smith is quite good here and so is the kid as far as child actors go..
Real Scares and good ideas at work!.
Cameron Lansing (Curtis) is a 10 year old boy with psychic abilities.
His father Owen (Hunter) and a colleague (Chuck McCann) accidentally has Cameron bring to life an ancient demon from the depths of hell who lurks in the boys closet.
The evil force causes Owen to fall off a ladder and be graphically decapitated in a great early scene.
Cameron moves in with his mom (Kim Lankford) and her bully boyfriend (Gary Hudson) who is killed by the beast in the closet by having his eyes blown out and tossed out the boys window.
Detective Sam Taliaferrro (Smith) and cop shrink DR.
Nora Halley (Harris) get brought in to investigate.
Cameron's uncle and Sam's partner are also killed by the demon and Sam and Cameron join forces to stop the evil.
This movie is an above average supernatural chiller from screen Writer Gary Brandner (from his novel) and Director Armand Mastroianni, Mastroianni delivers several nice shocks along with a few good seat rocking jolts throughout the running time which keeps the audience off guard as to when the next one is coming.
The interesting plot is handled well along with some inspired gore moments makes this a nice mix.
The main demon was designed by Carlo Rambaldi and looks good when it is shown in quick flashes and surprise moments, but looks rather fake and unconvincing the more you see it.
Scott Curtis in the lead role of Cameron turns in a very natural and believable performance which helps the overall film.
On the down side; there are too many dream sequences (thank the late 1980's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" influence for this) and the ending is nothing special either.
There are still plenty of real scares and good ideas at work here making this worth seeking out.