By the 1990s, John Carpenter had already solidified himself as a top rate filmmaker. With films like 1979’s Halloween, 1980’s The Fog, and 1982’s The Thing, he pretty much became a Horror icon. However, he would also step outside the genre and offer such other interesting films that included 1981’s dystopian Escape from New York, 1984’s Starman, plus the beloved 1986 Action Adventure Big Trouble in Little China. Really a very talented individual, who is also an accomplished musician, Carpenter can hold his own anywhere. That said, in 1993 he returned to the Horror world with the anthology style film Body Bags. Now 30 years later, there is so much to reflect on with this vastly underappreciated movie.
A film which was not theatrically released, but made for television, the story goes that Showtime actually hoped to make Body Bags their answer to HBO’s hit series Tales from the Crypt. With this, they would seek to make Body Bags into a regular aired series, but unfortunately that never materialized for whatever reason. Nonetheless, Body Bags was created as a one-off Showtime film release on August 8, 1993.
As mentioned, directed by John Carpenter, with assistance from the also legendary Tobe Hooper, Body Bags consisted of three segments, wrapped around with a ghoulish coroner as the narrator; much like Tales from the Crypt’s Crypt Keeper. Full of morbid humor, let us not forget that the coroner is actually played by Carpenter himself… and it is nothing less than highly amusing.
These factors in play, the film manages to put together one of the best casts ever to be featured in a Horror anthology film; and this is in the respect of those who call themselves real film fans. For starters, you have Hooper taking on a part, plus iconic filmmakers Roger Corman, Wes Craven, Greg Nicotero, and Sam Raimi make cameos. On top of this, there is also roles portrayed by Revenge of the Nerds series star Robert Carradine, 1981’s American Werewolf in London lead David Naughton, the accomplished Stacy Keach (Fat City 1972, American History X 1998), well-known Model Kim Alexis, hitmaking Singer Sheena Easton, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Star Wars series legend Mark Hamill, iconic model Twiggy, Tom Arnold, David Warner, plus more. Is that a cast, or is that a cast?
With all of these easily recognized stars at their disposal, Body Bags also has tons of what they call Easter eggs as well; for example, The Gas Station segment takes place near Haddonfield… referencing, of course, Halloween. And with all of these shinier aspects to draw a Horror fan in, the actual stories of Body Bags are pretty amusing with their combination of Horror, Comedy, and satire; again, very much like HBO’s Tales from the Crypt.
All these things considered, you have to wonder why Showtime canned the idea of making a Body Bags series. Was it due to budget constraints or something else? Interestingly enough, Showtime did create something vaguely similar to a Horror anthology over a decade later with the Masters of Horror series. However, it really has to pique curiosity of what may have been had Body Bags become a series… but we will just never know. And for those interested, you can stream Body Bags on numerous services, but can also relatively easily find a copy on Blu-ray thanks to Scream Factory’s 2013 release.
Celebrating 30 years, Body Bags may be overlooked and largely forgotten, but it arguably is right up there with some of the best Horror anthology films such as 1982’s Creepshow, 1987’s Creepshow 2, and 1990’s Tales from the Darkside. That is why even 3 decades on it is a chiller of a good time worth indulging in.
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