Frightmare (1983) Film Locations

“There was Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, and Conrad Ragzoff! They were all stars who lived and died. But only one returned…” You want to party with the body of Conrad Ragzoff like those goofy drama students did in the movies. Want to visit his final resting place? You should plan on a trip to the West Adams area of Los Angeles.

This 1983 Norman Thaddeus Vane penned and directed this slasher movie which was Jeffrey Combs’ first horror movie, so the film has some historic value. The movie stars Ferdinand Mayne as Conrad Ragzoff. What a pleasure to watch this actor. He had genuine genre credentials, playing Count Von Krolock in The Fearless Vampire Killers and Erle in Howling II. Take a gander at his IMDB page and note how many times he has played a vampire.

The basic plot of this horror movie deals with a group of drama students who are big fans of Conrad Ragzoff and decide to ‘borrow’ his body after he died. A party to celebrate this horror icons life would not be complete without his corpse. Think of the movie as a Weekend at Bernie’s, but done as a horror movie. Although deep down, Weekend at Bernie’s is horrific. Sadly, the group of meddling kids really don’t know the true Conrad Ragzoff. He’s not a good guy and probably undeserving of their admiration. Before he dies, he pushes a director over a railing and he suffocates another. Anger management classes could have assisted. Partying with a mean-spirited horror movie icon doesn’t bode well for this group of mischievous drama students.

I had taken the West Adams Heritage Association’s “The Heights of Elegance” tour back in June 2015. One of the tour stops was the Rindge Mansion. I will eventually get around to posting pictures from the tour. I had taken the tour before I had seen Frightmare. As the movie filmed at both the Rindge Mansion and the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery. You can easily visit both on an afternoon walk about.