I'd like to put this one in the so-bad-it's-good category, but it's simply bad.
We're asked to accept a lot in _Frightmare_: 1. That a group of college students would steal a dead body for fun. 2. Psychics have legitimate powers. 3. An actor who played a vampire, upon returning from the dead, will possess powers unrelated to a vampire (e.g., telekinesis, pyrokinesis).
Let's talk for a moment about the main character, Conrad Radzoff: clearly he is supposed to be a nod to Christopher Lee - and maybe even Bela Lugosi. It's set up early on that he is a killer, but why? He didn't need to be for his ghost to be pissed that college kids took his body. The plot is paper thin here, and I'm not saying it has to be complicated, but at least have some internal logic. I think the writer just heard about people taking Charlie Chaplin, and John Barrymore's corpse - the latter was alluded to - then just ran with it.
Look, this is a bad '80s horror movie that wants to be a slasher, but doesn't have Jason Voorhees, so instead they give you ghost actor.
I can tell the people involved cared about horror, but they didn't have the self awareness to lean into the humor of how bad the plot was or didn't have the writing skills to make this work despite that.
There are two fake outs early on, and I thought they were a hint that the entire story was going to be a movie within a movie. It's not, and I'm unsure if that was a relief or a mistake.

**_When a grumpy horror star is raised from the dead by an occultist_**

After a horror icon’s death (Ferdy Mayne), seven drama students steal his corpse from the mausoleum to party at a Los Angeles mansion. Unfortunately for them, his widow consults a spiritualist and the man is resurrected but not in a good mood toward his young fans.

Shot in 1981 but not released until 1983,"Frightmare" is colorful 80’s horror in the mold of “One Dark Night” (1982) and “Fright Night” (1985). Protagonist Luca Bercovici (Saint) is reminiscent of Roger Daltrey from 10 years earlier, only taller.

Carlene Olson (Eve) is a highlight in the female department and the flick’s worth catching just for her. Donna McDaniel (Donna) and Jennifer Starrett (Meg) are also notable but the director evidently didn’t know how to shoot women to fully capture their beauty.

The flick’s enjoyable to a point, but there’s too little character development and so you don’t care much about the youths threatened by the resurrected Count Radzoff. Still, this is a spooky 80’s flick if you’re in the mood for something with fun Halloween atmosphere.

Christopher Lee was originally considered for the role of Count Radzoff and even appears in flashback B&W footage of “Uncle Was a Vampire” (1959).

The film runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot at Greystone Park & Mansion, Raleigh Studios in Hollywood and other areas of Los Angeles (e.g. the cemetery).

GRADE: C+/B-