Also known as the film that failed to launch Kevin Bacon’s career. In fact, you probably wouldn’t even notice he was there if you weren’t looking for him. He does get a couple of scenes to dimly-shine before being dispatched by the film’s killer, but I’m sure he even forgets he was in this.
So, yeah, I’ve decided to make my grand return to posting on this blog, rather randomly, with this film series. I don’t have much of an interest in horror movies, as even hardcore horror buffs can’t seem to sell most of them. I appreciate the cream of the crop (The Shining, Don’t Look Now, Halloween etc.), but a genre where the selling point is a few minutes of gore really isn’t for me. I don’t look down on it, it’s just not my cup of tea.
Okay, maybe I look down on it a little.
I had quite a stressful week last week, resulting in a five-day drinking binge, but I’m slowly resurfacing now and keen to get typing. You don’t get a great deal of work done when you’re a depressed, unsociable, alcoholic shut-in. Or at least I don’t. I’m not a particularly high-functioning drinker, as you may very well learn.
Anyway, back to this masterpiece.
I’ve been meaning to watch this series for a while now, as I’d heard it was reasonably fun and mildly diverting. So, yeah, my expectations were really high.
A nice Blu-ray set seems to have finally been released recently, which is always a surprise, what with the UK’s miserable hardcopy distribution industry. Things were better in the days of VHS, I must say. Some of the instalments share a disc, which either implies their low transfer quality, or the distributor’s lack of respect for them. It was probably a space issue, to be honest, as they all fit into a nice slim case (usually reserved for one disc).
I have no idea why I’m talking about this. It’s probably the DTs scrambling my brain.
This first instalment was charmingly low-budget, although competently shot, edited, and scored. The fashions of the era are appropriately awful, although not as horrid as those in the same year’s The Shining. The plucky b-list cast do the best they can with a pretty slender screenplay, but the lack of characterisation and story had a knock-on effect on my caring when a character fell victim to the film’s killer. In that I didn’t care. In fact, I was usually drifting off when the music interrupted my train of thought to tell me something exciting was happening.
Saying that, you do get a great deal of ping for your pound, with multiple death sequences peppered throughout. It certainly helps that they were orchestrated by industry legend Tom Savini, who knows how to entertain a bloodthirsty audience.
I really enjoyed the climactic catfight, which I’m sure was very unique back in 1980. The actor playing the killer hams it up not inappropriately. They seem to know what they’ve gotten themselves into, so they get an extra mark for at least giving us some excitement.
I’ve heard the series is very loose, with the quality control being all over the place, so I’ll dip in and out whenever I feel so inclined. I do believe, however, that there is a long road to hoe.
Still, this was a fine film to chill-out to whilst coming down from a week of debauchery.
That’s 1 out of goodness-knows-how-many I approve of.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
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