A
married couple named Big Bob Carter (Russ
Grieve) who is a retired detective and
his wife Ethel (Virginia Vincent)
celebrate their 25th anniversary with
their family on a vacation trip to
California but first they go through some
rockies and ask an old man named Mercury
(Peter Locke) at a pit stop on where to
go and he warns them to stay on the road
but the family doesn't listen to him as
their car is chased off by an army
aircraft which the area is an air testing
range for an army base.
Big
Bob goes back to the pit stop which takes
him all day while the family waits for
him.
Meanwhile one of the family's dogs named
Beauty runs to the rocky mountains there
as she spots sopmething but one of the
kids named Bobby (Robert Houston) looks
for her and finds her gutted alive.
He is too disturbed to tell the family
what has happened and keeps a sharp eye
out for any intruders. Mercury has a
frightening story to tell Big Bob.
Mercury gets killed and then Big Bob is
attacked and tortured by a group of
cannibals that live in the mountains.
They then spike him to a stake and burn
him alive while some of the cannibals
named Jupiter (James Whitworth) and Pluto
(Michael Berryman) steal supplies in the
family's trailer that they had along for
the travel as well as killing some of the
Carter family and steals a baby which is
a new member of the family.
Bobby,
his sister Brenda (Susan Lanier) and
their brother in law Doug (Martin Speer)
are the only survivors left and tries to
find a way to rescue the baby and take
revenge on the cannibalistic family by
planning a trap for them.
This movie was
very intense and disturbing with plenty
of terrific frights and it became a cult
classic in the same vein as others like Texas
Chainsaw Massacre for instance
as this film will appeal to the same
group of fans.
The film is quite an adventurous ride too
as you wanna feel like taking part of the
film and it was inspirational too
imagining thinking that there is nothing
out there but God's creature but are you
in for a shocking surprise.
The acting is is
totally 70's style as of course that was
the era it was filmed.
Nowadays the performances may seem very
average but it was well performed for
it's time.
Robert Houston does terrically
well with his frightened emotions after
seeing the horrible incident of his dog.
Michael Berryman is a natural
character actor as one of the demented
cannibals named Pluto and the one who
plays his brother named James
Whitworth as Jupiter is believeably
menacing.
I enjoyed the supporting actor Russ
Grieve as the aggressive former
detective father Big Bob as he brings the
role to reality.
A dog is gutted
A man is impaled
Big Bob is burned alive
Pluto's leg is mangled by one of the
family's dog Beast.
Like Tobe Hooper
did with TCM, Wes
Craven can use the same recipe too
with his direction for this film as he
knows how to make it very creepy, intense
and psychotic.
His direction with the car being thrown
off the road is very suspenseful as you
know something bad is going to happen,
then when it's night time it's suddenly
too quiet and theres good locations
around the dark mountains.
There's great directing with Craven
coaching Grieve's intensity when
he is burned alive at the stake and then Vincent's
character losing her mind after she sees
the incident.
I loved his work with Robert Houston the
most as the vengeful teenage kid swearing
revenge on the cannibals as the last 30
minutes of the film is very adventurous.
Don
Peake is great with his screechy
sounds for the film adding the right
touches in every scene.
Brenda
Carter: We're gonna be french fries!
Human french fries!
Ethel
Carter: [while looking at a road
map] We are not lost, we're right
here somewhere on this little blue line.
Lynne Wood: This road is not a
blue line, it's a dotted line, if it's
even on the map at all!
Big
Bob Carter: Do you always try to stop
trespassers by hanging yourself?
Mars:
Baby's fat. You fat... fat and juicy.
Ethel
Carter: That's not my Bob!
Pluto:
This is air force rescuewwwwww, what's up
?
Big Bob Carter: We're being
attacked. I don't know who. We have one
gun with 2 bullets. We're sitting ducks!
Pluto: We recommend that until we
can get to you, you stand on your heads,
with your thumbs up.
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