A teenage girl named
Mari Collingwood (Sandra Cassel) is
celebrating her 17th Birthday with her
friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham) by
going out to a rock concert to see their
favourite band called Bloodlust.
However, they walk around the city
looking for marijuana. A man named Junior
Stillo (Marc Sheffler) claims he has
marijuana at his suite so they all go up
to his suite and a killer cult is in the
suite led by a man named Krug Stillo
(David Hess) who is an escaped convict
and he kidnaps the two girls and is also
the parent of Junior as he drugs him with
heroin.
They all take the two girls in the woods
which is only 100 feet from the
Collingwood home where they torture, rape
and kill them. Then without realising it,
they drop off their dead bodies near the
Collingwood's house where they all take
refuge not realising they are Mari's
parents.
The Collingwood's find out that they
murdered their daughter and friend so
they seek revenge on them by turning the
tables on them.
We have a good cheeesy conversation between Mari Collingwood along with her parents John and Estelle about discussing
where she's going and the town being
unsafe along with their situationjs on her
not wearing a bra.
We have a good discussion between Mari and Phyllis Stone hanging out
near a river in the woods with a wine
bottle and laughing.
We also have good shots on them driving
in their car.
There's some twisted shots on Krug Stillo walking by and popping a
child's ballooon like you'd wanna hate
this bastard as well as his discussion with
the others in their cockroach hotel room.
There's a good moment with Junior Stillo acting goofy with Sadie taking a bath and she acts
sleazy towards him.
A good shot on Junior waiting
around outside and then both Mari and Phyllis coming up to him asking
for weed with him acting totally out of
it.
We have a good effective moment when the two girls walk into the
hotel room and then Junior locks them in with the two of them
shocked and startled. You will
really cringe imagining if this ever
happened to you. It was a perfect psychological moment on the years our parents taught us to never talk to strangers. What's more psychological is that one of the girls pleads to let them go and they won't tell as well as Krug approaching them telling the two saying they must think they're stupid as this looked truly disturbing to watch as well as leaving a chill down your spine as well as a memorable moment on Weasel taking out a switchblade towards Mari when she threatens to scream.
A good shot on Sadie feeling Phyllis' breasts and then Krug taking off
her shirt and the nshe spits in his face as well as him slugging her then raping her with a shot
on Mari watching which looked
disturbing indeed which was a helpless
moment. Defientely this moment makes it hard for certain others to watch this situation.
Meanwhile we get campy shots on John and Estelle decorating a
cake and preparing for her daughters 17th
birthday.
A good camera shot on Weasel carrying
down Phyllis down a ladder to
their building.
We have a good sick discussion with Krug having sex with Sadie on the
backseat of their car along with Weasel talking to them awkwardly.
There's a good sick moment on Krug when he manipulates Phyllis to
pee her pants else her friend will be
tortured.
We have a good shot on Phyllis and Mari caressing one another in
the woods with Phyllis herself crying and Mari trying to comfort her.
There's a corny discussion with two
officers talking to John and Estelle about their daughters
disappearance which doesn't really fit or
any of the other scene's that involved these two officers.
There's great shots on Phyllis running
away in the woods with Weasel and Sadie on her tail as you
wonder if she will get away.
A great shot on Phyllis acting
menacing towards Sadie by
smacking a rock against her head as this gives you a great feeling on seeking revenage on this evil bitch.
We have a good discussion between Mari towards Junior to
set her free and she has drugs for him by
trying to act uplifting before crying
again.
Perfect shots on Krug, Weasel and Sadie cornering Phyllis near
a graveyard. Has a nice horror touch to the scene with the surroundings.
A good shot on Phyllis being
brutally stabbed in the back with her
weakly crawling along with camera shots
on Krug, Weasel and Sadie staring at her and kicking her along with
great menacing shots on Weasel brutally stabbing her. This was a nice psychological horror moment that fans for disturbing horror flicks will enjoy.
A nice a shot on Krug pulling out
a cut off arm and dropping it. This was one of the most famous scene's that was seen in this flick adding more and more into the horror story.
A good camera shot on Mari slowly
walking into a lake and then a great shot
on Krug aiming his gun.
We have good shots at the dinner table
with Krug, Sadie and Weasel pigging out on spaghetti and
swigging back wine disguised as preachers
a the Collingwood house.
John and Estelle aren't
too believeable after they find their
dead daughter washed up when they're
sobbing.
A great scene was a dream sequence
between the two of them when they make out they are
going to do a mouth surgery to seek
revenge on one of the cult members with a
terrific camera looking up on them.
We have yet another corny moment by the officers when the try to hitchhike and are picked up by a chicken truck driver but it looks slightly
charming. The makers treid to add some comedy to make up for the intense and disturbing moments in the scene but it didn't tickle my fancy at all.
There's a scene with Estelle by making out that she
has a lustful thing for Weasel by
taking him outside and tying him. Then a
great shot on him screaming
in pain along with a great shot on her getting menacing by biting off his....
well I won't get into that.
There's many good shots on Krug slugging John and mocking
him.
The most intense work of this flick was with Krug when he tells
Junior to blow his brains out with his gun.
Extremely disturbing stuff.
A nice shot on John walking
up a cellar stairs with an active
chainsaw and Krug slamming the
door with a good shot on the door being
sawed open and then attacking this maniac while
he's holding a chair to him. This I could bet what inspired Tobe Hooper to use the same elements for Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I found
this the best moment as
it excites you that these bastards are
getting what's coming to them.
There's
also good shots and moments with Estelle having a battle with Sadie which I enjoyed as well for getting what's coming to her too.
Bottom line: Well this film
didn't seem to be a horror film at first
but when you see the elements used in it
you will think differently as it was kind
of a psychological crime horror suspense
movie. Back in it's days was a full fledged psycholigal horror though.
It's very intense and disturbing indeed
giving out ideas to invent a slasher
flick as well as showing youths never to
enter a place with someone you don't know
cause this can happen to you.
However, the story sometimes weakens as
it doesn't do much after the fact these
girls are being tortured and killed.
We also have some stupid dark comedy in
the film by having two dipstick deputy
and sherrif involved and doing a lousy
job by finding these two missing girls
but again Wes Craven admitted he
was drunk while making this flick.
This film was produced by Sean S.
Cunningham and of course written and
ditrected by Wes Craven who
would later become icons for other cult
horror films like Friday the 13th
and A Nightmare On Elm Street.
This film did have some similar Elm
Street elements to this flick.
Although this film was bombed by most
other critics and wasn't a mainstream
film by any means it still reigned as a
cult classic along with other non
mainstream horror films like My
Bloody Valentine, Sleepaway
Camp, Silent Night
Deadly Night and Demons.
The acting seems
pretty good although alot of these cast
members remained virtual unknowns. Sandra Cassel (Mari Collingwood) does a good job as
a senstive girl on her birthday as she
knew how to cry well and get scared. A good reaction on her after
she spots her mailbox while being dragged
out of a car trunk and then sobs when she
is taken into the woods. She does well freaking out when someone pulls out
a cut off arm and dropping it.
Lucy Grantham (Phyllis Stone) does well as the
courageous one with a good tough attitude
to her part which makes you hope that she
will survive. She does well when she is first held kidnapped by trying to
convince them to let them go trying not
to act freaked out. She shows great shocked
expressions after being cornered near a graveyard.
Cult actor David Hess (Krug Stillo) stole the
film with his performance as the
psychotic killer in the film proving to
be truly menacing and intimidating with
his part as you'd just wish he was put
out of his misery for his evil doings
with the innocent teenagers. He does
well afterwards when someone pleads to let them go by approaching them telling the two
fellow actress' they're not stupid which leaves an
impression that he won't let them go as he shows a good slick style and quite intimidating too. He does well by getting
aggressive with his onscreen son after whining about the murders as he was powerful while doing this.His best intense effort with his aggressions and insane attitude is when he manipulates his onscreen son to blow his head off. He for sure came on as a terrific madman.
Jeramie Rain (Sadie) you'd want to smack the crap out of her for being so skanky and nasty too. She was terrific with her part in it. She was terrific with her
part in it. She also does great quarter way in her performance by
going ballistic towardsone of her fellow actors by telling him to get away from her.
One of the most notable performers in
this film was Marc Sheffler (Junior Stillo) as
the dimwitted son of the head cult
members and looked good by playing an
addict showing alot of issues with his
character as you could tell he didn't
like what was going on but was too messed
up to do anything about it. He does well by whining and
screaming in his bed about the two girls
they murdered in a quarter way through in the story.
We have a supporting role by Martin
Kove (Deputy) in one of his first films as a
dimwitted dipstick as his part was
a little comedic. It was an odd
combination as this film was dark.
Lucy Grantham has
her top taken off by the cult members.
Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham
are stripped down naked in the woods.
A girl is bloodily
stabbed and then briefly her guts are
pulled out
There's a cut off arm.
A gruesome slit throat
A guy blowing his head off
A killed being devoured by a chainsaw but
it isn't too gruesome.
Of course David Hess
composed the music for this film as apart
from being an actor he's a musician too.
He has great low gruesome bass guitar
playing for the appropriate scene's. He
also has good flute playing for certain
scene's of the wooded areas. There's also
great hisiing sounds for the real intense
and creepy moments which sounded great as
well as high pitched sounds for the
stabbing scene's.
He also did all the soundtrack score's
for the film but will be remembered for
the echoey vocalising on "The Road
Leads to Nowhere" along with
Steve Chaplan. It was a little too
overplayed though.
Krug
Stillo: You must think we're stupid
right? No, we're not stupid. We might be
horny old pigs, but, we ain't stupid.
Krug
Stillo: We don't wanna off someone
first night out. I mean, it'd be a shame
to get this floor all messed up with
blood.
Krug
Stillo: Piss your pants!
Phyllis Stone: What?
Krug Stillo: I said "Piss
your pants"!
Phyllis Stone: You sick mother!
Mari:
Junior, do you have a girlfriend?
Junior Stillo: Oh yeah, I got lots
of girlfriends just waiting to get me!
Mari: I don't think you do.
Junior Stillo: Well you're right.
Krug
Stillo: Listen to daddy. I want you
to take the gun, and I want you to put it
in your mouth, and I want you to turn
around and blow your brains out. Blow
your brains out, BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT! |