Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

*possible spoilers* I orginally saw this movie, when my parents took us to the drive in, back in the early 70's. I may have been 6 or 7 years old. I was able to rent the movie tonight and rewatch it for the 1st time in 30 something years. So as you can imagine it is extremly dated, and it shows it's age. It is NOT a feel good movie, so if you are expecting 90 mins of fun and excitement, forget it. There are no special effects and the budget is obviously very small. However I felt that the directing was excellent and this is a very powerful movie and not for the squemish. The bumbling cops in the movie provided some very needed comic releif to offset the extremly disturbing subject matter. Let's face it the kidnapping, rape, mutilation and murder of two young teenage girls is bad enough. It is hard to watch at times, expecially due to the fact that the murders take place in such close proximtity to the girls home, where the gang of rapists and murderes end up after they commit their horrific crimes. Again this movie is not entertaining in the least, but, I gave it four stars because it does succeed in it's intended purpose. It's shocking and horrific and a parents worst nightmare come true. You may find yourself cheering on the parents of Mary when they discover the truth and plot their revenge. Maybe that was the purpose of the film to feel that bit of satisfaction when the villians get what is comeing to them. Hmmm. something to think about if you would like to see it.

...Because it's hard to believe that the same man who brought us Nightmare on Elm Street would produce such absolute trash. Reminiscent in subject and feel to "I Spit On Your Grave", this movie, unfortunately, has neither the depth nor the horror of this aforementioned classic. I didn't find the violence to be all that graphic. It's not directly shown, but rather very strongly implied. The criminals are impossible to take seriously. The only thing criminal about them is their sheer stupidity. The acting is sickeningly bad. I don't know what the actresses' blank expressions are meant to convey (shock, perhaps?), but they fail miserably. What really put me off about this movie wasn't the bad acting or the lame script. It was how its overall mood jumped, in a rather bizarre and completely incomprehensible way, from twisted sadism to lighthearted humor. For example, the two cops looking for the crooks are used as comic relief throughout the entire film. My only question is, WHY? Was Wes Craven not sure whether to make a dark comedy or a horror/thriller? Moot point, I'd say, because it works as neither.