1987
Directed by John Grissmer
Written by Bruce Rubin
Starring Louise Lasser, Mark Soper & Marianne Kanter
Rated R - Approx. 84 Min.
Taglines:
- Not all the evil is on Elm Street ...
- Every hooker's greatest fear is that the next one will be a sicko
Alternate Titles:
Nightmare at Shadow Woods - USA Alternative Title
"That's not cranberry sauce, Artie.......that's not cranberry sauce."
- Terry
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| Wow. That is just a really, really red screen. |
Yet another entry in the incredibly small Thanksgiving Horror sub-genre, Blood Rage is a slasher film wrapped up in an evil twin motif. The film starts with the two said twin boys (Todd and Terry) at the drive-in. Mom and her boyfriend are busy making out in the front seat and don't notice the two boys slip out of the car. As they wonder around, Terry finds and ax and decides to hack up a guy having sex in the back of his car. Before the crowd starts to gather, Terry smears some blood on Todd's face and puts the ax in the terrified young boy's hands. Todd is blamed for the murder and sent to a mental institution.
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| "Here Todd, hold this for me....." |
Fast forward 10 years or so and Terry is living the good life with his mother and her new fiancee. As they are sitting down with friends to Thanksgiving dinner, Terry's mother receives a phone call telling her that Todd has escaped the mental hospital. Thus begins a night of gore and dismemberment and fun! As everyone is on the lookout for Todd, Terry makes use of this time to slash up pretty much everyone one in the apartment complex, of course blaming all of his carnage on Todd.
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| This right here. This is why this is a Thanksgiving Horror movie! |
The gore quotient in this flick is definitely higher than it was in Home Sweet Home. For the price of admission this time around you get an arm amputation, a severed head and (my personal favorite) transverse separation of the torso via machete! The effects are quite good, with plenty of spurting blood and viscera to keep the gorehounds happy. The acting is, predictably, pretty cheeseball.....but that's all part of what makes this film so great. If you're looking for classically trained actors spouting of poetic lines, you've definitely crashed the wrong party....but if you're looking for over the top violent stalking and slashing, well then you've come to the right place, my friend.
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| Perhaps you should wait until AFTER dinner to watch this one! |
I think it would have played a bit better if they hadn't shown us in the beginning that the wrong twin was blamed for the drive-in murder. Having the additional element of not knowing which twin we were currently watching would have made for some more tension, I think. Plus, it's pretty obvious that Terry has got a few screws loose and it's a bit hard to believe that NOBODY suspects him....especially his mother....since Todd has been professing his innocence and his psychiatrist believes him. Oh well.....that's movie logic for ya!
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| "Hi, I'm Todd!" |
Midnight Cinephile Tally
Death Toll: TEN! We're up one from the last flick. Huzzah! As I previously mentioned, the kills in the one are great. The doc getting hacked in half by the machete is priceless.
Nude-O-Meter: Why you dirty little perv! Yes, there's some nudity on display here. Mutliple breasts, some bare bottoms and we even get to see a little 80's bush!
Things That Go Bump In The Night: Well , we've got Terry.....
Final Thoughts
While this movie doesn't really have a specific Thanksgiving feel to it (there's a quiet scene where they're sitting down to a turkey dinner....but that's about all the reference. Still, not bad at all for a quickie slasher flick.
Final Rating
Three out of Five Pizza Rolls!
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