Blood Rage (Aka Shadow Woods / Slasher) (1987)

Blood Rage (Aka, Shadow Woods / Slasher) is an American Slasher film produced in 1987. Written by Bruce Rubin and directed by John Grissmer, its undertones are very reminiscent of the campy “Friday The 13^th” series and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” with one homicidal son yearning for mother’s sympathy with a quick snap of his sanity. The film starts out in a crowded night at the local drive-in theater in 1974 in Jacksonville, Florida. For a fun night for many quickly turns into a blood soaked drive-in, when a single mother, Maddy Simmons (Louise Lasser) , takes her two young identical twin boys Todd (Mark Soper) and Terry (Mark Soper) with her while on a date.  The couple takes their night further as Ms. Simmons assumes the twins are asleep in the backseat, and as things get heated up in the front seat, the boys mischievously sneak out the back door without notice. Terry mysteriously finds and picks up an axe.   Peering into the next car, a couple takes their drive-in experience further and when discoved being watched by the twins, curses the boys to leave them alone.  Enraged, Terry  brutally attacks the couple. As the crowds gather after the shouts and screams, Terry quickly and hesitantly rubs the blood of his first victims on Todd’s face who had nothing to do with the murders and ditches the axe. In a dark twist, Todd claims that Terry was the one who murdered the couple and is quickly sent to a long term psychiatric hospital, leaving Todd as “The good child” knowing what he really did that dark night.  Fast forward nearly a decade later, it is Thanksgiving in Jacksonville, and the twisted Todd has kept his hands clean, now focused on convincing his innocence, life begins a new turn of events for him.  Terry has been locked up in a catatonic state with little to no memory of that night except that he was framed by his twin brother.  We are shortly introduced with Terry’s psychotherapist Dr. Berman (Marianne Kanter), and she admits that she knows Terry is not capable of such a crime and is determined to break  Todd’s secret. She rises to the top of Terry’s kill list. Ms. Simmons is now about to get married and this comes as unsettling news for Todd.  To make things more difficult, Todd’s brother, Terry has escaped his psychiatric hospital. Unworried, but a still very damaged Todd snaps further into his psychosis making sure Terry doesn’t expose his dark secret of that unfortunate night. Todd begins to pretend to be Terry, tricking his unfortunate victims, as the body count rises and his rage for blood is heightened in search of Terry. He begins to kill anyone and everyone who gets in his way. Blood Rage is a great psychological slasher film with plenty of gore and unique murder scenes. The film also features a cameo appearance by Ted Raimi as a condom salesman in the beginning. It’s one of the many eighties horror films you must add to your watch list. Now available exclusively as a Special Edition from Arrow Films, it comes packed full with 3 Discs, Blu-Ray/DVD & a DVD bonus disc which features three different versions of the film including the uncut and composite version.

Death Valley (1982)

Death Valley is a classic horror film from 1982 and directed by Dick Richards and written by Richard Rothstein.  Newly divorced Paul Stanton (Edward Herrmann) and his son Billy (Stephen McHattie) decide to venture into Death Valley during a road trip.  They stumble upon a serial killer, who enjoys wearing a pink male thong and his demented twin. Both enjoy tap-dancing and belting out old cowboy songs. Billy finds the murder instrument and decides to keep it unfortunately, allowing him to become stalked by a serial killer.  Billy wanders upon an old RV stuffed with dead bodies; he suspects what might be going on.  When the local sheriff (Wilford Brimley) becomes one of the victims, Billy sets off to find out more about the crime. Death Valley is a well directed and produced horror film with an original tale not to miss. The film has been currently released by the horror release masters Scream! Factory and is on a DVD/BluRay Combo pack with bonus features of various Trailers of the film. This release is not one to pass up. Purchase Death Valley directly from Scream! Factory.

Curtains (1983)

Curtains, released in 1983, is a Canadian slasher film directed by Richard Ciupka and written by Robert Guza Jr. The story focuses on a group of six actresses auditioning for a lead role who become targeted by a masked killer in a remote mansion. Samantha Sherwood (Samantha Eggar) is a film actress who’s had much success in the film industry, but because of her age the director John Striker (John Vernon) is no longer is interested in her work. The film she is presently working is a role of a deranged schizophrenic.  In an attempt of method acting, he admits Samantha into a psychiatric ward to learn how to act as if she were actually deranged. After months of being cooped up in an asylum, Samantha slowly begins to deteriorate as the place takes a heavy toll on her and her sanity. She soon finds out that her director John has been using her as a rouse the entire time and was never interested in her as his lead role.  She finally snaps and escapes the asylum with the intent to murder the other actresses being auditioned at the remote mansion.  She hopes of being the only one left to hire for the leading role. Will she succeed in her devious plans to kill all the other actresses?  Attacking her victim with a sickle and wearing a grotesque hag mask, she acts out in rage against the other actresses auditioning the lead role. Has it been Samantha all along or could it be her mysterious friend she trusts?  In this thrill seeking horror, the murders keep you guessing as to who is committing these acts and with a well done twist of the story line at the end, Curtains is not one to miss. Released by Synapse Films it can be purchased on BluRay or DVD directly from their website or from Amazon.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood "Pranks, Death Dorm" (1982)

The Dorm That Dripped Blood (Pranks, Death Dorm) is an American horror slasher film directed by Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow and written by Carpenter and Stacey Giachino. The film involves four college students who stay behind at their college campus during the Christmas holiday to clean a dormitory that is about to be demolished. As they begin to clean out the dormitory, they begin to be stalked by an unknown killer who uses a multitude of industrial tools, such as a spiked baseball bat, wire and industrial tools to kill his victims. The students begin to notice the tools missing and they suspect it’s a guy they know who hangs around the school. The killer slays one student after another. As the movie progresses, the killer turns out to be a vicious murdering stalker who is madly in love with one of the girls. There is a lot of twists and turns with lots of gore and originality, The Dorm That Drips Blood is a classic slasher and ultimately earns it’s keep in anyone’s horror collection. Featuring Daphne Zuniga as (Debby) in her film debut, “Pranks, Death Dorm” was deemed video nasty in the United Kingdom upon its initial release due to its drill killing scene and its original art work that showed a spiked baseball bat. Unfortunately in 1992 it was re-released with the drill murder removed. Released once more by Synapse Films as of 2011 as an Uncensored Directors Cut as a BluRay/DVD combo pack including audio commentary with Jeffrey Obrow and Carpenter, Interviews and many more Bonus Features, the film is absolutely a must own and can be purchased from Synapse Films or Amazon.