Director: Kevin Connor
Year: 1980
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After an accident on the highway, a woman recuperating at a brother-and-sister-owned roadside motel nearby finds that the strange number of nearby disappearances are travelers being killed and harvested for a popular meat, forcing her to try to stop them.
Review:
This is really one of the weirdest films from the time period. This comes from the apparent work of the majority of the film, where the whole general concept is weird, and it is full of this sort of style. There is really no other way to describe it as weird here due to the rather out-there elements featured here from the central storyline of a man and his portly sister putting a special ingredient into their meat and will stop at nothing to get it and keep others from finding out while using some pretty wild ways to keep others from doing so. The manners of going out hunting the pedestrians along the woods, which ties into their harvesting methods, showing them trapped in the gardening patch with their throats slit, provide some laughs, and the way that they came about harvesting their ingredients is some dark black comedy.
That is the main element present here, as the black comedy more than horror dominates this one as well, since some scenes normally shouldn't be funny that were twisted in such a way that the results are just out there enough to be funny, from trying to distract someone while a pair of fingers boils up to the top of a soup can and finding the horny couple in the hotel room. The only time it is even near horror is the end, which is some pretty intense stuff from the revolt and attempted training that ends with a great dueling chainsaw fight that is great to behold, mostly for the mask worn throughout that creates one of the defining images from the film. These manage to work quite nicely for this one.
However, it does have a big problem here. The main issue for this one is that the film has so much black comedy and no real horror until the end that, for those who don't like that style, this will be a really hard film to sit through. A couple of innovative scenes spread liberally through the film are nice, but beyond that, it really isn't that much of a horror film during many of its supposed scare scenes. The fact that this one is that way for the majority of the film is the problem, tending to come off as camp rather than scary, as its weirdness doesn't bother that much, but it is something for those not interested in that style to have to sit through. Even still, this one focuses on the killer more than the victims, another obstacle to overcome which becomes a style that some don't like this approach as there's little about him or his plans that are really interesting. These are what really hold this one back.
Overview: ***.5/5
A quirky horror/black comedy more than a genuine genre effort, there are some worthwhile and highly enjoyable elements present here that help to overcome a few big flaws that keep this down. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who are curious about it, or who don't mind those issues will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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