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Blood Rage
A.k.a. (Nightmare at Shadow Woods)
(Twins/Psycho/Slasher) 6******skulls
*Lots of Blood* *Violent* *Nudity* *Very Gory*
1984/Color/87 Min./Prism Entertainment & Complex Films, Ltd.
& 1983 Film Limited Partnership/Rated R
Director.............John M. Grissmer (Scalpel)
Screenplay.......Richard Lamden
Music................Richard Einhorn
Producer...........Marianne Kanter
Executive Producers.....J.W. Stanley, Jared M. Drescher,
William C. Brakefield, & Stanley Westreich
Special Make-up & Effects by Ed French ()
Dramatis Personae
Maddy..........Louise Lasser (Bananas, Frankenhooker, Mary Hartman)
Terry/Todd.....Mark Soper (The Understudy: Graveyard Shift II)
Julie..........Jayne Bentzen
Karen..........Julie Gordon
Artie..........James Farrell
Gregg..........Chad Montgomery
Andrea.........Lisa Randall
Brad...........William Fuller
Dr. Berman.....Marianne Kanter
Jackie.........Doug Weiser
Beth...........Gerry Lou
Bill...........Ed French
Little Girl....Dana Drescher
Maddy's Date...Bill Cakmis
Drive-in Girl..Rebecca Thorp
Drive-in Boy...Brad Williams
Ted Raimi? selling condoms?
Critique: Watch this one on Thanksgiving or with your twin. The seven skulls here are contingent skulls. If you're looking for an evil twin slasher with lots of action and a few good surprises though no psychological development nor plot development you've come to the right place. Very "Halloween" Louise Lasser doesn't add much with her catatonic camp, probably because we've seen it a few hundred times, but her performance picks up at the end as does the entire film. Manages to deliver a few surprises despite the plodding predictability and lack of suspense. Features the music by J.S. Bach.
Frightening line: "I'm going to whip you like a stepchild."
Plot Summary: At a drive-in in 1974 in Jacksonville, Florida, teenagers are busy making out, consuming snacks, and purchasing condoms as they don't watch "The House that Cried Murder". As her date puts the moves on Maddy Simmions, she protests because her twin boys are sleeping in the back seat. As things heat up in the front seat the 10 year olds are awakened and leave through the hatch, taking an axe with them. They spy on couples until a young man tells them to beat it and one of the twins hits him in the face with the axe eight times. As a crowd gathers, the mother arrives and little Todd is institutionalized. Mrs. Simmions is told by Dr. Berman after 10 years that Todd's psychoanalysis is implicating Terry in the murder. Maddy and Todd are reunited after ten years, but Todd is embittered by a punishment he couldn't understand. The analyst considers it of utmost importance that Terry not learn of her suspicions. Terry is now big man on campus. At Thanksgiving dinner Maddy and her boyfriend, Shadow Woods condo manager Brad King, announce their plans to wed and a visibly upset Terry nervously toasts the happy couple. While Terry flirts with the guests, a phone call announces that the hospital cannot find Todd. Terry returns to the table and flatly announces "My psychotic brother just escaped." Terry's obvious anger rises when he spies his mother and her fiance kissing on her bed. As Terry sprays and organizes what's left of his hair, Dr. Berman and her assistant Jackie arrive in pursuit of Todd. Terry meanwhile visits Brad and hacks him to bits, puffs a joint with Jackie who confides in him that Dr. Berman suspects Todd has never killed anyone, before Terry running him through with a machete, and shortly thereafter takes care of Dr. Berman by chopping her in half. Terry then showers and blowdrys what's left of his hair as his nervous mother cleans the oven again. it's off to visit his new neighbor/girlfriend who attacks him sexually, but he wants to watch a slasher movie on television. As his real girlfriend Karen arrives she mistakenly bumps into Todd, and proposes that he make love to her, until he tells who he is and she runs away to her friends, one of whom, Artie, heads off to apprehend the psycho with a baseball bat and soon they find Terry who sets off on his own to find Todd announcing to his mother "It's here!". When Todd discovers the body of the psychologist who trusted him, he becomes enraged. Meanwhile Terry continues his murder spree bagging the neighbor, her boyfriend and perhaps her baby. A few doors down, he gets a neighbor showering, Andrea and Gregg get it having sex in the pool and Maddy babbles to the operator. Todd hijacks the terrified Artie and insists that Artie help him stop Terry. Todd aims a gun at Terry but can't pull the trigger and flees. Artie gets it trying to help Terry capture Todd and when Karen finds Terry with a bloody machete ("It ain't cranberry sauce Artie") the chase is on through the condos du corps morts headed for a family get-together in the community swim-house.
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