The one line reviews do this film an injustice. Saying something like "A psychopathic killer escapes from an asylum and goes on a killing rampage at a sorority house that echoes a day of slaughter that occurred 20 years earlier" does sum up the plot quite well but this film is NOT the Halloween/Friday 13th/etc copycat that you might think it is.
The plot starts of rather outside of normal slasher territory by introducing our heroine, Joan Gilmore who is actually a doctor at an asylum. Lots of the initial running time is devoted to the internal goings on at the institution, and the corruption uncovered makes quite a fascinating subplot that I could have watched develop as a story in it's own right. But the reason for it all is really to set up the fact that a mentally unstable patient is released by mistake, and while the senior staff try and cover up the fact, the honest Dr Gilmore realises that she's going to have to go it alone to track him down and get him back. What follows is an intriguing (well, for a slasher movie!) turn of events as Dr Gilmore traces the original sorority house where the patient committed the murders that got him committed, and poses as a previous "sister" to gain access to the house and try and trap the killer. Aided by a local news reporter, she soon finds out that she was right, and the killer has returned, but he's not about to give up and come quietly without a few corpses piling up! I'll mention why I think this film is worthy of some note. First off, the main heroine, as played by Belinda Montgomery is not a young virginal beauty but a working doctor, and while attractive enough, she's certainly no average teen heroine, rather a resourceful intelligent woman. Secondly, the film sets up the killings in a very clever way, with a few girls being in the house falling victim to the killer in surprisingly brutal ways, as well as a seemingly random couple who get attacked in a camper van near the start actually turning out to be relevant to the plot later on. The film also throws in a couple of brutish hospital attendants who are dispatched by the other doctors (when they realise that the cover-up is not working) to catch the killer. These two thugs also have sexual designs on Dr Gilmore and decide she's just as much a target as the killer when they make their way to the sorority house armed with tranquillisers and cattle prods(!). At this point the film develops a unique three-way dynamic in which Dr Gilmore, the two thugs and the killer all have to square up to each other, and it's hard to know whether to root for the attendants or the killer, as they are a very repugnant pair and played with great sleazy excess by the two actors. The final scenes work very well as these three parties try out-manoeuvre each other to gruesome effect, while Dr Gilmore tries to avoid falling into the clutches of either. Dr Gilmore gets to scrabble and dodge through many hair-raising predicaments, including the menace of being tied under a power drill at one point, and the climax is pretty well done.
The film is fairly low budget, but well filmed. The murders are all filmed rather cruelly, as the killer seems to purposely choose a very unpleasant way for each victim to die. The film was originally shot in widescreen, but sadly the version I have seen (the old rental VHS) ruins things with terrible pan and scan. Plus, it's also made in 3-D! Well you don't get to see it in 3-D here, but lots of objects get poked and wiggled into the camera and it must have looked great in the cinema, as the use of the 3-D medium is wisely limited to moments that actually contribute something to the mayhem, rather than showing us people using yo-yos or blowing bubbles.
I recommend this movie - although I have read that the DVD releases are CUT so be warned - there's a scene in which an industrial drill gets up close and personal with the back of someones head which is quite graphic, and while other murders are less intense, there are several shots of gory wounds and sharp impalements. So it would be a shame if any of this has been removed. For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and if I could be sure the DVD releases were uncut I would buy one just to see it in wide-screen...shame about the 3-D, but you can't have everything!
The plot starts of rather outside of normal slasher territory by introducing our heroine, Joan Gilmore who is actually a doctor at an asylum. Lots of the initial running time is devoted to the internal goings on at the institution, and the corruption uncovered makes quite a fascinating subplot that I could have watched develop as a story in it's own right. But the reason for it all is really to set up the fact that a mentally unstable patient is released by mistake, and while the senior staff try and cover up the fact, the honest Dr Gilmore realises that she's going to have to go it alone to track him down and get him back. What follows is an intriguing (well, for a slasher movie!) turn of events as Dr Gilmore traces the original sorority house where the patient committed the murders that got him committed, and poses as a previous "sister" to gain access to the house and try and trap the killer. Aided by a local news reporter, she soon finds out that she was right, and the killer has returned, but he's not about to give up and come quietly without a few corpses piling up! I'll mention why I think this film is worthy of some note. First off, the main heroine, as played by Belinda Montgomery is not a young virginal beauty but a working doctor, and while attractive enough, she's certainly no average teen heroine, rather a resourceful intelligent woman. Secondly, the film sets up the killings in a very clever way, with a few girls being in the house falling victim to the killer in surprisingly brutal ways, as well as a seemingly random couple who get attacked in a camper van near the start actually turning out to be relevant to the plot later on. The film also throws in a couple of brutish hospital attendants who are dispatched by the other doctors (when they realise that the cover-up is not working) to catch the killer. These two thugs also have sexual designs on Dr Gilmore and decide she's just as much a target as the killer when they make their way to the sorority house armed with tranquillisers and cattle prods(!). At this point the film develops a unique three-way dynamic in which Dr Gilmore, the two thugs and the killer all have to square up to each other, and it's hard to know whether to root for the attendants or the killer, as they are a very repugnant pair and played with great sleazy excess by the two actors. The final scenes work very well as these three parties try out-manoeuvre each other to gruesome effect, while Dr Gilmore tries to avoid falling into the clutches of either. Dr Gilmore gets to scrabble and dodge through many hair-raising predicaments, including the menace of being tied under a power drill at one point, and the climax is pretty well done.
The film is fairly low budget, but well filmed. The murders are all filmed rather cruelly, as the killer seems to purposely choose a very unpleasant way for each victim to die. The film was originally shot in widescreen, but sadly the version I have seen (the old rental VHS) ruins things with terrible pan and scan. Plus, it's also made in 3-D! Well you don't get to see it in 3-D here, but lots of objects get poked and wiggled into the camera and it must have looked great in the cinema, as the use of the 3-D medium is wisely limited to moments that actually contribute something to the mayhem, rather than showing us people using yo-yos or blowing bubbles.
I recommend this movie - although I have read that the DVD releases are CUT so be warned - there's a scene in which an industrial drill gets up close and personal with the back of someones head which is quite graphic, and while other murders are less intense, there are several shots of gory wounds and sharp impalements. So it would be a shame if any of this has been removed. For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, and if I could be sure the DVD releases were uncut I would buy one just to see it in wide-screen...shame about the 3-D, but you can't have everything!