Spielberg's DUEL, Harmon's THE HITCHER, and Craven's THE HILLS HAVE EYES seem to have been the main inspirations for this standard slasher yarn with artistic pretensions, which makes good use of an isolated and eerie desert location as its setting. Fans of the genre will find themselves well-served by heavy helpings of gory nastiness, with gruesome scenes involving the bloody mess of a head blown up by a grenade; an arrow through a man's skull; a couple of buckets of sticky fake blood; a rotting skeletal corpse; and, in the film's gory high point, a nightmare sequence involving a man having his arm and leg chained together around a tree and then having his limbs dismembered when the chain is pulled by a truck.
Although the film seems to be constrained by a rather low budget, director Bill Crain is obviously a fan of the genre and knows what to give his audience: plenty of stalk-and-slash sequences, a little suspense, and an atmosphere of brooding violence. Despite the eventual monotonousness of the desert location the film is well-paced and the action-based plot keeps you watching throughout, with the film getting better as it dispenses with the moronic supporting characters and concentrates on the battle of wits between heroine and villain. The script isn't exactly what I would call literate, but then the acting is also of a low calibre so maybe that's for the best.
Taking the lead part is Jennifer McAllister, an actress seemingly picked for her looks rather than her thespian skills as Crain constantly seems to dress her in the skimpiest attire possible throughout the movie. None of the supporting actors or actresses make much of an impact and are merely "slasher fodder" for the killer, apart from one woman whose job is to provide the film's nudity and then inexplicably leave again. As for the villain (he is given no name), as played by B. G. Steers; well, Steers should have been restrained a little with his "mad man" shtick in the finale but otherwise he makes for a fairly threatening - if a little young - bad guy. Perhaps Crain saw BLIND TERROR before he made his film as here also we only see the killer's shoes and legs for the majority of the movie before his identity is revealed, giving ample room for a few 'whodunit'-style interludes.
Despite a lack of originality all round, Mirage is one of a handful of films which actually seems to have been enhanced a little by its low budget, utilised to give the movie a "raw" feel of realism, helped a lot by the windswept desert locations. It certainly isn't memorable but it passes the time on a rainy night and undemanding genre fans could do a lot worse than giving it a go.
Although the film seems to be constrained by a rather low budget, director Bill Crain is obviously a fan of the genre and knows what to give his audience: plenty of stalk-and-slash sequences, a little suspense, and an atmosphere of brooding violence. Despite the eventual monotonousness of the desert location the film is well-paced and the action-based plot keeps you watching throughout, with the film getting better as it dispenses with the moronic supporting characters and concentrates on the battle of wits between heroine and villain. The script isn't exactly what I would call literate, but then the acting is also of a low calibre so maybe that's for the best.
Taking the lead part is Jennifer McAllister, an actress seemingly picked for her looks rather than her thespian skills as Crain constantly seems to dress her in the skimpiest attire possible throughout the movie. None of the supporting actors or actresses make much of an impact and are merely "slasher fodder" for the killer, apart from one woman whose job is to provide the film's nudity and then inexplicably leave again. As for the villain (he is given no name), as played by B. G. Steers; well, Steers should have been restrained a little with his "mad man" shtick in the finale but otherwise he makes for a fairly threatening - if a little young - bad guy. Perhaps Crain saw BLIND TERROR before he made his film as here also we only see the killer's shoes and legs for the majority of the movie before his identity is revealed, giving ample room for a few 'whodunit'-style interludes.
Despite a lack of originality all round, Mirage is one of a handful of films which actually seems to have been enhanced a little by its low budget, utilised to give the movie a "raw" feel of realism, helped a lot by the windswept desert locations. It certainly isn't memorable but it passes the time on a rainy night and undemanding genre fans could do a lot worse than giving it a go.