Effects (1980)

Director:

Dusty Nelson

Writers:

William H. Mooney (novel)
Dusty Nelson (screenplay)

Release Date:

June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Making movies can be MURDER!

Plot:

Some crew members of a company shooting a horror film begin to suspect that the "killings" in the movie are real, and that they are actually making a "snuff" film.

Plot Keywords:

Crew | Director | Film Crew | Snuff Film | Murder

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Joseph Pilato	...	Dominic (as Joseph F. Pilato)
Susan Chapek	...	Celeste
John Harrison	...	Lacey Bickel
Bernard McKenna	...	Barney
Debra Gordon	...	Rita / Mona
Tom Savini	...	Nicky
Charles Hoyes	...	Lobo (as Chuck Hoyes)
Blay Bahnsen	...	Scratch (as Blay Bahnson)
Joe Wittkofski	...	TV Director
John Sutton	...	TV Sound Man
Dave Balko	...	TV Video Man (as Dave Belko)
Jackie Lahane	...	Murdered Girl (as Jackie Lehane)
Cindy Sebastian	...	Dancer
Bobbi Van Eman	...	Campfire Extra
Duke Snyder	...	Campfire Extra

Also Known As:

Death's Director
The Manipulator (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Image Works

Trivia:

Filmed in 1974.

Quotes:

Dom: [to Lacey, holds up a fake, bloody leg] Hey, uh, I'm goin' into town for a burger. You want one?

Movie Connections:

References Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Soundtrack:

I NEED YOUR LOVE

Dreary, boring slasher that doesn't make the best of it's central idea

Effects is based on quite a clever idea - maybe even too clever for a slasher flick. The title, of course, refers to special effects - and that's essentially what the film is about. Effects is a slasher flick based on a bunch of people making a slasher film. The director seems obsessed with blood and gore and a cast member starts hallucinating - although that particular cast member had just been smoking weed. The director later shows his crew a film that may or not be a snuff film, and then the cast start getting picked off, though there's doubt over whether it's real or 'effects'. It really does seem that this idea was too clever for this film because it doesn't pull it off. A potentially interesting idea is turned into a snooze fest thanks to far too much talking by dull characters and a plot line that really doesn't ever get to the point. This film was apparently lost before someone resurrected it for DVD. The last 'lost' slasher film that I saw was A Night to Dismember, and like that film; this one shows that lost slashers really needn't be brought back. The most notable thing about 'effects' the fact that Tom Savini appears and does the effects, although he has had better days in both departments. We don't really get what we came for until the final third of the film and by then I was pretty bored of it. Overall, Effects is a pretty dismal slasher and I definitely don't recommend it.