Killer's Moon (1978)

Director:

Alan Birkinshaw

Writer:

Alan Birkinshaw (writer)

Genre:

Crime | Horror

Tagline:

One endless night of terror!

Plot:

Four mental patients - who, due to unauthorized experiments, believe they're living in a dream and have shed all moral imperatives - escape and find their way to the nearest bus-load of stranded schoolgirls. |

Plot Keywords:

Mental Patient | Dream | Escape | Hotel | Teen

Cast

Anthony Forrest	...	Pete
David Jackson	...	Mr. Trubshaw
Tom Marshall	...	Mike
Georgina Kean	...	Agatha
Nigel Gregory	...	Mr. Smith
Paul Rattee	...	Mr. Muldoon
Peter Spraggon	...	Mr. Jones
Jane Hayden	...	Julie
Alison Elliott	...	Sandy
Joanne Good	...	Mary (as Jo-Anne Good)
Jayne Lester	...	Elizabeth
Lisa Vanderpump	...	Anne
Debbie Martyn	...	Deirdre
Christina Jones	...	Carol
Lynne Morgan	...	Sue

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

Australia:R | Iceland:(Banned) | UK:X | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Lake District, Cumbria, England, UK

Company:

Rothernorth

Trivia:

Dialogue for the film was written by Fay Weldon. "In the original script, the girls were ciphers. I gave them characters, which had the unfortunate effect of turning the film into a cult movie. I should have left it as it was. Picture dialogue: A. Picture movie: D. A terrible mix."

Quotes:

Agatha: Look, you were only raped, as long as you don't tell anyone about it you'll be alright. You pretend it never happened, I pretend I never saw it and if we ever get out of this alive, well, maybe we'll both live to be wives and mothers.

Not THAT bad, but not exactly coherent either

Killer's Moon has just come out on DVD, and a friend in the UK expressed horror that I'd even ordered it. Well, it's not horrible, but it's not terribly coherent either. And what it definitely isn't, is the "British version of I Spit On Your Grave". But if you consider when it was made and a lot of the films from that era, it really is more-or-less typical of the exploitation films of the 70's.

A bus full of schoolgirls breaks down in the middle of nowhere, & the girls & their chaperons are forced to stay in an old hotel that's closed for the season. Of course, 4 lunatics that are part of some experimental program in which they're fed LSD and given dream therapy, have just escaped, thinking that everything going on around them is a dream. This is, of course, a bad thing.

The lunatics happen across the girls & hold them captive and ravish a few, after killing one of the chaperons. The girls eventually fight back with the help of two guys that are camped out nearby, plus the intervention of a three-legged Doberman who appears out of nowhere from time to time. And that's pretty much it.

This does have some interesting moments but it's not terribly coherent & could have used a bit more suspense & scares. As I mentioned it's not that much different than a lot of exploitation films of the era so if you like that sort of fare, you can probably watch this without much trouble, otherwise, don't bother. 5 out of 10.