Blood Rage (1987)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

John Grissmer

Writer:

Bruce Rubin (writer)

Release Date:

June 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Man is blamed for murders actually committed by his evil twin. |

Plot Keywords:

Twins | Murder | Evil Twin | Baby | Slasher

Cast

Louise Lasser	...	Maddy
Mark Soper	...	Todd / Terry
Marianne Kanter	...	Dr. Berman
Julie Gordon	...	Karen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jayne Bentzen	...	Julie
Bill Cakmis	...	Maddy's Date
Dana Drescher	...	Little Girl
James Farrell	...	Artie
Ed French
William Fuller	...	Brad
Brad Leland	...	Drive-in Boy
Gerry Lou	...	Beth
Chad Montgomery	...	Gregg
Ted Raimi	...	Condom Salesman
Lisa Randall	...	Andrea
Rebecca Thorp	...	Drive-in Girl
Doug Weiser	...	Jackie

Also Known As:

Nightmare at Shadow Woods

Runtime:

84 min | Argentina:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Company:

Film Limited Partnership

Trivia:

Filmed in 1984.

seemingly overlooked slasher with OK plot and respectable gore

Two twins in the back of their mother's car at a drive-in movie sneak out while their mom is making out with her boyfriend. One of them, Terry, grabs a small axe and kills a couple making out in another car. He smears the blood on his silent brother Todd. Apparently nobody finds his fingerprints in the smeared blood, or notices the blood that's still on him. According to the drive-in marquee, the movie showing is The House That Cried Murder!, which had been written and produced by the director of this film, Blood Rage.

Todd gets committed for ten years, at which point he regains his memory of that night to some degree, as well as speaks a little. His therapist is inclined to believe he is innocent, but still wants to treat him so he is ready to rejoin society. His mother doesn't want to believe it.

The mother announces she will be getting married, and they learn Todd has escaped. This is apparently enough to start Terry killing again: his mother has found a man again, and he has his brother as a scapegoat again.

Terry starts killing people, and indeed people are inclined to believe Todd is responsible. Some of the killings are fairly gory, at least in the version titled Blood Rage. Nightmare at Shadow Woods is apparently a different cut of the movie with less gore.

Louise Lasser as the mother was pretty hard to take; I didn't care for her acting at all. Unfortunately, the director apparently did like it, and there are numerous long takes of her talking on the telephone and emoting. I didn't particularly care for Mark Soper as Terry either, though in the subdued role of Todd he was OK.