Bloody Wednesday (1987) User Reviews

not terribly good, but one of writer/producer Yordan's better ones

[FieCrier · 4/10 · 20 November 2004]

Miles better than some of the other movies of the 1980s and 1990s Philip Yordan was responsible for, but still pretty shoddy and odd.

It starts off with a text scroll and voice-over explaining how the world isn't safe anymore, and how a bunch of people came to be killed in a coffee shop. We then see the bodies in the coffee shop. We then see the events leading up to that massacre.

Harry is a strange man working in a garage. It's unclear if he is retarded or what exactly, since his behavior from scene to scene isn't entirely consistent. He's taken a car engine apart neatly and completely, but he can't figure out how to put even two pieces back together again (evidently he's usually very good at it). He's fired and his brother is called to come help him. Harry later walks into a church, singing along as he walks down the center aisle, naked. He's hospitalized where he proves to be very hostile with the Doctor there, but is released for lack of space and funding.

Harry's older brother sets him up in an abandoned hotel he owns that still has electricity and plumbing. How much of what follows is real is unclear, since Harry seems to have very vivid hallucinations. Some punks who've snuck into the hotel give him trouble. Harry imagines he sees a bellhop and some of the former tenants of the hotel (shades of The Shining). He talks to his teddy bear, and hears it talking back to him (I was reminded of the boy in 1981's The Pit). He evidently has an ex-wife as well (she's in several scenes), or maybe she isn't real, I'm really not sure. He receives outpatient treatment from the Doctor who discharged him. He has some fantasies about he he can't separate from reality.

"In 1 hour and 26 minutes, 35 people will lose their lives."

[udar55 · 4/10 · 25 August 2005]

So reads the tagline for this bizarre thriller, scripted and produced by Academy Award winner Philip Yordan. Raymond Elmendorf stars as Harry, a mechanic who is slowly losing touch with reality. After showing up at church naked, Harry is admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Although deemed a danger to society, he is quickly released due to the overcrowding and moves into a large abandoned hotel. Once inside, Harry suffers torment from figures both real (local street thugs) and imaginary (the hotel's dead occupants). All of this leads him to his breaking point so he decks himself out with firepower and heads to a local diner.

No doubt inspired by the 1984 McDonald's massacre in California by James Huberty, BLOODY Wednesday attempts to offer the reasons lurking behind random killing sprees. Unfortunately, it falls back on a series of cinematic psychological clichés, happy to portray Harry as an unprovoked nut/loner who has frequent dialogues with ghosts and his teddy bear (!). Harry may be a Vietnam vet (several moments of war sounds on the soundtrack allude to this), but it is never made clear. The film also offers some criticism of the mental health industry and the police but little time or attention is given to either.

The most interesting aspect of BLOODY Wednesday is the alternating between real life and Harry's dream world. One is never quite sure what is happening to Harry is genuine or his imagination. Regrettably, the film lacks the budget, actors and direction to pull this off. Lead Raymond Elmendorf is passable as the tormented Harry, with the rest of the cast being made up of unknowns. The best performance is by Jeff O'Haco (who played one of the Libyans in BACK TO THE FUTURE) as gang leader Animal. This is director Mark G. Gilhuis' only feature (possibly a pseudonym?). Screenwriter Philip Yordan had an amazingly eclectic career, probably the only man to have won an Oscar and work on NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR.

Bloody Wednesday

[anxietyresister · 5/10 · 17 March 2006]

This is rather an odd tale of a guy who has severe mental problems. Based on a true story, it documents his decline from being the best mechanic at a garage to complete nutcase who sees delusions all day long and imagines voices in his head. Unable to cope with the stress of slowly losing his sanity and being alienated by everyone around him, he walks into a coffee shop one day and promptly blows 36 people away. The films attempts to explain how he got in that state in the first place.

For utter strangeness this movie is hard to beat. In the big build up to the events at the end, our deranged protagonist amongst other things: Has conversations with his squeaky-voiced homicidal teddy-bear about who to kill next, is attacked by noisy hissing snakes while in bed, plays Russian Roulette with a trio of toughs who try to beat him up, walks into a church service singing Hallejuah wearing nothing but a Bible over his privates and opens up what he thinks is a suitcase full of diamonds only to find.. well, watch it, and you'll see for yourself.

A surreal experience indeed, but not an unpleasant one. It is funny on more than one occasion (mainly due to other character's reactions to our hero's bizarre behaviour) and is strengthened by a brilliantly loopy leading performance by Raymond Elendorf. You can't help but feel for him, as his cries for help are ignored and when his lady psychiatrist is constantly rebuffed in her attempts to aid him by her uncaring colleagues. Perhaps if they'd been less worried about being sued than human life, this tragedy would never have happened.

Some elements of the plot don't add up (like how he is given the machine gun which was responsible for the massacre) and the depiction of mental illness is a bit far-fetched to say the least. Overall though, this is a very interesting watch if nothing else and well worth the quid I paid for it. 5/10

Just another manic ... Wednesday

[Coventry · 2/10 · 1 June 2005]

Beware of 80's horror movies of which the DVD-cover repeatedly 'warns' you about the extremely graphic content and/or shocking images of the film… Nearly always, this is just a method to divert your attention of the fact that it's a very incompetent and cheap production. In this case, it's even worse, as "Bloody Wednesday" turns out very boring and not bloody at all! The only "graphic content" is found at the beginning and ending of the film and that actually is twice the same sequence! (Oops…that was a spoiler!). The "story" of Bloody Wednesday revolves on a thirty-something loser called Harry! Harry has got some serious issues… He has legal conversations with his teddy bear (I'm serious!) and he walks into church services naked, singing Hallelujah-praise the Lord! When Harry is fired for the umpteenth time, his brother hires his as a janitor for an abandoned hotel where he then loses his mind completely. I suppose this movie was meant to be a psychological portrait of a man unable to function in modern society, constantly trying to fool the audience by showing events that are whether real….or the imagination of a sick man. No matter what this film tries to achieve, it fails… There's absolutely no structure, not a single idea is elaborated properly (the hotel-suicides, Harry's desires towards his female doctor…) and the inexperienced star Raymond Elmendorf lacks the required talent to play a demanding role like this. Most of the time, he weakly imitates a combination of the characters Jack Torrance (from "The Shining") and Norman Bates (from "Psycho") but he hasn't got personality himself. The total lack of violence and sleaze is unacceptable and there's absolutely no trace of twisted humor in the script…Or maybe it was so lousy that I didn't even notice it. I find it rather surprising that this turkey was written by Philip Jordan, as his other 80's trash-horror films are a lot more entertaining (Night Train to Terror, The Unholy…). In case you want to see a good and truly raw drama handling about urban-insanity, keep your eyes open for Abel Ferrara's "The Driller Killer" but do avoid this garbage at all costs.

The Trouble with Harry

[wes-connors · 2/10 · 14 April 2008]

Your average neighborhood coffee shop is the scene of a massacre; then, the story shifts to one Raymond Elmendorf (as Harry Curtis). Mr. Elmendorf is employed as an automobile mechanic; but, he can't "make things fit anymore." Unable to repair a car, the newly unemployed Elmendorf attends a church service in the buff. Society doesn't appreciate his public exhibition, and Elmendorf is locked up. He begins to see sexy psychiatrist Pamela Baker (as Dr. Johnson)…

The best scenes occur after Elmendorf is released as an outpatient, and moves into an eerily photographed apartment building (with his madness). He is terrified by monsters from the Id, and punks from the street. Gilhuis/Ryan do some psycho creepy stuff. Jeff O'Haco (as Animal) has a nice pool hall scene. Wife Teresa Mae Allen (as Elaine) has a sexy scene (which turns ugly, of course).

If "Bloody Wednesday" was supposed to show how this man could massacre people in a coffee shop, it misfires.

"I just can't make things fit anymore."

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 1 December 2012]

In my Mill Creek Entertainment collection of mystery movies, "Bloody Wednesday" is paired on the same side of a disc with "Bloody Friday". Creative marketing there, huh?

Anyway, I'm going to take a different approach here from all the other reviewers for this picture so far. That's because mental illness runs in my own family, and I was able to relate to Harry's (Raymond Elmendorf) slipping in and out of reality over the course of the film. Living with someone like that is a harrowing experience because you never know what might come of an outburst that's completely rooted in unreality. Fortunately, most tantrums don't result in the massacre of three dozen people at a diner, but they end sadly nonetheless when you have to call the mental health unit for another trip to the hospital.

I can see how the movie wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea and how it bums out so many viewers. Most of it plays as a manic, make believe fantasy in which the lead character is stuck, but believes it all to be happening in real time. Actor Elmendorf is actually a good looking guy, so having him portray a nutcase kind of goes against the grain of your stereotype loonie, so it doesn't surprise that he once had a good looking wife (or did he?) and a therapist who he fantasizes about. The one aspect of the story that bothered me was how he wound up living at an abandoned hotel with all the utilities still operational. That didn't really ring true to me, but then again, was it supposed to?

You know, some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraints.

This 80s Misfire Is Still Interesting

[jackseney · 5/10 · 29 July 2019]

I am nostalgic for the 80s and the days of going to neighborhood video stores, or even to neighborhood 7-11s, to rent VHS tapes for home viewing. One way of appeasing this nostalgia is to watch 80s movies now that I didn't catch back then, and "Bloody Wednesday" was one of these so I found it on You Tube.

A California mechanic begins acting very weird and "can no longer work." After walking naked and singing into a church, he gets hospitalized, but is released to his brother's custody. His brother puts him up in an old empty hotel he's in charge of, and things get weirder and weirder until the final acts of violence.

This movie tells you what's going to happen from its opening scene so there can be no "spoilers" here. But it really has nothing to do with the "McDonald's Massacre" in southern California in the early 80s. Repeated online descriptions say it does, but these are simply wrong. The character here bears zero resemblance to James Huberty of the real-life massacre, and this movie is more a low-budget, urban aping of "The Shining" than it is about any real-life massacre.

The guy's hallucinations here are unrealistic and deeply involved in a way that I've never heard of hallucinations being with real patients. They are much more detailed fantasies than hallucinations, and most people know what their private fantasies are and do not believe them to be real. Our character here does, and this does not always make for a plausible viewing experience.

Confusing matters further is the fact that there are apparent REAL threats against our character in the form of three punks with a stupid grudge against him. In a sequence more bizarre than any of his fantasies, our guy ends up in an extended conversation with one punk about everything including the meaning of life!

All this may have worked better if done in a different style. As it is, with our guy fumbling between fantasy and reality while distracting action sequences are thrown in, it seems a muddle.

I think the guy's talking teddy bear is a good character and should have been developed more. Instead, there are distractions with hallucinated butlers and possibly hallucinated private eyes looking for long-stashed treasures and such. Most of the stuff with the punks is another snooze, and endless sequences of our guy trying to seduce his female psychiatrist (!!) just go nowhere as well.

Even the final massacre is done oddly, with several people conveniently jumping out on cue to get shot. The end that our shooter comes to is different from real-life Huberty's. The general racial make-up of the victims is different. Huberty's was an attack on a popular fast-food joint. Here we have an attack on a small family restaurant. Huberty called for psychiatric help before his crimes but was put on a callers' waiting list. Our man here has steady psychiatric attention that does him no good. Huberty never separated from his family and was living with them the day of the McDonald's Massacre. Our man here is long abandoned by his wife. Huberty let legitimate concerns about the government become driving obsessions. Our guy here is totally apolitical. And on and on go the complete differences.

Our guy here is hard to sympathize with as he acts child-like and confused one moment, but arrogantly sure of his sanity and dismissive of others the next. Hey, he just forgot to put his clothes on before going to church, what's the big deal?! Such is a guy who is not exactly going to pull at your heartstrings.

Nonetheless, this movie succeeds in some ways as an 80s oddity complete with a Casio-driven score. It is worth a look for 80s video fans in spite of its flaws, and enjoyable in some ways for fans of the strange, especially fans of the low-budget strange. All others need not apply.

Pretty flawed interesting movie...

[GuineaPig · 5/10 · 23 March 2008]

When I got my hands on this movie I wasn't expecting much after reading some of the reviews but I was pleasantly surprised by it in the end.

The movie tells the events leading to the massacre of a bunch of people on a coffee shop by a madman named Harry. The movie depicts Harry's struggles to discern what's real and what's a product of his own deranged mind. That provides the basis for the eerie atmosphere surrounding the story and all the surreal experiences that happen to Harry kind of engage you in an interestingly bizarre manner.

The movie is very flawed with, overall, weak performances, although Raymond Elmendorf is convincing enough as Harry and you kind of end up feeling sympathy towards him for his condition. The music is awful and IMO one of the biggest low points of the film. The story is somehow confusing since you can't tell what's really happening and what's Harry's imagination but I think that's what the movie intended.

The events are probably based on a real life event in 1984 when a madman named James Oliver Huberty ended up murdering more than 20 people in a McDonalds in San Diego.

Not That Bad At All

[CMRKeyboadist · 6/10 · 31 January 2007]

Talk about a misunderstood film! Bloody Wednesday is a movie about one mans decline into utter madness and the reasons as to why he murdered 36 people in a coffee shop one night. Written for the screen by Academy Award Winner Philip Yordan, you would think this movie would get a better wrap.

The movie circles around a man named Harry, an auto mechanic who is going through a nasty little divorce. When Harry gets fired from his job he starts really losing his mind by walking into a church completely naked singing Halleluya. He is committed to a hospital for sometime. Whe he is released his brother gives him a place to stay, a secluded rundown hotel. It is here that Harry quickly starts losing his mind as he sees ghosts, his life is threatened by street toughs, his teddy bear starts talking to him, etc etc. This all leads up to the obvious disaster at the end.

I thought this was a most enjoyable film. Originally I put this movie on to just go to sleep to, but the movie kept my interest to the very end. What makes this movie so much fun is really seeing the reactions of the people around Harry as they see him slip into insanity. This movie is no masterpiece writing as most of it is rather humorous. The basic message of the movie was well thought out though. I don't know if this was based on a true story or not, but, if it was I wouldn't rely on this movie to tell an accurate story of what happened.

Overall, an enjoyable piece of trash. Definitely worth watching again. 6/10

Bad. Bad. Bad. But a good laugh!

[sibisi73 · 14 October 2001]

Up there as one of the worst films I've ever seen. The most shocking thing was the performance of Ray Elmendorf in the lead part, closely followed by everyone else in the cast and crew. Unintentionally funny, I found myself laughing out loud in parts...

FBI man: Did you point this broomstick at the plane?

FBI man 2: It's not illegal to play with broomsticks, but I wouldn't recommend it.

WHAT?? I was in stitches! Logic goes totally out of the window when Harry is sacked from his job for taking an engine apart and finding it won't go back together because 'it doesn't fit'. For some reason his brother decides to put him in a closed up hotel, where he can go even more insane than he already is. Here he starts seeing ghosts, dreaming about his doctor, and being terrorised by a group of Hollywood rent-a-punks. All this just to build up to a mass murder in a burger bar because 'society, his friends, and his family have all let him down.'

Mind numbingly awful, annoying synth trash music, and it's attitude towards to mental illness is questionable at least.

So bad it's not even funny

[negativec07 · 1/10 · 25 November 2003]

Well out of all the movies I've ever seen this is the worst, the lowest of the low. The acting is worse than your average primary school play, and school kids could have written a better script. After half hour I turned it off and have never bothered to watch the end. If I ever find who made this I will bill them for the 30 minutes of my life I lost. I want them back.

Phenomenal

[djprocopio · 10/10 · 15 May 2007]

I am so glad to see that other people have seen this film. My friends and I are huge fans after a Sunday afternoon viewing of Bloody Wednesday. There is a scene where the head "gangster" (who talks like Wayne Newton) gives Harry a speech in a pool hall. It lasts about 5 minutes and makes absolutely no sense. It goes along the lines of: "You still want that gun in the window? What are you gonna do with a gun anyway, they're no good. You need one of these (pointing to a lead pipe), one smack across the mouth with one of these babies and you'll wind up with a four thousand buck dentist bill. There's a lot of fat citizens in this town that think they got it made with they're gold watches and chains and they're credit cards. I hate the bastards. S*** man I eat steak every night, costs me 15 bucks, body needs the protein." If you miss this speech and other wonderful scenes such as the trial where the teddy bear is the judge, you are missing out on a critical part of human life. Do not delay going through this experience. If you already own it do yourself a favor and watch the pool hall speech again. Phenomenal.

Good. Good. Good.

[polysicsarebest · 7/10 · 3 October 2004]

Bizarre film from the same guy that brought us Night Train to Terror, this movie is about a guy who is friends with a talking bear. He sees a bunch of weird stuff in a hotel (kind of like The Shining... VERY MUCH like The Shining, in fact) and then he sort of goes insane for no apparent reason. The climax of the film is the tagline to the movie, so it's no surprise that he kills almost 40 people, also for no apparent reason. Odd film that goes nowhere and is pretty much unmemorable after you get done watching it.

However, I really enjoyed myself as I watched it, and it definitely held my interest. It's not really a confusing film, and it's loaded with tons of good scenes: The main character shows up naked to church in the beginning of the movie. That scene alone is priceless. Though I liked this film, it'd be difficult to recommend it; I have no idea who else would like a film like this. You might as well check it out, but the ending has already been ruined for you.

"This is the story of what happened at a café"

[Chase_Witherspoon · 2/10 · 24 February 2012]

Amateurish tale of mentally disturbed man (Elmendorf) whose brother (Perry) agrees to allow him to stay at a derelict hotel until its sold while he seeks treatment from psychiatrist (Baker), talks to his teddy (voiced by well-known Hollywood little person Billy Curtis) and takes advice from a street thug (O'Haco) on how to hurt people. A series of bizarre confrontations with apparent apparitions occur, and culminate in Elmendorf's character acquiring a 9mm uzi and a sudden Rambo-urge to "use it" (quote, unquote).

Academy Award winning wordsmith Philip Yordan produced and scripted this low-grade thriller, that includes some of the corniest dialogue I've ever heard uttered. "Make me a cripple, Ben" is one of my personal favourites, though there's also a cracker monologue delivered by O'Haco about being paid $4 hour and needing to mug fat people to pay for his $15 a night steak habit. It's unintentionally laughable.

Inept on almost all fronts, from the yamaha sound system soundtrack to the abominable acting, the most believable scene in the movie is when one of the hoods wets himself. Some minor credit can be paid to the bathroom strangulation scene, where some creative camera angles are used and the overall result is pretty effective, but that's a rare moment in this film. If you do persist, then the climax will be your reward - the expression on his face is priceless.

So bored

[Gunnar_Runar_Ingibjargarson · 4/10 · 18 June 2008]

From the description of this movie, it sounds like one of those Texas Chainsaw Massacre clones they made so many of during the 80s. That's what I expected: Not a great cinematic masterpiece, but 90 minutes of mindless entertainment. Unfortunately, this was not at all what I expected. The movie is about a guy with hallucinations and then goes berserk, killing people in a diner. This scene is a couple of minutes at the end of the film, and up until that point it's s a bad attempt at some kind of psychological thriller.

Very stupid movie which will not fright you in any way. Don't check this one.

Really crap movie

[monkey-man · 2/10 · 16 December 2005]

Waring for your sake never watch this really crap movie.

I am a huge fan of b grade movies that are so bad that they are good but this b grade movie is just plan bad.The plot for this movie is crap,the acting is even worse and every thing Else in this movie is really lame and the only thing good about this movie is when the end credits roll.

Over all stay as far away as u can from this movie called bloody Wednesday and if any one tells u that this movie is great do not believe them.I was going to give this movie a 1 out of 10 but the last scene in this movie was still crap but because of that scene i gave this movie 2 out of 10.

Typical straight to video

[bleachfan-07210 · 3/10 · 23 June 2019]

Not a great movie by any means, not good audio, although I've heard worse; video quality isn't great, and the acting is kinda shoddy, the guy playing Harry really hams it up. It could be enjoyable if your expectations aren't high, but how could they be with a video cover like this, it screams b-movie. Gotta saying one thing though, that waitress in the final scene really has a sense of duty to keep delivering food with a hail of bullets whizzing through the cafe.

Wasted Story but could be ...

[ThisisJimik · 4/10 · 25 June 2022]

As it is based on a true story , they really wasted the opportunity to make a great horror film. The actors are real amateurs with no talent in acting and also the quality of sound and visual effects really suck for a late 80's movie.

Like the sound of the snake attacking harry in bedroom is childishly made by some guy's mouth which's strange, and they even didn't bother record the sounds of actors and actresses and lazily did a dubbing on the film!!

Anyway a remake could be a great chance to make a great hell of a movie for any director if taken... " ThisisJimik " Jamal Kianifar.

Where the ghosts check in, never check out, but are joined by the nuttiest of them all.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 22 April 2023]

A weird low budget exploitation film that parallels a real tragedy (one of the first public mass shootings to get world attention), attempts to explain the mental illness that results in such goings on, and results in a psychological thriller where the horror continues long after the blood spills. This features a cast that no one had heard of before or since, led by the handsome but eerie Raymond Elmendorf as a war vet, still living with the effects, staying in an abandoned hotel where he sees and hears the ghosts of former staff and guests, including the alleged murder victim pushed to his death over a suitcase of stolen loot. Elmendorf is seeing a psychiatrist (Pamela Baker) who would like to put him away but can't by law, and it's obvious that she'll be one of his most affected victims whether she's assailed by him or not.

Schlocky but not without some interest, this is like a freeway pileup where passers by can't help but stop and stare. There's some really shocking footage of Elmendorf committing murder before he takes his vengeance public, one where his topless ex-wife verbally assaults him and pays for it. A talking teddy bear with a squeaky voice acts like his conscience, and he's certainly no Snuggles bear. I found the film slow but with purpose, and there are quiet scenes that had me feeling a headache from the temples, caused by the tinny soundtrack. Elmendorf does a credible job even though he has some very unintentionally funny things to do, say and react to, never stepping out of character. It's easy to be petrified by him, detest him and yet find pity. Not a film anyone will want to view more than once, but that one time will keep it in the viewer's head for days to come after seeing it.

Neat little study in madness

[Bloodwank · 6/10 · 5 December 2011]

Bloody Wednesday treads some of the territory I value the most in cinema, the mind in disarray, its structure embodied in architecture, the pressures within and without. It also as a social agenda, which matters less to me as a viewer but does have the advantage of being something I agree rather strongly with. It is perhaps unfortunate that it announces itself so boldly with the title and opening text, telling instantly that this is less cinema of exploration than cinema as arrow, clean flight from singing bow to grisly target, but its a well mounted and weird enough affair to mostly forgive its shortcomings. The tale is of Harry Curtis, divorced, perpetual loser, who wigs out one afternoon and loses his job as a mechanic, then rocks up to a church service in the buff and is sent for psychiatric evaluation for his efforts. But even though the doctor has her suspicions, he can't stay and ends up living in an abandoned hotel. Then slowly but surely, things get out of control... The key reference point is The Shining, hotel of grand spaces and dark corridors, menacing history and beguiling phantasms a mirror for the mind, a place to get lost and overwhelmed. But instead of gorgeous decor and Steadicam shots there's a talking teddy bear. And snakes, and ghosts that map to Curtis and his frustrations rather directly, and a street gang who turn up to make his life even harder. Its a curious and somewhat derivative brew with an ending inspired by a real life massacre of a few years previous, but generally decent writing pulls it off in engaging fashion. Characters are nicely defined and there are some interesting and quirky lines it has a writerly feel to it rather than the rather flat point a to point b no fuss no muss approach that may such films take. This is probably due to being written by Philip Yordan, who scored a Oscar win in the 50's and a couple more nominations, and though relegated to the realms of low budget horror by the 80's clearly figured he should still take his best shot at every project. Some of the performances help, Raymond Emendorf has a good blank melancholy that steadily grows to creepy intensity, Pamela Baker concerned and likable as his doctor, and Jeff O'Haco bes as the lead street tough, arrogant and venomous but smart in his way. Other performances are weaker, but it doesn't matter too much, the film moves nicely and delivers when it comes to the crunch, an appropriately bloody showdown with decent body-count. Altogether this isn't a film to set anyones life alight, but its good fun in its little way and a thoroughly agreeable late night time filler. Strong 6/10.

So bad it's funny

[simplisticconception · 3/10 · 14 July 2022]

At 1st I didn't think I could finish this. But then after a while I just started cracking up at a how bad the acting was and it actually was kind of enjoyable.

The trouble with Harry.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 19 January 2014]

The brain is a complex and fragile organ that can easily develop a fault if not properly maintained, and severe mental illness, if left unchecked, can have dire consequences. In Bloody Wednesday, a nifty low-budget study of a man's descent into violent madness, stressed mechanic Harry blows a brain gasket and is taken into psychiatric care, but is later released into the community under the care of his brother (who is far too busy to give the job the time it really requires).

Unfortunately, Harry is still not firing on all pistons: he imagines other people in the vacant hotel where he resides (shades of The Shining here—another great study of insanity); he believes that he has intimate relations with his doctor; he talks to his teddy bear; he is attacked by snakes in his sleep. Harry's fragile state is further exacerbated by a gang of street punks with a score to settle. A complete and utter breakdown is inevitable and with Harry possessing firearms, the outcome is going to be bloody.

Given this film's current low rating on IMDb (3.7 out of 10) I can only imagine that viewers were expecting a totally different type of movie (a cheesy 80s slasher perhaps) and reacted negatively out of disappointment. A shame, because behind the somewhat exploitative title and tag-line (You'll pray for Thursday!) lies a really powerful and intelligent film that deserves far better treatment.

Raymond Elmendorf's central performance is superb, the actor creating a believable, complex character that deserves the viewer's sympathy—a severely ill person requiring close medical supervision but who has sadly fallen through the cracks of an overworked and under resourced system. Director Mark G. Gilhuis skilfully and sensitively handles Harry's mental disintegration, masterfully blending his fantasy world with reality so that, just as it seems like Harry is making progress, it becomes clear that he is in fact spiralling even further out of control, his delusional state becoming more and more commonplace. The tragedy is heartbreaking.

The final act—in which Harry enters a coffee shop armed to the teeth and proceeds to blow away the customers—is suitably brutal, bloody and chilling, a shocking reminder of similar horrific stories that regularly make the news—events that might have been avoided if only the signals had been spotted early enough and the correct course of action taken.

The anatomy of mass murder.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 16 January 2010]

"Bloody Wednesday" tells the story of a troubled auto mechanic,whose behaviour becomes strange and erratic.After being put by his brother in an abandoned hotel Harry begins having disturbing hallucinations and starts talking with his teddy bear.He sees spirits and lost in his hallucinatory world of terror goes on shooting spree in a local family dinner.Strange and unsettling horror movie obviously inspired by James Huberty's mass murder.The acting is wooden and 'born loser' Harry is more annoying than terrifying,but if you enjoy watching low-budget genre films about dementia you can't miss "Bloody Wednesday".The final killing spree is pretty graphic and brutal.6 out of 10.

Boring Wednesday (Spoilers)

[edeighton · 1/10 · 5 November 2018]

Bloody Wednesday

This was not a good movie. The tagline for this movie was "You'll pray for Thursday". Who was that tag line for? No one saw this movie in the theaters as it was released straight to video...two years after the movie was completed. The film was shot in 1985 but released on 8 September 1988 on VHS. The MPAA copyright date clearly says, "XMLXXXV.

This movie claims to be loosely based on the events of the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre. But actually, it was more of an exploitation of the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, because the movie really has no resemblance to the events of that mass shooting. It is almost like the first sixty minutes of the film was supposed to be part of a different movie. The violent mass shooting scene that ends BLOODY WEDNESDAY feels tacked on, added just so the film could earn that "based on a true story" tag line. It really seems like this movie was a 60 minute movie with a separate 30 minute other movie attached to it or maybe the producers were just desperate to make a 90-minute movie of a 30-minute manuscript.

Academy Award winning wordsmith Philip Yordan produced and wrote the screenplay for this terrible movie. But the script is not nearly as bad as the acting. The performances of the various actors and actresses really let Phillip Yordan's script look worse than it really was. During the first sixty minutes of this movie we have a somewhat interesting plot about a crazy man losing touch with reality and hallucinating. The viewer is purposefully left in the dark as to whether the main character, Harry, really did the following: seduce and bed his psychiatrist; carry out a Russian roulette revenge upon a street gang; kill his ex-wife in the bathtub; talk to various ghosts in a haunted hotel; find a suitcase full of diamonds; and, receive a strange visit from his enemy (a Rambo looking street gangster) who gives him a gun and tells him to use it. This part of the story could have worked much better if the actors did not fail the script.

Screenwriter, Phillip Yordan was guilty of blatantly stealing plot elements from much better films like The Shining (1980), The Pit (1981), The Warriors (1979) and even Taxi Driver (1976). After watching an hour of a film about insanity and ghosts in a hotel, the film suddenly takes on overt political tones and shifts into a film decrying class warfare; failed police bureaucracies and inadequate mechanisms for mental health providers to control dangerous patients. The painfully long final thirty minutes of the film inadequately builds towards an anticlimactic scene where Harry carries out a mass shooting at some unidentified coffee shop that looks more like a diner. But the viewer does not have any emotional attachment to any of the victims as no time was spent introducing them prior to the shooting. The shooting scene itself is cartoon violence with terrible squid special effects. This scene goes on way too long and what should be the highlight of the film ends up boring the audience.

Why Semi Auto Just Doesn't Cut It Anymore

[chow913 · 6/10 · 26 May 2014]

IMDb does it again. They list this film as "1987" despite the fact that the MPAA copyright date clearly says, "XMLXXXV." That's Roman numerals for 1985! Also NONE of the images used they include are actually part of the actual movie! IMDb.com, always trying to outdo Censorpedia's inaccuracy.

Now that I've release that from my system, I'd first like to state that I've never been a big fan of going postal films. They never seem bold enough to take a stand as to whether the mass shooter is justified in his actions, tragic victim of circumstances, mentally ill or just plain evil. But 'Blood Wednesday' is just goofy enough to work.

Not "goofy" as in a dark comedy, but goofy as in there are A LOT of elements in play here.

Our dangerous loner is Harry. Right from the opening scene it's obvious Harry is mentally ill. He looses his job as an auto mechanic after he simply forgets how to put an engine back together. Something he's done many times before.

Harry is hospitalized and an attractive doctor Dr. Johnson first speaks with Harry's ex wife whom wants nothing to do with him. So he's left in the custody of his older brother Ben who doesn't really care about him either. Ben just abandons him in an abandoned hotel. It's this old haunted abandoned hotel which gives 'Bloody Wednesday' its real unique edge. The audience themselves doesn't know where reality ends and Harry's insanity begins. Is the hotel really haunted? Is Harry really having an affair with Dr. Johnson? Just because Harry's clearly crazy doesn't mean these things aren't true. The viewer is left to decide for themselves.

Most of the ghosts in the hotel are nice. The friendly bellboy warns Harry about a haunted room which stopped being rented out after two suicides. But when Harry actually talks with their ghosts he's discovers their deaths weren't so simple.

Harry also talks with his teddy bear whom tells him to kill. When a gang of street thugs break in, Harry holds them at gun point while the bear weighs judgment on whether they should live or die.

Harry also starts an affair with Dr. Johnson. Or does he? She denies it. But later lets him sleep on her couch. And Harry's ex wife later says she knows about the affair and wants to blackmail Dr. Johnson. So was it real after all?

The same gang of muggers see Harry admiring an Uzi in a store window and ask, "What are you going to do with a machinegun?" Gee what would a mental patient want a machinegun for? Harry answers, "Use it." The thug later steals the Uzi and gives it to Harry just of laughs. Wow, what a nice guy! He steals a $10,000 gun and just gives it away?

Harry's first fatality is an elderly security guard whom one of the hotel ghosts says murdered him. Has Harry just committed a cold blooded murder? Or has he merely brought justice to a tormented soul? Harry's next victim is his ex wife, simply because the teddy bear tells him to kill her.

The final shooting rampage is so over the top it's comical. Harry merely enters a dinner and fires non stop with his Uzi for three full minutes, releasing hundreds of rounds! He then loads another clip and fires hundreds more! While he's clearly using a 25 round magazine he only reloaded after hundreds of shots! This is just plain silly. Also, since this all takes place over the course of six minutes, why are all the victims just standing there waiting to get shot? There's no rush for the back door or people hiding under tables or pleading for mercy! They just stand still for six full minutes! The ONLY diner who actually does anything is the one man who shoots Harry dead with one head shot from his own gun. Why was he waiting six minutes to shoot back?

All in all 'Bloody Wednesday' has its moments. The story is a gripping one you'll want to follow. The big question is why Harry goes postal. He isn't angry at life or society. The climax just seems tacked on as a way to end it with fan service.