Junior (1985)

Director:

Jim Hanley

Writers:

John Maxwell (written by) and
Don Carmody (written by)

Release Date:

13 September 1985 (Canada)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

...A Cut Above

Plot:

K.C. and Jo are two hardened female ex-cons who decide to build a marina on a lake in backwoods Texas to start a life for themselves...

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Sadist | Boathouse | Casual Sex | Madman

Cast

Suzanne DeLaurentiis	...	K.C. (as Suzanne DeLaurentis)
Linda Singer	...	Jo
Jeremy Ratchford	...	Junior
Michael McKeever	...	Bud
Ken Roberts	...	Sheriff
Cotton Mather	...	Luke
Alanne Perry	...	Sally
Daisy Franklin	...	Prison Guard
Brian Morgan	...	Gas Station Attendant
Tricia Turner	...	Junior's Party Girl
Ken Heuff	...	Thug #1
Peter Mahoney	...	Thug #2
Howie Kirby	...	Thug #3
Tom Lane	...	Thug #4
Tim Latchem	...	Thug #5

Also Known As:

Hot Water (Canada: English title) (longer version) (UK) (video title)
A Cut Above (USA)

Runtime:

87 min | Canada:80 min (unrated version) | UK:77 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:16 (cut) | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Movie Connections:

References The African Queen (1951)

Fun Canuxploitation!

JUNIOR (or HOT WATER) is a Canadian film that's amazingly trashy, but in a very good way. The film starts out with these two female convicts who are released from jail (the two women look pretty good for jailbirds). Anyway, one of the funniest moments I've ever seen happens the minute they leave prison: they meet the pimp/drug dealer and what ensues ALWAYS makes me laugh out loud whenever I watch it or think about it. It's so over-the-top exploitive, violent and unintentionally funny that the whole beginning of JUNIOR was worth the whole one buck I paid for the video. The beginning of film is a must see for lovers of trash. Not that there isn't more trash afterwards (there's lots more) but once the story settles down at the waterfront hotel/bar place, well, the level of lunacy seen at the beginning mostly disappears (except for a few places here and there, certainly when Junior is around). What's fun about JUNIOR is that the producers knew they were making an exploitation flick and they makes no bones about it.

I actually like almost everything about this genuine "So Bad It's Good" movie. The Canadian locals pretending to be the US. The bad over-acting. The all-over-the-map story, that veers from one genre to the next but eventually settles in full horror at the end. There are loads of deaths, a great boat scene, attempts at rape, an elderly woman who looks like a man in drag, gratuitous nudity, and some chainsaws, of course. The only thing missing from the whole "kitchen sink" package was some lesbian scenes between the two gals. Had the film included some lesbian action, JUNIOR would have been a complete smörgåsbord of exploitation elements under one title. Arf!!!

I rate this 2 stars as an average film but rate it 8 stars as a trashy film.