Mask of Murder (1985)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Arne Mattsson

Writer:

Volodja Semitjov (screenplay)

Genre:

Thriller | Mystery

Tagline:

Who is innocent... Who is guilty... Who is safe... Who is next...

Plot:

In a Canadian village are women being killed by a psychopath. Chief Rich and Inspector McLane have no clue until McLane shoots a suspicious man...

Plot Keywords:

Murder Investigation | Murder Mystery | Masked Killer | Serial Killer | Independent Film

Cast

Rod Taylor	...	Supt. Bob McLaine
Valerie Perrine	...	Maria
Christopher Lee	...	Chief Supt. Jonathan Rich
Sam Cook	...	Supt. Ray Cooper
Terrence Hardiman	...	Dr. Paul Crossland
Heinz Hopf	...	The hairdresser
Christine McKenna
Cyd Hayman
Mark Harrison	...	Martin Engels, violent man at the hairdresser's
Petrina Derrington
Christopher Guinnes
Frank Brennan	...	Johannes Krantz (as Frank Brannan)
Bill Redvers	...	Police officer
Hjördis Petterson	...	Ida Swanson, movie theater cashier (as Hjordis Petterson)

Also Known As:

The Investigator

Runtime:

Germany:81 min | Sweden:89 min

Country:

Canada | Sweden

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Övre Slottsgatan, Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden

Company:

Master Films

Very bad slasher movie that makes a mockery of screen veterans...

Mask of Murder is another of those mystery thrillers that borrows plot points from the slasher movies and giallos that had been popular around the time. Just like Baby Doll Murders, Out of the Dark and Dead End; Mask of Murder puts a mysterious killer up against a struggling and scarily inept Police Force. Christopher Lee's credits over the last ten years have included three mega-blockbusters, which isn't bad going for an actor that made his first movie appearance way back in the midst of World War 2. He was initially John Carpenter's first choice to play the Sam Loomis character in Halloween, but he didn't accept; something he admits he's always regretted. He even went as far as to call it the biggest mistake of his career. Obviously annoyed that he'd missed out on some supreme slasher action, perhaps the reason he took a supporting role here was because he didn't want to make the same mistake twice? Or maybe he was blackmailed into doing it? I really don't know, but one thing is certain however, he was definitely slumming it here…

It's all set in a small snowy Canadian town. Almost immediately, a loony in a mask grabs an unsuspecting woman and slices her throat with a straight razor. Later that day in another location, a second victim suffers the same fate at the hands of the gruesome killer. He removes his disguise and heads back to a remote cabin where he proves his dementia by gnashing his teeth and staring into the screen. Ooooh scary! We next get to meet the members of our cast over dinner. First off there's John (Christopher Lee) the chief of the local Police Force. His best detective, Bob (Rod Taylor) has been having problems with his wife Marianne (Valerie Perrine). These difficulties must have a lot to do with the fact that his partner Ray (Sam Cook) is busy banging her every time that he gets the chance. The dinner party is cut short when Bob receives a call informing him that they have the assassin surrounded. They rush to the scene and to cut a long story short, the city of Nelson should be a little quieter from now on. But the tranquillity doesn't last. It begins to look like there's a copycat murderer at work when more women turn up with their throats slit. Is someone mimicking the murders? Or is the killer back from beyond the grave?

Why on earth Christopher Lee turned down Halloween but chose to play a part in this turkey is one of mankind's biggest mysterious. I mean seriously come on, surely the screenwriter must have known that the killer's identity was patently obvious from the start. This is perhaps the dumbest and most basic premise for a murder mystery that I have ever seen. The Scooby Doo cartoon offers less obvious plot twists than this rubbish. Swedish helmer Arne Mattson directs so sloppily that he manages to drag surprisingly wooden performances from an inviting ensemble of screen veterans. Lee's the best of the bunch, but he's not on screen long enough to warrant his fans to hunt this down. The pace is non-existent, and perhaps the most obnoxious thing about Mask of Murder is the horrible music that accompanies every 'twist' in the story. It sounds like a one-handed guitarist attempting to mimic a Jimi Hendrix lick after one too many bottles of cider.

The throat slashings are quite bloody and in one scene a girl is murdered in a cinema; - a trick that has become a slasher trademark after He knows you're alone and Scream 2. But the knifings are so poorly executed that the gratuitous blood gushes just look like a poor attempt to flog a dead horse. I knew from the off that I was in for a bad time with this movie. But I was still left speechless after watching Rod Taylor sniff his adulterous wife's knickers. (Don't ask!)I'm led to believe that this has become extremely rare, which is certainly a blessing. If you want to keep your sanity intact then please don't bother trying to hunt it out. If you must buy this waste of space for the inclusion of Count Dooku/Saruman then don't get the UK version. The BBFC rated print is missing all the throat slashing , which makes it even less rewarding. This is an exceptionally bad film, riddled with uninspired hamstrung performances and dumb pathetic scripting. Shame on you Mr. Lee...