Satan's Blade (1984) User Reviews

Watchable Low-budget Slasher Flick

[Sammy_Sam_Sam · 5/10 · 10 January 2018]

Having read the reviews on here I wasn't really sure what to expect with this film, but I'm glad I watched it. It's certainly no masterpiece, but not every film needs to be and considering what must've been a very low budget, it's a solid effort. The acting is hit and miss with some people putting in a pretty good performance, while others are quite frankly terrible. But that's often part of the charm with films of this sort and anyone who has seen a low-budget slasher won't find it too distracting.

What surprised me most perhaps is the look of the film, which is very nicely shot in places. It's all straightforward and there's nothing particularly spectacular, but it didn't look bad and one shot in particular next to the lake really did catch my eye. The score most certainly deserves a special mention, as I thought it was brilliant and fit the movie perfectly. More generally the film has a somber feeling and isn't fast-paced, but personally that has never bothered me with slasher flicks - I tend to watch them for the fact they aren't going to work my brain too much at the end of a tough day. The gore levels aren't particularly high, but there are some good screams. There's also not enough struggling from the victims for my liking (the mark of a decent kill!), but much better than a lot of other slasher flicks I've seen. So all in all, for me it's a 5/10. If you enjoy slashers and like a film with charm then it's probably worth a watch. Fans of Notting Hill and superhero movies should probably steer clear though.

Slated by even the cast and crew - however I still think there's credit here

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 5/10 · 12 September 2011]

This will be the second time I have posted a review of Satan's Blade, as it's a film I watched seven-years ago and rated it under my old user name on IMDb. I recently passed the thirty-year milestone and have a wife and two young kids now, which make it harder for me to watch the trash I used to (bizarrely) enjoy. It's all Disney classics and In the Night Garden nowadays, but hey – Dad's know the score.

I have, however, recently had a little bit of time on my hands. Basically my parent in-laws are visiting from sunny Poland for two-weeks and as we only have two bedrooms (one with a single bed), I'm off to my mum's for a little break. When the cat's away, the mice will play and all that, so I watched Iced, Moonstalker and Satan's Blade one after another on my first night of freedom. Oh the debauchery!

Now as I said, I have already had a say on this dirt-cheap but alluring entry, but as the years have passed and my film-knowledge has grown, I have actually noticed that my opinions have changed quite a bit. Of the 700+ slashers that I own, Satan's Blade always stood out to me, because of the cheesy but intriguing cover, which boasts a skull-faced killer in a cape holding a blade and staring out in to reality as if to say, "buy me young man, I will absolutely terrify you". To a teenage boy, this was pretty intriguing stuff and back then, these young eyes were unaware of how much hyperbole eighties cheap video companies would add to their VHS covers. It's actually pretty fun nowadays to look back on the amount of boxes from that time that had absolutely *no* significance to the film contained inside. Nowadays if APEX, MOGUL and the like were still distributing movies, ambulance chasing lawyers would have a field-day with the false-advertisement claims.

A group of ski bunnies and a pair of married couples head off to a cabin in the mountains for a weekend break. They soon learn that the site has a murderous past; with the most recent of its victims dying only a few hours earlier. Despite this, they ignore the warnings and book in to their rooms. Before long an unseen maniac begins slicing his way through the visitors one by one. But is there more to the location than meets the eyes?

Watching Satan's Blade is a bit like hearing ABBA at an elderly relative's birthday party. You know that its rubbish and you shouldn't really like it, but as long as no one notices, you secretly do. To be fair there's an absolute heap of stuff that is easy to criticize here, but what Blade does do well, it does very much so. Atmosphere is one of the hardest things to build for a horror movie, and Castillo manages to give his film a macabre, foreboding and somewhat ruthless feeling throughout. Borrowing heavily from Carpenter's method of creating a daunting mood from the start, the continuous score - although monotonous - adds to the apprehension. There's one scene, a dream sequence, which is so skilfully edited and competently shot that it sits quite comfortably alongside Curtains' ice skating murder as one of the best of the genre. Seriously, it is THAT good.

There are mountains of minutes of character development where not a lot happens and I'll get back to that in a bit, but I actually felt sympathy for one or two of the personnel and was even disappointed when a couple of them died. When you consider the fact that ninety-percent of the cast were pretty rancid dramatically, to build audience sympathy is quite an achievement. As I mentioned earlier, the killings feel a lot more mean-spirited here and I think it's because of their cheap execution (no pun intended) and lack of gore. Compared to the majority of its brethren from the same period, Blade is extremely light in the blood department, but it makes up for that in the detail of the death sequences. The victims scream and struggle for their last breath and it's much more unsettling than a gooey decapitation. So much so that the BBFC (or the film Gestapo as they were known back then) saw fit to cut out three and a half minutes of footage!

Also check out the bank heist, which seems to have been included for no other reason (in terms of plot benefit) than the director wanting to include a bank heist in his movie. It's fast, direct and pretty ruthless, even though the cashier could have prevented everything by simply closing the door. It's a very interesting way to start a standard slasher movie.

The problems haven't gone away over time however and the film still struggles drastically for momentum. If you want to see a 'horror' film, then watching bad actors go fishing and talk about 'passing the bar' can become very tedious very quickly and structurally the plot suffers. I have read the few comments from the cast that mention constant script re-writes and a lack of vision from the production team, which is quite apparent throughout. I find it hard to believe that there was no finished script, but hey if the cast members say so that must be the case. - Unless they're a little bitter at not getting any money???

So Satan's Blade is still not really worth tracking down unless you're an obsessed enthusiast (hey, like me!). You have to question why the producer didn't just film this on cheaper 16mm instead of 32 and invest some more cash in the production. An average genre entry that had the right ideas but struggled with the execution (yes I am using the same joke twice).

Oh and by the way – I still have *NO* idea what this has to do with Satan...?

One bad blade, dealt here

[videorama-759-859391 · 3/10 · 6 August 2015]

I remember this film being quite bad, when seeing it years ago. My sharp recollections were confirmed tonight. Amateur is one word that springs to mind. The acting is atrociously and unbelievably bad, especially the hammed dying scenes at the start, amongst some quite shocking violence. Satan's Blade is one of the more quieter titles from the Palace Explosive titles. The acting looks so rehearsed and sometimes robotic while using that term loosely. We have some amateur zoom in shots and the story isn't explained clearly enough. The strongest and only impactful part of the film, lies with in the first ten minutes, with some nice lesbian themes thrown in, and a sort of twist to the viewer, when those two bank robbers, remove their masks, the butch lesbian, turning on her friend for more moolah, before fate deals her a vengeful hand. It's of a faceless killer, brandishing a evil clutched knife, that obviously possesses each soul that touches it, turning them into a killing machine. That's basically the gist of the story we get from what's shallowly offered, just another failing that makes this film a stinker. There's no guessing, that the film obviously has a zero survival count at the end, for the quartet of girl lodgers, and the neighboring duo/married couple, amidst them some not so bad so performances. Satan's Blade just stinks of Amateurville, while the opening music score, and the ten minute opening are the other two things I liked about it. Try and work out, near the end, why the killer, talks in two tones of voice. Forgettable and dreadful horror.

Home is where the blade is

[Cujo108 · 9 September 2010]

A pair of female bank robbers make off with $50,000 after they kill two bank tellers in cold blood. They lay low at a snowy mountain cabin while waiting to rendezvous with their partner, George. As they wait, one of the robbers gets greedy and shoots the other. She plans to do the same to George when he arrives, but she doesn't get the chance, as she's stabbed in the back by an unseen assailant while dragging her ex-partner's body. The next day, two married couples and a group of college girls show up to a mountain ski resort. As it turns out, the cabin where the criminals hid out is part of the resort. Despite being told of the murders and a local legend about a murderous mountain man who comes from the bottom of a nearby lake, the college girls decide to take the cabin, which is right next door to where the married couples are staying. As the two groups settle in, it isn't long before the unseen assailant returns to continue his killing spree. Is it the mountain man from the legend or just someone who has taken the tale a little too far?

This incredibly low budget slasher is rarely talked about. Perhaps there's a reason for that, be it the film's obscurity or the general consensus that it's a rotten entry into the genre. Personally, I really enjoyed it as a cheesy treat when I first got the tape a few years back. I was admittedly a little bored with it on my second go around, but I still had a fun time with it for the most part. The director just threw in too many scenes of people walking or driving as the synth score plays in the background. These bits make the film seem a tad longer than it is, which perhaps was the intention since there clearly wasn't a lot of money to work with. I would certainly be surprised if the rumored million dollar budget were true. The resort seems deserted except for the two main groups, and we never get to see any skiing or ski slopes for that matter. We also get a lot of blood without wounds and, in one case, blood on the wall behind a girl before she's shot to begin with.

That said, "Satan's Blade" has it's charms. There is an eerie vibe throughout, enhanced by the aforementioned synth score and a surprisingly unsettling dream sequence midway through. In fact, I would say that the limited locations used actually enhance the mood as well. If we had seen an active resort or a bunch of ski slope high jinks, I don't think the film would come off as effectively downbeat as it does. I think even the lack of gore effects works in the film's favor, as it appears that director L. Scott Castillo, Jr. attempted to compensate by having the victims writhe around in pain as they slowly succumb to their wounds. This makes for more disturbing death scenes than one would typically expect to see in a slasher.

The acting actually isn't all that bad. I've seen far, far worse, but some of the characters are grating. The scene of the two husbands getting drunk was a sterling example of just how grating the people in this movie could be. The constant lawyer puns (the lead character recently passed his bar exam) also get old really quick. To hell with really quick, they're old from the get-go.

My favorite part of the film is undoubtedly the scene where the lone survivor runs into the killer. This entire sequence with the revelation, the voice effects and the motive worked very well for me. It's one of my favorite reveals in any slasher. The ending is also quite something, like a surreal take on "Excalibur".

I like this one, but it's not a great film under any circumstances. It has it's upside, but if nothing else, it's worth seeing for the revelation scene and an out there ending.

I was in Satans Blade and lived to tell about it|!!!

[kingfrog-1 · 1/10 · 1 March 2006]

Well I saw the film...no wait I was in the film...Well wait again ..I "starred" in the film. Yes 25 years later the severely impaled "Tony" (Tom B) lives to tell about his tale.

First of all. No illusions here then or now. The film is absolutely one of the worst ever made. LOL. From the moment I got on set in Big Bear I knew the film was doomed. The only thing that surprised me is why they shot in 35mm when 16mm would have been much less expensive affording more funding for special efx. I thought if they were going to make an exploitation film there should be blood blood blood, No they did not cut out the blood ...there was none. The rental Police car had a blown transmission (thanks to the guys who picked it up in LA and screamed up BIg Bear Mountain lights a flashing) so that beast had to be pushed scene to scene by the grips some of whom may have given up their younger sisters to be on a 35mm film shoot.

OK There was never any finished script. Nor any appreciable direction for the "back story." The filler between killings. The drunk scene was totally improved as a way to get to the girls cabin. (The Jack was real, the acting not, go figure).

We were handed daily pages of dialog to shoot that day. We never knew what was coming next or what just happened! LOL, But we had the time of our lives up there as it was a 6 week long continuous party. And for that I am glad to have participated.

I myself walked out of the "premiere" showing in San Diego embarrassed to the max . The only saving grace was that if the film was as bad as I thought it was no one would see it.

Yet 25 years later some are still writing about it here LOL. That I would have NEVER predicted. Well there's the phone......MAy be Scott looking to shoot the sequel......oh thats right I died.

first 10 minutes where great

[kaefab · 1/10 · 13 February 2019]

The movie start off pretty good but after 10 minutes its all downhill... quit amazing what a mess for such a low budget movie.....

Get the heck off my mountain!

[sol-kay · 3/10 · 6 May 2006]

**SPOILERS** Dull and dreary "Friday the 13th" like slasher movie that actually makes "Friday the 13th" and any of it's many sequels, I think there are 8, look like "The Godfather" or "Citizen Kane" in comparison.

"Satan's Blade" starts off with a bank robbery netting the two women robbers, Ruth & Trish, $50,000.00. They also cold-bloodily murder two bank tellers for no other reason then for kicks.Later at their hideout at a mountain motel Ruth unexpectedly turns on Trish killing her for no other reason other then not having to split the stolen money with her. Within minutes as she waits to do in her other accomplice George, who seems to be the mastermind of the robbery, Ruth get's a knife in the back from an unknown and unseen psycho killing her.

Trying to get your bearing straight on what the movie is all about we then see a group of young people dropping in at the same motel the next day looking for a place to stay for the weekend. There's two couples Tony & Liesa and Al & Lill as well as a group of hot and horny babes, Stephanie Sue Marline & Rita, looking for action both on the slops and in their motel room with any young man in the place.

We get some idea of what's going on when the owner and her son, the Weld's, give the new arrivals a long and boring story about the "Man of the Mountain" who doesn't take too kindly at anyone invading his space. The vacationers are also told how over the years this "Mountain Man" came down and did in a number of people who trespassed on his mountain. Nobody takes the motel owner's story seriously until the "Mountain Man" comes down from his high perch and starts murdering the motel occupants.

It seems like that there's nobody at the motel but the two couples and the four girls who are stalked and murdered by this crazed "Mountain Man". There isn't even a telephone anywhere around to call for help and the tires of the station wagon and car in the motel parking lot, that belongs to the Mountain Man's potential victims, are slashed. Making it impossible for the people being terrorized by this lunatic to escape the "Mountain Man's" bloody carnage and just drive away.

Al getting panic-stricken after he and Tony discovered the dead girls, who were murdered by the "Mountain Man" in their motel room, makes a run for it with his girlfriend Lill only to be overtaken by the killer and run through with what we later find out to be "Satan's Blade". Tony now all alone with the hysterical Lisa, Stephanie incidentally survived the madman's attack, are stuck in in the motel and attacked by the Mountain Man. He then quickly slices up Lisa and in a desperate and violent struggle with Tony, with the lights turned off, finally finishes him off with the evil and deadly "Satan's Blade".

With Stephanie being the only survivor of this bloody massacre she runs to get help only to find out that the help she sought from the local park rangers turned out to be her being murdered by the man who was under the influence and controlled by Satan or "Satan's Blade".

The movie end's with the phrase splashed on the screen "The Legend Continues" as if it were advertising, or warning, the people watching that there's a sequel to this monstrosity on the horizon.This threat on the part of the movies producer would would put a chill down the backs of anyone who just was able to survive and sit through the movie without either falling asleep or just turning it off after the first ten minutes or so. Luckily there was no "Satan's Blade" Part II or III or IV planned for in the future and that's about the best thing you can say about the film.

A rotten film; don't waste your time

[Logan-22 · 1/10 · 3 December 1999]

This movie stinks. Everything about it is substandard from the acting to the script to the special effects. There is a little nudity and gore, but nothing to justify spending your time or money watching this no-budget junk. The story is about an evil force that possesses anyone who wields "Satan's Blade," turning them into a homicidal maniac. Yawn. The possession concept was dealt with much more effectively in BACK FROM HELL (1993). In that film, a man breaks his pact with the Devil, so Satan curses anyone who looks into his eyes to become possessed into wanting to kill him! Of course, if you want a real (good) possession film, nothing beats THE EXORCIST!

trying to get in touch with tom b.

[flamingjune40 · 1/10 · 13 June 2006]

Tom, I tried sending you a private reply, but it didn't go through. If you check back here and see this, drop me a note at [e-mail]

I'd love to here what you've been up to for the last 25 years. Do you know where anybody else is?

I'm supposed to write ten sentences in order for this to get posted.

I did order my own copy on video and it arrived yesterday. It's a little bit like gawking at a horrific car accident. You know you should just keep driving, but you can't turn away.

Oy.

The legend continues.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 15 September 2012]

"Satan's Blade" opens with a nasty bank robbery.Two female robbers murder two bank tellers after bit of sexual humiliation and run to a snowy resort in the mountains.Girls hope to hide out for a while and meet their third partner but they are all murdered.The next day Tony,Lisa,Al and Lil come to the same winter resort when criminals were killed.A group of girls hires another cabin.Old lady tries to warn all of them about the legend of crazed mountain man,but nobody cares.Bad mistake because after some scenes of talking and wandering around the killer starts slashing his victims with titular knife.Amateurish but surprisingly nasty slasher flick with surprisingly decent acting and fairly complex script.L. Scott Castillo's direction is pretty uneven but the stabbings are mean-spirited and the agony of actresses is well-captured.This film is much better than "Savage Water".6 satanic blades out of 10.

The most fabulously cheesy movie I've ever seen!

[fnv790 · 1/10 · 6 February 2006]

This film is so delightfully bad that everyone should be able to enjoy it's horrible beauty! A DVD release is imperative! It appears to be the most low budget film ever produced. Once you see it, you'll agree. I can't stop laughing from start to finish every time I watch it! Full of hysterical dialog, gratuitous nudity, and criminally inept acting, this obscure treasure will easily brighten the day of anyone who views it with a sense of humor (at least hardcore slasher-film enthusiasts). I truly don't understand how movies like this could have gotten made, much less released for mass consumption...but thank god this one did! Hunt it down! You won't regret it!

I loved this campy whodunit with a lot of twists--very artsy, too.

[moviefancindy · 10/10 · 12 September 2009]

I loved it! A typical 80's slasher flick, and at the same time untypical. It's a campy whodunit with a lot of twists. All the clues are there. The continuity's perfect. Also, the director put in a lot of ARTSY shots (like the mist over the lake with the flute solo). Hats off to the director. To the critics here, obviously they don't know how hard it is to make a movie, so hats off to the producer, too. Clearly this film had a small budget, but the fact they could make it in 35mm color film, and not 16mm, was great. Probably the worst part of the movie is the acting. Some of the actors were fairly good, but a couple of the actors were pretty bad. The worst was probably Tom Bongiorno, who I'd bet has not been hired to do another movie again, even a bad one. One of the best actors was Janeen Lowe. The plot, there is actually a plot, is a pretty good one. It manages to come full circle, and tie up all the loose ends.

A Good Twist on the Slasher Sub-genre

[forecastfortoday · 6/10 · 24 January 2010]

As a slasher fan, surely I'm going to give this a good review. Since most of my favorite horror movies come from this type of sub-genre, I thought this was going to be pretty nice and I suppose it is. I had expected low budget, dreadful acting, and the usual slasher plot line.

The movie starts with two lesbians robbing a bank, in which the robbers are later murdered after returning to their cabin. We are then introduced to a duo of policemen along with a group of cute young women and two married couples. The group of young women and the couples are on their way to a snowbound cabin for a vacation. Unsurpringly, they start getting killed off. After nearly all of them are killed off, the plot throws a huge supernatural twist at you that ends the movie off in a surprisingly downbeat ending.

I have to admit, to me this movie had an ending that had a twist equivalently as shocking to the machete scene in Unhinged. The movie title itself is kind of a spoiler, but I had never really taken the title that seriously. I thought "Satan's Blade" just meant it was some nutty psychopath waving a knife in his victims faces, but this movie took it a step further than just the usual slasher movie killer. It's a zero budget movie, but it actually had a really good idea lined up. If it had a little bit more budget, more reasonable acting, and perhaps better dialogue, this movie could be considered a classic.

Not Worth Tracking Down

[acidburn-10 · 3/10 · 5 December 2012]

Plot = A group of girls and a pair of married couples head off to a cabin in the mountains for a weekend break, where they soon learn that the place has a murderous past and plus just hours before two female bank robbers were murdered there, and surprise surprise guess what happens next.

I have watched this movie recently and being a big fan of 80's slashers that I am, I was eager to see this one, and when I did I was solely disappointed, the beginning was kind of interesting we get 2 female bank robbers which turned pretty violent, cue to terrible acting and bad bloodless effects. And despite two people getting murdered recently in a ski cabin, still the guests wanted to stay there and the police or owners hasn't bothered closing down the lodge despite there being a killer lurking about, a camp moment in a slasher movie.

Well it's easy to see why this movie hasn't been released on DVD as it is terrible, so much potential and yet so much wasted, although there were some plus sides, like the beautiful eerie snowy setting was nice and there does seem to be a rather ruthless theme throughout and we do get some character development which is quite rare in these types of movies, it's just a shame that none of them were interesting therefore no-one to root for. There just seems to be no effort put into this movie whatsoever it's just lifeless and dull.

All in all not a movie worth tracking down, not even qualify as average, a bitter disappointment.

Elisa Here

[elisa320 · 27 October 2006]

Wow, this is like a class reunion. Hello! yeah, we know about the film, we were there when it was made. but the previous posters are right about it being a great experience, though I can't imagine it was so great for the producer. did this make a dime? I know I didn't see any money. Did anyone get paid anything? I have to get a copy. Have you (cast members) seen it? I haven't seen it since the night Scott rented out that theater and we saw it at midnight, after Carrie.

I'm tickled to know some of you who were not connected to the production saw it--thank you. Appreciate you letting us have our 15 minutes in your living room, even if it was just YOUR living room.

Hope to hear from you.

Take care, Elisa

Truly satanic

[rooee · 2/10 · 21 July 2016]

Welcome to the longest 80 minutes of your life. Distinguished by catastrophic acting, editing, cinematography, music, sound, lighting, makeup, pacing, plotting, dialogue and characterisation, L. Scott Castillo Jr's slasher is so bad it's bad, reaching an Edward D. Wood Jr plateau of tosh. It couldn't secure a release until 1984 – four years after it was shot.

The legends speak of a "Mountain Man" who, frustrated at society encroaching on the hills and pushing him further into the wilderness, regularly comes down from the peaks to take it out on poorly-clothed teenagers. This season there are two groups: The lusty spring break chicks and the two sensible couples. Their worlds collide when hottie Stephanie (Stephanie Leigh Steel) inexplicably falls for nerdy Tony (Tom Bongiorno), and this sets in motion a series of horror movie separations, giving the killer his chance to pick them off, one by one.

The plot isn't sufficient to fill the running time. We get endless shots of Stephanie wandering the wilderness, accompanied only by a drab piano-and-flute score. At times it's like we're watching bored actors waiting around on location. The killings ramp up in the final third, but are tame and lacking invention in their execution. There is one diverting nightmare sequence, although it is memorable for its dodgy makeup more than its creepiness.

This is one of those cheapo horror flicks where, thanks to the desperate acting quality and the appalling script, the alleged friends barely seem to know each other. The relationship between Tony and his wife Lisa (Elisa R. Malinovitz) is laughable. Their dirty talk scene – packed with lame courtroom metaphors (he's just qualified, you see) – is an avalanche of cringe.

Let's be relative. Comparing Satan's Blade to bigger budget horror movies of the era isn't fair. But films like The Mutilator and Sleepaway Camp – low budget contemporaries with which Satan's Blade bears resemblance – at least had fun deaths and biting humour respectively. And the final 'twist', involving a cameo from our esteemed director, is a total dud. It makes sense when Hitchcock does it, but Hitchcock he ain't.

In a very awkward interview on the disc, the director states that film is "a business, not an artform". Don't worry, Mr Castillo, there is no danger of mistaking this film for art. Arrow Video (the version I watched) is scraping the barrel here with a curio that only the most dedicated slasher aficionados should indulge. It's also worth mentioning that this is a very rough print. Crackle and hair is authentic, sure, but the print is woefully damaged at times, with distorted sound and a multitude of unwanted historical artefacts. Actually, "unwanted historical artefact" might be the best way to describe the film.

Scary.. NOT!!

[anxietyresister · 1/10 · 3 June 2006]

For once, I won't give a plot summary. It really isn't worth me trying to decipher the mad series of events that leads to the slaughter of everybody in a snowy mountain lodge, because the director doesn't care. He only wants to cut straight to the raspberry jam and nudie shower scenes, of which there are plenty. Amazing though, that despite all the action the film would turn out to be as boring as this, with a LONG period of boring talk before the 'fun' starts and even then, the slashing and stabbing is strictly amateur hour. The BBFC didn't help either with it's apparent decision to cut over 3 minutes from the film back in 1987, which makes some parts of it unwatchable. Though I doubt it would have been any better, it's hard to review a film when so much has been lost.

Does your copy of the video have a picture of a skeleton on it? Well prepare to be disappointed, there's nothing here related to the undead, supernatural or otherwise. It's just a ploy to get you to buy the film by putting on a nifty front cover! Shock, horror! Who would have thought a reputable company would be capable of something like that? I would also like to know why the screen flashed red for about ten seconds before the movie began. I thought there was something wrong with my TV. I drove all the way down to the repair shop for nothing. Oops sorry, I know I'm droning on but to be honest, this paltry offering doesn't give me much to talk about, so I'm doing the best I can. Anyway, I'm off. Er.. final comments?! Stick with Freddy and Jason and.. don't do drugs, kids!! Can I go now?! 1/10

A for Affort and B for Blade

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 30 July 2022]

Yes I know that effort begins with an e - but the joke/pun would not have been the same. Suspend your disbelief - not (just) for my headline but also for the movie itself. Also someone else already took the super pun (Satans blade being dull and all that).

If you are into horror movies, I do not need to convince you to watch the movie. You will do so on your own free will. You will do so, because you are not easily .. shocked. And usually not easily offended - which includes being at least ok with nudity. Maybe even expecting it - if so, there is plenty for you here.

The kills are ok/decent too. There is nothing much to remember when it comes to the characters though ... which is either a good thing (because slasher and all that) or you think some substance is missing. Not the greatest acting on earth, but I suppose that was to be expected.

Modestly enjoyable slasher trash.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 3 June 2018]

This movie begins with a violent bank robbery after which the participants meet their own nasty demises. Then, the cabin in which the participants had holed up is later rented by some lovely young ladies, who don't seem to mind too much that they're staying in what is still basically a crime scene. Two couples rent the cabin next door. It's only a matter of time after that, that everybody becomes fair game for a sadistic knife-wielding cretin.

The opening with the robbers makes you think that you might actually be in for some surprises, but that proves not to be the case. "Satan's Blade" is pretty routine in terms of slasher cinema. Still, it ticks enough boxes to rate as acceptable entertainment for devotees of the genre. Sexy women (who sometimes show some skin), tacky (but not that prevalent) gore, a respectable if not great body count, and a mystery aspect to the killers' identity (which, when revealed, doesn't exactly come as a shock). Oh yeah...and there's a "legend" around these here parts, related by the lodge owners' mother, that doesn't sound particularly interesting. The music score, composed by Martin Jaquish (who also edited, and plays the bank manager), is piano and keyboard-driven stuff that is actually pretty good...for the most part. One minor novelty is the wintry, woodsy setting.

In terms of our cast, we have cheesy actors giving cheesy performances, but in their defence, the cast is likeable enough. Thomas Cue, who also wrote the script, plays chow hound husband Al. Top-billed Tom Bongiorno plays his heroic buddy Tony. Director / executive producer L. Scott Castillo Jr. has a cameo right at the end of the picture. But it's that persistent boom mic that keeps fighting the human cast for screen time.

Overall, "Satan's Blade" is good for some fun. It may be on the low budget, more obscure side of slasher cinema, but fans will note that it's certainly not among the worst of them; it flows well enough (once it really gets going) and has its amusements throughout.

Six out of 10.

One of the best standalone horror movies!

[jonflottorp · 8/10 · 27 February 2022]

Satans Blade is a great slasher and i love the winter setting it isn't enough slashers at winter.

When i started watching this movie i didn't expect much i just wanted to have a good time with a slasher and i really had.

I tought it was a B movie slasher but it wasn't, it has a great story, a great setting good kills, some good characters and alright acting, i know that a lot of other slashers has all of that but this didn't feel the same.

I highly recommend satans blade ecpecially to 80s horror fans.🌞🔪🎃

Amusing, vaguely drawn no-budget slasher

[drownsoda90 · 6/10 · 20 November 2017]

"Satan's Blade" follows two separate groups of people lodging at a mountain resort in the aftermath of a bizarre murder. Local legend has it that a "mountain man" native to the area still lurks (in spirit), possessing individuals to undertake his murderous impulses via a mysterious dagger.

Even by most slasher fan standards, "Satan's Blade" is a disaster, not just because it's generally shoddily-made, but because it's predictable. Bad filler dialogue played over during shots of cars meandering up the road? Check. A stilted monologue about a vaguely-sketched supernatural villain told from the front desk lady (which she happens to unload just as two large groups happen to arrive)? Check. Disparate characters (largely female) who spend inordinate amounts of time in various states of undress? Check.

You get the picture. All this said, I'll admit it: I liked this film. Its cardinal sin is that it's tedious for a good deal of its middle part, but the beginning and ending are surprisingly engaging. The lull in the middle is largely laborious to watch because not only does very little happen, but what does is serviced with underdeveloped dialogue, weak acting, and little intrigue. The shoestring budget (and lack of experience) shows.

The film is actually well-photographed and captures the wintry mountain setting nicely, and once things do pick up, there are some surprisingly brutal murder sequences where the effect belies the technical limitations. The film evokes a distinctive late-seventies atmosphere (it was apparently shot in 1980, but not released until 1984), featuring cabin decor that would horrify even your grandmother, but it does add to the film's charm and time-capsule appeal. Atmospherically, I'd liken it to something of a mashup between "Madman," "Ghostkeeper," and "Unhinged." As I noted before, the acting is not good, although the leading heroine does prove herself to be serviceable in the finale.

Overall, "Satan's Blade" is a textbook example of an amateur horror film, but it does have flashes of charm and is no less spunky and atmospheric. Its biggest problem is that it doesn't really know what to do with itself, which is indicative of poorly-planned and/or poorly-executed writing. It feels thrown together in a lot of ways, but this is part of what makes it endearing. It's a technically bad film with enough atmosphere and well-executed set pieces to keep a select few genre extremists on board—and I suppose I'm one of them. 6/10.

I was one of the scriptwriters and glad I didn't get any credit!

[sdmtngirl2003 · 2 August 2006]

I was there when this horrible nightmare began. I'd known Scott for years when he was given the opportunity to produce a horror film ala Halloween when someone (I think his name was Pat???) fronted the money. It was too bad Scott's experiences had been in 8 mm home-style and not in reality because he spent more on looking like a producer than being one and putting out a quality film.

But I was a young innocent in my mid-twenties, like most of the people involved. We were all promised a percentage of the film (which we never received even though I have my contract somewhere) and I was promised an assistant and a writing credit which, you can see, doesn't exist. Tom Cue and I sat for many nights trying to put together a script that was constantly being changed. And like the actor Tom Bongiorno said, the film was doomed from the start and is one of the worst ever made.

As bad as the film was I will say it was one of the most fun times I'd ever had. It was the closest I'd ever get to Hollywood and I knew it. It was like an ongoing cast party. The only people that really seemed to know what they were doing was Terry Kempf, the cinematographer, and Paul Batson, the makeup artist.

It was so unorganized everyone did everything. Not only was I the assistant and a scriptwriter, I ran errands, changed lighting, was in charge of props (and so many other things I can't remember). I dropped off the production staff shortly after the film was in the can because I didn't agree with the way the money was being spent - which is probably why I'm not in the credits anywhere (ya think?).

I didn't walk out of the "premier" but I spent the entire time laughing, it was so damn bad. They'd called it Satan's Blade but I wanted to call it Ski Bunny Blood Bath because that's what it was . . .

Stabby.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 12 August 2017]

This obscure '80s slasher starts off in a promisingly mean-spirited style with a bank heist in which the staff, a pair of women, are cruelly shot in cold blood. Making off with $50,000, the two bank robbers—Trish and Ruth (Mary Seamen and Meg Greene)—head to a rented mountain cabin where they stash the cash and wait for cohort George, an ex-employee at the bank, to arrive. As Trish gets ready to take a bath (Seaman providing the first spot of gratuitous nudity in a film that doesn't skimp on the T&A), she is shot and killed by Ruth, who intends to take all of the loot for herself. Things don't go as Ruth plans, however, when she is stabbed in the back by an unseen assailant. Soon after, the police arrive on the scene, investigating a report of gun shots, where they find the two dead girls and a bloody symbol daubed on the wall. So far, so fun, despite the questionable performances and shoddy production values.

It's a shame, then, that the film drags horribly for the next forty minutes, with the arrival of two groups of vacationers at the rental cabins, which are still open for business despite the grisly multiple murders the night before (a group of girls even move into the very same cabin in which the killings took place, the bodies having been removed and the walls scrubbed clean. Who needs forensic evidence anyway?). The girls' neighbours are two married couples who have come for a few days of relaxation, fishing, skiing and drinking, all of which proves extremely tedious for the viewer (the dreadful 'drunk' scene is particularly embarrassing to watch). Only the girls stripping to their nightwear makes this part of the film bearable.

Thankfully, things pick up a bit for the last half an hour, starting with that mainstay of the slasher genre—the shower scene—followed by the massacre of the group of girls by the still unseen knife wielding maniac (best kill: a big-breasted topless blonde getting stabbed in the tit!). When Stephanie (Stephanie Leigh Steel), who has been out for a walk while her pals are being attacked, finds her friends' bodies, she runs to the neighbouring cabin to find help, the killer not far behind.

Anyone familiar with the genre will have no problem guessing how things play out from here, although the identity of the maniac is unexpected, probably because it doesn't make any sense.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the lo-fi synth score that really adds to the atmosphere.

No Appreciation of Greatness!

[kreeper · 10/10 · 28 December 2006]

I am flabbergasted that so many people can not appreciate classic cinema when they see it! I have seen thousands of horror movies and this is one of my all time favors! Granted the budget is non-existent and the acting at times is not award worthy...but that's what makes this such a non-stop hoot! In this golden era of horror flicks there was a deluge of let's-get-together-and-make-a-movie movies to fill up all the video stores that were opening up. Of all these, "Satan's Blade" was the tops. ****SPOILERS****

From the babes-only bank robbery to the cheesily convoluted plot it was a pleasure. At least they attempted a plot line...a very small one, but it was there. And the busty beauties-snuffed topless of course-all with the haunted knife comes back at the end "twist" it was just a fun film that should be on DVD!

There seems to be some folks who made this here-contact Anchor Bay or Troma or Something Weird!!! Get together for a commentary and let the rest of the world in on this classic!

Great title, great artwork, But not a great film

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 19 October 2019]

Satan's Blade starts off with possibly the worst and least convincing bank robbery that I have ever seen. After this the rest of the film is set at a mountain side resort, where grisly murders have just happened yet two separate groups of guests are none the less allowed to book in. In good old slasher fashion they will get bumped off, one by one. This does taken some time, however, with most of the killing taking place in the last 20 minutes or so. And then the deaths are pretty lame to be honest, with a few victims being guilty of some serious over acting. And talking of acting much of it here is awful, very, very amateurish. But for me that is part of the charm. There is some female nudity thrown in, a common element of slasher movies. I liked the outdoor filming in the snow, some decent camera work. I have watched this twice now, I enjoyed it in a guilty pleasure type way, and no doubt will revisit it again.