Blood Hook (1986)

During a local fishing contest, people are being mysteriously dragged into the lake and killed by a giant fish hook. After a sufficient number of deaths, the killer is finally revealed.

Director:

Jim Mallon (as James Mallon)

Writers:

Larry Edgerton (screenplay), John Galligan (screenplay)

Stars:

Mark Jacobs, Lisa Jane Todd, Patrick Danz

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Jacobs	...	Peter van Clease
Lisa Jane Todd	...	Ann (as Lisa Todd)
Patrick Danz	...	Rodney
Sara Hauser	...	Kiersten
Christopher Whiting	...	Finner
Don Winters	...	Leroy Leudke
Paul Drake	...	Wayne Duerst
Bill Lowrie	...	Evelyn Duerst
Sandy Meuwissen	...	Bev D.
Dale Dunham	...	Denny Dobyns
Paul Heckman	...	The Sheriff
Don Cosgrove	...	Roger Swain
Bonnie Lee	...	Shiela Swain
Greg Nienas	...	Irving Swain
Julie Vortanz	...	Ruth-Ann Swain

Storyline

It's time for the annual "Muskie Madness" fishing contest, and the lake is packed with hopeful fishermen. It soon becomes apparent, however, that a psychotic serial killer has also decided to join the festivities. Although the police have determined that the killer is claiming his victims by landing them with giant fishhooks, no clear suspects can be found since everyone is using the exact same hook! What is the killer's goal? And more importantly, can the murders be stopped?

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Plot Keywords:

fishing contest | fishing | lake | death | murder | 

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Taglines:

Live bait ... but not for long!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Muskie Madness

Filming Locations:

Hayward, Wisconsin, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Chargers, Spider Lake Films Ltd. Partnership (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 111 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The giant fishing lures that the killer uses were made of styrofoam and the hooks were nylon.

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Goofs

When the sheriff opens his car door during the final scene of the film the reflection of a blonde crew member can be seen in the door's rear view mirror.

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Quotes

Rodney: This, like, hippie music makes me feel like I'm, like, full of chowder man. Like, how long do I have to suffer, huh?

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Crazy Credits

The D in the title card "Blood Hook" rushes at the screen to fill it with blood red color; the title is the only credit that appears in color, dissolving to red as it looms on screen.

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Connections

Featured in What's in the Tacklebox?: An Interview with Jim Suthers (2018)

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Soundtracks

Muskie Reggae
Written by Thomas A. Naunas
Performed by Thomas A. Naunas, Brad Wray, Jeff Seitz, J. Whitehead

User Reviews

Some Interesting Ideas But Way Too Long

Blood Hook (1986)

** (out of 4)

A small town in Wisconsin is having their annual fishing contest, which draws people from all over the country. A group of young adults plan on having some fun but before long they notice several people are going missing. It turns out that a mysterious person is using a fishing hook to kill people.

BLOOD HOOK is a film that got released by Troma and it turned into a pretty big hit on VHS. The film is a send up of the slasher genre, although it doesn't go too far over-the-top in regards to laughs. It's easy to see why the film would gain a cult following but I must say that I had a few too many issues with it that prevented me from enjoying it more.

I will say that I really enjoyed Jim Mallon's direction and I thought he did a very good job at building up the atmosphere of this small town. I also liked the look of this small town, the wooded area and the lake itself becomes its own character and a good one. I'd also argue that there are a few creative moments in regards to some of the death scenes and I liked the "fishing" nature of the murders.

With that being said, this thing clocks in at a whopping 111-minutes, which is a good forty-minutes too long. I really don't understand why this thing lasted so long and especially since there are so many scenes that just run on and on and on. There are so many characters here and many of them are given a lot of screentime for no real purpose. I really thought the film and its style would have worked a lot better with a 70 or 80-minute running time.

I also thought the majority of the characters were mildly interesting but just not enough to warrant the time. The death scenes are good for what they are but there weren't enough in that long running time. BLOOD HOOK had enough interesting moments to make it worth sitting through to this rabid horror fan but I think most people will be completely bored by it.