Fall Break (1984)

A teenager who accidentally committed matricide finds himself being hunted together with his girlfriend and mates by his now crazed father.

Directors:

Buddy Cooper, John Douglass (co-director)

Writer:

Buddy Cooper

Stars:

Matt Mitler, Ruth Martinez, Bill Hitchcock

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Mitler	...	Ed Jr.
Ruth Martinez	...	Pam
Bill Hitchcock	...	Ralph
Connie Rogers	...	Sue
Frances Raines	...	Linda
Morey Lampley	...	Mike
Jack Chatham	...	Big Ed
Ben Moore	...	Cop
Trace Cooper	...	Younger Ed Jr.
Pamela Weddle Cooper	...	Mother
Jimmy Guthrie	...	Bartender
George Sutton	...	Gentleman At Bar
Steve Davis	...	Student In Bar
Tom Outlaw	...	Student In Bar
Pat Jordon	...	Student In Bar

Storyline

A group of teenagers decide to take a vacation at the beach house of one of their fathers. The kid whose father owns the house just happened to accidentally kill his mother when he was a child. When they get to the house, the father has mysteriously disappeared. Hmmm...

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Plot Keywords:

sadistic murderer | walking on a beach | teenager | multiple homicide | car won't start | 

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Taglines:

By pick, by axe, by sword, bye bye!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The main cast bonded quickly and got along well, even staying on set to watch filming after their characters had been killed off to support each other. Morey Lampley (Mike), on the other hand, spent his down time between scenes on the nearby beach working in his tan and left the set as soon as his character was killed off. He also frequently disagreed with his character's makeup and insisted on applying it himself.

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Goofs

When Mike and Linda go swimming in the pool, they take of their clothes. In the shot where they jump in, you can see in the reflection of the water that the girl is wearing a bikini.

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Quotes

Ed Jr.: I've got a bad feeling about this!

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes appear during the closing credits.

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Alternate Versions

In the 1990s an Austrian version was available. This version presented the movie in very good quality, full uncut and German dubbed

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Connections

Featured in The Kill Count: The Mutilator (1984) (2020)

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Soundtracks

Fall Break
Theme
Written by Michael Minard and Arthur Resnick
Performed by Peter Yellen and The Breakers (Sanchie Bobrow, Buddy Cooper, Marty Fogel, Anthony Franklin, John Hill, Matthew Hill, Gregg Hollister, Gary Solomon, Abe Speller, Neil B. Whitford (as Neil Whitford))
Associate Producer: Gary Solomon
Music programmer: Rick Stevenson

User Reviews

Some Flaws but The Gore Is Top-Notch

The Mutilator (1984)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A young boy named Ed is cleaning his father's gun for his birthday but while cleaning it the thing goes off killing his mother. From this point on the father has nothing to do with Ed. Flash forward several years and Ed is in college when he gets a call from his father out of nowhere. The father asks for Ed to return to a beach front property and close it down for the winter. Ed takes along his girlfriend and four other friends but soon they start to get violently murdered.

THE MUTILATOR has a pretty big following among people who enjoy the slasher boom that happened from 1980-84. I'm a major slasher fan but for the most part there were a lot of movies that were made to try and get some of the box office dollars. More times than not these films were poorly made, poorly shot and featured very little gore. They were just cheap C movies that were thrown into theaters for a quick buck. THE MUTILATOR isn't one of those movies as it's fairly well-made, features a nice cast and best of all is that it actually delivers on the gore.

One thing that did surprise me about this film is that it really doesn't try to play up a mystery aspect. We're pretty much told from the start what to expect and we see who the killer is pretty early on. The screenplay spends way too much time with the characters as the murders are spread out quite a bit and there are some logical issues but I guess this here is to be expected. I think the film really benefits from the six main characters being likable and you at least don't mind hanging out with them while you wait for them to be slaughtered.

Of course, when it comes to a slasher the most important thing is the actual kills and THE MUTILATOR is a major success here. In fact, I'm really surprised that these effects got past the MPAA because they are rather graphic and gory. This includes a decapitation but the highlight of the film involves a hook. I'll just leave it at that but it's certainly very cringe-worthy and contains a great amount of blood. THE MUTILATOR certainly isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it's a good slasher.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fall Break

Filming Locations:

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1