By Melissa Antoinette Garza
KILLER’S MOON (1978) is definitely a move not for the easily triggered. It’s an effective dark unyielding nightmare into a horrific situation. The best the viewer can hope for is that it will end.
Raw and pessimistic tragedies was a sub-genre of 70’s horror. For this sort, a sense of lingering dread and unease is part of the experience and honestly one of the reasons to watch. There’s an excitement and a tension that comes with the most heinous horror productions. It is the joys of being alive, safe and free that make characters held in captivity, tortured and killed all the more riveting to watch. The greatest known fears one could ever face thrown on screen to view in a parody of nihilistic glory.
That is at least the way that I rationalize my strange interest in a movie depicting four escaped mental patients on a LSD based treatment terrorizing and killing a bunch of choir students in a hotel.
The men Mr. Smith (Nigel Gregory), Mr. Trubshaw (David Jackson), Mr. Muldoon (Paul Rattee) and Mr. Jones (Peter Spraggon) believe themselves to be in a therapeutically-induced delusion where killing and rape is not only permitted, but encouraged.
The women who are all in their late teens, encounter bus trouble during a field trip to the concert. The teacher decides it’s best for her, the students and bus driver to walk the rest of the way. They start on a beaten path thru the woods. Soon, it gets dark out when they come across an old man. He leads them to a huge castle that doubles as a hotel and takes off. The caretaker is kind enough to open early and allow them to take shelter for the night.
Eerily the film plays an almost chipper musical score at times. The contrarian sound to visuals creates a genuinely frightening atmosphere.
As a woman, there are definitely aspects of this that terrify me more than it would a man. I find the men I watch this with usually get angrier whereas I’m more apprehensive and tense. We both want the villains to be defeated, but the emotions the characters evoke are quite different from on another. I find that particular contrast in human behavior interesting. It’s one of the reasons I love to watch these movies at parties when the guests are game. I like to guess how one’s personality or temperament may dictate their response to a certain flick. Usually, I’m pretty accurate.
KILLER’S MOON creeps me out the same way BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) and WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN (1986) does. In most flicks, I find a way to cheer for the villains, but I want to see these bastards die. There is no room for sympathy for their mental conditions or state of mind. Even understanding that their psychiatrist gave them the advice to do what their instincts dictated doesn’t mean they’re absolved of guilt. If their true nature was that ugly, they need to be locked away for life. Their actions are just too heinous. Not to mention, we know that even prior to their treatment they had been institutionalized for equally horrific acts.
Thankfully, there are some nice good looking guys in this flick. Mike (Tom Marshall) and Pete (Anthony Forrest) are two nice guys who come across Sandy (Alison Elliott) walking alone at night. She comes across the dead body of a man.
Their friend Julie (Jane Hayden) come back and tell how the men in white found and raped her. When gallant Mike hears about it, he tells his friend Pete clearly that he doesn’t like rape. In this movie that makes Mike a goddamn hero!
I was able to catch this on AMAZON STREAMING off the channel of HORROR TV. It’s sinister and brutal, but well acted and fantastically directed. If you’re interested in this plot, but think the rawness of the 70s is too much, check out ALONE IN THE DARK (1982). It’s similar and has some very disturbing scenes, but nothing on this caliber. Both movies are great though ALONE IN THE DARK obtains more commercial recognition and critical appreciation.
Still, if you aren’t weak at heart and don’t mind some hard-to-watch scenes, give this one a go. It’ll stick with you after you watch and makes for some intense moments.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
