By Geno McGahee
The 1970s was a great time for horror and cannibals were trending. As I watched TERROR AT RED WOLF INN, I was immediately reminded of WARLOCK MOON, a film that came out in 1973 and is very alike. You don’t see many cannibalism movies anymore and that is a damn shame. I’m sure there are still those out there that secretly kill and eat others and that’s a good basis for a horror film.
Regina (Linda Gillen) is a college girl that gets some surprising news. A letter arrives and she is informed that she won something. She starts jumping around and celebrating, screaming that she won. I don’t think she’s ever won anything if this is how she acts. Considering that she doesn’t know what the Red Wolf Inn is, I’m surprised that she was so happy. I would have guessed it was a scam like those time share things where they say you win and you go there and they fuck you in the ass.
She is picked up and flown in a private plane, meeting up with Baby John (John Neilson), a very strange guy that is obviously unstable. He drives her to the Red Wolf Inn and she meets the owners, an elderly couple, Henry Smith (Arthur Space) and Evelyn Smith (Mary Jackson). They have a couple other guests that they found locally. Pamela (Janet Wood) and Edwina (Margaret Avery) welcome Regina and are having a great time.
Evelyn and Henry bring a big meal and they begin to eat, but Henry is enjoying the meat a little bit too much. I thought right then….the guy is eating people. At first, Regina sees nothing wrong with this situation, but I don’t see how she couldn’t. From how she ended up there, to the people that own it to Baby John, it all seems really fucked up, but she is laughing it up and grows a crush on Baby John. I wonder if they scouted her, knowing that she was a little fucked up too and would be receptive to their game.
Regina and Baby John start hanging out and end up at the beach, right next to the house. Baby John is fishing and Regina is just enjoying the time with her new found man, but it gets weirder. A shark gets close to the shore and Baby John freaks out, grabbing it by its tail and smashes it over and over again, screaming “SHARK!” He then starts punching it with his fists and none of this seems to rattle Regina. I would think that moment would be when she decided that Baby John isn’t the man for her.
Both Pamela and Edwina disappear, leaving just Regina, but she doesn’t buy Eveyln’s story that they picked up and left. She starts exploring the house and finds the walk in freezer, where she discovers the severed heads of the two missing guests. She now tries to escape and this movie kicks into high gear. It is really intense as she tries to get away.
Regina tries to convince Baby John to run away with her and get away from the family, but he is a man child, insisting that he can’t leave his grandmother. They run off together though but get caught by Eveyln and Henry and we get some more weird shit. Baby John pulls down his pants and Eveyln gets hit with a belt. The whole time Baby John is smiling and screaming like he’s enjoying it.
We get the finale with the couple cornering Baby John and Regina and we get the impression that Regina is killed (SPOILERS), but we get what could have been a great ending, spoiled. Baby John is playing with a toy truck and is hearing somebody sing to him that is believed to be the grandmother, but as the camera pans around, we see the two severed heads of Eveyln and Henry in the walk in freezer. Regina is dressed like the grandmother and is singing to Baby John, adopting the motherly role for her man. OK, I was good with it ending there, but then they go back to the two severed heads and Henry winks at the camera. What the fuck was that?
The film did a great job in building the mystery and intensity and the creep factor was high and then they ruined it with that bullshit. I really liked TERROR AT RED WOLF INN, but they dropped the ball in the end. It doesn’t totally ruin the film, but it killed the vibe that they built so well.
