By Geno McGahee
“At the end he kinda went off his rocker and no one dared put him away”—Inspector Grey (Mike Keene)
A rich man killed in a hunting accident with his son as the suspect, Elliot Freeman (Lee Philips), but he is found innocent and has inherited the fortune. He now spends his days painting naked ladies, scoring with them here and there, and throwing a hunting knife into a tree. One of the models, Dolores (Kaye Elhardt), turns out to be nothing but trouble. She has a crazy biker ex boyfriend, Charlie (James Farentino) and she is knocked up, and intends to pin it on the rich Freeman.
When Freeman told Dolores to get lost, she plans to take him down and get rich with the bun in the oven, but she doesn’t live long enough to do so. A mysterious killer in a trench coat and fedora wielding a knife stabs Dolores to death. Of course the possibly crazy Elliot, who we later find out was a killing machine in the Korean War and the crazy biker, Charlie are immediate suspects, along with the peeping tom that wanders the woods, the stepsister, Lynn Freeman (Margot Hartman), who shows up just in time to be the killer, and a bunch of other questionable characters that keep you guessing.
This is the earliest slasher/whodunit that I can remember and it delivers big time. We have a large group of suspects, great acting, superb writing, and a great pace. There are only 2 deaths in this movie, but it matter. This is an entertaining film that keeps you guessing until the end and if you are a fan of slasher films, you will love this movie.
What I really liked most about this movie was the dialogue…and how they developed the characters. Modern horror movies could learn a lot from this movie. They focused on the story and the characters and it brings that over the top drama that we all love from the slasher genre.
I highly recommend this movie, and it did keep me guessing. Typically I can pick out the killer right away, but not in this one. What a great early slasher flick!
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10…very good early slasher.
