During a college graduation dance, a WWII veteran comes home and finds his ex-girlfriend kissing her boyfriend in a pagoda and kills them using a pitchfork and a bayonet. He goes around in full WWII combat gear with a mask over his face.
Jump 35 years later and at the new graduation dance (the 1st one since 1945), the killing begins again with various college students having their throats slit, pitchforks in their bellies and being chased all around Cape May, New Jersey. And that's pretty much the plot.
Except for Farley Granger (who must've sunk pretty far career-wise in order to do this) and an unspeaking cameo by Lawrence Tierney sitting in a wheelchair, I've never heard of the rest of the cast. They're all unknowns to me.
The only thing saving this otherwise mediocre HALLOWEEN clone is the great special effects by Tom Savini. The throat slittings and the pitchfork piercings look particularly realistic and gruesome, some of the best I've ever seen. And with no lame CGI anywhere in sight. It's all done the good old-fashioned way. With latex and blood bags.
Blue Underground gives this one the class treatment with a nice wide-screen print that looks about as well as can be expected for a medium grade 80s horror film. However the real jewel of this DVD is Savini's 12 minute videotape from late 1980 showing the behind the scenes special effects set-up, including the leading antagonist's head being blown off by a shotgun. That in and of itself is worth more than the whole movie put together.
Without the special effects, I'd give it a much lower rating.
5 out of 10
Jump 35 years later and at the new graduation dance (the 1st one since 1945), the killing begins again with various college students having their throats slit, pitchforks in their bellies and being chased all around Cape May, New Jersey. And that's pretty much the plot.
Except for Farley Granger (who must've sunk pretty far career-wise in order to do this) and an unspeaking cameo by Lawrence Tierney sitting in a wheelchair, I've never heard of the rest of the cast. They're all unknowns to me.
The only thing saving this otherwise mediocre HALLOWEEN clone is the great special effects by Tom Savini. The throat slittings and the pitchfork piercings look particularly realistic and gruesome, some of the best I've ever seen. And with no lame CGI anywhere in sight. It's all done the good old-fashioned way. With latex and blood bags.
Blue Underground gives this one the class treatment with a nice wide-screen print that looks about as well as can be expected for a medium grade 80s horror film. However the real jewel of this DVD is Savini's 12 minute videotape from late 1980 showing the behind the scenes special effects set-up, including the leading antagonist's head being blown off by a shotgun. That in and of itself is worth more than the whole movie put together.
Without the special effects, I'd give it a much lower rating.
5 out of 10