Wuchak
Jul 28, 2019
***A rockabilly driller-killer menaces Crystal Bernard & friends*** This improves upon the unimaginative bluntness of the first film from five years prior with a superior cast of females, highlighted by winsome Bernard and blonde Heidi Kozak as Sally. Juliette Cummins is also on hand as redhead Sheila, who previously appeared in "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning" and "Psycho III.” The film clicks with kinetic mojo and is almost ingenious in the way it dares to sneer at horror conventions for the first two-thirds. Instead, it focuses on establishing the quality characters, the fun antics of their outing, their all-female rock band, and Courtney's bloody nightmares, the latter of which borrows from "A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Like "Friday the 13th Part V," the movie emphasizes the lingering aftereffects of an episode with a mad killer. The driller killer from Courtney's nightmares is curiously part rockabilly greaser and part mid-80's metal maniac, naturally a little reminiscent of the rock star killer from "Trick or Treat" (1986), Sammi Curr, just more comical. I suppose some of the editing in the suspenseful last act could be chalked up to amateurish filmmaking (e.g. when the girl falls from the ledge), but perhaps it better reflects what's really happening. I'd say more but I don't want to give away spoilers. Let's just say 2+2=4. At the time, this original element was still fresh. The third installment came out three years later and features a quality female cast, but it lacks the imagination of this one and resorts to too much tastelessness. It’s a’right, but it’s easily the least of the series. This one is short ‘n’ sweet at 1h 16m and was shot in Jun 1987 in Los Angeles, including Venice Beach, as well as Santa Clarita for the condo sequences, which is a 40 minutes’ drive to the northwest. GRADE: B
