(1999)

review by:

4-7-03

Written by: John R. Stevenson Directed by: Ralph Portillo Starring: Jessica Morris, Peter Guillemette, Michael Stone, Patrick Cavanaugh

This may sound a little familiar: A group of teenage counselors-in-training prep their camp for the arrival of countless little hooligans. Most of them proceed to be killed by a hockey-mask wearing sociopath known in legends as Trevor Moorehouse. For over a year we've laughed at this cover on each trip to the video store. Many times we've considered getting it, simply because it looked like such a blatant rip-off of Friday the 13th mixed with a bit if The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We were actually wrong about this...there's no Texas Chainsaw Massacre in it, but plenty of the former. Now, what I'd really like to see is the prequel to Bloody Murder, in which the killer manages to steal Michael Myers' coveralls and Jason's laundry-day mask in a bloody three-way machete brawl. Not only that, he also manages to wrestle away Mr. Voorhees' campgrounds, movie plot, and creepy senile janitor guy. Or maybe these were all hand-me-downs, seeing as Jason's off in orbit choppin' up space teens. Aside from the copyright-infringement-case-in-the-making aspect of Bloody Murder, this movie is another average slasher flick. The killer bumps off teen after teen, none of which fights back until the last victim's climactic chase scene. Low budget and campy is one thing, but this movie offers nothing new. The obligatory doom saying old guy results in some unintended chuckles, as does the "What's that behind your back" scene near the end. That, and Dean (Michael Stone) looks kind of like Bruce Campbell. The best thing about this movie, though, is that Evilcam makes a brief appearance (more on him soon). Bloody Murder's not all that bad (or good), it's just more horror flick brain jello.

AKA: Camp Stealplot          Naked In The Woods: What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Rating