THE FINAL TERROR
Much better than expected
For a cheesy early-80's slasher flick, this movie sure does have a familiar-looking cast. Adrian Zmed, Daryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, Joe Pantoliano and yes, Mark "The dad in that Twisted Sister video" Metcalf!
I kind of expected this one to suck, and honestly, I only rented it because I was curious about the very early work of Andrew Davis, who would go on to helm such action pics as The Fugitive and Under Siege. (and, unfortunately, Chain Reaction and The Package) My hopes were not raised by a major, ridiculous flaw in the first thirty seconds of the film. A young couple ride on a motorbike down a forest trail, and the bike wipes out. The next shot is of the girl getting up and dusting herself off - and this girl's got a completely different hairstyle than the one who wiped out! Man, why not just show two men on the motorcycle for that shot?
But then, this movie surprised me, by actually turning into a not-bad "slasher-in-the-woods" flick. Oh, it's no Halloween, or even an Alone In The Dark, but it happily bypasses many predictabilities and cliches while giving one a chill or two and some interesting things to look at. Besides, it's gotta be better than Madman or The Prey or, God help us, Don't Go In The Woods.
The killer, when seen, is an interesting sight to behold. Wearing this mossy coat, it resembles more a walking compost heap than anything human. One delightful moment is when the would-be victims sail past on the river in their raft, and after they leave, we see a lump on the shore get up and walk after them!
The plot's pretty absurd (exactly what made them think they'd need a shovel or tree-climbing spikes while making their flight to the river, I don't know), and the characters are what you'd expect, but as a whole, it seems to work, mostly because these are people who, for the most part, decide to stand and fight instead of stand and whimper. A couple of the scenes seemed to be later borrowed for other films, too! The "bus attack" reminded me of the subway slaughter in Predator 2, except not nearly as successful. (just how many yuppies got knocked off in that one?) The climax, involving a swinging, spiked log, appears to be imitated early on in No Escape.
I wouldn't quite recommend this one - it is, after all, just another slasher movie, but if that's what you're in the mood for, you could do a lot worse.