I watched an interesting documentary a few days ago titled "Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film" which took a semi-serious approach to this horror sub-genre starting with the original "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" and tracing its development throughout the 80s when every conceivable holiday was milked for an excuse to slaughter more promiscuous teens. Slasher movies are still very much with us and even the recidivist "Scream" did not kill them off. Mind you, they haven't improved too much over the years, and the only appeal to a dyed-in-the-wool horror buff like myself is for new and innovative ways of killing to be introduced, This would possibly explain the popularity of the (progressingly worse) "Saw" series.
The only other thing that can delight me nowadays is having a truly iconic actor in the boogeyman role, which is what one has here with creepy Crispin Glover. He plays redneck twins who have slaughtered their parents (and eventually the one kills the other) who get their kicks from the usual wheeze of disposing of nubile young ladies, muscular young men, and all potheads. Glover has been such a noticeable actor since he came to the fore playing Michael J. Fox's dad in the first "Back to the Future" film (he is actually three years younger). In subsequent movies his parts may not have been large, except in the icky remake of "Willard", but his is a face you remember with shivers. This particular movie is no great shakes with its disposable cast, but it is a somewhat affectionate throwback to earlier movies and does have some inventive deaths by flying pickaxes! It also proves the convention that a true boogeyman is indestructable when the nominal 'heroine' does not quite manage to kill him and is saved for an amusing coda at the film's end (which I won't reveal here).
So, am I praising this movie? Not really, but it has its moments and anything featuring Glover is bound to please a horror fan, even if he is probably so far over the top here as could be. I do love the fact that his full birth name is Crispin Hellion Glover.
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