Another Jose Larraz movie gets released with the Arrow
Treatment. Once more they’ve saved another movie that was familiar to those
perusing the shelves of mom and pop video stores years ago from being lost
forever. Some will be jubilant, some will wonder why and everyone will have the
chance to rediscover the film and decide if it’s worth it or not.
The film takes place in a mountain resort area and opens
with the brutal (and original) killing of a young nurse in her car at a car
wash. This short opening cuts to a young man getting home named Gerald, a
computer geek in its earliest form renting a room from an angry old coot named
Brock. Carrying what was no doubt hi tech at the time, he takes it to his room
before meeting with his friend Richard.
Richard is a player who’s married to a wealthy woman while
still looking around for any women he can find. An exterminator he takes Gerald
along with him on a new job where they discover the body of a missing nurse
hidden in the walls of a tavern. The police are called in but continue to want
to keep things quiet.
At the tavern Gerald met a young student working there for
the summer named Lillian. They go back to his place and she’s fascinated by all
the tech items and computer he has, especially access to a data bases he can
find. He promises to hook her up with some using spare parts he has to the two
of them can communicate.
The bodies begin to mount and with each new murder we’re no
step closer to discovering who the killer is. Each one murdered with an axe the
clues are there but never quite come clear. Nearly everyone becomes a suspect
until they are killed. It isn’t until the final moments that all is revealed.
The ad campaign for this film felt much better than the end
product itself. The low budget of this film shows on screen from the lighting
to the sets to the camerawork. In spite of it all the film still works on
several levels, not quite as good as some but better than others. The movie
made its way direct to video when it was made and as stated became a staple of
mom and pop video stores where horror fans were seeking any and all films they
could gobble up.
What’s most interesting about the film now is seeing the
“high tech” being used. Today a cell phone holds more storage capacity and has
access to more than this computer does. That makes it funny in one sense and a
piece of history in another. I’d love to see what younger viewers think when
they watch this.
The plot holes in the film will no doubt be brought up over
and over again but in the end does it matter? This is a low budget horror films
and if the list of plot holes in all of them were laid end to end we could more
likely that not reach the moon. It is the journey from point A to point Z that
horror fans enjoy with a few gore shots tossed into the mix. In that sense the
film delivers.
The film has been praised as an entry into the slasher drama
from the Spanish but it came about too late in the game and never had much of
an impact. Still fans can enjoy it and others discover it for the first time
now.
Arrow Video is releasing the film on blu with a new 2K
restoration from the original camera negative. They’re also going all out with
extras like a new audio commentary track with actor Barton Faulks, a new audio
commentary track with The Hysteria Continues, a newly filmed interview with
actor Barton Faulks (Gerald), “The Pain in Spain” a newly filmed interview with
special effects and make-up artist Colin Arthur, an image gallery, a reversible
sleeve with original art and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn and
for the first pressing only a collector’s booklet with new writing by Amanda
Reyes.
It’s the standard Arrow Treatment for their films and
another in their offerings from Larraz. If you’re a fan then by all means pick
this one up immediately.
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