Blood RageCordially Invites You to the Ultimate ’80s Horror Thanksgiving

Blood Rage — sometimes know as Slasher , plus there ’s a reading titled Nightmare at Shadow Woods , though Blood Rage really fits it best — is an outstanding example of whatthe risky Thanksgiving evermight look like . But luckily forhorror moving picture fan , that intend the motion picture is a feast of connive act choice , famously go out sets and outfits , a totally ‘ fourscore synth soundtrack , and all personal manner of splendid gore .

The premise takes the ol’ good duplicate / bad twinned duality and twists it with glee , giving us selfsame preppy kids Terry and Todd . stick in the backseat at a drive - in — the movie is subtly entitled The House That Cried Murder — while their mommy , Maddy ( Louise Lasser ) , makes out in front with her appointment , the boys sneak out and commit a horrific axe murder . To be specific , it ’s Terry who really swings the brand — it ’s implied he was specify off by the sight of his momma arrest some action — but he promptly frames Todd for the crime by pressing the weapon into his hand , smearing some blood on his font , and shrieking his head off . Todd ’s apparently too plate - shocked to protest and is lock up forth for 10 eld , which is when Blood furore really gets go .

You sleep with from the opening scene that there ’s go to be an eventual showdown between Todd and Terry ( play as an adult by Mark Soper ) , but first , there ’s a wrinkle : Mom ’s engaged ! The lucky guy is Brad ( William Fuller ) , the manager of the shag rug - bedecked Florida apartment coordination compound where almost the full movie takes seat . The announcement is made just as the felicitous couple , along with Terry ( who ’s been ostensibly “ normal ” for the past decade ) and assorted friends , are about to toil into their Thanksgiving meal . Oh yes , and then there ’s another wrinkle : harmonize to his doc , Todd has finally start to remember what really hap that Nox at the effort - in and gets so work on up about being the dip cat that he manages to escape . Two twins , two triggers . Who wants turkey ?

No, no, I insist you carve the bird.

No, no, I insist you carve the bird.Screenshot: Film Limited

Though the significance that Todd could also flick out loom over the whole movie , rakehell fad does n’t make you wait to see who the existent threat is . It ’s Terry , of track , who covers his tracks in advance by cheerfully announce “ My psychotic pal just escaped ! ” ( That ’s the movie ’s second most repeatable line — nothing beats Terry ’s equally cheerful and ofttimes - duplicate resolution that the parentage oozing down his machete is “ not cranberry sauce . ” ) We fundamentally get what amounts to two dissimilar storylines : Terry stalking and killing various disposable characters , including several who were his Quaker earlier that same day ; and Maddy getting more and more booze - intoxicate while she obsessively clean her apartment and becomes more and more frantic while attempt to reach a mysteriously unresponsive Brad on the phone .

As directed by John Grissmer ( who has one other directing cite : 1977 operative revulsion Scalpel ) , it ’s all rather straightforward , and the script ( writer Bruce Rubin ’s other credits include adolescent sex drollery Zapped ! ) does n’t do much in term of deliver suspense , scare , or characterization beyond the airfoil level , though as mentioned it does slip some howlers into the duologue . The special core , at least , are decently memorable ; a person gets cut in half Black Dahlia - style , a hand that ’s grasp a beer can gets detached from its branch ( and continues to twitch thereafter ) , and there ’s all manner of slicing and stabbing . What sets Blood Rage apart , though , is its whole tone — distract from the beginning , and inching ever closer to full - blow hysteria as it advance .

Soper ’s functioning is n’t on the dot deft , but he does pull off to differentiate between the twins , peculiarly in his body language ; there ’s also an argument to be made that he plays Terry so loosely and so stilted because the type is actually a monster merely make believe to be human . But the actual standout in Blood Rage is Lasser , whose comfortably - known cite at the time was starring in max opera house satire Mary Hartman , Mary Hartman . Here , she brings an incredible amount of pathos to her view . Obsessed with having everything appear happy and symmetrical , to the pointedness of disregard world , Maddy ’s presented as being almost childlike in her abnegation , though there ’s an singular disconnect between her frilly dress and girlish , pulled - back hairstyle and her cryptical smoker ’s voice . That gulf begins to break down along with her cautiously manufacture world ; admit that the wrong twin was lock away up is far too much for her , and even when she ’s face with an fearsome lot of bloody evidence to the contrary , she ’s still exigent that she can make everything all right again .

Just over here about to frame my twin brother for murder.

Just over here about to frame my twin brother for murder.Screenshot: Film Limited

Blood Rage finish on a tragic eminence that would almost find Shakespearian if the context was n’t … a raunchy slasher movie filled with random scenes celebrate things like unwritten tardy - night lawn tennis matches , the curiously alien collection of coco liqueur , and badly - time put-on involve horror make - up . It ’s also a picture that features a youngTed Raimias a sleazy rubber salesman , and a bad - missy character who declares that “ partying ” is her major at college . It ’s never not entertaining , even in scenes where you ’re feel alarmed for all the wrong reasons — like when Maddy , totter on the edge of a complete breakdown , plops down on her kitchen floor to sloppily devour leftovers from her ruin Thanksgiving party . Very few low-spirited - budget 1980s slashers can evoke such a range of emotions from a viewer ( compassion , repulsion , delight … holiday cheer ? ) , throw bloodline passion something every cult repulsion devotee can be grateful for . To cite Maddy : “ The Republic of Turkey was perfect . ”

Blood fury is now rain buckets on Shudder .

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