An odd combination of the weirder elements of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Psycho, Unhinged tells the shocking tale of innocent young women who, out of nowhere, are forced into a world of familial dysfunction and horrible death. Three teenage girls are on their way to a music festival, but within five minutes of the film they get into a car accident and wake up in a strange mansion. They are greeted by the owner of the house and her adult daughter at dinner. Things get weird, however, when the mother lets loose some disturbing opinions about her daughter and the men in her life and all men in general. The girls are already creeped out enough, but then things get twisted when a prowler sneaks into the house and starts spying and preying on the girls. One-by-one, the girls are butchered mercilessly, and it all leads up to a grotesque and jaw-dropping finale that will have even the most seasoned horror fans startled.
Released during the early 80s, and then shortly banned in the UK, unjustly, Unhinged is one hell of a wild slasher film. It's one of the most odd slasher films that was released in the 80s. I think that there's a lot to love about this film, despite it definitely being flawed. For starters, the setting. The film mostly takes place in a giant mansion and there is some remarkably strong atmosphere. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that you never really get to see most of the mansion. There's only a few locations that the film actually takes place in, and because of that you can really feel the eerie quality in a way that feels almost otherworldly. The combination of the mansion setting and the slasher film horror give the film a real surreal quality to it that makes it quite unique. The violence in the film is also kept to a minimum. It's how fast and how unexpected it usually happens that is more unsettling. When characters die in this film, they die quickly and in a rather blunt manner, well except for the very last death that I wouldn't dream in giving away. The performance of Janet Penner in the role of the daughter is also incredibly well mannered and remains as one of the most memorable aspects of the film. What really makes this film really work, however, is the ending. I'm not going to give away what happens, but the final ten minutes of this film are insane. They are like something out of a Hitchcock production. The ending of the film should go down in history as one of the greatest endings to a slasher film ever. I know that people will disagree with me, but I personally think that it deserves to rank right alongside the endings of Bob Clark's Black Christmas, Tod Browning's Freaks, and William Friedkin's The Exorcist as one of the strongest horror film finales of all time. I do not want to hype the ending to this film up any further though, because if I do one of two things will happen. One, you will be disappointed by it, or two, you will watch the film based just on the fact that it has a great ending. Make no mistake, it's a shocking ending, but throw away any hope of it being original. What I mean to say is that it's a very typical horror film twist ending, but done about as well as I have ever seen it get done. It's an offensive ending in a lot of ways, and it's incredibly misogynist, but it's effective and that's what matters.
Unhinged, unfortunately, also suffers from a lot of the same problems that most slasher films suffer from. The film contains gratuitous and unnecessary nudity and drug use that takes away it's chances of being taken too seriously. I am not bothered by nudity and drug use in film, but here there really is no need for it at all. It's also a very slow paced film, and that may bother people. The performances of two of the three main female characters is also shockingly bad, almost to the point where you could swear that they are taking sleeping pills. Some of the line delivery is really distractingly awful. In all honesty, this is just another 80s slasher film and it does not try to do too many new things. It does, however, succeed in incorporating elements from more classic horror films, and for that I think that Unhinged is a horror film that is worth seeing.
Released during the early 80s, and then shortly banned in the UK, unjustly, Unhinged is one hell of a wild slasher film. It's one of the most odd slasher films that was released in the 80s. I think that there's a lot to love about this film, despite it definitely being flawed. For starters, the setting. The film mostly takes place in a giant mansion and there is some remarkably strong atmosphere. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that you never really get to see most of the mansion. There's only a few locations that the film actually takes place in, and because of that you can really feel the eerie quality in a way that feels almost otherworldly. The combination of the mansion setting and the slasher film horror give the film a real surreal quality to it that makes it quite unique. The violence in the film is also kept to a minimum. It's how fast and how unexpected it usually happens that is more unsettling. When characters die in this film, they die quickly and in a rather blunt manner, well except for the very last death that I wouldn't dream in giving away. The performance of Janet Penner in the role of the daughter is also incredibly well mannered and remains as one of the most memorable aspects of the film. What really makes this film really work, however, is the ending. I'm not going to give away what happens, but the final ten minutes of this film are insane. They are like something out of a Hitchcock production. The ending of the film should go down in history as one of the greatest endings to a slasher film ever. I know that people will disagree with me, but I personally think that it deserves to rank right alongside the endings of Bob Clark's Black Christmas, Tod Browning's Freaks, and William Friedkin's The Exorcist as one of the strongest horror film finales of all time. I do not want to hype the ending to this film up any further though, because if I do one of two things will happen. One, you will be disappointed by it, or two, you will watch the film based just on the fact that it has a great ending. Make no mistake, it's a shocking ending, but throw away any hope of it being original. What I mean to say is that it's a very typical horror film twist ending, but done about as well as I have ever seen it get done. It's an offensive ending in a lot of ways, and it's incredibly misogynist, but it's effective and that's what matters.
Unhinged, unfortunately, also suffers from a lot of the same problems that most slasher films suffer from. The film contains gratuitous and unnecessary nudity and drug use that takes away it's chances of being taken too seriously. I am not bothered by nudity and drug use in film, but here there really is no need for it at all. It's also a very slow paced film, and that may bother people. The performances of two of the three main female characters is also shockingly bad, almost to the point where you could swear that they are taking sleeping pills. Some of the line delivery is really distractingly awful. In all honesty, this is just another 80s slasher film and it does not try to do too many new things. It does, however, succeed in incorporating elements from more classic horror films, and for that I think that Unhinged is a horror film that is worth seeing.