"Killer's Moon" focuses on a group of schoolgirls who become stranded on a field trip and spend the night in a sprawling, isolated hotel in the Lake District. Unlucky for them, four escaped psychiatric patients dosed on LSD are roaming the nearby woods.
Released barely two months after John Carpenter's "Halloween," "Killer's Moon" is something of an unsung British proto-slasher with a more blunt exploitation edge to it. The plot setup makes for a prime slasher scenario, and while the film doesn't fully ensconce itself in the nascent template, there are certainly shades of it throughout.
The killers and their motives here are certainly strange, and constitute one of the film's more unique elements. The four psychopaths are high on LSD (which has been used experimentally by their psychiatrists to treat their mental illnesses), and believe themselves to be in a shared dreamworld where they can live out their sick fantasies without consequence. The fact that they often appear similar to the motley crew of "A Clockwork Orange" makes it all the more strange.
The film is bolstered by a number of dreary nighttime sequences (many of which appear to have been shot near dawn, under a blue-tinged sky) and atmospheric, spooky forest locations, as well as the gothic and isolated hotel. Where the film falters a bit is in its screenplay and pacing. Despite the horrific things occurring, including rape of minors, the film doesn't achieve any tangible fever pitch; its tone often remains too plodding at times given the nature of the material. Some of the characters appear and disappear throughout, including one of the schoolgirls who winds up finding shelter with a trio of tourists camping nearby, which gives the film a slightly disjointed feel. Both the adult and youth cast here are fairly strong, and a number of famous faces appear throughout, including David Jackson, JoAnne Good, and Lisa Vanderpump.
Like the rest of it, the film's finale is similarly low-velocity, and the suspense suffers for it. However, there are still plenty of reasons why "Killer's Moon" is worth watching for genre fans. Its atmosphere is intoxicating, and the dark cinematography and locations add a great deal of production value. It is also tinged with enough veritable weirdness that it's simply hard to stop watching. 6/10.
Released barely two months after John Carpenter's "Halloween," "Killer's Moon" is something of an unsung British proto-slasher with a more blunt exploitation edge to it. The plot setup makes for a prime slasher scenario, and while the film doesn't fully ensconce itself in the nascent template, there are certainly shades of it throughout.
The killers and their motives here are certainly strange, and constitute one of the film's more unique elements. The four psychopaths are high on LSD (which has been used experimentally by their psychiatrists to treat their mental illnesses), and believe themselves to be in a shared dreamworld where they can live out their sick fantasies without consequence. The fact that they often appear similar to the motley crew of "A Clockwork Orange" makes it all the more strange.
The film is bolstered by a number of dreary nighttime sequences (many of which appear to have been shot near dawn, under a blue-tinged sky) and atmospheric, spooky forest locations, as well as the gothic and isolated hotel. Where the film falters a bit is in its screenplay and pacing. Despite the horrific things occurring, including rape of minors, the film doesn't achieve any tangible fever pitch; its tone often remains too plodding at times given the nature of the material. Some of the characters appear and disappear throughout, including one of the schoolgirls who winds up finding shelter with a trio of tourists camping nearby, which gives the film a slightly disjointed feel. Both the adult and youth cast here are fairly strong, and a number of famous faces appear throughout, including David Jackson, JoAnne Good, and Lisa Vanderpump.
Like the rest of it, the film's finale is similarly low-velocity, and the suspense suffers for it. However, there are still plenty of reasons why "Killer's Moon" is worth watching for genre fans. Its atmosphere is intoxicating, and the dark cinematography and locations add a great deal of production value. It is also tinged with enough veritable weirdness that it's simply hard to stop watching. 6/10.