Targets is trying to juxtapose the fictional monsters on screen with the real life, unsuspecting monsters in real life, Karloff sums it up in his final line 'thats who the drivers were afraid off' staring at what seems like an innocent young lad who had just moments before killed dozens of people.I think thats why the film works. Karloff wants to retire because he doesn't think he belongs in the world of cinema anymore, people don't find him scary because the monsters he portrays aren't real. Ironically I think people watch Frankenstein today to escape from the 'real horror' and into a world of ghosts, ghouls and monsters.
The film itself is a good for the most part. I find myself wanting to see more of Karloff, because his character is so interesting while the character of Bobby is just a psychopath, who one day has a mental breakdown and goes on a shooting spree. Not that that kind of character cant be interesting but I don't think Bogdanovich cared about how or why the Bobby did what he did, he perhaps wanted to state that this happens and show what the real horror is, maybe trying to show the censors that people see stuff like this on the news everyday and yet they want to censor a film about a giant, green monster.
Overall, Targets isn't revolutionary. It is, however, nice to see Boris Karloff having fun in his last role and the film is genuinely tense and quite horrifying in how authentic its depictions of violence can be.
The film itself is a good for the most part. I find myself wanting to see more of Karloff, because his character is so interesting while the character of Bobby is just a psychopath, who one day has a mental breakdown and goes on a shooting spree. Not that that kind of character cant be interesting but I don't think Bogdanovich cared about how or why the Bobby did what he did, he perhaps wanted to state that this happens and show what the real horror is, maybe trying to show the censors that people see stuff like this on the news everyday and yet they want to censor a film about a giant, green monster.
Overall, Targets isn't revolutionary. It is, however, nice to see Boris Karloff having fun in his last role and the film is genuinely tense and quite horrifying in how authentic its depictions of violence can be.