Just your ordinary 80's slasher film has throats cut, hatchets tossed in chests, and kids being stalked, and for Scrooges that hate the holiday perennial "A Christmas Story", that's perfect revenge for Peter Billingsley who becomes one of many intended targets for a vicious serial killer with divorced Catherine Hicks taking son Billingsley on a road trip with her newest boyfriend. Billingsley notices a car moving far too fast towards them while they are on the road, and the audience witnesses a young couple obviously having sex when out of the blue one of them gets the Sweeney Todd treatment. There's a gruesome attack on the local sheriff, and other victims (including a babysitter who is too interested in snacking rather than sitting) get violent deaths. With a kid as a possible target, the audience gets more fear in their bowl rather than popcorn.
While this probably has a bit of a cult following, I found it dull with far too much talking and not enough slashing, although personally, that's not my thing. But this is a horror film, not a family film, and there's little in the way of action. Edward Herrman has a small part as Hicks' ex, seen in tge opening that follows a montage with him and Billingsley exploring Manhattan, and Wilford Brimley, a few years before he became a recognizable character actor seen everywhere, is seen briefly as well. This is far too predictable and rather exploitive so I lost interest pretty quickly. Too gruesome for TV, but too trashy for mainstream big release, it's one of those dusty old films that horror movie fans will seek out for collective genre viewing then quickly forget about.
While this probably has a bit of a cult following, I found it dull with far too much talking and not enough slashing, although personally, that's not my thing. But this is a horror film, not a family film, and there's little in the way of action. Edward Herrman has a small part as Hicks' ex, seen in tge opening that follows a montage with him and Billingsley exploring Manhattan, and Wilford Brimley, a few years before he became a recognizable character actor seen everywhere, is seen briefly as well. This is far too predictable and rather exploitive so I lost interest pretty quickly. Too gruesome for TV, but too trashy for mainstream big release, it's one of those dusty old films that horror movie fans will seek out for collective genre viewing then quickly forget about.