Baker County, U.S.A. (1982) Poster

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7/10
This preacher's son forgot the proverb, live by the hot tar, die by the hot tar.
Fella_shibby14 December 2020
I saw this for the first time recently. While comparisons with Deliverance, Southern Comfort, Rituals, etc r inevitable due to this film being about mountainous/rural fellas hunting city folks, this one holds the attention, moves at a steady pace n offers sufficient tension n mayhem. It has some lovely boobs n serene n secluded settings. We get to c Gina Dick's boobs, Danone Camden's boobs n the boobs of the busty babe from the opening scene.

The best part is obviously Silva's character who has problems with his attractive n adulterous wife, but yet, he enjoys having sex with a busty young lady in a forest and that too near a river. Can someone pls tell me the name of that busty babe and the names of the movies she did.

Dont miss Henry Silva in his rarest performance which will be remembered as one of the best villain from the backwoods hunting Nicholas Campbell n his friends. The hot tar thing does get insanely hilarious.
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7/10
Spelunking trip encounter with redneck justice ..............
merklekranz27 October 2010
Four college students looking for a cave, stray into a Tennessee hollow inhabited by sadistic Henry Silva, and his backwoods clan. After witnessing a murder, the four are relentlessly hunted in the woods. The fact that the local sheriff is kinfolk, makes the situation even more desperate. Silva provides a strong presence as the villain controlling a nice assortment of barefoot babes, and hairy knuckle types. The film features sharp editing, creative photography, and appropriate twangy music. With the outcome always in doubt, interest is maintained throughout. Along with "Hunter's Blood", "Trapped" is a "Deliverance" clone that comes highly recommended. - MERK
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6/10
Seventies-style eighties trash classic!
The_Void2 March 2007
Trapped was actually released in the late eighties, although it's every bit the seventies exploitation classic! While not as great as some of the more popular films of the genre - stuff like The Last House on the Left and House on the Edge of the Park, Trapped is still an enjoyable slice of violent entertainment from the director of the surprisingly good 'House by the Lake' and the Psycho-inspired Funeral Home. The film focuses on the idea of people in the deep south of America taking the law very much into their own hands. The main culprit is Henry Chatwill; a man who is spotted murdering someone by a bunch of college students. He quickly decides to put his cronies to use in tracking down the college students; one of which, a kid called Roger Michaels, just happens to completely against violence in all forms. The first half hour or so is fairly torrid, as it can be difficult to tell exactly what's going on since it's not pieced together very well. However, things really pick up in the final two thirds; and it all builds to a fantastically entertaining ending, which features a couple of rather original death scenes! Naturally, Trapped isn't particularly well acted or directed - although William Fruet's work behind the camera isn't too bad considering the obvious budget limitations. Once you get past the first half hour, there's a lot of fun to be had with Trapped, and it comes recommended to trash fans everywhere!
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Beware Chatwill's verdict
Cujo10824 July 2010
In the mountains of Tennessee, a small backwoods village is lorded over by the maniacal Henry Chatwill. He has his own demented form of justice, and after he catches a stranger in bed with his bored sexpot of a wife, some college kids (one of whom is a pacifist) have the misfortune to stumble upon him enforcing it. Now he has to shut them up before they can notify the authorities.

Canadian filmmaker William Fruet directed this film, somewhat in the vein of "Deliverance". Usually known as "Trapped", one of the film's alternate titles is "Chatwill's Verdict", a far superior title to say the least. Why they didn't just stick with that one is beyond me, especially when you realize just how many films there are that share the "Trapped" title. While not original, it has a lot going for it, the most notable being Henry Silva's unhinged performance as Chatwill. It's also unpredictable in regards to which characters live and die. Of course, the college students could've avoided the whole mess if they weren't so stupid as to go looking for the body rather than leaving.

This is a quality film. Coming from me, that's saying something since I'm not the biggest fan of the backwoods/hillbilly sub-genre.
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7/10
Backwoods madness again
Well let's call it by it's other name, Trapped. Now, being part of the Palace Explosive Video group, you may well be expecting gory and disturbing violence, which you will run very short of. But of course this doesn't make Trapped bad. It's a well made and put together movie, with a stellar performance by bad man, Henry Silva. Opening with a beautiful nudity shot, with him and a very young philly he disrobes, this is just an establishing scene. The simple plot, has a scenario, used in many other horror in the woods flicks. Four young campers, led by a Nicholas Campbell (an actor who I really like, who really puts in a strong performance here) witnesses a murder at the hands of jealous lover, Silva, where the victim tarred and feathered, prefore, was doing Silva's hot blonde misses. I really liked Campbell's character. He's strong willed and likable. Now with these young co-eds putting a spanner in Silva's works (Campbell, a overzealous and a passionate campaigner against murder, think Michael Biehn in Rampage, also starring Campbell), this ups the suspense, with the hillbilly hunters, and the hunted you, where others too, entering the picture, have to be sacrificed. Soon soon poor Silva is abandoned, on his own, which warrants howling cheer, among us audience. Trapped is very believable, and in it's own way, borrows from Deliverance and Southern Comfort, though of course, isn't a perfect film, and isn't in their league, this of course, not being mainstream too. But this is a better put together film, than you expect it to be. A couple of the film's moments lack, or lose their edge. They don't work. But also, don't judge a movie by it's cover, especially one so nasty. Music score is perfect.
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7/10
A friend of mine told me that Trapped is a good movie. He wasn't wrong.
Stevieboy66624 October 2020
Trapped, aka Baker County, USA, is a Canadian movie filmed in Georgia and set in Tennessee. Four college students are taking a break camping and hiking in the mountains when they come across a man being chased by a bunch of unfriendly rednecks. The guy slept with the wife of Henry Chatwill (well played by Henry Silva), a frightening psychopath who heads a small backwoods community. Henry kills the guy, the students witness it but when they try to report it to the Sheriff they then become Henry's next targets. This thriller/action horror is no Deliverance but it does fit nicely into the backwoods revenge genre, which also includes the likes of Southern Comfort, Last House on the Left, Hunter's Blood, etc. The acting is generally good, the scenery is nice. There is plenty of action, brutal violence and a smattering of female nudity, this movie never drags. I enjoyed it, even if it was on a grainy old VHS, I'd certainly watch it again.
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2/10
I don't know know how this ended up in PEORIA IL but it did
bob_meg29 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I remember this movie vividly as it was somehow playing in a large multiplex bowling/arcade/fitness/cinema (only in the '80s) complex in Peoria Illinois, where I grew up, circa 1982 or 1983.

It stayed in my head because it was so unlike anything I had seen playing at the time. It was the first time I really experienced an "independent" film (this was not a town that played Art Movies) and I literally wandered out of the theater with a "did that just happen to me?" disposition.

The best way to sum up "Baker County" (or "Baker Country" as the group of Vietnamese refugees we were then tutoring, kept enthusiastically chanting after the screening) is that it's a precursor to the torture-porn freak movie --- a miscarriage that occurred in the space between visceral roughhouse '70s gems like "Last House on the Left" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the more polished current-day renditions like the "Saw" and "Hostel" movies.

There is absolutely no character development, the acting is amateurish (with the possible exception of Henry Silva's deranged evil-incarnate hillbilly) and the story is beyond simplistic: passive college kids witness Silva murdering a man and are then hunted and tortured for his pleasure before they get their standard, expected eye-for-an-eye revenge.

Even at 18 I was aware I was being blatantly manipulated and in such an obvious way that it was annoying and condescending. Yes, I expect to be manipulated by a horror film but this does it with such little style and creativity that it's merely insulting.

I was shocked to find that today this movie is considered a "cult classic" --- HA! --- and even more shocked to find it was made for $2 MILLION??? Well, it was obviously more expensive to rent film equipment in those days as that cost is nowhere to be seen on film.

The only thing I will say to recommend it is that it really is a true "Grindhouse"-type film. Even in the theater I remember the print being incredibly effed-up. It's exploitation taken to the extreme and if that's what you're after, as an artifact anyway, it fills the bill.
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9/10
I concentrate on the movies qualities not the story.
MNilsson7 July 1999
This is a brutal movie about backwoods hillpeople who live according to their own laws. Their leader, Henry Silva at his unpleasant and sadistic best, takes the law in his own hands and lead a mob to hunt down his wife´s lover. Violent complications follow. The story is unoriginal but captivating and Fruet´s no holds barred directing keep a good pace throughout the entire movie. The dialogue is good and amusing. There is nudity, banjo music, humiliation, plenty of man hunt scenes and bloody violence. Highly recommended viewing for fans of Deliverance and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
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8/10
Welcome to redneck county!
HumanoidOfFlesh2 July 2008
"Trapped" is a fairly obscure rural revenge thriller in the almost same vein as William Fruet's earlier classic "Death Weekend".It was penned by the late John Beaird,whose only other screen writing credits were slasher films "My Bloody Valentine" and "Happy Birthday to Me".A group of college students accidentally witness a group of local rednecks killing another hillbilly.A deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues,with the students trying to escape the area while the killer played by Henry Silva sets out to eliminate the witnesses who can tie him to the murder.Sleazy Canadian canuxploitation flick with enough nudity and violence to satisfy any self-respecting exploitation enthusiast.Recommended for fans of "Southern Comfort","Deliverance" or "Hunter's Blood".
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8/10
Next Picturesque Stop on the Road Map: Baker Country, USA!
Coventry25 March 2008
Aw, why did they opt for "Trapped" to be the official title, whereas "Baker County, USA" is such a unique and wondrously ominous title for a movie handling about psychopathic Tennessee rednecks! There are about fifty movies called "Trapped"! There's one with security-trained Dobermans keeping a guy inside a shopping complex and another one with Kevin Bacon hijacking a woman and her asthmatic daughter, so do you honestly want to mix up those lame plot outlines with a movie about lunatic yokels hunting down a bunch of college students? Baker County, USA … all the way! Enough nagging about titles, especially since we call the films whatever we want, anyway. This stuff is terrific! It's an early 80's and Canadian produced Indie-film with character drawings and themes that were especially popular during the decade of the 70's, namely crazed clodhoppers living in private mountain-communities and brutal blood-vengeance. Henry Silva, who played in numerous Italian cop thrillers and action flicks, was never cast better as a tyrant leader of a small mountain colony that swears by its own ancient system of law and order. Silva's naturally menacing charisma and particularly perpetrating stares make him one the most nightmarishly memorable backwoods villains ever! The first half hour revolves on Henry and his docile men playing the roles judge, jury and executioner on an outsider who was caught having sex with Henry's beautiful but bored wife. Four college students camping in the remote hills witness the assassination of the man covered in tar and feathers, but when they try and notify the police they quickly discover everybody the entire area is petrified of mad-raving Henry. "Baker County, USA" is splendidly fast-paced and grimly atmospheric 80's trash effort. It's more than obviously inspired by classics such as "Deliverance" (there even is the banjo soundtrack!), but there are more than enough original elements to distinguish itself as well. The exterior filming locations are sublime (the opening sequence is astounding), there's an admirable portion of suspense and the action/death sequences are quite spectacular and bloody. The climax in particular is a gripping mixture of tension and extreme violence, resulting in quite the fireworks ending! Noteworthy also is that the youthful campers are actually likable characters, for once. They try to do the right thing, don't make overly stupid decisions and don't try to play heroes. Their behavior is plausible and most likely how everyone would react when facing a toothless mob with pitchforks and barrels full of hot tar. William Fruet directed this hidden gem and always treasured a deep admiration for his work, since he accomplishes quite a lot with a minimum of budget. Admittedly, "Spasms" was one of the worst pieces of crap I ever saw, but "Funeral Home" and "House by the Lake" are definitely low-budget highlights.
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8/10
Hicksploitation done Canuck style.
Hey_Sweden13 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The lively rural thriller "Trapped" is good fun, with fine action sequences and some memorable characters. It does come with some subtext: one of the characters believes that murder is rarely if ever justified. One can guess that he'll come out of his experience here singing a different tune. There's also something to be said for what can happen when people in isolated communities insist on making their own "laws". Effectively directed by William Fruet ("Death Weekend", "Search and Destroy") and entertainingly performed, it gets off to a good start and is paced well until the kick ass finale.

A quartet of college students travel to the boondocks to do some hiking and cave exploring, only to witness a killing. Local community leader Henry Chatwill (Henry Silva) has caught his hot babe young wife sleeping with another man, and with the help of his friends has tortured this man (including having him tarred and feathered) and ultimately murdered him. The kids try to appeal to the local sheriff (John Rutter), who unfortunately turns out to be Henry's kid brother and who believes that blood runs thicker than water. So there'll be no help on that front. The kids have to put up with being captured and re-captured by Henry and pals until the odds finally swing in their favour.

This is a lot of fun for any viewer who digs the entire "hicksploitation" genre. Much of the enjoyment can be chalked up to the scenery chewing performance by Silva, who's a hoot from beginning to end. Nicholas Campbell is okay if not that likable as Roger, the aforementioned young man with strong opinions on the taking of human life. Gina Dick ("My Bloody Valentine" '81), Joy Thompson ("Prom Night" '80), and Danone Camden ('Dallas') are all quite pleasing to look at. Viewers may be pleased to note the doses of female nudity. Standing out in the cast is Barbara Gordon ("Dead Ringers") as Henry's sister Miriam, one person who is willing to stand up to him from the get go. The screenplay is by John Beaird, who wrote the '81 "My Bloody Valentine", and the on location shooting in both Ontario, Canada and Georgia, USA, is top notch.

Incidentally, the alternate title "Baker County, U. S. A." is a little more punchy; "Trapped" just sounds too generic.

Recommended to fans of films like "Deliverance" and "Rituals".

Eight out of 10.
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BAKER COUNTY U.S.A., barely released film!
Serpent-514 April 1999
The film stars Henry Silva as a country bumpkin who catches the power repairman having sex with his wife. He kills him, as a bunch of college kids (headed by Nicholas Campbell) witness to the killing. Campbell doesn't believe in violence, but finally realize he must battle Silva with a chainsaw. Fruet is Roger Corman of Canada give the same slick style of directing as he did in HOUSE BY THE LAKE. The films photography is dark, and the script pace is very slow. It's worth a look for those who like to see Canadian tax shelter films.
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10/10
Trapped ... Baker County U.S.A
nikkiann27 April 2006
In 1982 in South Africa we purchased the distribution rights for the above mentioned movie...on...video. A racy, fast moving thriller advanced for its time and great entertainment.This movie in South Africa on video was a smash hits and still continues to be requested by movie viewers here. A hill billy plot with an ending that leaves the viewers breathless is and was great entertainment. The picture did go down very well with the South African movie public,notwithstanding that we had extremely harsh censorship laws governing us. A lot of thanks to Henry Silver and Nicholas Campble. I would certainly like to be able to market this movie once again in South Africa.
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Trashy Enough to Keep You Entertained
Michael_Elliott8 April 2018
Trapped (1982)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

TRAPPED takes a look at a group of mountain men and their "laws." Henry Chatwill (Henry Silva) catches a welfare worker sleeping with his wife so he decides justice is to tar and feather the man. It doesn't stop here because he then kills the man not realizing that there are four college students in the woods who witnessed it. Now Henry must talk his people into tracking down the witnesses and killing them.

After the huge success of DELIVERANCE we got all sorts of "hicksploitation" pictures where we went into the woods and learned about these back country people. TRAPPED, also known as BAKER COUNTY, U.S.A. is another in the long line of films that attempt to show us what mountain people do for their justice. There are a lot of good moments throughout the film but at the same time there are quite a few flaws. With that being said, the amount of nudity makes it an exploitation dream.

I must say that director William Fruet managed to fit a lot of stuff into this 95-minute movie. I say that because there was a point where I thought the film was nearing the end and was somewhat shocked to see that there was still another half hour to go. The first fifty-minutes of the movie features the type of sleaze and redneck violence that you'd expect and it does keep you entertained. I thought the film had a very good set-up and the locations were another major plus. The problem with the film is the rating bad timing and the fact that the rather weak story gets dragged out quite a bit.

With that being said, there are still a lot of good things about the picture including the performances. I thought the entire cast were quite good in their roles but of course it's Silva who stands out as the redneck leader who is a tad bit on the crazy side. As I previously said, the locations used are another major bonus as it does make for a nice atmosphere. If you like nudity then there's plenty of full frontal ladies on display and the style of violence here is quite interesting to say the least. Including the tar and fearthering!

TRAPPED has a lot of flaws to it but if you're a fan of "hicksploitation" genre then it's worth checking out.
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8/10
Backwoods adventure-terror in Tennessee with Henry Silva
Wuchakk20 November 2023
A rigid patriarch in Appalachia (Silva) carries out justice in his small community in the hills while several college youths visit the area to camp and hike. What could go wrong?

"Trapped" (1982), aka "Baker County, USA" (with "Chatwill's Verdict" being the working title), is an adventure/thriller involving a brush with barbaric yokels. It comes in the wake of "I Walk the Line" (1970), "Deliverance" and "Rituals." "Bullies" came out several years later and was no doubt inspired by it.

Danone Camden stands out in the female department as Amy. There's also Gina Dick (Diana), Joy Thompson (Caroline) and a backwoods woman featured in the intro who's uncredited.

I'm not sure why this is so obscure because it delivers the goods for this type of flick with authentic locations/sets and a dynamic climax. Maybe it's because it's a Canadian production and lacks the star power of the cast of "Deliverance."

The movie runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in Clayton, Georgia, which is an hour or two drive from southeast Tennessee, where the events take place.

GRADE: B+/A-
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