First, Happy Halloween, everyone.
I admit, I didn't know what I was getting into when I chose this film to watch. Sure, I knew that it was about a family being terrrorized by cannibalistic rednecks, but... I didn't quite expect what I would get with this. I chose this because of the relatively recent death of Wes Craven, and a desire to speak of one of his works. I admit, I don't want to talk about this too much. Not because it's bad, but rather, it's gruesome. Hence, I will not go into the entire plot of the work, nor will I go into detail about the more lurid moments. So, the history. This was Wes Craven's second film, after 1972's Last House on the Left. It was initially called Blood Relations,but the producers changed it. It was heavily recut to avoid getting an X-rating (which would have damaged its box office prospects), and the original director's cut has been lost to the ages. It was made in part as a homage to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That's all I could find.
The film opens with an old gas station attendant (John Steadman) encountering a young girl, Ruby (Janus Blythe). She expresses her desire to trade some items she has in a bag for food. She also pleas with him to leave, but the attendant admonishes her, about what "the pack" particularly "Papa Jupiter" will do. However, the attendant has to suddenly attend to a family passing through from Cleveland. The Carters, consisting of patriarch Bob (Russ Grieve), his wife Ethel (Virginia Vincent), their children Bobby (Robert.... Houston), Brenda (Susan Lanier),Lynne (Dee Wallace), Lynne's husband Doug (Martin Speer), their child Catherine, and their two dogs, Beauty and Beast, are heading to California. The attendant warns them to stay on the road, so of course, they go off road, and their truck crashes. Meanwhile, the atten.. (okay, Wikipedia says his name is Fred, but I didn't hear it in the film itself).. then tries to leave, but his truck explodes.The family splits ups, with Carter going back to the gas station to see Fred. Bobby heads up the hill with Beauty, where Beauty mysteriously barks at the hill. When she goes up, however, she is brutally killed. Bobby is traumatized. Carter reaches the station, and finds Fred trying to hang himself. Bob saves Fred, and Fred explains that his wife died giving birth to a deformed son named Jupiter, and that son killed his sister, before Fred hit him with a tire iron, and put him in the hills to die. He managed to conceive his own children with a prostitute (Cordy Clark), three sons Mercury (Arthur King), Mars(Lance Gordon), and Pluto (Michael Berryman), and a daughter, Ruby. They largely degenerated into cannibals, who now roam the hills in search of victims. However, Jupiter manages to kill Fred, and subdue Bob. This is only the beginning of the terror the Carter's endure....
One surprising thing I liked was the fact that the cannibal family talked. Yeah, normally, they would be silent, but they do talk, and that allows for a sort of comparison between them and the Carters. There are a lot of scenes at the beginning where the Carter's interact with each other, and scenes towards the end, when the Cannibals interact with each other. The cannibals, in some ways, act like a dark reflection of the typical American family, as depicted by the Carters. That was a fascinating insight, and sort of symbolizes how they aren't that different. The setting also works, a bleak landscape, with no sign of civilization for miles. An excellent location for a survival horror film. The acting is largely good, though I had trouble discerning words from the cannibals.
I've said this before, but I have a problem with excessive gore and violence. This film has that in spades. I'd hate to see that X-Rated cut. I was uncomfortable. Not because I was scared, but more out of my dislike for this. Hell, this is tame compared to some modern grindhouse films, but I still had some problems with it. I suppose some people would be fine with this. Me, personally, I had trouble with it. There is also some scenes, I really do not want to go into, but needless to say, made me uncomfortable. It also stops. Not ends, but stops. I heard there was a legitimate ending filmed, and I can't fathom why they cut it.
I'm conflicted. I did appreciate the artistry behind the film, and the subtext, but I couldn't get pass some uncomfortable moments in the film. I suppose if you want something extreme, this is in some respects extreme, so you'd like it. It is too intense to be a fun horror film to watch on a lazy weekend afternoon. So, yeah, if you want something to make you uncomfortable, this is the film.
Happy Halloween, and for my final film, once again, I look at a modern film, The Babadook.
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