Blood Rage
Director: John Grissmer
Cast: Louise Lasser, Mark Soper, Marianne Kanter
Arrow Video
December 15, 2015
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
Blood Rage, Nightmare at Shadow Woods, Slasher. All three of those movies are (basically) the same film. This little known 80s slasher flick first hit VHS as Blood Rage, then later it had a recut and a small theatrical run as Nightmare at Shadow Woods. I have no idea where the title Slasher comes from, but yeah, it was also known as that. So with that many titles under this movie’s belt, this has got to be one great forgotten slasher flick that, for some reason, no one ever talks about, right? Well let’s find out.
The first notable thing about this movie is that it’s the other slasher flick set on Thanksgiving. The one people remember, if they know of Thanksgiving-set slashers at all, is Home Sweet Home with a roided out “Body by” Jake Steinfeld as the PCP-loving killer. That movie is, if I’m feeling generous, okay at best. Right off the bat I’ll tell you that this Thanksgiving slay-fest is better, but not by a whole lot. This movie begins as a drive-in movie. Two preteen twin brothers sneak out of their mother’s car during the show and decided to kill someone. You know, as you do. The one brother that does the dirty deed blames it on his near catatonic sibling and so the good twin gets locked up in the asylum and the evil twin gets away with murder. Jump ahead a number of years and the evil brother is about to enroll in college, and despite his previous murder, he’s been a model citizen since then. Well for some unknown reason he decides to say screw that and starts making up for lost time by butchering a whole bunch of people. At that same time the wrongfully accused twin finally decides to do something about his incarceration and breaks out of the psych ward.
Now the odd thing is this: this movie could have played with the whole “who is the good twin, who is the evil twin” thing, but chose not to. You always know which brother is the bad one, which is the good one, and who is doing the killing. Sure, sometimes the characters don’t know, but you, the viewer, always does, and that was a huge missed opportunity to do…I don’t know, something with this film. Instead you get a near 30-year-old Mark Soper playing both early 20-something brothers and that’s about it as far as plot. Now Mark isn’t horrible here, although his crazy brother act goes through the scenery like a wood chipper. The best thing Blood Rage has going for it is the blood. The gore is plentiful and not too rubbery looking. The characters are stock and the plot is there to move the kills along but not for much else.
On to the outstanding list of extras from the always impressive Arrow Video. Here you will find two Blu-rays and a DVD. The first Blu-ray is the original home video version of Blood Rage with a beautiful 2K restoration. On that disc there is an audio commentary track with director John Grissmer, and a whole bunch of interviews with actors Mark Soper, Louise Lasser, Marianne Kanter (who was also the movie’s producer), special make-up effects creator Ed French, and even a brief bit by Ted Raimi because this was his first movie role (as the unspeaking “condom guy”). There is a short featurette on the locations in Jacksonville, Florida where this movie was filmed, and there are the original VHS opening titles and a behind the scenes still gallery. The second Blu-ray disc has the Nightmare at Shadow Woods version, which was the theatrical re-cut of the film, as well as a composite cut that combines elements of both versions on the movie into one new film. There is also a collection of outtakes on here. The third disc is a DVD of Blood Rage for those of you out there that have yet to make the jump to Blu. As if all that wasn’t enough, Arrow Video does its usual stellar job with the physical goodies here with a 19-page collector’s booklet, slipcase, and reversible cover art. For a mostly forgotten flick, that’s quite impressive.
Blood Rage does nothing new with the slasher formula, but it does nothing bad, either. The kills are good and bloody and there are enough goofy things here to have you laughing more often than not. This film isn’t high art but it is fun, so if you are a slasher fanatic you’re going to want to have this in your collection. As a slasher fanatic myself, I have to give it a recommendation and so I will.
