Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Kevin Bacon
Have I Seen it Before: Sure… Probably? iTunes had a sale on all 8 of the films in the series released by Paramount Pictures (before the property was sold to New Line, making Freddy vs. Jason (2003) sort of inevitable.
Did I Like It: No one alive and/or aware on any level over the last 45 years will try to tell you this is a good movie. Avowed fans of the series—an odd bunch, one can only imagine—would even view this one as something of an aberration, as everything they claim to like about the series doesn’t even start to enter into the mix until Part III (1982).
It is, fundamentally, an imitation of far better movies, imitating the sounds, but not the language in those better films. Almost nothing in this film isn’t trying to make the same kind of money that Halloween (1978) harnessed, without endeavoring to make an actual movie in the process.
And yet, of all the lame imitations of movies that exist, this one at least has the advantage of being a cut above those rest. The score is not bad (although it gets a lot more schmaltzy in the film’s final minutes; did we really need a love theme?), owing more to Bernard Hermann scores (Psycho) and less like the synth tracks of John Carpenter.
Betsy Palmer chews the scenery at just the right level, but her performance may only be that good when stacked up against the barely animate cardboard cutouts which surround her.
So, did I hate it? No. But I can’t say I’m all that thrilled with the prospect of being compelled to watch seven more of these? Not quite.
Also, why does she take that canoe out at the end of the film, other than to give us that final shot? Doesn’t make a damn bit of sense… Granted, it was all a dream, but that has its own problems.