lifesoboring
Great little movie. I found the acting and story realistic. The lead girl was excellent--so natural, and such a nice-girl-type. She inspires feelings of pity because of her crippled leg (which gets better during the course of the film, so she is able to get her brace taken off and use a cane instead). And her strict father is giving her a hard time about her boyfriend. You feel sorry for this poor girl. And later in the movie she is being chased around on her bad leg by the maniac. (The doctor told her to take it easy on the leg when he removed the brace, so I was worried about that). I will add that quite some time elapsed in the movie before I even noticed her leg brace. (Or was that when it was first revealed--when she dives out of the way of the black van?) The lead girl's best friend did a nice acting performance too.I like the Oregon setting, and the Oregon-type clothing they were wearing.Liked the harbor and the sawmill and the dark, not-very- decorated wood-paneled house where the girl and her father and mother live. I liked the schoolroom scenes, not very bright and cheery, a bit on the depressing side.I felt sorry for the father, even though he was being a mean bastard.I was cheering for the heroine--she does an admirable job of getting away from and battling the killer maniac, especially considering her bad leg.The very end--I didn't expect it or want it that way, but....
dbborroughs
Frankie Avalon is a psycho with a weird connection to a teenage girl in a leg brace. Well made psycho on the loose film is a cut above many other films of a similar type in the production and acting departments. Its clear why Avalon took the role since it allowed him to be more that the fun guy that Annette hung out with. He's a mean and ugly guy here. He's so good it might change your opinion of him. If there is a problem with the film its that it plays out like any number of other films that were made before and since. Granted its much more watchable than any of the other films in the genre, but at the same time it has a much too familiar feel to truly stand out as a great film. The best that I can say its one of the best of a rather weak collection of films, which unfortunately sells this film shorter than I should. Actually if you want to see a good psycho on the loose film see this one.
charles-60
Honestly,I'm shocked no one has posted that headline yet,it's so obvious!I've seen this movie,and it's pretty bad!It should be noted that except for his occasional reunions with Annette,this is Avalon's ONLY acting performance since "Grease" Sad,when you consider he started his acting career with a few A pictures["The Alamo" & "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"]and then degenerated into the AI Beach films! Not a defense of him or this film,just a witty comment!
toomuch-2
The first time I saw this film (1997, on T.V.) it was midnight, and I almost felt really scared the first 20 minutes of the film. It was spooky, interesting... and I think it had a well built psycho-terror atmosphere; but soon it becomes weak... Why? the plot, the music, make this film a mix of "Friday the 13th 5: A New Beginning", "Armageddon" (because of the noise, not the visual effects) and "Striptease" (without the nude scenes and the boring dialogues).This film has other spooky scenes, sort of like "Kalifornia" meets "Friday the 13th" (the first one). And the final scene is one of my favorites.This film would had been a very good terror (series B) flick, but it has much wasted potential. If you liked "American Gothic", I think you'll enjoy this.Barely worth seeing.
AD
