
THE FINAL TERROR (1983) Unfairly criticized slasher/Deliverance hybrid about a group of twenty-something forest rangers who run up against a homicidal mountain man while on a weekend training excursion in the woods. Utilizing Oregon’s Redwood National Forest setting to its advantage, the movie creates a genuine feel of isolation, especially in the second half when the story shifts gears from a Friday the 13th wannabe to a survival-of-the-fittest adventure thriller. While mostly carbon copies from slashers past, the characters are sympathetic and smart, and the cast believable, especially a young Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos) as a hotheaded mechanic who may be hiding a secret. Filmed in 1981, this was shelved for two years because of distribution problems and finally got a limited release in late ’83 thanks to rising stars Daryl Hannah and Rachel Ward. The Final Terror isn’t the best slasher you’ll ever see, but it’s far from the worst. B–

HUMONGOUS (1982) Offbeat and misunderstood slasher about a boatload of empty-headed teens who get shipwrecked on a woodsy island. In typical horror fashion, the kids are eventually picked off by a heavy-breathing killer who turns out to be the deformed, mentally disturbed son – I wonder where they got that idea from? – of the island’s owner who died years earlier. This is actually decent stuff, with a fair amount of suspense mixed in with the cat-and-mouse scenario. While charismatic, Final Girl Janet Julian lacks the energy needed to carry this type of movie, but she’s aided by Paul (Prom Night) Lynch’s good direction and suspenseful set-ups. Not perfect in any way, Humongous is still worth viewing and demands a hi-def re-release. B

THE FOREST (1982) A bonkers woodsy terrain-set slasher that was probably filmed the weekend after Friday the 13th was released. Two couples taking a weekend camping excursion in the Sequoia National Park bump into a cannibalistic woodsman, who’s haunted by the ghosts of his family that he murdered years earlier! Although amateur to the core and silly as heck, The Forest gets points for trying to be somewhat different than most of the era’s hack-and-slashes; the corny premise is charming, and the moments of black humor welcoming. But it isn’t long until the movie begins to run out of steam – and plot – and we’re left with a paper-thin story in which one of the campers is repeatedly told by the killer’s ghost children, “Daddy’s gone hunting!” A weak but marginally entertaining B-movie that has the second bill in a Double Feature written all over it. C+