The Perkins brothers, Ray and Bobby were sent to prison seven years ago for the brutal rape/murder of a sixteen year old girl. They manage to escape death row, and head back to the town to exact revenge on the psychiatrist, Judge and DA who sent 'em there. During the night, the DA's daughter Stephanie arrives home to meet her curfew, to only find that she and her parents have unwelcome guests wanting to make their night a living hell.
Nasty, quite often sleazy and sometimes effective little low-budget film, without showing a whole lot of explicit images to brew up its sadistic edge. You could say it's more tame then you would expect. Its formula is a typical psychotic madmen wanting revenge in the most deranged way. In saying that the concept has its moments, like the way the captors are slowly tortured and humiliated for basic kicks. The script takes itself rather seriously, although are moments of dark mocking humour or the occasional unintentional slip-up of just trying too hard. The story is made up of bits and pieces, with plenty of clichés tacked on. Director Gary Winick goes about things in a mechanical fashion and can't seem to sustain much suspense, however there's a steady pace throughout and the heartless attacks/killings (some off screen) have a random touch to them. The atmosphere might not be heavy, but there's always a stroke of ominous cruelty in the air and it does seem to get a little tighter when the action centres in the homestead. Wendell Wellman plays the dominating older brother Ray with plenty of grunt, while John Putch is the dim-witted younger brother Bobby. They weren't bad, but still there were scenes, which are quite laughable. Kyle Richards looks stunning, but also manages to provide a savvy and intelligent heroine out of Stephanie. Frank Millar and Jean Brooks were engaging in their strongly fine performances as Stephanie's parents. Peggy Poe and Robert Romanus also contributed to amusing minor support. Cengiz Yaltkaya's music score is very much a bloated clunker of generic cues with the odd quirky lashing. Since it bombards the film, it basically telegraphs most of the action and can annoy. Focused cinematography of Makoto Watanabe fits the grimy style. The editing can get sloppy. Nothing great eventuates, but this psychotic fodder is a decent time-waster.
