Four mental patients - who, due to unauthorized experiments, believe they're living in a dream and have shed all moral imperatives - escape and find their way to the nearest bus-load of stra... Read allFour mental patients - who, due to unauthorized experiments, believe they're living in a dream and have shed all moral imperatives - escape and find their way to the nearest bus-load of stranded schoolgirls.Four mental patients - who, due to unauthorized experiments, believe they're living in a dream and have shed all moral imperatives - escape and find their way to the nearest bus-load of stranded schoolgirls.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
Joanne Good
- Mary
- (as Jo-Anne Good)
Christine Winter
- Carol
- (as Christina Jones)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
As sleazy horrorsploitation ideas go, you can hardly imagine any better than "Inmates escape sanitorium. where they are undergoing 'LSD therapy,' and thus think they're dreaming everything when they attack a girls' choir and their minders whose bus breaks down in the English countryside."
The thing that is most impressive about "Killer's Moon," however, is that it's so ineptly made there is almost no lurid camp value--and, needless to say, no suspense or terror. The acting is highly variable, from competent under the circumstances to laughably bad. But no one is helped by the terrible, plodding dialogue--which, incredibly, author Fay Weldon (who contributed to the script because her brother was the director) later bragged about, feeling in retrospect it was a mistake to gift her excellent writing to such an otherwise poor film. Well, she certainly sank to the occasion, even if obviously her ego survived the experience. It's the crap dialogue that provides the rare unintentional laugh here.
The violence here is for the most part laughably mild (in fact mostly off-screen), the behaviors psychologically ridiculous, the continuity gaps mile-wide, and the pacing deadly. I really hoped for some guilty pleasure with this one, but it is just a slog.
The thing that is most impressive about "Killer's Moon," however, is that it's so ineptly made there is almost no lurid camp value--and, needless to say, no suspense or terror. The acting is highly variable, from competent under the circumstances to laughably bad. But no one is helped by the terrible, plodding dialogue--which, incredibly, author Fay Weldon (who contributed to the script because her brother was the director) later bragged about, feeling in retrospect it was a mistake to gift her excellent writing to such an otherwise poor film. Well, she certainly sank to the occasion, even if obviously her ego survived the experience. It's the crap dialogue that provides the rare unintentional laugh here.
The violence here is for the most part laughably mild (in fact mostly off-screen), the behaviors psychologically ridiculous, the continuity gaps mile-wide, and the pacing deadly. I really hoped for some guilty pleasure with this one, but it is just a slog.
A staggeringly dull and inept horror film, which amazingly enjoyed a national UK cinema release during 1978. Standards must have been lower then.
The inane premise has a busload of schoolgirls meandering bafflingly through the wilds of the Lake District en route to Scotland (why aren't they going up the motorway?) They and their teachers are terrorised by four psychopaths who escaped while being given experimental drug therapy at a cottage hospital (!). You would expect the fells to be knee-deep in police searching for such obviously dangerous characters, but not one is seen until the end, when a patrol car trundles into view.
Even allowing for such illogicalities, the potential is there for crude shocks but director Birkinshaw blows it entirely. Potentially suspenseful scenes are completely bungled and little dramatic use is made of the Lake District setting. The clumsy dialogue and sub-Clockwork Orange posturings of the psychopaths make parts of the film more laughable than terrifying. However, the "National Health Service psychiatrist line" is hilarious and few other horror films feature a moving eulogy to a three-legged dog!
The inane premise has a busload of schoolgirls meandering bafflingly through the wilds of the Lake District en route to Scotland (why aren't they going up the motorway?) They and their teachers are terrorised by four psychopaths who escaped while being given experimental drug therapy at a cottage hospital (!). You would expect the fells to be knee-deep in police searching for such obviously dangerous characters, but not one is seen until the end, when a patrol car trundles into view.
Even allowing for such illogicalities, the potential is there for crude shocks but director Birkinshaw blows it entirely. Potentially suspenseful scenes are completely bungled and little dramatic use is made of the Lake District setting. The clumsy dialogue and sub-Clockwork Orange posturings of the psychopaths make parts of the film more laughable than terrifying. However, the "National Health Service psychiatrist line" is hilarious and few other horror films feature a moving eulogy to a three-legged dog!
This is an interesting piece of sleaze from that morally upright island off the northwest coast of Europe. I first saw it on a double bill with "House on Straw Hill" and I have no idea why the latter got branded a "video nasty" in Britain but this one didn't. Three homicidal maniacs who are fed LSD and believe they're dreaming terrorize a broken-down bus full of schoolgirls in the Lake District. You might ask yourself several questions: Why would anyone feed homicidal maniacs LSD (not to mention dress them in bowler hats like the droogs in "A Clockwork Orange")? Why would LSD make someone think they're dreaming? (Do the lecherous sleazeballs who made this have no firsthand experience with drug abuse?) If the characters think they're dreaming, why do they talk to each other? Finally, and most importantly, why would being doped up on LSD make homicidal maniacs any more frightening than they already are?
Some people found the fact that the victims are schoolgirls quite offensive. Well, it would be if the buxom, overage East End strippers they cast in this movie, dressed in schoolgirl outfits, and handed out teddy bears to were remotely believable as schoolgirls. What is more offensive is the cavalier attitude the movie has toward rape. One girl tells another not to be upset because she was "only raped" by the maniacs (if she'd been murdered THEN she could complain). The movie shows such empathy for its characters that one major character simply disappears halfway through and her dead body shows up as an after-thought in the closing credits. And if this movie isn't enough of a geek show, there's a three-legged dog wandering around, and, oh never mind. I'm trying to find something good to say about this movie--well, if you fall asleep and dream (or you are given a strong dose of LSD) you can imagine that you're watching "Breakfast at Manchester Morgue" or one of the other good horror movies made in the Lake District.
Some people found the fact that the victims are schoolgirls quite offensive. Well, it would be if the buxom, overage East End strippers they cast in this movie, dressed in schoolgirl outfits, and handed out teddy bears to were remotely believable as schoolgirls. What is more offensive is the cavalier attitude the movie has toward rape. One girl tells another not to be upset because she was "only raped" by the maniacs (if she'd been murdered THEN she could complain). The movie shows such empathy for its characters that one major character simply disappears halfway through and her dead body shows up as an after-thought in the closing credits. And if this movie isn't enough of a geek show, there's a three-legged dog wandering around, and, oh never mind. I'm trying to find something good to say about this movie--well, if you fall asleep and dream (or you are given a strong dose of LSD) you can imagine that you're watching "Breakfast at Manchester Morgue" or one of the other good horror movies made in the Lake District.
This can best be described as the British version of The Last House on the Left. It has a real sleazy feel as the victims are all virginal high school girls on the way to a choir competition.
Put into the mix a group of psychopathic criminals that just escaped custody. They are drugged and believe themselves to be innocent.
Naturally, the bus carrying the girls - did I mention virginal teens - breaks down right where the criminals are currently trampling the countryside. Oh no.
I would not imagine that many horror fans watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but your partner may have talked you into watch Dancing With the Stars. One of those Housewives/Dancing Stars was Lisa Vanderpump. Back in her early days, when she was just 18, she had one of the killers vanderpumping her funbags. This was the highlight of the film.
Yes, there were more breasts and bush, but it was really brief. This was Jane Hayden's greatest film, but again, it was a brief exposure.
The film was more camp than horror. There was killing, but it was mostly off screen except for the strangling.
I doubt if any virginal teens were harmed in the making of this film.
Put into the mix a group of psychopathic criminals that just escaped custody. They are drugged and believe themselves to be innocent.
Naturally, the bus carrying the girls - did I mention virginal teens - breaks down right where the criminals are currently trampling the countryside. Oh no.
I would not imagine that many horror fans watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but your partner may have talked you into watch Dancing With the Stars. One of those Housewives/Dancing Stars was Lisa Vanderpump. Back in her early days, when she was just 18, she had one of the killers vanderpumping her funbags. This was the highlight of the film.
Yes, there were more breasts and bush, but it was really brief. This was Jane Hayden's greatest film, but again, it was a brief exposure.
The film was more camp than horror. There was killing, but it was mostly off screen except for the strangling.
I doubt if any virginal teens were harmed in the making of this film.
This movie does what is currently the norm in slasher/horror films of current day. It promises a gutter trash plot and delivers none of it.
Four psychos, or pouncy overacting stage actors, I'm not sure which, escape from a mental hospital and wreck havoc on the land. Convienently, A bus load of nubile teenage girls is passing through the area and not surprisingly the bus breaks down. Now, The fun begins, right? Sorry, Not in this movie. The loonies, who are high on experimental LSD treatment, tend to annoy the girls more than terrorize them. There are a few nude scenes by the various actresses but they seem more thrown in as an afterthought, or a way to convince somebody to see this movie because the plot or acting surely won't do it. Basically, A bad movie with bad special effects, bad lighting, and bad acting. Case in point, One of the girls, in her nightgown of course, flees from her attacker and runs all the way to the lake, where she gets the back of her nightgown caught on a nail and the nightgown rips down the front in a perfect tear! Explain that one if you can.
Four psychos, or pouncy overacting stage actors, I'm not sure which, escape from a mental hospital and wreck havoc on the land. Convienently, A bus load of nubile teenage girls is passing through the area and not surprisingly the bus breaks down. Now, The fun begins, right? Sorry, Not in this movie. The loonies, who are high on experimental LSD treatment, tend to annoy the girls more than terrorize them. There are a few nude scenes by the various actresses but they seem more thrown in as an afterthought, or a way to convince somebody to see this movie because the plot or acting surely won't do it. Basically, A bad movie with bad special effects, bad lighting, and bad acting. Case in point, One of the girls, in her nightgown of course, flees from her attacker and runs all the way to the lake, where she gets the back of her nightgown caught on a nail and the nightgown rips down the front in a perfect tear! Explain that one if you can.
Did you know
- TriviaHannah, the three-legged dog used in this movie, was cast from a local dog agency, and she had lost her leg after saving her master in a robbery at the pub that she lived in.
- GoofsAfter the Doberman enters the tent, Pete produces a length of gauze about 2 feet long to dress its wounds. When the dog later hobbles off into the woods, it is bound up with several yards of bandage.
- SoundtracksThe Beginning
Words and Music by Jayne Lester
- How long is Killer's Moon?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Killer's moon
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £170,000 (estimated)
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content