Body Count

(**1/2 out of *****) For his first venture into straight slasher territory, Deodato (famous for the notorious gross-out classic "Cannibal Holocaust") pulls together an interesting, international cast of B-movie/genre film veterans, including David Hess ("Last House on the Left" and Deodato's "The House on the Edge of the Park"), Mimsy Farmer (Dario Argento's "Four Flies on Grey Velvet"), Ivan Rassimov (from Deodato's other cannibal `epic' "Jungle Holocaust"), John Steiner(Argento's "Tenebre" and Deodato's "Cut and Run") and Charles Napier (one of Hannibal's unfortunate guards in "Silence of the Lambs"). With Deodato directing and this unique cast (not to mention Claudio Simonetti of Italian group Goblin providing the soundtrack), I expected -- well, I don't exactly know what I expected, but what I got was a so-so thriller with some interesting ideas, a bit more plot than usual, and a few suspenseful chase and murder sequences here and there, but not a whole lot else. Hess and Farmer play a dysfunctional married couple who own a campground that was closed down after two kids were murdered by an `Indian shaman' killer. Well, it's fifteen years later, and the killings are starting all over again, and, coincidentally, an RV full of dumb teenagers (including the couple's traumatized son) just happens to show up for the onslaught. There's your typical horny stud who wants to screw all the girls, your typical prankster clown who you'd like to see get offed after about three minutes, your typical nympho babes who take showers every five or ten minutes, and the hit list goes on. Hess's character, while still decidedly mean and ugly, is at least not quite as despicable as the sadistic characters he played in the two afore-mentioned House movies. Deodato tries to make the identity of the killer a surprise, but it's still pretty much a no-brainer. Thanks to the "Friday the 13th" franchise, these killer-in-the-woods movies are the most prolific of the slasher genre.

HIGHLIGHT: Hess's and Farmer's son has a totally WHACKED-OUT dream with sexy severed legs, strangling tentacles, constricting nets -- it reminded me of some of the frat parties I went to in college.

I first saw this in the late 80's on a rented vhs. As a kid in the 80s, the creepy vhs cover enticed me into renting this movie without any knowledge about the director. Revisted it recently. The main problem in this flick is the sheer tons of stupidity n the rubber mask.

It does boasts of lots of horror veterans, Mimsy Farmer, John Stiener, Ivan Rassimov, David Hess, Bruce Penhall and Charles Napier.

The best thing going for Body Count is the location which is definitely one of the pulling factors. The mountainous woodlands are a sight to see and have a very alienating feel that tells you that you are never safe, no matter if its daylight or night. The mountain pass, the lake n the woods r serene but creepy cos of the desolation.

Most of the kills happen in broad daylight, which i am a fan of. I hate darkly lit scenes, flickering lights n shaking cam stuff.

When i saw this for the first time in the late 80s, i enjoyed the nudity n found the kills very brutal but didn't noticed the stupidities.

Lemme point out some stupid stuff:

1)A girl is attacked by a fella n later she finds her boyfriend covered in blood but rather than running straight out in the open, she lies down on a bed...

2) A girl witnesses her boyfriend tumble down a mountain but rather checking on him or running to a populated place, she enters an abandoned bathhouse n removes her clothes....

3) The killer manages to convince a dead girl's boyfriend by jus wearing a wig. How the killer got the wig, how the killer assumed that the dead girl's boyfriend wont be able to recognize the difference in the body is beyond me. To top it all, the boyfriend ain't able to differentiate between a man n a woman's body structure.....

4) A doctor is somehow able to tell a story about a murder so fluently as if he witnessed the incident. That too, the doc tells this story to a cop who looks completely lost.....

5) The toy's significance is a big wtf....

6) The husband is aware of the wife's infidelity but he goes on with his life n his wierd obsession with the shaman n traps....

7) As audiences we r never explained how many similar masks r readily available whenever the killer wants to strike n that too outta nowhere..

8) And what's with the growling sound....

Director Ruggero Deodato's BODY COUNT opens with a reference to an old legend about a shaman and a house built on an "Indian burial ground", deep in the woods. Soon enough, someone or something is butchering young people in the area.

Fast forward 15 years, and several more, wildly annoying young people head straight for the same spot, while insanely terrible theme music warbles. Enter David Hess as Robert Ritchie, the world's most intense, stressed-out man. No, really, he seems as though he could blast off at any moment! He's busy setting traps for the shaman (aka: someone in a $2 rubber mask), and glaring a lot.

Shockingly, the new bunch of young people start screaming and dying horrible deaths faster than you can yell, "Shut her up!". This movie's biggest mystery is why on earth these young idiots keep wandering into the same deserted structure. Especially since it resembles a truck stop toilet in hell.

The plot is thinner than a communion wafer, simply setting up one murder after another for no apparent reason.

WE ALSO GET: An atmosphere of overall absurdity, fake southern accents, a woman whose humongous blonde hair is a character unto itself, and Sid (Andrew Lederer), a man so irritating as to incite viewers to leap at the screen, trying to get to him before the killer does!

On the up side, there's some obligatory female nudity.

WARNING: Sid gets naked as well, going the full Monty. No, there is no god!

Deodato has certainly seen better days, and co-stars Mimsy Farmer and Charles Napier have nearly nothing to do in their roles. After watching this, the only question is: Why was this made?

P.S.- No one, and I mean no one, gives the skunk eye better than David Hess!...

Body Count is excellent late night slasher fun, if you have a couple of hours to "kill" and you have access to Body Count then play it on your VHS or DVD and enjoy. This isn't rocket science but slasher films about nutty guys, masks and large knives have a select audience, being teenagers and twenty somethings, so the audience and screen market will go on forever. Mixing legends, slasher killings, campers and the question 'who will get it next' isn't original, the formulas been done before, but that doesn't matter here. The real entertainment is in the setting and the low budget film making, sure the director never meant it that way. But this is late night fodder for popcorn and fizzy drinks. Switch off brain and watch. There's some clever camera work and though there are holes in the plot and in the way some characters behave, this only adds to the spectacle. The hybrid US-Italian production has created a half decent half naff film with a young, willing to do anything cast and some useful forest and mountain settings. The story is worth watching for, though I couldn't help feeling some of the bigger name cast members, just turned up to say the lines and then run. The twentysomethings playing teenagers do well as dim wit campers looking for fun and a camping road trip. The magic-myth-legend Native American shaman element is a great touch and though the plot dwells on the haunted burial site well-used story it does create some tension. Budget and professional standards do take a toll and some stylish stalk and slash scenes are wasted in dumb sketches and weak visuals. The film is worth a watch and I would recommend it for slasher lovers. The cast are like-able and it is shocking to witness their demise when it seems some are going to survive the ordeal. All in all, 7 out of 10 for effort and imagination. Italian style and American balls.

I'm a fan of backwoods slasher films such as The Forest and Don't Go In The Woods, so had to see this one. And since it was done by the same director as Cannibal Holocaust I was of course expecting something brutal and bloody. Well, it wasn't that bloody. But it was a fairly decent slasher. The focus is more on atmosphere than anything else, and there are some rather creepy moments especially in the old house in the woods. There are some good death scenes too, such as when one girl is looking in the mirror and suddenly a hand breaks through and kills her. There is quite a high body count (as the title would suggest) but sadly the deaths are just not gory or bloody enough. There's also the mystery of who the killer is...I never saw it coming.

Watch this if you're a fan of backwoods slashers or a general slasher fan, but don't expect anything special.