Body Count

Well, Body Count is as average a slasher flick as it gets. It's not a bad movie (if you like 80's slashers) but in no way is it good. The movie takes place out in a forest campground (sound familiar) where two teens are killed. Skip about 15 years later. A group of kids (teens or college kids?) decide to take a camping trip and they pick up a hitchhiker on the way who just got out of the service. He tells them they can stay at his place with his parents. His parents place just happens to be in the same forest that those murders took place in. When they all get there they are given a hole hearted welcome from service boys father (David Hess). It turns out that David Hess is a little on the angry side and is setting up traps all over the forest for a local legend called "The Shaman". Can you guess what happens with the rest of the movie? If not, go back and watch Friday the 13th.

As stupid as this movie is, it is still stand-able. The main problems are the characters are so cliché and the storyline has been done a million times. Ruggero Deodato directed this movie (Cannibal Holocaust, Jungle Holocaust) and it is hard to tell whether he was making this movie cliché on purpose or whether he was actually trying to make something original. The gore isn't even that great in the movie except for may be three or four scenes.

Nonetheless, great score by Claudio Simonetti and look for David Hess, Charles Napier and Ivan Rassimov. They all do fairly decent parts in the movie. 5/10

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.

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.

In a camping area, two groups of friends simultaneously arrive to spend some days and practice radical sports. One by one is killed by a Shaman, who has been threatening the area for fifteen years.

"Body Count" is another B-movie sub-product of "Friday 13th", full of naked women and having non-original deaths. Even the soundtrack, when the killer is arriving, recalls the one of Jason. Its greatest attraction is the name of the cult Italian director Ruggero Deodato. However, it is a cheesy and slasher movie, with a silly screenplay, some beautiful breasts and naked bodies, and recommended for fans of this director only. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Contagem de Cadáveres" ("Body Count")

Obs: On 22 June 2008, I saw this movie again.

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....