Here’s another flick about a bunch of fresh-faced punks heading off to summer camp to get hacked into Hamburger Helper. Why not? Every year there’s a new crop of teenagers (as well as the same group of older gorehounds) hungry for the mindless violence of slasher movies. Who am I to say they’re wrong?
In this case, “Bloody Murder” has it’s share of obnoxious cast members, so it’s good fun to watch them get offed by the film’s generic psycho. The counselors all look a bit old to be teenagers, too. But if you’re looking for realism–why the hell are you reading a review about a cheap slasher retread?
Anyway, the movie unfolds like practically every other psycho-horror drama you’ve seen in the last twenty-five years. The counselors show up at the Summer Camp a few days ahead of the snotty little kids who’re paying to go there. It’s during this period that all the predictable fun happens.
One-by-one the counselors begin to disappear after a cryptic warning by a twisted, old landscaper. The plot leads us to believe that one of the counselors is behind it, but–get this–it’s another person entirely who’s on this rural rampage.
The film moves at a fairly leaden pace. This might be okay if time is being used to give the audience the chance to get to know the characters and care about them before they get ripped apart. But these people really aren’t worth knowing, and I’m sure-as-hell glad I never had to spend a summer with them. By comparison, the “Scream” movies may not be masterpieces, but they don’t drag either. They manage to draw-you-into the story almost immediately. That never happens with “Bloody Murder”.
No one has really improved on the formula since the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. It’s a gritty, low-budget romp that works despite itself. “Bloody Murder”, on the other hand, may well induce narcolepsy.
