Back of Box:
It's Spring Break and the students of Tennyson College are heading for sunny Florida. They've got a cool crib, a power
boat, and a pool just off the beach. It's all going great until friends start to disappear, one by one. A twisted
stalker is slicing through the student body, and as the body count rises, suspicions turn towards each other.
Joey Lawrence ("Blossom"), Chad Allen ("My Two Dads") and Jeff Conaway ("Taxi")
star in the thriller with sun, surf and slaughter!
Plot: Someone has a secret
worth dying for. I'm not going to lie, this plot had me intrigued. Tell the truth, it actually kept me guessing
until the end. There are a few twists that don't really add up right, but I think the plot held its own
Acting: I really liked
the cast of this one, led well by Joey Lawrence and Dorie Barton, they all seemed to be having a good time. I think
the fact that they knew they weren't exactly breaking new ground in this genre let them not take things too seriously,
very laid back. I can't say much for the script here except it was a little bumpy. The cast pulled it off as
well as they could and it seemed like they used a lot of improvisation as well. Good thing, could've been a lot worse.
Gore: Body Count (9)
There's not very much to add in the way of gore. I really like the kill at the rave, with the car alarm and all,
but there's no real gore to it. There are a few slit throats, but all the action is done off screen, we just get to
see the aftermath. There's a pretty nasty effect used when someone gets glass in their foot. However, as is customary
of low budget, DTV slashers, the best effects are saved for the death of the killer, but I'm not going to give that one away.
Suspense: Not much.
Many badly placed jump scares and jump scares that just didn't work abound in this film. There's a dream sequence
where the killer drags an axe across the floor that was pretty tense, but other than that, not a thing.
Directing: I like
the way this was shot. Very clean camera work. The director, Thomas Bradford, definitely knows what he wants
and knew where to set the camera to get it. There was also some very interesting use of hand-held camera footage. Competently
directed, for sure.
Tech: The music is
horrible, it adds nothing but noise. Pointless. The lighting was very nice, a lot of nice shadow use. I
like the way this one was edited too, good stuff, especially when the hand-held camera came into use.
Other: The secret reveals
a decent motive, not that bad. I also like the fact that they don't stick to the norm, lead guy and
lead girl surviving. Kudos.
Final Word: Yeah, I know it's new age DTV,
but it's really not that bad. True there are a thousand films in the slasher genre better, but this one is good for
a time waster. It's got to have something going for it, because it still manages to bring me back.
