Operation: Hot Water

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Hot Water aka Junior; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.00 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00

TOTAL: 5.25 out of 10.00.

In Hot Water, Junior is a man-child with a problem similar to Norman Bates. His Mother. The worrisome thing is Junior's mommy is still alive and as mad as a hatter suffering from vestiphobia on Ladies' Day at Royal Ascot. She's only too happy to cheer him on when he wants revenge, all too happy to whisper in his ear to instruct him. Some mothers are just bad for their sons.

John Maxwell and Don Carmody deliver a slasher flick with a twist. Two ex-cons, KC and Joe, fresh out of the women's pen, have decided to make a new start and go straight. They've bought a lakeside property hoping to turn it into a profitable business and home. Luckily for the viewers looking for a Dark Thriller, it's not long before the women realise their dreams will be tougher to achieve than they originally planned. For one, it would appear that their nearest neighbour, Junior, is nuttier than a coconut tree - and not in a funny way either. The first meeting they have with Junior and his cohorts sees Joe turned upside down and dangled over a whirring outboard motor propellor. KC comes to the damsel's rescue with her trusty shotgun. Only to have the Sheriff step out from the shadows to announce that he's also Junior's friend. Talk about bad luck; the local psycho has friends in high places. But this is only the beginning of the girl's troubles. Will they win the day, or will Junior and his mates rule the roost? As it goes, the story isn't too terrible. Maxwell and Carmody could've enriched their characters a tad more. Sadly, there's no real depth to them. The mysterious stranger, Luke, who lives on the houseboat, is a perfect example. There's not much to his character, and that works to build his mystique. But it's not enough to make the viewers relate to him. Even a vague backstory showing his personality better would pull the audience into his story and the film more: You need to get the viewer to invest themselves into the tale a little. Without that investment, the story becomes dull. And that's the case here. No matter what happens to KC & Joe, or anybody else in the story, you don't care. In the finale, you find that you're indifferent to the outcome. You're not cheering for the heroines' survival. And that's an awful thing for this type of picture.

Sadly, Jim Hanley wasn't up to capturing this story on film. His directorial style is lacking. There are copious scenes that merited better, starting with the propellor torture of Joe. The set needed to be better lit because you hardly make out the whirring prop. The scene is supposed to send chills down the viewers' spine in the apprehension of a messy kill. However, the killing machine's veiled in shadow, making the threat less intimidating to the viewer. Then there's a motorboat chase on the lake. Sadly, it comes across as less than thrilling and action-packed. It's more like a damp squib at a funereal convention. It's trying to be funny, but the attendants are waiting to bury it forever - dead or alive. And there are plenty more missed opportunities to empower the film. Though, I do have to state the ending sequence is nearly there. It comes across better than the others, and the final twist helps. One reason many sections fail to envigorate the viewers' emotions is Hanley's slow pacing. This failure is particularly noticeable in the boat chase. The excitement needed ramping up, as did the speed of his cuts and splices. The point-and-shoot style he employs with the meandering tempo does nothing but make the chase tiresome.

Surprisingly, the cast is okay. Two actors give the impression of being professionals and not some amateurs looking for a break; Jeremy Ratchford, who plays Junior and Ken Roberts, who portrays the Sherriff. These two guys made the movie more watchable for me.

Hot Water isn't a movie I'd quickly recommend. It's average to the extreme and could've been much better. But if you see it on a streaming service for free and you're at a loose end for an hour or so, feel free to check it out. It should pass the time.

Junior, after you've sorted out those loose ladies, fetch my IMDb list - Killer Thriller Chillers, to see where I ranked Hot Water.

Take Care & Stay Well.

This movie combines several exploitation genres in a high energy, highly entertaining way. It includes Women In Prison, Good Old Boy Action Comedy, Horror, Soft Core Sex, Women Stand Up and Fight Back Against Town of Rednecks, and more! It is not, as the box suggests, just another slasher film. If you are looking for that, you might be disappointed. If you like campy humour, and lots of beautiful women in bikinis (and often out of them, too), you can't go wrong with Junior.

Oh goodness this movie brings back memories, i bought this video 10 years ago, at a closing down video store, i was only 15 years old at the time. "HOW DID THEY LET ME BUY THIS VIDEO?? IT HAD A TOPLESS GIRL AT THE BACK OF THE COVER the guy at the store just looked at me after he saw the cover and didn't say anything. The movie is actually called "HOT WATER"(1985) in Australia but i never knew it is also known as "JUNIOR".

Anyway this is the story:(FROM BACK OF INSERT) Two beautiful young women suddenly find themselves at the centre of a terrifying whirlpool of horrifying violence, when they become the prime targets of a systematic reign of terror by a vicious gang of bikies. A rundown restaurant and a waterfront marina looks to be a golden opportunity for a fresh start after a life on the streets and a recent stretch in prison. Moving in they find themselves the unwilling landlords of the gang, who have long regarded the marina as their own. The merciless confrontation between the two sides rapidly escalates into a murderous, bloody climax.

"If you can get your hands on this title buy it!"

A bit too much of the first half consists of the country boys having a good old time and terrorizing the always half nude ladies. The raw sex and predatory stalking is fun for sicko fans, but not very frightening. It's all shocking, but I would have preferred some murder with my raunch. Due to the low body count it is inferior to the similar psycho films, "Truth or Dare", "Mother's Day", "Skinner", and "Eaten Alive".

I'm not at all familiar with the hicksploitation genre outside of its out and out horror entries, so Hot Water was a bit of an education for me. It definitely comes under the mantle of horror mind, but it isn't the slasher or TCM clone it was marketed as, more a fun and trashy, even suspenseful hicks plus city gals equals bad times tale. Hookers KC and Jo get released from jail and find themselves rich after a run in with their crazy aggressive pimp. They decide to head out and start a new life, which they plan to do by setting up a marina in a backwater town, not counting on despicable locals, especially a retarded momma's boy by the name of Junior, who proves to make their stay pretty stressful, as well as the mean local sheriff. I was a little bothered by the pairs lack of logic here, I'm all for female empowerment and all that chit and KC and Jo make for highly appealing heroines, but I can't see anyone other than the most bull headed no brain trying to set up shop in a territory where just three people like them, as opposed to literally everyone else. Still, their unbelievable stubbornness marks them out as appealingly spunky and its good to see a film like this where the female leads have proverbial balls from the get go. The comely Suzanne DeLaurentiis (daughter of Dino?) is a blast as the tough and brassy KC, though I would have liked her even more had she not been sporting brunette hair as opposed to her seemingly natural red, since as we all know redheads are awesome to the max. Linda Singer is a nice contrast as the blonde and ditzy Jo with an amusing habit of talking about movies at relevant but inopportune moments and they have a fun chemistry, supported by Michael McKeever and Cotton Mather as their charming beaus. On the villainous side of things Jeremy Ratchford is effectively sleazy and unpleasant as Junior, packing a good lumbering menace, while Ken Roberts is suitably officious and scummy as the sheriff. The smart pace and build up of events is what really gives this one a kick though, things start with unwanted intrusion but grow to attempted rape, fish-hook violence, a terrific chainsaw attack and verbal abuse a-plenty amongst other things, lots of fun stuff here and a bodacious, surprisingly intense finale. The big downside is that there really isn't much in the way of bloodshed here, there are a few bits where full on brutality would have really worked but it just isn't there (although what is there was still enough to make the astoundingly cretinous BBFC of 1986 cut this one by nearly ten minutes for its UK video release. There's a bit of nudity though, which is pretty rad as the stars are fine. Overall this is real solid stuff, sweet locations, decent amount of the good stuff, could have packed more punch but still cool, check it out says I.