Murder Weapon

To celebrate their release from a mental hospital, two hot young girls (played by blonde scream queen Linnea Quigley and sexy brunette Karen Russell) hold a party, inviting their ex-boyfriends (all stud-muffins—this is, after all, a David DeCoteau movie). While the party-goers chill, drink beer, play ball, soak in the pool and have sex with the two girls, someone starts to kill them one by one.

The first forty or so minutes of Murder Weapon are a real test of patience: overly talky, with numerous lengthy flashbacks in which the girls talk to a psychiatrist (played by Lyle Waggoner, Steve Trevor from Wonder Woman), only a smattering of T&A prevents this half of the film from being a total loss (wearing a skimpy bikini, Russell is given a full five minutes to oil her arms and legs).

Then, at roughly the 45 minute mark, a guy gets his head smashed to pulp with a sledgehammer and things pick up a bit from thereon-in; the talky stuff continues, but is now interspersed by sporadic sex and violence. Linnea Quigley strips off and humps a dude, a guy is force fed his own heart (a hand inexplicably erupting from his chest), someone gets a broken champagne bottle in the throat, and another guy is shot in the head. The effects are cheap and trashy, but enthusiastically gory, and the film ends in style with an impressive full body burn stunt, the killer doused with petrol and set on fire.

Overall, an unexceptional late '80s slasher, but worth persevering with for the inept but juicy deaths, and Quigley's sex scene. 5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Two friends with mobsters for fathers get out of an asylum and plan a party for all their male admirers, but a psychotic black-gloved killer crashes the party and begins killing them one by bloody one.

Part slasher and part exploitation cheapie, Murder Weapon somehow has both way too much going on and not enough going on. It feels as if most of the script was written by throwing darts at a list of character types, themes, and genres and the overall mix can be a bit mystifying.

It's very hard to hear a lot of the dialogue and film equipment frequently make cameos, but Linnea Quigley is nothing if not dependable, lending a lot of tongue in cheek charm to her role. Some of the makeup effects during the death scenes are very impressive and some are painfully hokey, but that's all part of the fun. Have a few beers, sit back, and enjoy the movie.

the most interesting thing about this awful piece of trash is that there are three people in the credits with the last name "Squatpump". taking into consideration that "Betty Flinstone" and "Wilma Rubble" are also listed, i looked on the trusty imdb to see if these "Squatpumps" were real, and it does indeed seem that yolanda (the matriarch of the clan?) has a few more credits under her belt, including "The Usual Suspects", and may therefore actually exist. but back to the film: the wordless, pointless 10-minute intro actually made me wonder if the filmmakers couldn't afford sound equipment. the next scene, an agonizingly long dialogue scene between linnea quigley and her shrink, proved that yes, they did have sound equipment, but that they had apparently lost their sets, as the scene apparently takes place in a black hole.

so i actually continued watching this crap. and about an hour later i was treated to a downright hilarious sledgehammer-(mannequin)-head-beating and an even better shotgun-to-the-(mannequin)-head death. ultimately one of the frizzy-haired psycho girls killed everybody, apparently. i don't know. i actually was more entertained picturing david decoteau, who directed under the odd alias "Ellen Cabot", showing up to the set every day in a smart grey skirt suit and sensible shoes (as, in my mind, someone named Ellen Cabot would).

My review was written in January 1990 after watching the film on Cinema Home Video cassette.

From the makers of "Deadly Embrace" comes another minimalist video feature, aimed squarely at fans ol scream queen Linnea Quigley. Static, talky nature of this cheapie is a big drawback.

Incomprehensible plot line, which is unusually scatterbrained even for the video thriller genre, has Quigley and buxom Karen Russell as nutcases let loose from the asylum who invite some boys over for a party. Some maniac is killing off the boys and the bogus ending comes as no surprise.

Before then, the star (who also produced) removes her clothes for some sexy footage, while Russell is uncharacteristically prudish this time out.

Script crudely establishes that both heroines come from gangster families, but little is made of this irrelevant plot peg. Executive producer David DeCoteau, directing as "Ellen Cabot", fails to generate much humor or campiness here. Likewise, guest star Lyle Waggoner has little to do in his token role as a shrink.

Tech credits are threadbare, with a confusing editing structure and many scenes consisting of simply talking heads.

So bad it's great. It was made at the very end of the 80s but still feels like the quintessential cheesy 80s slasher- it feels very 1986. This movie has an abundance of tits, sex, gore, bad acting, and awful dialogue. So it's perfect if you're looking for something to laugh at.