Unhinged

Unhinged doesn't seem to have much going for it. The acting is amateurish (to say the least), the pacing can be a bit plodding, and there's a body count of about 3. However, there's something about this movie that helps it stand out from some of the other slashers of the time.

The plot of Unhinged is paper thin. Three monotone, mouth breathing young women are headed to a concert when their car breaks down. They wake up and find themselves in a strange mansion, being taken care of by an odd middle aged woman and her elderly mother who seems to hate men. Also, there's a heavy breathing maniac on the loose and...well, you can probably tell where the rest of this is going.

As I said, the acting is more wooden than the forest surrounding the film's main location, but it's almost endearingly awful. Surprisingly, there actually is a little mood and atmosphere to spare and that goes a long way in keeping the viewer engaged while there isn't much of anything going on.

There's an almost giallo flair to a lot of the stalking/murder scenes which is appreciated and the synth score isn't half bad. Unhinged even manages to pull off a pretty creepy twist ending that will stick with you.

Perhaps with a little recasting and a tighter, more interesting script, Unhinged could have been a minor slasher classic. As is, it's a flawed, but entertaining piece of low budget horror filmmaking.

After crashing their car on the way to a rock concert, three young woman wake up in a spooky mansion where a repressed spinster and her unstable mother live. There's also a bloodthirsty killer who doesn't want the girls there.

Unhinged is a mostly unremarkable series of slasher and old dark house movie cliches, but I'd be lying if I were to say some moments don't possess some sort of lo-fi eeriness. It's not a poorly shot film, there's some rain drenched atmosphere, a few nasty murders, and one truly insane final twist. That's more than you can say for a lot of movies. If it weren't for the mostly pedestrian script and wooden acting, Unhinged might really be something special.

What starts out as your average old dark house movie picks up its dragging feet towards the end and delivers a whopper of a finale. It's not a very good movie - some of the actors appear to be in danger of falling asleep mid-line reading, the pacing is uneven, and some of the scenes are lit so dark that you have to imagine what's actually going on, but when Unhinged rises to the occasion, it can be very effective.

Unhinged is a movie that'll likely endear itself to me the more times I see it. I will say that without the ghastly end scene this one would've been cast into the inky black void of the forgotten. There are films, especially in the horror genre, that are buzzed to have twist endings, powerful surprise endings that shock and have never been encountered, well, in regards to Unhinged that's almost the truth. While the idea/situation/plot may not be entirely underived (having an essence of Hitchcock's Psycho, for example), the film's progression shrewdly shrouds the climax. Being the seasoned, desensitized horror fan that I am, even I sat up captivated, feeling a bit unnerved as I watched the last scenes unfold. I can't say many splatter flicks have that effect on me. The killing was extended, which made it all the more uncomfortable and startling to watch, yet is exactly what many horror films lack. To compare Unhinged to Sleepaway Camp (1983) would not be entirely wrong (with slight similarities in the plot), but instead unfair, as this film was the first made of the two (1982). I find it laughable sometimes when I run across reviewers who state that the film they've watched was same old same old, nothing new when they're reviewing a horror movie from the '70s or early '80s.

Despite all the stalely delivered dialogue, Unhinged is a good horror film. On the DVD release I have, in "special features", there's a TV interview with the director, Don Gronquist, and one of the actresses who I felt gave the best performance. Mr. Gronquist is one of the worst speakers I've ever listened to. I wonder what he's like on the set. `Sp-p-p-p-p-p-it it out, junior!' Anyway, if you're a fan of '70s and '80s slasher films you must see Unhinged.

Unhinged is a strange movie indeed. While it obviously gets most well known because it was banned, and it stills holds it's own weight. It is not as bloody as you might think, there is blood but it's not overly exploited or in the film that much besides a few scenes.

The acting is a mixed bag, most of it being amateur acting that isn't very believable. Some of the actresses seemed like they were reading their lines while half asleep. The exceptions being the sister and the mother.

What i really liked about this was it's seclusion in a castle-like mansion in the middle of nowhere. This house is more like a palace and I'd really like to know who lived there when this was filmed, it looks more like an old hotel resembling a castle than a private house.

Another thing i really liked was the music score, a well executed early 1980's synth horror style that exceeds in creating a truly creepy atmosphere and it really helps the film a lot in my opinion.

This film is far from perfect, it's obviously a very low budget indie movie. The end scenes are worth watching the movie for, and there is an 80's era shocker in the plot. It looks somewhat dated by today's horror standards, but just remember this is over 20 years old now. There are a couple of nude shower scenes, for those looking for that sort of thing it's worth mentioning.

Unhinged is now out on a great DVD in it's uncut and uncensored version. It's worth a viewing for fans of oddball horror movies.