lathe-of-heaven

The real masterpiece by Frank De Felitta is the excellent 1981 Telefilm 'DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW' which next to the brilliant 1988 'SCARECROWS' is probably the 2nd best Killer Scarecrow movie of all time (you can see my review of that film here too if you wish)

But, back to this one... I'm glad he wrote and directed this movie, because in lesser hands it really would likely have been pretty lame. But, thanks to his engaging and creepy style, although somewhat flawed, it is a fun and entertaining film to some degree.

In my lowly and wretched opinion, I thought Sharon Stone's performance was not really that great. I was quite surprised since she went on to become so famous that her acting in this one was pretty weak. However, I thought everyone else did a great job with their roles, especially Railsback and of course the always great Ronny Cox.

As I do in all my reviews, I'm not going to waste your time going over the somewhat complicated plot, since just about every other reviewer almost always goes all through that. But, as I always try to do with my reviews is simply give you my opinion as to whether I felt the movie was well done and/or entertaining.

So, what carries this film the most I feel is the style and mood, a truly disjointed and Surreal tone which greatly adds to the atmosphere of this kind of Psychological Thriller. And, of course like I mentioned whatever directorial flourishes that Felitta brought to the story.

If you can tolerate Sharon Stone's rather overdone performance (yes, I Know she is supposed to be somewhat unbalanced, but I just didn't personally really buy her rendition of it) the actual story, the performances of the other excellent actors, and especially the offbeat, Surreal touches do give this movie a nice off kilter vibe which lends itself to being a moderately entertaining Psychological Thriller. I gave it a solid '6'

I personally think that with a little better writing and a lot better performance by Sharon Stone, this could easily have been a strong '7'...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with a little entertainment value here and there for some.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

This really wasn't a bad film at all. For me personally, what really kills a lot of these types of movies or at least brings them down quite a bit is the poor acting.

I mean, this is 1979, in my lowly and wretched opinion Not the very best time for films and especially for realistic or believable acting. But, the director/writers did a good job here with the story and dialog.

And, seriously... Take about 80% of all the Slashers of the 1980's and how many of them have anything even Close to good acting. Normally, they are full of paper thin stereotypes, usually completely unrelatable and not realistic whatsoever.

So, that alone to me sets this film above most later Slashers. I was quite surprised that these characters did indeed come across as real people and their interactions and dialog weren't just some superficial, 'Hip' nonsense, but interchanges that the audience could actually buy into. Overall, I feel this is quite rare in these types of low budget Horror movies, especially Slasher films.

Apart from the above average acting (and remember, most of these people other than a couple of known supporting actors like Cameron Mitchell and the rather odd choice of Avery Schreiber, were relatively unknown) the story sets a pretty good tone and mystery about what is going on.

The plot isn't terribly deep or complicated, but with the good cinematography, nice locals, and decent writing and directing, I thought it was a good, slightly above average Slasher, especially for such an early one.

If you enjoy watching commentaries, it is a fun listen with both writers and the lead actress.

So, nothing that's going to rock your world or change your viewpoint on life, but a relatively fun and engaging early Slasher that you might enjoy if you like films like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with a little entertainment value here and there for some.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

Don't get me wrong, I do love movies from this time period that do indeed get Surreal or Trippy, absolutely Love them! And, I could list several that are way, Way better than this one.

Even several of Jesus Franco's films are far better than this, as threadbare as his stories usually are.

Unfortunately, all you really get here is a Lot, and I mean a Lot of nudity and love scenes. Normally I am not against these at all, but storywise that is All you get.

The movie plods along and the first 30 minutes are all looking at the primary actress in the nude (Granted, she is very much worth looking at!) and long, draggy scenes where she is making love to the main guy or several others.

According to the synopsis of this film, there is Supposed to be some kind of Mystery here, some kind of intriguing story about this woman seeming to come back from the dead to avenge her killers (that is included in the main synopsis, so no spoilers there) But, honestly, you Barely get that, surrounded by about 80% showing off the lady's lovely body or drawn out sex scenes, and truly not much else.

Sorry... I really do love films made at this time, some with really good, atmospheric, moody Surreal overtones that are like artworks but also great stories. Sadly, this is neither.

So, I appreciate other reviewers here who for some odd reason say they think highly of this movie and that it is So Surreal & Trippy, but compared to so many Other much better films, this one to me personally falls really flat and just doesn't have that much to offer.

I normally don't bother to review movies that I rate this low, but considering who the director is and what I feel is honestly undeserved praise here for something that I truly feel is Very mediocre, I thought I really should drop this counterbalancing review in here as an addition to all these others.

Most definitely Not recommended...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with a little entertainment value here and there for some.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )