Moonstalker

It's a shame that this film is not currently available on any video format because it is actually an enjoyable piece of '80's horror. The night winter forest locations look great and the cast appears to be having a fun time making the film. The females in the cast are all attractive and fine actresses, and some of the men (specifically detective Taylor and Harry, the father) are just plain hilarious. The gore effects are primitive but serviceable, and there are moments of genuine emotional connection between the characters that was rare for the genre at that post-"Halloween" time. Watching this film brings one back to a more innocent time when real effort was put into the exploitation genre.

Not to be confused with MOONSTRUCK (1988), I was yelling "Snap out of it" and slapping myself in the face by the time this regional horror flick was done. An old man keeps his mentally unstable son Bernie (Blake Gibbons) locked up in a trailer, only unleashing him when pop wants some tourists killed for new appliances. Unfortunately, hauling the newly acquired microwave causes ol' dad to die of a heart attack and Bernie is on his own. Naturally, he heads home and begins offing winter camp counselors in training that are near his abode. You won't get much from this Nevada lensed slasher from writer-director Michael O'Rourke until the last half hour, where it turns surprisingly bloody as Bernie chops everyone with an ax. There is a pretty cool looking image of Bernie chained up in a straight jacket with a hood on, but that gets abandoned early on when he removes it and dresses in a cowboy hat (making him look like Powers Boothe for some odd reason). Surprisingly, Gibbons survived this mess and went on to be a featured played on GENERAL HOSPITAL. Helmer O'Rourke wasn't as lucky, disappearing from directing after this one (although he did script the truly bizarre HELLGATE [1990] the next year).

In MOONSTALKER, a group of young, partying campers are slaughtered by an ax-wielding maniac.

Some time later, a family arrives in their camper. Soon, an old man arrives in a gigantic Cadillac, pulling a trailer / camper. Is it any wonder why the alternate name of this movie is "CAMPER STAMPER"?

Horror erupts, when the oldster tells the unwary family about his "nervous" son, Bernie. Let's just say that the family vacation is over! Add in a nearby team of camp counselors, and the mayhem continues.

In all honesty, this movie is far more enjoyable than one might expect. The characters range from goofy to zany. The killer is ludicrous, yet entertaining. The plot is typical slasher fare, but doesn't take itself too seriously.

GOREHOUNDS TAKE NOTE: The gore / blood level is minimal, with the deaths occurring mostly off-camera. Although, there is the occasional arm or leg thrown around.

EXTRA POINTS FOR: The Sheriff's office, full of ten-gallon hats on half-gallon heads!

P. S.- You'll never hear "She'll Be Comin' 'Round The Mountain" in quite the same way again. Ever!...

Oh Moonstalker. We could have had the world, could have had something beautiful. But sometimes these things aren't meant to be I guess. In terms of set up Moonstalker has everything there, dumb but somewhat likable cast, threatening killer with sad, chilling back story, snowy woodland setting, lots of death, it should be a winner and almost is. But the almost that the film falls into is a giant gap, wide enough to be well, a bit crap. The problem is that up to around the hour mark, the deaths are mostly off screen or bloodless and don't have enough in the way of set-up to make an impact despite being tame. The effect is of a tease and after a while it just gets really irritating, I don't necessarily care about bloodless or off screen kills so long as the presentation is germane to the film, but here gore was clearly necessary and for the most part just not really present. Sad thing is, when the film gets to the final block it warms up miraculously, slings a bit of bloodshed, mean spirit and even tension, fairly solid stuff that comes off multiple clicks higher than the rest of it. Still, there are little perks to the film as a whole. For one it pulls a fairly ballsy turn out of the first block and the heroine only gets introduced halfway through or so, plus it has no issues with randomly offing characters, making for some element of surprise, especially when more likable characters get nixed. For another there's a great bit of counter-intuitive costume design as the killer switches from creepy potato sack mask and neck chain get up into some gear nicked from a cop, immediately going from mildly unsettling to a down-market Psycho Cop riff. Oh and the repetitive, claustrophobic score has a certain punch. I think the characters are maybe the best thing here though, in a lot of these films the characters are nothing more than sacks of meat for the offing, but here a lot of them are actually pretty fun to spend time around. Which isn't to say that ultimately they aren't sacks of meat for the offing, but you know what I mean. For instance there's Bobby (Alex Wexler) a dorky sort of a guy who wants to get laid and miraculously for such a character, manages to ramp up a bit of sympathy. Then there's Regis (John Marzilli), running his wilderness survival training camp with drill sergeant demeanour and raising smiles along the way. The name of his girlfriend slips me but she's funny too, with a tigrish sexuality to her. The ladies of the piece are all pretty attractive and charming actually, which is handy. And towards the end, (sadly too late) we get a police officer who knows the score, played with fevered intensity by a Neil Kinsella. Its a fun bunch of people and I reckon the film would have been a lot better had it dropped the height of the body count and just hung around with them, gotten into their personalities and interactions. Sadly 'twas not to be, and so things are about two thirds 4/10 level frustration and one third low 6/10 chintzy fun. Feck it, I'll give a generous 5/10, its better than a poke in the eye with a wet stick so those who just have to watch it (you know who you are) won't have serious problems.

Moonstalker (1989) is a movie that was highly recommended by @jvetrano1 (Jeff) and is currently available on YouTube. The storyline follows a group that decides to go camping in the winter. They didn't know the area they picked is on the land where some historical tragic events took place for a family...and the family is still there. Some members of the family are in better shape than the others, and this may be the chance for revenge the family has been looking for.

This movie is written and directed by Michael S. O'Rourke (Deadly Love) and stars Blake Gibbons (Dexter), John Marzilli (Tales from the Darkside), Michael Capellupo (A Promise) and Kelly Mullis (How I Met Your Mother).

The storyline for this is absolutely perfect for the slasher genre - there's a great backstory, worthwhile settings and eerie circumstances. Even the background music was well selected and it possesses a relatable motivated killer. Unfortunately, the kills aren't as good as the setup, and this definitely could have used a special effects guru like Tom Savini to pull this through to iconic status. There was some cool scenes, like the "coming around the mountain" song ending. I also loved the final scene with the killer, which was classic 80s.

Overall, this is a must see for 80s slasher fans that just missed out on being a cult classic due to needing a little more gore in the kill scenes. I would score this a 6/10 and strongly recommend it.