Moonstalker

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).

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.

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.

This movie is a bad to alright rip off of Friday the 13th. The movie is about a killer named Bernie who kills people around a camp councilor training camp. He kills people because the camp councilor training camp is on land that was owned by his father, and when the police came to forcefully take his fathers land they accidentally killed his mother (Another F13th take off). The intro is seeing Bernie killing his first victims. Then we are introduced to a family going camping in the same woods, soon after they arrive they are joined by a strange old man who likes talking about his son. Later we learn that his son is Bernie and that he has him locked up in the back of his caravan after having broken him out of a mental institute. He sets Bernie after the family so they can take their stuff and then the chase is on.

This Movie is only recommended to those who enjoy B grade 80's Slashers.

HEY EVERBODY ITS ME (4) and today we review ...80's horror slasher film #500183

yup its that time of year again, the leaves are changing colour and falling, the air is becoming crisp, and the birds are flying south SO that means time to watch a bagillion different slasher styled films lost to time ..... and here we have "MOONSTALKER" and I have to say the first 20 minutes or so had me hooked , having a slasher with an outfit/mash looking like he was from the cover of a quiet riot record ALSO from the 80's lol.... BUT THEN tragedy strikes !!!!!! The monstrous villain becomes ..... a ...normal ... looking cowboy with sunglasses ? ..... WOW that was a let down, probably a bigger let down than what my wife had on our wedding night .....

now over all its just a stander basic 80s slasher flick ..... for better or worse , nothing new , nothing special, so you know EXACTLY what to expect and what your getting, so if you love those styled films BAM heres another one to add to the list ...if your not into the classic tropes of "kids in the woods getting hacked up " then skip ....

sadly I don't have much to "review" here, everything is middle of the road safe, the acting is meh nothing too bad nothing too good , the lighting , nothing too bad nothing too good , the story ....middle road ....just everything is riding that center line trying to play it SUPER safe and they did , probably why this guy never became the next jason or freddy ...well playing it safe and HE TURNS INTO A COWBOY IN SUNGLASSES !!!!!!!!!!!! Literally an awesome character design in a straight jacked with this REALLY weird almost jackolantern with square eyes and mouth kind of head going on ...and an axe ....into .... urban keith ??? Boot scootin around just hacking up campers ? ...come on now .... so much potential just thrown out the window

so sadly ... imma HAVE to give this one a middle of the road score at 5/10 BUT wait theres more ! Because the ytook a great slasher look and then ....countrified it .... you get 2 points deducted ....so

3/10.