Rick-245

This was produced back in the late 70's, back when they still made suspense movies for TV that were entertaining (remember the 90-min. ABC movies of the early 70's? This film is in a similar vein but better). Like others have said, this is one that you remember all through the years if you originally saw it as a kid or teen. It had some pretty memorable shock scenes for it's time and especially for television. It also features very good performances from the actors: Lloyd Bridges, William Watson as the bitter ex-con Teddy Jakes, and veteran character actor John Anderson as Lloyd's brother & sheriff trying to find ways to catch Jakes before he hurts Bridge's family. I found this on VHS back in the early 90's but I'm sure it's out of print now - I'm glad I picked it up when it was available because it's almost as good now as it was 27 years ago. Hopefully, a re-make of this will be produced at some point down the road, although the plot is quite similar to "Cape Fear".

I picked this up because: 1- it appeared to be a suspense movie and 2- starred a name actress (Darryl Hannah). Reading the synopsis on the box in the store, it sounded like an interesting plot but I was a little hesitant about renting it as there were absolutely NO quotes on the box from any reviewers. Getting it home and pressing "play" on my DVD player surprisingly resulted in almost immediate action and involvement in the story- it wastes no time at all getting into the suspense. The most obvious comparison in the storyline is with the movie "Misery" but that's not to say this is a rip-off of that film or unworthy of renting (or buying) because of the similarities. This is every bit as good as that film or better and the acting by the major players- especially Hannah and her kidnappers- is first-rate all the way. Don't hesitate to check this one out- it's the best-kept suspense movie secret this year.

A friend let me borrow this video and I had it lying around the house for a few weeks and had forgotten about it. Then I came across it a couple of days ago and decided to pop it in the VCR, having a little time to kill on the weekend. I have to say I wasn't expecting too much going into it as I've not seen Christopher George in much more than low budget films or forgettable TV-movies (sorry, I didn't realize he passed away way back in '83). I can usually tell if a film will be interesting within the first 10 minutes, and with this one I kept it running after the 10-minute mark. To get to the point, I got past the low-budget production and amateurish acting and interested in the story. The effects are very good and gory to the point of pure disgustiveness (is that a word?), so please don't let small kids watch this- it could really mess them up. I've seen a lot of zombie movies and I'd put this one up against any of the "Living Dead" series of films for sheer gore and fright factor. Any essential collection of zombie films should definitely include this overlooked and under-rated horror film.