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.

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.

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 didn't exactly show up with the highest of expectations. It hailed from a lousy looking (but cheap) multi-DVD set featuring a bunch of other unknown horror films (many of which were, indeed, awful), so I wasn't expecting much. As the film started, my fears seemed well founded for about 5 or 10 minutes as we're introduced to our three leads and watch them get ready and drive to a concert. They end up hitting a log and wrecking their car. They come to and that's when Unhinged starts heating up.

Unfortunately for them, they've been "saved" by a creepy spinster (who's a dead ringer for Miss Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies) and her man-hating mother. From here on out, it becomes obvious that there's someone else in the house with them and they're really into casual voyeurism, heavy breathing, and chopping up women with a scythe.

Unhinged won't be winning any awards anytime soon, but there are some moments that are bizarrely effective and unnerving. The music score is appropriately spooky and the main mansion location is dripping with atmosphere and potential threats around every corner. It's hard to tell since the version I watched looked like a VHS master of some sort, but some of the cinematography isn't half bad, either.

On the other hand, the acting is either eye rollingly inept or overcooked community theatre level. Still, they're not exactly required to recite the works of Tennessee Williams, so they mostly get by ok.

Unhinged might just be worth your time if you're a non-picky horror or slasher fan.

This movie seems to be most known for being apart of the 'Video Nasties' list during the 1980's. Its about three girls who end up crashing their car on the way to a concert, and end up in a huge mansion with a creepy woman, and her elderly wheelchair bound mother. The acting isn't the best, but what do you expect from an 80s slasher film right? And it can be kind of slow in parts, but on the plus side, the murders are well done, (especially for such a low budget movie), the music is eery, and the ending is quite shocking! I'd definitely recommend it to slasher fans to check out.

The only thing that puzzles me, is why it made it onto the video nasties list in the first place. While there's a decent amount of blood for the killings, there was much bloodier movies out there, and with that said, I can see why some people don't like this movie, and felt let down, by what this movie suggests. Still though, if your an 80s horror/slasher fan, pop this one in, and give it a try. Its not the best out there, but its decent, and surprisingly creepy, which a lot of 80s slashers lack. You could do a lot worse!