Trapped

Aw, why did they opt for "Trapped" to be the official title, whereas "Baker County, USA" is such a unique and wondrously ominous title for a movie handling about psychopathic Tennessee rednecks! There are about fifty movies called "Trapped"! There's one with security-trained Dobermans keeping a guy inside a shopping complex and another one with Kevin Bacon hijacking a woman and her asthmatic daughter, so do you honestly want to mix up those lame plot outlines with a movie about lunatic yokels hunting down a bunch of college students? Baker County, USA … all the way! Enough nagging about titles, especially since we call the films whatever we want, anyway. This stuff is terrific! It's an early 80's and Canadian produced Indie-film with character drawings and themes that were especially popular during the decade of the 70's, namely crazed clodhoppers living in private mountain-communities and brutal blood-vengeance. Henry Silva, who played in numerous Italian cop thrillers and action flicks, was never cast better as a tyrant leader of a small mountain colony that swears by its own ancient system of law and order. Silva's naturally menacing charisma and particularly perpetrating stares make him one the most nightmarishly memorable backwoods villains ever! The first half hour revolves on Henry and his docile men playing the roles judge, jury and executioner on an outsider who was caught having sex with Henry's beautiful but bored wife. Four college students camping in the remote hills witness the assassination of the man covered in tar and feathers, but when they try and notify the police they quickly discover everybody the entire area is petrified of mad-raving Henry. "Baker County, USA" is splendidly fast-paced and grimly atmospheric 80's trash effort. It's more than obviously inspired by classics such as "Deliverance" (there even is the banjo soundtrack!), but there are more than enough original elements to distinguish itself as well. The exterior filming locations are sublime (the opening sequence is astounding), there's an admirable portion of suspense and the action/death sequences are quite spectacular and bloody. The climax in particular is a gripping mixture of tension and extreme violence, resulting in quite the fireworks ending! Noteworthy also is that the youthful campers are actually likable characters, for once. They try to do the right thing, don't make overly stupid decisions and don't try to play heroes. Their behavior is plausible and most likely how everyone would react when facing a toothless mob with pitchforks and barrels full of hot tar. William Fruet directed this hidden gem and always treasured a deep admiration for his work, since he accomplishes quite a lot with a minimum of budget. Admittedly, "Spasms" was one of the worst pieces of crap I ever saw, but "Funeral Home" and "House by the Lake" are definitely low-budget highlights.

The film stars Henry Silva as a country bumpkin who catches the power repairman having sex with his wife. He kills him, as a bunch of college kids (headed by Nicholas Campbell) witness to the killing. Campbell doesn't believe in violence, but finally realize he must battle Silva with a chainsaw. Fruet is Roger Corman of Canada give the same slick style of directing as he did in HOUSE BY THE LAKE. The films photography is dark, and the script pace is very slow. It's worth a look for those who like to see Canadian tax shelter films.

This is a brutal movie about backwoods hillpeople who live according to their own laws. Their leader, Henry Silva at his unpleasant and sadistic best, takes the law in his own hands and lead a mob to hunt down his wife´s lover. Violent complications follow. The story is unoriginal but captivating and Fruet´s no holds barred directing keep a good pace throughout the entire movie. The dialogue is good and amusing. There is nudity, banjo music, humiliation, plenty of man hunt scenes and bloody violence. Highly recommended viewing for fans of Deliverance and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

"Trapped" is a fairly obscure rural revenge thriller in the almost same vein as William Fruet's earlier classic "Death Weekend".It was penned by the late John Beaird,whose only other screen writing credits were slasher films "My Bloody Valentine" and "Happy Birthday to Me".A group of college students accidentally witness a group of local rednecks killing another hillbilly.A deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues,with the students trying to escape the area while the killer played by Henry Silva sets out to eliminate the witnesses who can tie him to the murder.Sleazy Canadian canuxploitation flick with enough nudity and violence to satisfy any self-respecting exploitation enthusiast.Recommended for fans of "Southern Comfort","Deliverance" or "Hunter's Blood".

Of course, as I have already said since many years, DELIVERANCE, back in 1972, opened the way to many survival thrillers, in the wilderness, where city folks had to encounter all kinds of dangers fighting against the unavoidable local red necks. You had tons and tons of films like this one from the mid seventies till.... Even now, in 2025. But the bulk was during the eighties, and involved lousy exploitation - Grindhouse - or more or less psychotronic material. The best of them all being Walter Hill's SOUTHERN COMFORT. A pure masterpiece. More or less interesting, powerful, but never for the intellectuals anyway. Here, you have Hank Silva in a role that suits him like a glove. He died a couple of years ago and was the villain co starring Audie Murphy in the late fifties, till Forrest Whitaker or Steven Seagal in the eighties and nineties: GHOST DOG and ABOVE THE LAW. And I don't even speak of movies produced in France where he co starred the likes of Michel Constantin, Andre Pousse or Marcel Bozzuffi: L'INSOLENT, LES HOMMES. So, back to this film, it's typical of William Fruet, whose filmography reminds me William Lustig or Lewis Teague's one. Good survival chiller in the line of DELIVERANCE.