Pesadelo no Vale da Morte

Yep - I like this film. I am also happy to finally see a promotional photo for this film , thank you a lot IMDb! I have a copy of this film. I find this film a one-of-a-kind. I like it cause it's early 80s. And I LOVE what happens to the eat-too-much babysitter! LOL I never see this for rental at the video store - I had actually seen it on TV.... Not that this is a marvelous film , but I have definitely sat through more boring , supposed-to-scare-me films. Not exactly gore , not exactly a slasher - Hard to pinpoint this one exactly , but I'll call this a thriller - with a touch of mystery....with a completely 80s-style view. PEACE

This film is not as bad as many people would have you believe. Peter "The Dirt Bike Kid" Billingsley, in his first starring role, plays Billy, a boy who is forced to vacation with his mother and her boyfriend in the middle of the hot California desert. During a desert outing, a bored Billy decides to do a little exploration and comes across a seemingly abandoned RV. Unbeknownst to Billy the RV contains the freshly butchered bodies of three teenagers who are stuffed into the forward compartment. Billy nearly opens the forward compartment's door when he's pulled out and reprimanded by his mother's boyfriend. Billy doesn't leave empty handed though; he has stolen a necklace that he found on the RV's floor.

Later the necklace becomes a clue that is handed over with much guilt and tears to the town's sheriff played by Wilford Brimley. Soon after, the sheriff has a mining pick stuck in his chest after stupidly going over to the killer's house with clue in hand and basically asking, "Hey, look what I found at a murder scene," and knowing full well that the necklace belongs to the killer. Oops!

The killer believes Billy knows too much and needs to be eliminated. From this point on the film becomes a tense cat-and-mouse game that ends with more than a few dead.

Death Valley was released in 1982 without much fanfare or promotion and was quickly lost among the glut of slasher films being churned out by Hollywood at that time. That is unfortunate because the film features everything horror fans love: breasts, gore and excitement. This film also features a tense Henry Manfredini-like musical score by Dana Kaproff and excellent cinematography by Stephen Burum. Billy's mother is played by the beautiful Katherine Hicks (spelled Catherine on the video box) who played Marilyn Monroe in the television movie, Marilyn: The Untold Story.

Another reason to watch this film is for the brief appearance of Gina Christian, in her only film role, as R.V. Girl. Gina Christian is the reason tube tops were invented. Wow!

I really don't think it's as bad as the review in the Leonard Maltin paperback would indicate; it's just not particularly distinguished. It places a child front and centre and in a considerable amount of jeopardy as he runs afoul of a sadistic serial killer in Death Valley. This kid is Billy (Peter Billingsley of "A Christmas Story" fame), an NYC native devoted to his loving dad (Edward Herrmann) who visits his mom (Catherine Hicks) and her new boyfriend (Paul Le Mat) in Arizona. While visiting the site of an abandoned gold mine, he enters an RV and pilfers a necklace that he finds, not knowing that he's obtained valuable evidence that links the killer to the scene of a crime. From then it's sort of a cat and mouse game as the killer sets out to keep Billy quiet. Dick Richards ("Farewell, My Lovely", "March or Die") directs from Richard Rothstein's script, which starts out as if it's going to be told entirely from the childs' perspective as he tries to come to terms with his parents' divorce and with the new man in his moms' life. Soon enough, it edges into slasher film territory, as our killer chops up unfortunate victims. It also attempts to make a substantial character out of our villains' car, which features a vanity plate with the word "hex" on it. The actors do a creditable job; Herrmann shines in what is really a very brief part, and Hicks and Le Mat are likewise very likable. (Le Mat has one standout scene where he's trying to make a connection with Billingsley.) And speaking of Billingsley, he also creates an endearing character and doesn't fall into the trap of being too cute. Good ol' Wilford Brimley is engaging as the local sheriff. But the show is stolen by Stephen McHattie who's as intense as he's ever been, and in fact he has one amusingly off kilter scene where he's intimidating our heroes as he stalks across the roof of his house. Another scene that the viewer will vividly remember is the scene with a corpulent babysitter who does little else besides stuff her face and then pay a big price at the hands of the killer. The thundering music by Dana Kaproff does its best to manipulate us, but what is far and away the biggest asset to the film is the on location shooting. The twist ending just comes off as a little silly. Overall, this is a passable time killer but no more. Six out of 10.

Coming out during the influx of the slasher craze, "Death Valley" could be seen as one of those unlucky films that got lost in the crowd and was pushed aside with those lesser imitations. Unfortunately if that's the case it's undeserved (sadly no DVD release either), as it's a lot more accomplished than its rancid shockers. One thing though, it was one of those video cases that always drew me to its strikingly cool artwork.

Billy and his recently divorced mother leave New York for a vacation to California to meet up with her new boyfriend. For Billy it's hard seeing his mum with another man, but it's the less of his worries. As on their vacation to "Death Valley", Billy stumbles across an empty RV and picks up a necklace. Later they come across this RV again, but it was in an accident or so it seems. Unknowingly to them, there have been brutal murders in "Death Valley" and killer now has Billy in his sights.

"Death Valley" is like a second-rate Hitchcock-like thriller that decently grows on bone-rattling suspense, taking time to let the characters and circumstances unfold that when the threatening tic-tack-toe nature breaks out we're put in an act of alarm and desperation. It really puts the characters on the spot and breathing down an ominous air, the material doesn't do much to hide the killer's identity and the surprise twist is easy to figure out. The rural California locations do it wonders, as the secluded landscapes are harsh and vast with it being truly alienating --- nowhere to hide and help is a long way. Dick Richards directs with panache and vision, orchestrating the unhinged sounds (a suspenseful music score) and observatory imagery (moody camera angles and slow-motion) with the foreseeable one-track story. While slow-winding, as it's slowed up by passages involving family issues --- Billy accepting his mother's new boyfriend, but this does give it a grounded sincerity to the character's relationships and dynamics. These moments are broken up by the heighten tension and an odd nasty jolt that's well-timed by throwing you off with false bumps.

Performances are agreeable. Peter Billingsley (whose massive glasses are somewhat distracting) is likable as the know-all Billy and Catherine Hicks is simply delightful (although she does some questionable actions in the film's climax) as Billy's mother. Paul Le Mat is sturdy, but does look quite bemused more often. Wilford Brimley is hardy as the suspicious sheriff and Stephen McHattie is suitably random and menacing. There's also a minor part for Edward Herrmann at the beginning as Billy's father.

Nothing special, but a diverting, fine old-fashion thriller with the modern unpleasantness.

"Death Valley" follows young Billy (a pre-"A Christmas Story" Peter Billingsley) who accompanies his mother (Catherine Hicks) and her boyfriend (Paul Le Mat) on a trip through Death Valley where he inadvertently gets them tracked by a violent serial killer.

This under-seen effort from Universal Pictures is a strange hybrid of a serial killer road thriller (pre-dating "The Hitcher") and an outright slasher, albeit with a child character who is at the nexus of the danger and bloodshed. The contrasting storytelling modes here set "Death Valley" apart from other films of the era, though I would surmise that much of its more conventional slasher trappings and bloodshed were shoehorned in by the studio to capitalize on the slasher craze, which was at its peak in 1981.

The genre mix here gives "Death Valley" a strange footing in the canon of horror films. My main issue with the film is that its villain character does not come across as particularly threatening, and there are some interactions between the young Billy and the murderer that, though clever, require some suspension of disbelief. Still, there are sequences in the film (particularly one early on in which Billy unknowingly stumbles upon a murder scene) that are extremely suspenseful.

Aside from its brief prologue in New York City, the film is exclusively set in Death Valley, and the cinematography of the landscape is breathtaking and extremely atmospheric, including a rustic resort where the trio of characters end up, leaving them right in the killer's radius. Billingsley is likable here as the lead, and Catherine Hicks also gives a solid performance as his mother.

The film does stretch credulity a bit in the final act as the confrontation devolves into some rinse-and-repeat attacks and (unfortunately) uneventful chase scenes, and the film skids as it crashes into an abrupt conclusion that feels lacking. All that being said, I think "Death Valley" functions as a unique curio of a film. At its heart, it is a road thriller with some slasher trappings that have been cut-and-pasted onto it. The partly-grafted final product produces mixed results that are sometimes dull and sometimes quite thrilling, but its desert locales and committed performances help elevate the material considerably. 6/10.