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Sam Fuller's western Opus is as kinky as they come. Filmed in the Wide cinemascope ratio and shot in eleven days, this is one fast strange ride. I love this film. Barbara Stanwyck is great and so is everyone in the cast. Unavailable on video (as of this writing) It can only be found on Television. As a Fuller fan, I had to record it off of cable to see it. The wait was worth it though. Mentioned briefly in A Personal Journey through American Movies with Martin Scorsese.

Of all the slasher films that came out in 1981, this is definitely one of them. That said, for some small reason this film sticks out as a perfect example of the slasher film. With it's goofy plot revolving around the identity of the killer, and gratuitous Benton nudity, one really can't go wrong with this title. It's not a great film, but it's got all the key elements of the slasher film, and for that, at least it succeeds on those terms.

I guess if they were to have a cult of people who loved this film, I'd join it. I have a sneaking suspicion what happened with this film, made at the height of slasher and sequel popularity, was that someone gave Carpenter a pile of money and was told he could do what he wanted with it, as long as he helped make another Halloween film. There is such a f*ck-all attitude about the film with it's witches and stonehenge, and deadly masks. The music is perfect and the casts all virtual unknowns make this more fun than it should be. Not only will you be stuck with the "Six more days til Halloween" song stuck in your head, but You have to sing it repeatedly if you hope to dislodge it. A cable favorite, I've seen this thing on a lot, and it took me a couple near viewings to warm up to it, but now I own the widescreen DVD of it, and the soundtrack. Now if only I could get one of those masks......