Slashed Dreams
Written by James Polakof & James Keach
Directed by James Polakof
Marshall...Ric Carrott
Jenny...Kathrine Baumann
Michael...Robert Englund
Robert...Peter Hooten
Danker...David Pritchard
Levon...James Keach
Jenny and Robert, lifelong best friends and college students in search of meaning in their lives, go off on a whim to the wilderness of Navarro Ridge to visit their old drop-out friend Michael Sutherland, whose solitary commune with nature has supposedly brought him the serenity that he could never find in civilization. Once there, Jenny and Robert are immediately accosted by the prerequisite local nutjob who tries to warn them off. All sorts of "strange things" happen in these parts, after all.
They of course don't listen and continue to Michael's log "cabin", but when they get there, he's nowhere to be found. Who they find instead are a pair of burned-out psycho hippie holdovers with the unlikely names of Danker and Levon ("It's French!") who taunt, torment, attack and assault them in the course of one long day. Michael finally shows up to find his two friends victimized, just in time to make them feel better and witness a pretty pathetic knife fight. And, well...that's about it.
From the generic sounding title, I was expecting your run-of-the-mill slasher flick, something that I could enjoy (albeit guiltily) under the right circumstances. What I found instead was a weak and watered down attempt at exploitation with an uplifting message thrown in for good measure. An attempt that failed on both fronts, I should add.
The acting, while passable, was nothing spectacular and the score was a grating barrage of light pop by the same woman throughout. In a film of a darker mood, perhaps the the punishment that the antagonists received would have worked well enough, but in a film of this stature, a little mud wrestling doesn't seem to be a fitting finale.
Call me crazy, but this steaming pile of celluloid is best left on the shelf. Even the skinny dipping and the presence of Robert "Freddy" Englund isn't enough to recommend this waste.
AKA: Sunburst
1975
Rated R
74 Minutes
Color
English
United States
"A Very Different Kind of Love Story..."
--J/Metro
