Slashed Dreams


Title: Slashed Dreams (aka Sunburst) (1975)
Rating: 2/5
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Starring: Peter Hooten, Kathrine Baumann, Robert Englund
Director: James Polakof
Duration: 78 mins

After breaking up with her fratboy boyfriend, Jenny and her new love interest Robert take to the mountains to visit a mutual friend who left college to live amongst nature. As one might expect, when the two free-spirited students ask an eccentric old man for directions he warns them that the woods are a very dangerous place where people go missing. Jenny and Robert of course disregard the old man's honest concern and trek on up the mountain for about two days worth of frolicking and skinny dipping. Eventually they cross paths with two of the clumsiest backwoods rapists one could imagine, who subsequently assault Jenny. When they finally meet up with their friend, Michael, they have to decide how to logically respond to such a terrifying ordeal.

Dispite misleading the viewer by being marketed as a horror/rape-revenge/exploitation film, Slashed Dreams doesn’t disappoint too much, but it is quite dull. The characters, aside from our two rapists Levón and Danker, are so uninteresting when they aren’t swimming naked. That’s a lie. There is some enjoyment to be had while watching Robert “Freddy Kruger” Englund in an early role as the nature geek friend who forages for tea in his spare time. But it seems like all the characters are meant to appeal to the groovy 70’s youth who were born just a little too late to be apart of the “peace & love” hippie movement. Unfortunately, the soundtrack doesn’t do much to spice up the adventure. In fact it heightens the dullness by consisting only of a Carol King wannabe singing dreary piano ballads during lovey-dovey, heartwarming montages of summer fun. A bit of good news to those who don’t like films that depict rape: that’s dull AND anticlimactic (in more ways than one).

So what are the positives that gave Slashed Dreams a rating of 2 on the Weaver scale? First of all the filmmakers take advantage of the beautiful natural scenery every chance they get. Unlike some films who just shoot in front of the same batch of trees for 90 minutes, this one appears to utilize the splendor of the whole forest. Secondly, as dull as the movie is, the direction and overall flow of the story is well-crafted and quick. If you look close enough you can see that there is some talent hiding behind the camera, just not in front of it. Lastly, I don’t know if this counts as a plus or not but there are definite philosophical issues being played around with throughout the narrative. It is refreshing to know that this film was supposed to actually be ABOUT something, but whether it’s something discernible to the modern audience member who doesn’t have their head in the clouds is another question. I suppose the Age of Aquarius just wasn’t meant to be.

You might remember my review of a little feminist slasher/drama I did a while back called Terror At Tenkiller (1986). If you do and you were somehow intrigued by it, let me tell you that Slashed Dreams would make a fine choice for a double feature. That’s about the best recommendation I can give.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Female Prisoner: Scorpion

Image
Title: Female Prisoner: Scorpion Rating: 4/5 Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime Starring: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Isao Natsuyagi Director: Shunya Ito Language: Japanese It was the 70s that saw the rise in Japanese grindhouse cinema (also known as ‘Pinky Violence); tired of the very ‘traditional’ style of many local films, and with the rise in success of Hollywood titles such as ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘The Great Escape,’ a new wave of daring and experimental directors came to light. Armed with a low budget and all the influences of the early Western grindhouse cheap gore flicks, they combined it with traditional Japanese film-making sensibilities to create a style that somehow succeeded in being both artistic in style whilst retaining those cheap traditions such as gratuitous nudity and violence to result in something rather unique. And it was with this, the first instalment in the ‘Female Prisoner’ series, that would influence a wave known as ‘Women in Prison’ films; with a strong the...
Read more

Slasher Hunter

Image
Title: Slasher Hunter (2011) Rating: 3/5 Genre: Horror, Comedy Starring: Chad Phillips, Derek Rothermund, Ryan Sullivan Director: Steve Rudzinski Duration: 35 mins Four pals are planning to have a great weekend of sex and brews in an old cabin in the woods. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “this is the exact set up to every slasher movie from ‘79 to ‘99; this can’t end well.” Well our group of campers have thought of that, that’s why they brought sci-fi nerd Lee along for the ride who carries within him the so-called “survivor gene.” This special gene helps prevent him from being the unfortunate victim of any slasher maniacs that may be lurking about. Unfortunately this gene is also highly coveted by a group of the most dastardly slashers around: Frank, Larry, Jay, Charles, Pleatherface, and Puzzle (I didn’t say their names were very dastardly, did I?). It’s up to a renegade, federally-employed Slasher Hunter to thwart the slashers’ plan and save Lee and his friends before it’...
Read more

Chinese Erotic Ghost Story

Image
Title: Chinese Erotic Ghost Story Original Title: Yuk lui liu chai Genre: Comedy, Exploitation Rating: 2.5/5 Starring: Ben Ko Chu, Chun Chung, Siu Wan Hung Director: Kin-Nam Cho Language: Chinese It's always a little tricky to think how these sort of films should be rated; from the title it's apparent that they aren't perhaps the most creative when it comes to titles, though if nothing else it certainly is an accurate one, with perhaps some mention of how batshit insane the bizarre events of the actual film are being the only thing missing. It all kicks off rather normally; Chu is introduced as the debt collector working for an asshole of a King with a beautiful mistress, two beautiful daughters and an even prettier wife, whilst he's stuck with a woman who sleeps 20 hours a day and spends the remaining four awake eating. Caught in the embrace of one of the King's daughters he's punished with the task of entering Satan's Temple and stealing the statu...
Read more