Blood Rage 1987: That Isn’t Cranberry Sauce!

In 1974, twin brothers, Terry (Keith Hall) and Todd (Russell Hall) are at the drive-in movies with their Mother Maddy (Louise Lasser) who is on a date.  As Maddy begins to “fool around” with her companion, the two boys wake up and leave the car.  Incensed by his mother’s promiscuity, Terry grabs an axe from the back of a truck and kills a teenage boy in a nearby car.  Having witnessed this gruesome act, Todd becomes catatonic, giving Terry the opportunity to frame his brother for the deed.  Ten years later, Terry (Mark Soper) and Maddy are living happy lives while Todd is trapped in a mental institute, but his memories of that evening are beginning to come back. Unfortunately, only his doctor believes his story that Terry was the real killer. On Thanksgiving Day during dinner, Maddy announces that she is engaged to her boyfriend Brad, who owns the apartment complex they live in, triggering Terry’s blood rage. Maddy is also informed that Todd has escaped the mental institution and may be on his way home.  Terry’s girlfriend, Karen (Julie Gordon) and a few of his other friends arrive to party a bit and learning that Todd has returned try to help Terry find him. Terry then goes on a murderous rampage planning on once again framing his brother for the heinous acts that he commits. Can Karen and Maddy survive Terry’s Blood Rage?  Watch and find out!

If you love cheesy slasher flicks with over-the-top gore, then this might be the Thanksgiving dish you were looking for and I am sure many will gobble it up!  For me, this film was a real turkey!  Louise Lasser, best known as the lead in the soap opera satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, tries her best to breathe some life into the mundane script and dialogue, but no amount of basting can save this film from being dry and bland.  Mark Soper does a good job at creating two separate characters while portraying both Terry and Todd, and does look like he is enjoying himself, but his line delivery often has a weird cadence and neither of his characters feel believable. In fact, for a movie called Blood Rage there doesn’t seem to be a lot of “rage” in it at all.  Terry seems calm and serene as he carves up the many stereotypical cast of characters. The script and storyline never really give us any answers as to why Terry does this, and there is no back story or exposition that gives any clues as to motivation. It almost feels like someone wanted to make a movie with a lot of nudity and gore murders and through together a very loose plot to connect each murder.

Blood Rage goes by a few different titles, Nightmare at Shadow Woods and Slasher and has a few different versions as well.  The cable television release was heavily edited to remove much of the gore from the film but added a swimming pool scene not found in the original.  The filming took place in 1983 in Florida and was riddled with problems.  Producer, Marianne Kanter, had to jump into the role of Doctor Berman at the last minute when the actress hired for the part just didn’t show up (how rude!).  And it is rumored that Louise Lasser and director John Grissmer didn’t get alone, causing Grissmer to quit, although Kanter was able to persuade him to return. Overall, this was a low budget slasher flick with very little plot and a lot of gore!  If that is what you like, then this is a feast.  I myself like a bit more sustenance.