IMDb RATING
5.6/10
4.4K
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A mental patient embarks on a murder spree upon escaping from an institution.A mental patient embarks on a murder spree upon escaping from an institution.A mental patient embarks on a murder spree upon escaping from an institution.
John L. Watkins
- Man with Cigar
- (as John Watkins)
Bill Milling
- Paul Williamson
- (as William Milling)
William Kirksey
- George's Father
- (as William S. Kirksey)
Candese Marchese
- Candy, the Jogger
- (as Candy Marchese)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn some sources Tom Savini is credited as the film's make-up effects artist and some video prints still bear his credit as "Special Effects Director". Based on Savini, he was only a consultant and threatened to sue over the use of his name to promote the film. Savini said that what he did consisted solely of advice: "I'd tell them that something needed to look more organic, or how something should be lit. But none of the effects work in the film is my own". Savini's name is excluded from the credits in the subsequent Blu-ray releases (U.S. "35th Anniversary Edition" from Code Red and the UK release from 88 Films).
- GoofsAccording to his patient record displayed on the computer screen, George suffers from "schizophernia" (spelling error).
- Quotes
Man with Cigar: SORRY? You lose a dangerously psychotic patient from a secret experimental drug program, and all you can say is "I'm sorry"?
- Alternate versionsThe original UK cinema version was heavily cut by the BBFC with edits made to closeups of throat slitting and repeated stabs during the telephone murder, the pick axe killing, and axe blows (including blood frothing from a man's head) during the climactic flashback. The film was then listed and banned as an official video nasty, and a successful prosecution was brought against the distributing company World of Video 2000 in 1984 for releasing an unauthorized video version (which was 1 min longer than the cut cinema print). The film was finally granted a video certificate in 2002 though the print submitted was an edited U.S version, which restores the ice pick murder and around 1 minute of dialogue scenes but still has edits to the throat slashing/stabbing scene and some brief cuts to the climactic flashback nightmare murder.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Terror on Tape (1985)
- SoundtracksNecessary Evil
Sung by Those Northern Women
Music and Lyrics by Jack Eric Williams
Featured review
Care in the community
This Italian-helmed, US acted film is a straight up slasher film, as opposed to a giallo. It got itself banned as a video nasty due to the gore, which is plentiful, but is just kind okay due to the plot, which is threadbare.
It's a kind of mix of Halloween, with an escaped mental patient heading for home, with a little bit of Maniac thrown in too, as he's a tortured soul who is revulsed himself by his actions. You see George keeps flashing back to some time when he was a child, and keeps seeing images of his mother's severed head opening her eyes and looking at him. After taking part in an experimental treatment, George is considered healthy and released, immediately running off to go kill people.
Elsewhere, mother-of-three Sharon is having trouble balancing her new love life with the behaviour of her son C.J, who is a bit of handful to say the least. Not only is he prank calling the babysitter from inside the house, he's also pretending to be stabbed by a strange man who is hanging around outside the house. Guess what happens when a strange man does start hanging around the house? C.J should have read the story "The Boy Who Cried I've Been Stabbed Too Many Times."
That's basically the plot - George starts hanging around the place looking for babysitters to kill while C.J mentally tortures his mother and various babysitters before everything comes to a head in an absolutely blood drenched ending. Pity there's not much happening between the violent murders.
It looks like the actors were all amatuers but to me they did okay, especially the mother, George, and C.J. As a father of a kid who also loves pranking me, the actress that played the mother was pretty good as a person losing her mind.
This one is pretty easy to find due to its status as a video nasty. You might even remember the cover from the early eighties!
It's a kind of mix of Halloween, with an escaped mental patient heading for home, with a little bit of Maniac thrown in too, as he's a tortured soul who is revulsed himself by his actions. You see George keeps flashing back to some time when he was a child, and keeps seeing images of his mother's severed head opening her eyes and looking at him. After taking part in an experimental treatment, George is considered healthy and released, immediately running off to go kill people.
Elsewhere, mother-of-three Sharon is having trouble balancing her new love life with the behaviour of her son C.J, who is a bit of handful to say the least. Not only is he prank calling the babysitter from inside the house, he's also pretending to be stabbed by a strange man who is hanging around outside the house. Guess what happens when a strange man does start hanging around the house? C.J should have read the story "The Boy Who Cried I've Been Stabbed Too Many Times."
That's basically the plot - George starts hanging around the place looking for babysitters to kill while C.J mentally tortures his mother and various babysitters before everything comes to a head in an absolutely blood drenched ending. Pity there's not much happening between the violent murders.
It looks like the actors were all amatuers but to me they did okay, especially the mother, George, and C.J. As a father of a kid who also loves pranking me, the actress that played the mother was pretty good as a person losing her mind.
This one is pretty easy to find due to its status as a video nasty. You might even remember the cover from the early eighties!
helpful•50
- Bezenby
- Mar 3, 2019
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