Blood Rage (1987) User Reviews

A messy splatterfest.

[lewissaddington · 5/10 · 1 January 2021]

Pros: great gory practical effects and a retro 80s soundtrack.

Cons: poor acting and dialogue, the story is bare bones and almost non-existent, and the pacing is sporadic and jarring for the most of the film's runtime.

Overall, it's a directionless movie that drags and basically seems to exist solely for its death scenes. I guess that makes it a decent enough late night popcorn horror movie, but you'll end up struggling through a rather horrendous film just for a few decent gory moments. Maybe worth a single watch, but that's it.

Half-decent slasher!

[markovd111 · 5/10 · 2 August 2019]

Blood Rage isn't really that bad. But it isn't really that good. It is cheesy, but not cheesy enough. That's why I give it 5/10. It won't satisfy your craving for slashers and isn't even close to creepy or scary. Still, it has some cheesy charm of it's own. Mark Soper is really trying to be good, and succeeds most of the time. Music is also kinda cool and so are some characters. But that can't save this movie from being really uninteresting and uninspired for 90% of the time. I recommend this only to my fellow slasher fans needing a quick fix. Other people? Avoid it...

I'm Todd!!!!!

[leewebb666 · 7/10 · 26 May 2019]

The gore in this movie surprisingly holds up really well still now. Only ever having seen it once way way back i didn't really remember much about it until watching it on the Arrow video blu ray release. The acting for the most part is awfully perfect for what it is and there's much humour to be had seeing how they get around scenes with the twins in the same shot, their mothers reaction to everything that happens and the girlfriends fantastic searching for the crazed twin as if she was looking for a cat, looking under leaves and combing the ground. Amazing stuff. But that aside some great kills and gore take this up a notch and keep it highly entertaining for me. One to watch for any fan of 80s slashers.

Very good and overlooked 80s slasher.

[engagedtoprecious · 20 November 2011]

Amid the slew of slasher films pumped out in the early 1980s, a few have been lost in the sands of time, available for years only in cut VHS form or rare DVDs (if they were lucky enough to even make the jump to that format) that have since gone out of print. Blood Rage (aka Nightmare at Shadow Woods) is one of those films. Currently available only on VHS and an expensive out of print DVD (which is heavily cut), it's a shame this wonderful little slasher film has to suffer anonymity while other (lesser) slasher films have been given the deluxe treatment with special edition DVD releases and some even making the transition to Blu-ray (I'm looking at you, The Dorm That Dripped Blood). The truth is, as an avid fan of these often-maligned films, Blood Rage is better than 80% of the so-called classics that have received better treatment in the area of home video.

What makes Blood Rage worthier than those other slashers and vastly underrated? Well for starters, the lead performance by Mark Soper who does a double take as the twins Terry and Todd, is among one of the better performances in slasher movie history. If you've read the plot description, you'd know that the movie is about two identical twins--one good, the other evil. Soper manages to play both roles seamlessly, which is surprising given the film's low budget origins and the genre. Each twin's facial expressions, body language, and mannerisms are contrasted perfectly to make it believable. Louise Lasser also hits the spot as the twins' mother, who slowly starts to lose it once she gets word that her son, Todd, has escaped his mental institution and may be on his way home for Thanksgiving. Little does she know that Todd is actually innocent of the crime that got him locked up as a boy--the brutal slaying of a teenage boy at a drive-in movie by way of a hatchet--and that Todd's evil brother, Terry, is actually the resident psychopath, living with her all these years undetected. It seems (or is at least assumed) that Terry's homicidal tendencies have remained dormant all these years until, one night, his mother announces her engagement and gets a phone call that Todd is on the loose. All of this is apparently enough incentive for Terry to have some fun again while probably assuming he can blame all of the new murders on the escaped Todd. And boy does he take advantage of his brother's escape. Terry hacks, stabs, and slices his way through most of the residents of the Shadow Woods apartment complex with much gusto. The gore effects in the uncut version are an 80s slasher fan's dream. The now out of print DVD edition titled Nightmare at Shadow Woods was a heavily cut presentation. We get multiple hatchet whacks to the head, an impaling, decapitations, severed limbs, bisections...the works.

The music is one of the best qualities about the film and one of the things that really sets it apart from most of its brethren. It really is one of the greater slasher scores I've heard, at times reminiscent of Halloween but with a more 80s vibe that you can really dig into.

We get the usual slasher movie conventions here and there--the kids throw a party in one of the apartments while some sneak off to have sex in certain areas of the complex which proves to be a very bad idea (stay away from that pool house). Eventually, as usual with these films, things dwindle down to the final girl, Karen--a likable enough actress who, while pretty, often makes some questionable decisions regarding her safety. But once the chase is on, we get several memorable set pieces that are at times genuinely suspenseful. Terry chases Karen all over the complex as she tries in vain to get help from the now mostly dead residents. This leads to lots of unopened doors and unanswered cries for help. There is one suspenseful scene in the apartment of a dead resident where Karen attempts to call for help while hiding behind a desk as we see Terry's bloodied machete slowly enter frame off to the side as Karen watches in horror as she looks up to see Terry towering over her. Speaking of Terry, he is really enjoying himself, jokes, smiles, and all.

The movie ends in the pool house with a little "twist" if you will (and given that the movie is about twins, no, it's probably not what you're thinking).

Overall, several factors in the film elevate it above the level of many of the 80s slashers that have received far more attention and care over the years. I wish some brave company would take a chance on releasing this in its uncut form sometime in the future so slasher fans can see it and appreciate it. I gave the film a 7 for sheer entertainment purposes. It IS a slasher movie, and yes, it often suffers from all of the flaws associated with these films, but pure fun can override your film snob sensibilities at times. Especially when a movie is this fun.

Canadian DVD vs Prism VHS - Spoilers included

[rabiddog67 · 6/10 · 3 July 2007]

Legacy Entertainment's DVD is cut. Gore mostly, but the scene after the drive-in killing is of Louise Lasser visiting Todd at the hospital, which contains important exposition (Todd who has been catatonic and then unable to remember the slaying finally remembers that Terry committed the murder); the DVD shows Louise Lasser pulling up to the gate and then cuts to Terry and his friends playing football. The DVD does contain a scene missing in PRISIM'S VHS BLOOD RAGE (NIGHTMARE AT SHADOW WOODS was the title I saw this under in the theater back in 1987) - immediately after the football game, Terry and his friends go swimming and Andrea agrees to babysit for Julie. (why this is missing from the VHS is hard to say). The gore is seriously cut in the Canadian DVD. Terry kills the kid at the drive-in; the DVD shows one whack and then the naked girl running away - the VHS has multiple whacks and blood-stained popcorn. Lasser's fiancé gets his hand hacked off while drinking a beer in both versions, but the DVD is just a quick shot....same goes for Julie finding her date's head hanging in a closet....much more on VHS. Todd's doctor is literally cut in half....the DVD does not show her death throes or Todd finding her body later in the film. Terry sticks Artie in the neck with a fork...more gore on the VHS than the quick cutaway on the DVD.

"You're gonna hurt my kitty!"

[drownsoda90 · 6/10 · 23 December 2015]

"Blood Rage" begins with two twin adolescent boys at a drive-in with their mother on a date; the two slink off, and one of them murders a man in his car. Ten years later, the psycho twin is incarcerated in a mental institution. On Thanksgiving, the good twin and his mother go to visit, but find he has escaped. He returns to the woodsy community where his mother lives and begins carving up residents like turkeys.

Let's face it—evil twins are to horror films what pumpkin pie is to Thanksgiving. It just works. "Blood Rage," a little-known slasher filmed in the early 1980s, knows this, and takes full advantage of the trope. The film fell into obscurity and wasn't even released theatrically until 1987; it made it to small theaters and B-movie drive-ins, and all but disappeared. What's interesting is that the film actually offers all of the hallmarks that genre fans love about these films: a holiday setting, corny one-liners, young adults copulating, and some impressive special effects set to a pounding synth score. You'd think the film would have at least garnered a cult following, but the limited availability of it until Arrow Video's 2015 release prevented it from ever really catching on.

The film is admittedly a mess in areas; some of the performances are hammy and the dialogue contrived, while the pacing is certainly bizarre at times, but for a low-budget B slasher film, these are typically taken for granted, and if anything are part of the charm. Louise Lasser spends the majority of the film boozed out screaming into a telephone and eating Thanksgiving leftovers on her kitchen floor, while her good twin boy searches ruthlessly for his unhinged brother. Bodies start piling up, and elaborate gore effects take precedent over plot development at times. The script overall is vaguely sketched and doesn't completely feel rounded out, and the film does suffer from a frankly nonthreatening villain, but the final act is tongue-in-cheek and well handled.

Overall, the film is a nice slice of eighties slasher pie that somehow got left behind. It's not a great film by any means, but it's also not a bad one when pitted against the genre standards. The ending is rather grim, and Lasser's turn as the mentally destroyed mother is hammy, Oedipal, and at times poignant. In many ways, the film reminded me of "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker," another eighties slasher that never really caught on, in both tone and thematics. "Blood Rage" is most definitely worth a look for genre fans, and is a hokey, gory effort if nothing else. 6/10.

That is not cranberry sauce!

[rooee · 4/10 · 21 November 2015]

Variously known as Blood Rage (home video version), Slasher (original title card), and Nightmare at Shadow Woods (theatrical cut), this ropey hack-'em-up took four years to get a US release after having been filmed in 1983. It was hardly worth the wait but there's some fun to be had in its maniac twins setup.

To be fair, only one of the twins is actually maniacal. When they were kids, Terry butchered a mid-coitus stranger and blamed it on Todd. 10 years later, Todd escapes from his psychiatric unit, apparently on the rampage. But in reality it's just Terry again, all grown up and getting jealous and enraged about his mom's engagement. Someone is slaughtering folks in the neighbourhood, and now Terry has the perfect alibi.

Harking from a time when the mentally ill were definitely perpetrators rather than victims, here we have one of those slasher pictures where people are too busy going off into the woods alone to call the police and let them know a murderer is on the rampage.

There's some cracking gore, although the anxious editing in the theatrical cut means we often get only a glimpse before cutting away to some half-assed Freudian exchange or another teenager soaping in the shower. Stick with the so-called "hard" version (included in the Arrow Video boxset I saw) for the real deal.

While performances are consistently terrible, Mark Soper as the twins possesses an appropriately unsettling glare, and one-time Woody Allen fave Louise Lasser has an absolute ball as the cripplingly neurotic, boozing mother.

As a work of filmcraft it's a notch above Troma, but sadly not funny, well-made, or scary enough to land itself a place in a camp Halloween horror medley.

Possibly the film's greatest pull is the period. Locked in time by Richard Einhorn's elaborate synth score, the voluminous hair and bad sportswear are virtually sufficient in themselves to carry us through the 80-odd minutes.

Entertaining Thanksgiving Slasher

[molemandavid · 7/10 · 25 August 2017]

For some reason, there aren't all that many Thanksgiving-themed slasher flicks, but Blood Rage will definitely quench one's thirst for a decent one. It's easily the best out of the ones that are available (certainly way better than Home Sweet Home).

The story is full of twists, mistaken identities, drunken mothers, evil twins, and a whole lot of delicious soap operatics sprinkled in between a series of remarkably bloody and brutal murder set pieces. The acting, besides an inspired (and strange) turn by Louise Lasser, is mostly decent if unmemorable. The real star here is the special makeup effects which range from cheesy to disturbingly realistic.

The pacing can drag a bit here and there, but slasher and camp lovers should be more than satisfied with this one. The Arrow Blu-Ray release is the best way to go. The movie has never looked so good (and probably never will.)

A true Thanksgiving turkey

[tomgillespie2002 · 2/10 · 19 May 2015]

Made in 1983 but not released until 1987 until the title of Nightmare at Shadow Woods, Blood Rage is one of many forgotten slashers given a limited cinema run, only to be cut of a lot of its gore and released in various butchered versions on home video. Also like a lot of slashers, Blood Rage is terribly acted, badly written and features a plodding narrative in which we get to witness lots of boobs and blood- spraying. It's also an evil twin movie, beginning with two young identical siblings, Todd and Terry, escaping their car at a drive-in while their mum gets it on with a man in the front seat. Terry inexplicably hacks a young, dry-humping couple to death, wipes the blood on Todd, and blames his shell-shocked brother for the crime.

Todd is locked away in a mental asylum, and years later, the grown up Terry (Mark Soper) is preparing for a Thanksgiving meal with his smothering mother Maddy (Louise Lasser), her new beau Brad (William Fuller) and his girlfriend Karen (Julie Gordon). They learn of Todd's escape and are soon joined by Dr. Berman (Marianne Kanter) and her assistant Jackie (Douglas Weiser) from the institute. Terry, seeing an opportunity to release his suppressed homicidal tendencies and frame Todd even more convincingly, embarks on a killing spree, stalking the estate and the surrounding wooded area with machete in hand, using his clean-cut mommy's-boy image to divert any attention from him.

There's a clear oedipal theme running throughout Blood Rage, similar to but not to the same extent as fellow obscure horror (and video nasty) Night Warning (1982), but this is not explored with any care or intelligence. Decent slasher movies are extremely difficult to come by, and this is no exception. The horror is particularly gory, and alarmingly frequent, especially in the early stages. The make- up and effects (by Oscar winner Ed French) are also quite decent, but in between these moments are the same stretched-out chase scenes and clunky dialogue seen in a thousand films of its ilk. Soper is equally terrible as Todd as he is as Terry, but special mention must go to Lasser (who actually had a half-decent career), whose frankly bizarre performance is so awful that it may cause your ears to bleed. A true Thanksgiving turkey.

Thanksgiving Murder Fest

[benjithehunter · 7/10 · 30 October 2020]

A homicidal child blames his twin brother for a grisly axe murder he committed and he's sent away until one Thanksgiving when he's released and the murders starts up at their mother's apartment complex again.

There's a hint of Greek tragedy throughout Blood Rage that doesn't always hit the mark, but you have to admire the filmmakers for daring to make something more than just another run of the mill slasher. If that's what you're looking for, you'll still be more than satisfied, because in it's uncut form, Blood Rage might be one of the bloodiest slashers from this era. Hands are lopped off, heads are split in half, and torsos are torn apart. Louise Lasser also blesses us with one of the great unhinged performances of all time.

Generic 80's slasher trash

[badscene · 2/10 · 21 February 2019]

You've seen this all before. I accept that this film has garnered some kind of cult status, but it has to be attributed to the gore and violence, because this film fails miserably elsewhere.

The acting is the worst I've seen short of Troll 2, but at least it had me laughing. Louise Lasser as the mother is headscratchingly awful in one of the most bizarre performances I've ever seen, all pointing to a Director with no skill.

The sad thing is, if this movie knew it sucked and had a sense of humor about it, Blood Rage has all the recipes for a camp classic in the vein of early John Waters. Unfortunately, everything from the lack of story, god awful script, and miserable performances, coupled with the fact that it takes itself completely seriously make this film one big mess.

That's Not Cranberry Sauce

[kennymasterson · 8/10 · 12 October 2020]

A young boy commits a brutal axe murder as a child and blames it on his twin brother who gets sent away to an asylum but is released on Thanksgiving, which triggers the homicidal brother to go on another rampage, hoping to blame it on his brother again. Louise Lasser shows up in this cheesy slasher movie and seems to be under the impression that she's in a classier Greek tragedy. This only makes the film better and Blood Rage thankfully has a sense of humor about itself and how ridiculous its premise is. On top of that, all the murder scenes are fairly memorable and inspired with a generous helping of gore.

Thanksgiving Turkey with a LOT of cranberry sauce!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 10 July 2015]

Being a sucker for old posters and VHS-covers, I have to start by stating that the cover image displayed here on the website does not correspond with the actual movie. The image is that of another movie named "Blood Rage", although that one is a misogynic exploitation/thriller from the year 1979 and directed by Joseph Zito; creator of "The Prowler and "Friday the 13th The Final Chapter". If you're interested, the most frequently seen poster for this "Blood Rage" features a Rambo knife with the reflection of a terrified and screaming woman in it. But anyways, on with the actual review…

This obscure and initially shelved (between 1983 and 1987) '80s slasher may have an incredibly dumb storyline and may feature some of the most absurd plot-twists in cinematic history, but it's inarguably entertaining and delivers just what the target audience for this type of movies craves the most: extreme gore and gratuitous nudity! With sickening murder sequences and reasonably well-crafted make-up effects like these, I'm actually even surprised that the film wasn't released in 1983, as there definitely must have been a market for it. Who cares if the script is retarded when blooded machetes are fiercely swinging and chopped off heads are joyously rolling, right? Somewhere in the seventies, during a night out at the drive-in with their mother and her latest lover, the twin brothers Todd and Terry decide to go for a little walk between the cars and look at couples having sex. For no apparent reason, Terry hacks up a guy's face and then quickly puts the ax in the hands of his brother who is just standing there looking stupid. Todd spends the next ten years in a mental asylum (although his mother refers to it as a "special school"), until he suddenly decides on Thanksgiving Day that it is time to escape and tell the world that he's innocent. When Terry learns that his brother is loose, he starts butchering the entire neighborhood in order to uphold the idea that Todd is a maniac. So, before you ask: yes, we are supposed to believe that Todd never bothered to deny that he was the killer for ten long years, or that Terry is perfectly able to control his maniacal tendencies the entire time but then slaughters all his friends and relatives without any moral constraints. The film also never undertakes any attempts to build up suspense or mystery, what with the identity of the killer revealed straight from the beginning and it doesn't feature that typical "which one of the twin brother is this?" sub plot. Instead, there are a lot of dumb dialogs and quotes, for example Terry who keeps repeating "it's not cranberry sauce" whenever there's blood on his shirt, and an incredibly over- the-top hysterical performance of Louise Lasser. The body count is high and the murders are nice & nasty, with plenty of machete action and severed body parts flying around everywhere. Director John Grissmer didn't do a lot of film work apart from this one. He made the good but obscure and underrated plastic surgery thriller "Scalpel" (a.k.a. "False Face") and wrote the early 70s psycho- thriller "The House that Cried Murder". By the way, the latter is playing at the drive-in theater during the opening sequence of "Blood Rage".

Kind of average

[Tikkin · 5/10 · 3 June 2006]

After hearing about the gore in Blood Rage I tracked it down on DVD under the title "Nightmare at Shadow Woods", and I'm a little underwhelmed. It started off looking promising with the kid attacking the couple at the drive-in. Then as usual, time is fast forwarded. The kid responsible for the drive-in deaths has framed his brother who is now locked away in a mental hospital. He escapes, whilst his brother kills people and blames it on him.

There were some decent gore scenes early on, though for some reason most of the rest were cut out. This is a shame because the gore is what makes a film like this. On its own, it was kind of dull and uneventful, but with the gore in it would have been easier to sit through. If anyone knows where to find an uncut copy please do let me know, I wouldn't mind seeing it in the way god intended.

Recommended to 80's slasher fans if you can find the uncut version.

Holiday Homicide...

[azathothpwiggins · 8 September 2020]

Maddy (Louise Lasser! Louise Lasser!) takes her twin, ten year old sons, Terry and Todd, to the drive-in theater for some wholesome movie watching fun. Unfortunately, Terry is a homicidal maniac, who can't resist the opportunity to slip out of the car, and murder someone with an ax! To make matters worse, he blames Todd for the murder, causing him to be locked away in a mental institution. Ten years later, Todd escapes, and heads home, just in time for Thanksgiving.

BLOOD RAGE is another enjoyable slasher film from the sub-genre's heyday. Overflowing with gushy gore FX, 80's fashions and decor, mountainous hair, and a skull-fracturing synthesizer score, it's a perfect slab of blood-drenched cheddar.

Still, in spite of the grisly goings on, the most haunting scene involves Maddy sitting on the floor devouring leftovers. Then, in her horror and grief, she cleans the oven! Vigorously! Drop whatever you're doing and watch this right now...

Showcase of gore FX does the job effectively enough

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 25 January 2017]

BLOOD RAGE is a fun '80s American slasher shot in Florida. The whole thing plays out as a special effects showcase in much the same way as a Friday the 13th sequel; there's zero time for plotting or characterisation, just one brutal kill following another. The movie was made in 1983 but not released for four years, although it's hard to see why it took so long; the effects are good enough to make this stand alongside the genre classics of the decade.

The story begins with a HALLOWEEN-style opening in which a kid bumps off a fornicating couple in a car in an extremely grisly fashion. It then cuts forward ten years when the killer escapes from an asylum to go on a rampage, but there's a twist: he has a twin brother. Cue lots of mistaken identity and at least one decent plot twist. Otherwise the characters are all dumb, token stereotypes, and random shower scenes are included for the nudity.

In the end, though, this is all about the gore and the blood really does flow freely here. Human bodies are impaled in various nasty ways and it all plays out in a realistic, occasionally rubbery fashion. The half body and hanging head are the stand-out effects, but really all of it is decent and it makes you eager to see what the FX technicians are going to deliver up for the next kill. BLOOD RAGE will win no awards for cinematic quality but slasher fans will find it a hoot, and at least it's never dull.

I'm more into blueberry anyway

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 19 August 2020]

Yes the cranberry line is quite infamous ... at least once you've heard it and are aware of it. I didn't know it before I "discovered" this. It's not like "Say hello to my little friend" or other lines that you can identify even without having seen the movies they belong to. Then again, this is a "simple" horror/slasher movie, so it figures doesn't it? The answer would be yes to this.

Also this is bad. Why I'm giving it a 7 anyway? Because it is entertaining while being mad as hell. There are almost no words to describe some of the things happening here. Blood and nudity are one thing (I quite liked the effects), script and acting a completely different thing. The two "lead" men are almost impossible to distunguish. They look almost the same (yes I know they are twins, but I mean they were apart for almost their entire life) ... but that's not even it. It is the coincidences, the madness and inability to act ... or maybe overacting was encouraged? It's almost cringe worthy at times ... but again it can and was able to add to the party factor ... so bad it is good (sort of) ... if there's a movie to apply it to, here you go. If it talks like a slasher, walks like a slasher and "acts" like a slasher ... it probably is a slasher! Don't expect too much ... just let the blood clouds open, the limbs hit the floor and enjoy the mayhem

Forgotten gore flick that sits comfortably alongside Pieces et al

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 5/10 · 19 October 2008]

There's something uniquely satisfying about watching a gory film. Although it's impossible to put a finger on it, there's a reason why an uncut version of a splatter fest will always favour that of a censored print. Humans have a morbid curiosity and it's fun watching an actor getting his face cut in half with a bench saw when you know it's just a trick of the camera.

I have never been a believer that on-screen bloodshed can entice people to commit acts of violence in reality. Apart from a few teenage bust-ups, I have never been a violent individual and I have seen perhaps more horror films than the entire staff of the MPAA. I love a good gore flick as much as the next guy, but I'm certainly no psycho killer. I suspect however that if by some unfortunate twist of fate I became suspected of some heinous crime, my love of horror movies would certainly act as damning evidence against me. The media love to blame the entertainment industry for society's wrongs, which is why we had the pointless 'video nasty' phase of the early eighties.

Nightmare at Shadow Woods has never been marketed as an out and out gore flick, which is a shame, because in its uncut form it certainly delivers on the red stuff. Yet another of the multitude of slashers that failed to grab a slice of the 'big-dollar pie' upon release - simply due to genre production overload - John Grissmer's widely unknown splatter effort includes enough of the vital ingredients to demand closer inspection.

We kick off at a drive in. A mother is far too busy making out with her lover to notice that her twin boys Terry and Todd have crept out of the car and headed out onto the forecourt. After a brief confrontation with a teenage viewer and his girlfriend, one of the twins hacks the unfortunate jock to death with a handy axe that he picked up on route. Clearly a quick thinker, Terry gives the hatchet to his dumb-founded brother and leaves him to face a life behind bars in an asylum for a crime that he did not commit.

Fast forward ten years and Todd, who has been in a catatonic state since that fateful night, begins to recollect the fact that it is actually his twin-brother that should be held accountable for the grisly murder and so armed with the truth, he escapes the hospital to clear his name and bring his sibling to justice. Meanwhile the news of Todd's escape, coupled with the uncomfortable fact that his mother is about to get married sends Terry back on a maniacal rampage.

Nightmare at Shadow Woods tries admirably hard to be an extraordinarily adventurous genre addition. John Grissmer obviously set out with the ambition to fill his feature with all the necessary ingredients for it to rival the likes of Friday the 13th and the hard-hitters of the horror market during that period. As I mentioned earlier, the gore is spread thick and fast throughout the runtime and there's no space left for sentimentality as the killer stalks his victims with a mean-spirited air of arrogance. In most traditional slasher films, the assassin is either an unknown entity with no other link to his victims than a lust for murder or more commonly it's a psychopathic colleague that's seeking revenge, but conceals his identity from those that he stalks. Grissmer's psycho however kills indiscriminately and revels in the fact that he is murdering those that look upon him as a friend. He taunts like a playground bully and has no apparent realisation of the grotesque acts he is committing.

Ed French's gore effects are heavily underrated and hold up well against some of the cycle's more renowned bloody features. My favourite of the bunch would have to be when Maddy discovers the corpse of her boyfriend in the apartment complex and unaware that he has been murdered, she prods him to ascertain why he is failing to answer her questioning. As his body falls forward, his head splits completely in half through the middle and its a decent and credibly handled scare. There are a few neat directorial flourishes on display and the final stalking scenes build a decent amount of tension. The budget restrictions are obvious, but the film never feels under produced.

There are two words that sum up all that's wrong with Nightmare at Shadow Woods and perhaps the reason why it has never been able to achieve the status of some of its peers. Louise Lasser. Her whining performance ranks amongst the worst I have ever seen and although none of the cast could consider themselves Academy Award quality, it was Lasser who grated the most. Things started badly with a horrendous piece of overacting and from then on her portrayal seemed to deteriorate from scene to scene as she sunk to new depths of heinous acting. Her incompetence reached a crescendo in one marvellously pathetic shot, which saw her sitting in a dressing gown on the kitchen floor eating scraps from the refrigerator and whimpering like a wounded rabbit from Watership Down .

It's also disappointing that Grissmer didn't make the most of an ambitious plot by adding a mystery element. We know from the start that Terry is the psychopathic sibling, but with a bit more adventurous script writing, we could have been left deciding which of the twins is the true killer until an archetypal revelation climax.

With that said, Woods still remains a decent splatter flick and is a good sister companion for Pieces from the same period. Don't buy the DVD however as it excludes all the fun gore effects.

One of the few THANKSGIVING slashers!

[Analog_Devotee · 7/10 · 5 October 2021]

Wonderfully cheesy slasher, but I wish it'd been a little more over the top. Great gore effects, fun characters; this one's a pretty good time.

Hold onto your beer...

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 24 November 2018]

Identical blonde twins Todd and Terry are at the drive-in with their mother, who is making out with her boyfriend in the front seat. Seeing so many people having sex -- including his mom -- from the back seat flips out Terry, who starts killing people with a hatchet. He smears the blood all over his brother, because that's how forensics worked in the 1980's, and he escapes scot free. That's how Blood Rage -- one of the few films to be set on Thanksgiving -- begins.

Ten years later, Terry (Mark Soper in a dual role) lives with this mother (Mary Hartman, Mart Hartman star Louise Lasser). On the night of Thanksgiving, mom reveals that she's about to marry Brad and we also learn that Todd has escaped from the mental hospital. Terry doubles down to keep his brother locked up by killing Brad by chopping off his right hand -- which still clutches a can of Old Style -- before splitting his head in half with a machete.

Todd's doctor and her assistant are looking for him, but run into Terry, who stabs and dismembers both of them before hooking up with new neighbor Andrea who is planning a house party.

Meanwhile, mom is freaking out learning that Todd is getting closer, but Terry is the one we should be worried about. He's on a real year, wiping out all sorts of people, like a tennis-playing couple. All manner of mistaken identity occurs, ending with a swimming pool battle between the twin brothers and mom kills Terry when she really wanted to kill Todd. And oh yeah -- her incestual relationship with her son is revealed as the reason for his insanity. She blows her brains out and Todd just stands there as the police close in.

This movie is also Nightmare at Shadow Woods, with none of the gore left. You should avoid that one as the real reason to enjoy this -- I mean, unless you enjoy 1980's films about incest -- is the rampant gore.

Come for Ted Raimi as a condom salesman. Stay for hatchets to the face and a doctor's assistant sliced in half, as well as rampant synth music from Richard Einhorn, who also scored Shock Waves and Don't Go in the House. And it's directed by John Grissmer, who was also behind 1973's The Bride (Last House on Massacre Street).

Gore and deaths!

[PedroPires90 · 7/10 · 21 November 2021]

The premise is good, the plot weak. There is some bad acting, but boy, oh boy! The practical effects and the gore are just perfection. There are some strong shots, chaos since the beginning and some of the best deaths I've seen. Oh what about that marvelous score?

Plenty of Blood, not too much creativity

[SculptressNblue · 5/10 · 26 March 2017]

Not a bad movie. Still fun with PLENTY of blood... and lots of sex that would be fine for late night. I would have rated it higher, but there was very little creativity from the special effects and writing of the scenes to make them interesting. It's pretty much like Friday the 13th except for not as memorable or psychologically twisted. That being said, still one to have around if you want to see some straight bad acting, run-of-the-mill nudity, and basic bloodletting.

The blood flows like cranberry sauce

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 20 March 2021]

Todd and Terry are twin brothers. Todd gets put an asylum for ten years after Terry frames him for a gruesome murder. However, Todd escapes from the asylum on Thanksgiving day and heads right for home. Naturally, folks start getting brutally bumped off left and right.

Director John Grissmer relates the enjoyable story at a brisk pace, stages the kill set pieces with grisly flair to spare, further enhances things with inspired touches of wickedly funny black humor ("That's not cranberry sauce"), and even tosses in some tasty bare female flesh for trashy good measure. Louise Lasser really hams it up as drunken and distraught mother Maddy, Mark Soper has a ball with his juicy dual roles, and Ted Raimi makes his less-than-auspicious film debut as a guy selling condoms in a drive-in theater men's room. Ed French's excellent make-up f/x deliver the gloriously gory goods. Richard Einhorn's funky pulsating synthesizer score hits the get-down groovy spot. A seriously fun slasher winner.

Good Stuff

[johnbaxter-83212 · 7/10 · 18 August 2021]

As slashers go, at least Blood Rage tries to have a story and some interesting characters. Louise Lasser's unhinged turn as Maddy, a single mother who has one good twin and one psychotic twin, isn't something you see in most films of this sort. If quirky character actresses aren't your thing, Blood Rage does supply a good variety of bloody murders with some impressive special effects for such a low budget production. The story can droop and sag here and there, but by the first half hour, there's a death scene or two every 5 or 10 minutes, so it's hard to not be entertained.

blood reign

[trashgang · 5/10 · 22 December 2008]

This flick is a special one. It's hard to find the full uncut version, it's only available on VHS so forget the DVD versions available. Even as they have the alternative title. All I can tell about this movie is that the storyline is ridiculous. After 10 minutes it's clear who's the actually killer. But what makes the movie worth searching is the amount of gory killings. If you have the DVD then all the gory moments are gone. On the VHS they are intact and worth watching. The acting itself is not that bad at all. The movie never had that much of promotion, but it is one to have in your collection if you still collect VHS. And as I have seen the other movie Blood Rage be sure to catch the correct one. The blood reign is in this one, not in the other one. So you know what to do....start searching. Oh yeah, and try to catch the movie they are showing at the Drive In, it's from the same writer....