Killer Workout (1987) User Reviews

Killer Workout

[sbaldwin999 · 6/10 · 2 April 2012]

There was a fitness craze in the 80s that probably all started with Olivia Newton John's "Let's get Physical" video… suddenly working out became a cultural thing. People loved to get fit, not necessarily over concern of their heath but more because it was the "cool" thing to do. You see it in movies, TV, fashion trends… and let's not forget the countless celebrity workout tapes with hosts from Fabio to Linnea Quigley. Another thing popular in the 80s was the slasher movie, and although by 1987 they were starting to die out… it was still inevitable that a slasher movie be released that capitalized on the fitness craze sweeping the nation.

Killer Workout AKA Aerobicide is such a movie… and to my knowledge, it still is the only fitness themed slasher movie in existence.

It starts with a semi-shocking mishap in a tanning booth. Then we are immediately thrown into the middle of a workout routine where about 30 gorgeous babes in spandex are getting fit and showing off their tight bodies. This is, essentially, what Killer Workout is about… following a series of murders that take place in this gym (Rhonda's Gym) by a safety pin wielding mad person, then getting to see a sexy workout montage set to corny synth music… over and over….

This is not a bad thing if you are into cheesy b-grade movies like myself. In fact, this is one of the more delightful bad movies I have ever seen. The movie moves at fast pace which keeps your attention. Acting is pretty bad from all parties, but some performances like Marcia Karr's are hilariously over-the-top. Plus, even if the acting is bad, chances are they are still beautiful to look at (you might even see some gratuitous nudity). The plot is pretty uninspired but it works and there are even a few surprising twists towards the end.

All in all, the movie is bad but it has a lot of charm. It offers plenty of laughs and if that is not enough to convince you to see it, the abundance of sexy people working out in spandex might. The movie is also a time capsule that lets us see just how ridiculous the 80s fitness craze got.

In the end, Killer Workout comes highly recommended for the bad movie enthusiast, others might want to stay away.

GREAT if you like spandex and sweaty babes, not the greatest if you like horror (or good movies)

[warsystem04 · 5/10 · 24 December 2012]

"Killer Workout" is one of those movies where I just can't figure out if it was made as a spoof or not. It's just that bizarre.

Set in a fitness club, there are multiple EXTENDED scenes of insanely sexy girls in spandex working out and practically revealing it all. The cameraman should be awarded for somehow immediately zooming in on the bustiest girl in the room in every one of these softcore aerobic fetish scenes. These are basically the highlight of the film, and you'd probably be better off watching exercise regiment infomercials than this. HOWEVER, I can not say I don't recommend it, because I absolutely do.

The body count is extremely high, though nothing is particularly gory at all. The killer uses a giant safety pin for some unexplained reason to kill the victims, having to stab each of them in the neck like ten times. Why none of the poor girls didn't try to simply use their arm to get poked instead of their jugular vein, I'll never know. I'll also never know why there are also multiple martial arts showdowns lasting an obscene amount of time between ripped bodybuilders, but I digress. The last twenty minutes of this one are an absolute glorious mess, with one of the most ridiculous plot elements in slasher history, and an incredibly long and dull chase scene.

While it may sound like I just tore this movie spandex limb from spandex limb, it is a must see on sheer absurdity value alone.

Oh, the horror of the 80s.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 7 October 2009]

Set in Rhonda's Work-out, an L.A. aerobics gym where the only the gorgeous are welcome (well, with the exception of a token fatty on an exercise bike, presumably there for the hard-bodies to make fun of), Aerobicide sees a killer hacking through the establishment's clientèle with a giant safety pin (!). Meanwhile, police detective Lt. Morgan (David James Campbell) and private investigator Chuck Dawson (Ted Prior) attempt to uncover the identity of the murderer, and gym owner Rhonda Johnson (Marcia Karr) tries to prevent her customers from cancelling their memberships.

As a slasher film, Aerobicide is a complete failure, devoid of scares, tension, or decent kills (there's very little in the way of gore); however, as an opportunity to ogle hot 80s women flaunting their flawless, toned bodies in skimpy lycra outfits, it can't be beat.

With the 'horror' regularly punctuated by cheesy 80s dance routines, fans of the female form are guaranteed plenty to enjoy: shapely butt's gyrate, groins thrust, and big breasts jiggle to a hi-energy disco soundtrack, and additional titillation comes in the form of a nekkid bird who gets grilled like a cheese toastie in a sun bed, tasty Teresa Van der Woude whipping her top off during a dream sequence, a victim being killed whilst taking a shower, and buxom Dianne Copeland flashing her ample charms in a bikini that is quite clearly struggling to contain such a well developed physique.

Fans of trashy 80s nonsense should also get a kick out of an unbelievably hideous gold and black outfit worn by Rhonda, a couple of ridiculous punch-ups between the gym's beefcake male instructors, one of horror cinema's silliest jump scares in the shape of a spring-loaded rubber arm (which pops out a locker not once, but twice), and a seriously unconvincing wig (to explain more would be to spoil the film, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it).

If you've watched and enjoyed similarly themed slashers Death Spa and Murderock, then this voyeuristic piece of low-brow entertainment from the days when big hair and leg-warmers ruled the world will no doubt also hit the spot.

I could watch this film every day.

[ConsistentlyFalconer · 28 June 2015]

Note: also released under the title Killer Workout.

What an absolute masterpiece of So Bad It's Good filmmaking. Nothing makes sense. The acting is atrocious. The breasts are gratuitous. The main cop doesn't say a word for ages, then when he opens his mouth and you hear his ridiculous voice, you realise why. There's a fight scene that's like a cross between the ones in They Live (1988) and Hobgoblins (1988). I mean…

It's a slasher film. It's set in a gym. It was made in 1987. I don't want to spoil it by saying anything else.

Verdict: Track it down, order a pizza, and enjoy.

So bad, it's good...sort of

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 25 February 2015]

Widely hated by moviegoers and horror fanatics alike, the years have given this cheesy slasher film a certain charm. While it's obviously hampered by the low budget (it's one of those films where the producer/director/actor are all the same person), the cult appeal of this atrocious film is such that I found myself having a great time while watching it.

The acting is bad all around, with the possible exception of the actor playing the cop Morgan, who overacts a bit and chews the scenery in a fun way (at least this variety of 'acting' is better than standing around and delivering leaden lines straight off the cue card). The killer kills people with a giant safety pin, which gives you some idea of the ingenuity of this film (the cleverest thing is the title AEROBICIDE). The '80s pop music soon grates heavily on the viewer's nerves while the point-of-view killer shots are stolen from HALLOWEEN (as per usual), and basically have been copied far too often to be effective anymore. The camera dwells on the girls in the aerobics classes far too long, and works the other way too when focusing on muscular young men. Add the fact that they're all dressed in hideous '80s clothes and you'll be ripping your own eyes out to try and stop the torment.

As you can imagine, this film is pretty dire, full of bland actors, characters who you don't give a damn about, and the murders aren't even particularly gory. So why did I enjoy it? It's difficult to say really apart from the fact that as everything was so bad it all became one big comedy and, in a way, one of those 'so-bad-it's-good' kind of films. Saying that, you probably need a high tolerance level to be able to sit through a film like this… or maybe, like me, you're just a glutton for punishment!

Hilariously bad!

[callanvass · 5/10 · 24 August 2013]

Killer Workout gave me a firm reminder of why I love cheese so much. It's badly made, and I loved every minute of this cheese fest. It represents everything I adore about the 80's. Workout music, non stop shots of good looking woman in aerobics gear, and terrible acting. The kills themselves are nothing special. We never get a full close-up of the killer until the very end. The choice of object to kill people is not very threatening either. I'd argue it's one of the least threatening in the history of Slasher's. Get ready for it… A CLOTHESPIN! That's the choice of object. There are so many hilarious goofs in this film. It features a fight scene between two jocks that have virtually no fighting skills what so ever. There is a shower scene where a woman gets killed, that is obviously influenced by Psycho. I did dig the burn makeup, and there is a chase scene involved at a construction site that is actually fairly tense stuff. I also dug the multiple twists in this film, and it does make you question who the real killer is. There is not much suspense in this film, just plenty of unintentional chuckles and glorious cheese throughout the film. I really did have a blast. Marcia Karr is a lot of fun as Rhonda. She's perennially grumpy all the time, and is very sexy to boot. I wouldn't say it's a great performance, but she's a hoot to watch. David James Campbell is laughably bad as the Detective. His tough guy act is even more laughable. The rest of the actors are equally as poor, but that's the fun of it all.

Final Thoughts: This is also known as Aerobicide. I'll be honest. It's a typical 80's slasher, but man is it fun! The 80's obsession with aerobics come into full play here, and despite how bad this movie is, it ends up being fun anyway. If you're looking for a fun 80's slasher with plenty of cheese, this might just do the trick for you. Lighten up and live a little. It's not The King's Speech!

(3/10 for quality) (5/10 for how fun it is!)

So terrible - in a good way! The soundtrack was killer too!

[bfan83 · 5/10 · 27 February 2009]

**SPOILER WARNING!* I LOVE this movie! It is quite possibly the cheesiest slasher to come out of the 80s, but that's what is so irresistible about it! The plot concerns Rhonda (Marcia Karr) an overall unpleasant woman because several years earlier she was accidentally baked inside of a tanning bed while trying to get a tan so she could be on the cover of cosmopolitan. Due to this horrifying traumatic incident, she starts killing off the clients of her gym because she is jealous of their beauty! Talk about totally cheesy 80s slasher plot. KILLER WORKOUT also features the best weapon of choice - a large safety pin used to off the client's one by one! The acting is, of course, really atrocious. But it still maintains the neat 80s charm. The bad music, the bad fashions, the bad hair. I could go on and on. It was obviously made on a shoestring budget. But like I said, all of that gives it its charm. You must seek it out at once! If not for the atrocious acting and the unbelievable plot, then for it's totally awesome soundtrack! Only You Tonight has to be the best 80s pop song out there!

Working out will never be this fun again

[slapmonkeyfilms · 7/10 · 2 March 2001]

Killer workout or Aero-bicide is a tale of a serial killer who preys on victims in a gym.It incorporates both inventive murders using an oversized safety pin and good looking sweaty bodies grooving to an intense 80s sound track.This movie is so damm bad it is great from the hardnosed detective who is so suspicious and unsympathetic it is truly shocking to the undercover private-eye who doles out beatings to angry gym members.The director truly new what he was doing with explicit shots of workouts after every death(you would have thought they would have shut the gym down but no).Overall it clearly is a must see movie with awfull acting,cliched characters and graphic workout shots,I applaud the maker of this film and just hope more people get the opportunity to see it.

Wow.

[Steve_Nyland · 5/10 · 14 June 2005]

Boy the things that passed for entertainment in the decades before right now. This isn't actually as bad as Slasher fans may describe it, and along with NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR stand as evidence of the influence of the dance movie craze brought on by DIRTY DANCING crossed with horror movie conventions. KILLER WORKOUT (as retitled for home video) does not have any break dancing Menudo clones like NIGHT TRAIN did, but it has something even better: AEROBICIZING!!

THE PLOT: A young ditz manages to fry herself in a tanning bed in the film's opening segment. Five or eight or ten or however many years later, people start dying horrifying slasher movie deaths at an Aerobics club catering to the dumbest people in Santa Monica or Bakersfeild or Beverly Hills or wherever this film is supposedly set. Details like those are usually added to confuse viewers into thinking they are watching a story about people rather than a series of contrivances designed to kill off the supporting cast in a horror movie by their relative importance to the plot. KILLER WORKOUT is if nothing else par for the course on all such fronts, so fans of the genre will be entertained, and non-fans will have something to laugh at while drinking beer. Life is short, and this video (if you can find one) will help make it seem even shorter.

What makes AEROBICIDE (the original theatrical title) kind of nifty is that it knows these things, does not dwell on them, and concentrates on the killings, some T&A, and LOTS & LOTS of footage of various leotard and legwarmer festooned big haired '80's hotties (and one fat guy on a stationary bike) working out to the film's atrocious musical score. It's like A-Ha crossed with the Bangles, and reminded me of why I started listening to King Crimson when in high school: The music of the 1980's sucked, for the most part. This stuff is especially bad, and the reason the film is probably Out of Print has to do with the rights to the music, which apparently just isn't worth bothering with to whomever owns it. Don't blame them at all on that front.

So this is a nice blast from the past for anyone with a yearning to re-visit 1985/1986, has some gratuitous nudity, some nice touches of gore, a neat plot twist, a second even neater plot twist after that, topped off by an amusingly sadistic ring to the ending that says Oh Yeah, The Fun Has Just Begun. Sadly there was no KILLER WORKOUT 2, because I liked the ambiguous good/bad/insane character of the woman scarred by the accident, the fact that there were three homicidal psychopaths in the film clamoring for screen time, and the movie's self awareness about being essentially a low-rent, brutal, misogynistic little Califiornia Aryan parable about the 1980's Yuppie Workout Generation ... Who are of course all now on Lipitor and having plastic surgery to keep their sun stretched skin from sagging. People in general are still stupid in 2005, and it's reassuring to see how dumb they were 20 years ago too. We're not doing so bad, I guess: We got rid of the big hair at least.

But ya know, the people who frequent this Aerobics Club are an odd bunch. They are all in amazingly impeccable shape, all gorgeous white homogeneous suburbanite professionals, and they keep right on Aerobicizin' even as the bodies pile up, and to anyone who does not inhale Drano for kicks, it's an inside job. Yet they keep jumping and leaping and spreading their bodies around, jiggling this way and that to tone up those muscles usually used when posing for Hustler Magazine, which is about where the mentality of the film rests. It's slickly made, suggestively voyeuristic, populated by psychopaths and airheads, and if I remember correctly, that pretty much summed up the 1980's.

Cheesy slasher fun

[Tikkin · 7/10 · 14 May 2006]

If you're a slasher fan, forget the bad reviews for Killer Workout, or Aerobicide as I know it. It's an amazingly entertaining and cheesy slasher flick that can't be taken all that seriously. It has everything - cheesy 80's rock music, tons of breasts, women in skimpy outfits, twist endings and ridiculous death scenes. The only thing that disappointed me was the gore - the deaths have blood but aren't very gory. The killer uses some sort of large safety pin to kill people with, which is an original but not very convincing method. The film also manages to squeeze in some samurai fight scenes, which are funny to watch. The twists are also very good and keep you guessing until the end. There's even the typical 'sequel friendly' ending.

If you love cheesy slasher films, add this to your collection immediately! It's great fun and while it doesn't deliver scares or gore, it delivers plenty of laughs. It's not that expensive to buy on DVD either. If you liked this you might also want to check out Fatal Games and Death Spa, which have similar themes to Killer Workout and are entertaining in their own ways.

Work that Body, Kill your Brain!

[Coventry · 3/10 · 19 November 2007]

This is quite possibly the most retarded 80's slasher ever realized, but how can you be harsh on a film that features non-stop images of dozens of gorgeous ladies with exhilarating bodies doing aerobic exercises, taking showers and wandering about in tight gym outfits? Prior to being a horror film, "Aerobicide" is a 90 minutes promo video to encourage the use of steroids, silicons and other body-stimulating fitness products. If you'd leave out all the footage of hunky boys lifting weights and yummy girls wiggling their butts and racks to insufferable 80's tunes, there probably only have about 15 minutes of story left. Plenty of time to improvise a plot about a sadist killer slaughtering young health-freaks with a big safety pin (yeah…). The film opens with an unintentionally hilarious scene of a girl getting fried between an electric sun-bathing device. Several years later people turn up dead in the same spa. You don't really need to be an experienced horror fanatic or a rocket scientist to figure out there's a link between the murders and the burning incident, now do you? Investigating the case are a seemingly braindead police officer (and Charles Napier look-alike!) and a beefcake private detective who gets lucky with the bustiest 80's beauty I've ever seen! Looking through the credits, her name's Dianne Copeland apparently, and she didn't do anything else apart from this turkey and an imbecile Troma-movie called "Surf Nazis Must Die". What a wasted opportunity! She may not have been a great actress, but she sure had two other BIG advantages that would help her move upwards in show business. The amount of gore and the quality of the make-up effects are nothing special, neither. We're treated to a couple of bizarre stabbings with a pin and some barbecued human flesh. The plot twists near the end are ridiculous and predictable, but by that time nobody is taking the film seriously anymore, anyway. "Aerobicide" (a.k.a. "Killer Workout") is recommended in case you want to switch of all your brain functions off for one night, but nevertheless feel like watching a film! It actually would make a terrific double-feature with "Death Spa". Both films have a lot of sexy and scarcely dressed babes … and both films are pretty dumb.

One of the greatest movies of all time!

[josh nolan · 9/10 · 28 February 2001]

Everyone should see Aerobicide (as it is known in England), everything about it is bad therefore, it's good! It's better than good; the gratuitous nudity, the gratuitous close ups of women in lycra, the dumb death scenes, shockingly bad production and acting values, it's a work of suppressed genius! One of the all time great so bad they're good movies every passing minute is a work of art. Top stuff.

Lots of aerobics montages!

[jellopuke · 7/10 · 17 October 2017]

This movie has one of those soundtracks that literally describes what is happening on screen, but its all cheesy 80's music so it's awesome. There are loads of aerobics montages with gratuitous crotch shots and zoom ins on the girls in skimpy outfits which I guess is cool if you're into that. The plot is standard and the gore isn't much to look at, but it's a corny fun that makes this worth watching.

A maniac, maniac on the aerobics floor

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 14 August 2018]

Iller Workout is not the same movie as Death Spa. Sure, they're both about a killer let loose inside a health club, but they're totally different movies.

Originally titled Aerobicide, this is all about a fitness club in LA owned by Rhonda Johnson (Marcia Karr, Savage Streets). The co-owner is her twin sister who was burned in a tanning salon two years ago and is presumed deceased. The action kicks in when members of the gym start getting killed in horrible ways. And by that, I mean a giant safety pin. Yes, this is the second movie I've seen in the last few months where a pin is used to kill people (Lucio Fulci's Murder Rock, stand up and take a bow).

This is the second David Prior movie I've endured in the past few days (The Final Sanction will be posted soon enough). It's also worth mentioning that even after the final kill and reveal, there is still an extended aerobics number. If you miss the 80's, particularly spandex and people wearing outfits that put their entire butt on display, I'm pretty much telling you that this is the exact movie you're looking for. Unless you were thinking of Death Spa.

Featuring the #1 smash-hit "Animal Workout"!

[-5 · 28 January 1999]

Ah yes.. Killer Workout. WHO THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA??! Oddly enough, there is a whole little sub-genre of this type of film, so if watching frizz-haired leotards bounce enthusiastically to songs called "Animal Workout" while evading certain death at the hands of a crazed fitness director or bloodthirsty demon is your cup of tea, I'd recommend this or Death Spa. Killer Workout is bad. I'm not even sure if it's good bad.. it's bad, that's all

I know. Alright, let's review:

80's skank? yes.

Do said skanks get naked? yes, unfortunately. the only t&a in this film, aside from that which was constrained by spandex, belonged to the crazy killer burn victim girl. yuck yuck yuck!!! very disturbing.

More plot inconsistencies than you can shake a script at? yes.

Problems with continuity? yes.

Stupid plot? yes. (consider, if you will, the tragic story of a fashion model who is involved in a terrible freak accident involving a tanning bed that spontaneously combusts. she then goes on to open a fitness club and proceeds to systematically slaughter the pretty female clientelle with a safety pin.)

Ridiculously fake gore? oh my yes.

Equally ridiculous instruments of death (such as safety pin and trash can)? you bet.

Guaranteed good time? hmm.. maybe. you'll get plenty of chances to hurl MSTies at this one, that's for sure.

One of the stupidest movies of all time

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 17 October 2019]

Made during the height of the aerobics work out craze of the 80s, this is one of the dumbest movies ever made. Work out fiends, who should at least be able to run away, are killed by a maniac with, for most deaths, a safety pin. Really? And not one victim fights back. And they even for in that old trope of the car won't start. Lame. Avoid.

The First Attempt

[dagonseve · 1/10 · 3 January 2011]

We may as well establish that the lesser-known category within Slasher flicks, the killer exercise variety, consists of two films: Killer Workout, aka Aerobicide, and seated at the right hand of it - Death Spa, released one year later. Why should anyone ask the redundant question of "why?" in regards to Slasher films veering off in this direction. It's all thanks to the workout craze of the 1980s. Get with the program!

The film opens with a young woman that receives near-fatal burns as a tanning bed experience goes terribly awry. We're then treated to the likes of "Rhonda's Workout" – a gym, naturally run by a woman named Rhonda, that features a dance class that is infinitely in session, packed to the brim with facial close-ups, synthy hum drum, and anatomical regions of the feminine persuasion. This will be 1 of 5 (or roughly so, I actually lost count) dance sequences littered throughout. Amidst the slaughter of innocents with no relative modus operandi, the patrons of the workout facility barely bat an eyelash to acknowledge these gruesome affairs. Toss in your average "bad cop" authority figure who's willing to play hardball and a new muscle head employee who's actually a private investigator and you're ready to stir up the contents of a stereotypical 80s cheese-fest.

Moments worth cherishing within Killer Workout mostly pertain to the excellently delivered dialog, such as this bread-winner of Shakespearean-level achievement:

Typical Workout Jock: I just wanna know one thing. Workout Girl: What? Typical Workout Jock: (points to her zipped up spandex onesy) What's the zipper for, baby? Workout Girl: I'll leave it to your imagination….(storms off, rather annoyed)

What's the zipper for baby? It's a complicated human invention crafted from a metal compound called a zipper; it's commonly sewn onto a garment for the purpose of concealing basic parts our anatomy, in particular, her breasts, you dim-witted Neanderthal. Of course it's really a wonder at all that you can hear this conversation over the whine of the electric guitar busting into a solo as it plays on throughout the opening segment. And furthermore, who hugs someone else after a rigorous dance routine anyway? It's like Killer Workout was written and directed in an alternate universe called Make-Pretend-Movie-Land where the players are tra-la-la'ing. Only a world such as this would feature musical cues at the start of scenes that don't require them…like a simple conversation. Why, oh why?

If these elements don't spark your fancy, perhaps you're in the mood for a few hilariously bad fight scenes. David Prior, who wrote and directed this low-budget travesty, has been known to string together B-rated action flicks throughout the course of his career – the evidence of such a preference is on display as it rears its marred visage. At one point neighborhood hoodlums spray-paint the words "Death Spa" on the front window of Rhonda's Workout as a result of the murders receiving public attention. What's that you say…an omen? Is it a coincidence that a film entitled Death Spa would be released a year later? At least these thugs were dispatched off with ease, with crimped, Aquanet-sprayed locks a-flyin'. Indeed a punishment that befits the crime for suggesting that another Slasher fall under the confines of a training facility.

The murder weapon of choice is a large safety pin that'd really only serve the purpose of holding up a cloth diaper, not ridding a hapless victim of his or her life. Killer Workout has a length of about 80 minutes or so and concludes rather absurdly with a half-hearted twist that, not surprisingly, is not much of one at all. By the way, if you missed the numerous dance numbers that could've easily been sold as a workout video, available via VHS 25 years ago, catch a glimpse of them on repeat as the end credits play to a finish. Killer Workout is a pathetic movie in literally every facet of film-making imaginable. Forget the likes of Sleepaway Camp if you and your friends are in for a laugh - "Aerobicide" has it all and more…fully equipped with brightly colored leotards and leg warmers.

Fun low-rent slasher schlock from the mid-80s

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 30 March 2020]

After a woman is burned in a horrible tanning salon accident, her sister (Marcia Karr) opens a gym in Los Angeles where the clients start dying one-by-one. David Campbell plays the grim detective, Ted Prior a new employee at the gym and Fritz Matthews a weirdo tough guy client.

"Killer Workout" (1987) is cut-rate slasher schlock focused around (big surprise) a gym in the Hollywood area. To be expected, there are a lot of shots of the women working out, mostly aerobic exercise, but don't expect the voluptuous females in "Heavenly Bodies" (1984), although a few of the ladies are a'right, e.g. Teresa Van der Woude (Jaimy) and Dianne Copeland (Debbie).

The soundtrack is glaring mid-80's pop (with the requisite electronic drums) while the dialog & acting are mostly bad, but in an amusing way, like the cast/crew had fun shooting. Meanwhile there's some unexpected martial-arts action and a fairly long chase on foot. The first half is too one-dimensional in that it concentrates on events at the gym, but the second half opens things up a bit. The reveal in the third act surprised me.

Bottom line: It's a cheap and quietly laugh-inducing 80's slasher, but fairly entertaining.

The movie runs 1 hour, 25 minutes and was shot in Beverly Hills, North Hollywood and Sun Valley, Los Angeles.

GRADE: C

Feel the burn!

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 18 December 2015]

As "Killer Workout" opens, a young model named Valerie learns that she's been hired for a major shoot, but that night, when she uses a tanning bed at a health & fitness spa, there's a bad accident, causing the machine to burn her. Years later, her twin sister Rhonda (Marcia Karr) is running her own spa, and the clientèle soon start to get killed by some psycho.

As a low budget slasher designed to cash in on the fitness craze of the 1980s (and this movie just screams 1980s throughout), this would make agreeable viewing, alone or as a double feature with the equally silly "Death Spa". Overall, it's not as outrageously tacky as one might wish it to be, nor is it as hilarious in its awfulness as would be appreciated. Still, people looking to have a bad movie night would likely have a good time with this one.

There's plenty of padding, but it's padding of the kind that many audience members will appreciate, with leering shots of well choreographed dancers grinding along to some insidiously catchy 80s style pop. The ladies are lovely, and the men are studly; their performances add a bit to the fun. Karr is entertainingly bitchy, while David James Campbell ("Scarecrows") is the required weary detective on the case. Ted Prior, brother of writer / director David A. Prior, and Fritz Matthews co-star; they also did "Deadly Prey" for David A. P. the same year as this. Teresa Van der Woude ("Night Visitor") and Joel Hoffman ("Pumpkinhead") have smaller roles.

The much too talky finale and the resolution are not terribly satisfying, but getting there is still enjoyable.

Six out of 10.

Extra star for the ending

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 29 March 2020]

This late entry in the slasher genre lacks plausibility (the corspes keep on piling in the aerobics studio but it stays open!), suspense, and memorable kills (apart from the opening freak accident), though the aerobics sequences are sufficiently motivating (in one way or another....), Marcia Karr stands head & shoulders above the rest acting-wise, and the ending is unusual enough to earn the movie a whole extra star => ** out of 4.

like, totally 1980s horror cheese

[FieCrier · 6/10 · 20 November 2004]

A woman is burned in a tanning bed at a spa. Later, at another place "Rhonda's Work-Out" women are being killed, most often by a giant safety pin.

There are a lot of long scenes with exploitive camera-work covering the women doing their workouts to cheesy 80s music in their cheesy '80s outfits (day-glo colors, strange patterns, leg warmers) showing off cleavage, buttocks and big hairstyles. There are some muscle men in the gym, two of whom keep getting into fights. Surprisingly, there's relatively little nudity. There isn't a whole lot of gore either, although it does seem like bodies were being put into white body bags fairly often. One of the men carrying a bag away even says "see you tomorrow!"

At one point vandals spray-paint one of Rhonda's windows with "Aerobicide" and "Death Spa." The first is an AKA for this movie (also the title of one of the songs in the movie), the second happens to be the title of a movie similar to this one, but made two years later (Death Spa AKA Witch Bitch). It's too bad they don't belong to the same distributor, because if they were ever to come out on DVD, they'd make a logical double feature for a single disc.

Cheesy/trashy entertainment for a one and done watch!

[markovd111 · 5/10 · 19 March 2024]

The script for this movie was written in six days and director's brother stars in the movie as one of it's main characters. That alone should tell you enough. The whole setting of the movie is, naturally, used basically just to show women in skimpy outfits and that's apparent whenever characters played by actresses Dianne Copeland and Teresa Van der Woude are seen on screen. "Killer Workout" or "Aerobicide" is far from the worst movie ever made. Thought was definitely put into it, actors were doing the best they were capable of (in fact, David Morgan was doing even more than he was capable of) and fighting scenes have weirdly elaborate choreography, even though they are performed on a level of a fighting scene from some contemporary TV series. What I'm trying to say is, if you can appreciate what this C movie offers, you will be entertained, because the whole movie has the atmosphere that dangerously threads on "so bad it's good" grounds that it's a damn shame I can't say that's completely the case. The music is also surprisingly very good and overall, if you know what you're getting yourself into, grab a mate to laugh with or go in solo and enjoy this cheesy mess. Otherwise, avoid it, because you won't find anything even close to a hidden gem here. 5.5/10!

Warning: Spoilers and a whole lot of erotic dancing

[tim_sparks · 10/10 · 6 August 2015]

I feel like this movie suffers from either "not enough nudity" or "excessive use of bimbos that have too many clothes on and no interesting dialogue or character development." If you raise the bar on the women themselves, it would be OK, or, if you gave me more nudity, it would also be OK.

Having said that, this is a fairly decent entry into the "redonkulous 80's horror movie debacles" category.

Nudity? Check. 80's fashion apocalypse? Check. Beefy guys with mullets homo-erotically fighting? Check. Soundtrack songs so kitchzy that you laugh out loud? Check. Puntastic title (Arobi-Cide!)? Check. Atrociously bad male acting that would make Shatner wince? Check. Oddly over the top facial expressions at random that don't fit the scene? Check. Aerobics moves that are probably actually some of the best sex moves you could ever expect out of your lady? Check.

My favorite moment in this film aside from the porntastic aerobics moves was when the detective was chasing a bad guy and was trying to pull his gun out of his inside suit jacket pocket. As he reaches in he fumbles around and then extracts the gun clumsily from the pocket with a weird smile on his face that fades when he remembers he is in a dramatic scene,. It's my guess that this scene was tough on him and maybe there were like 34 other takes where he didn't get the gun out. So , he is probably experiencing pure joy that the damn prop gun came out of the damn pocket finally. I had to rewind and watch this again and I laughed out loud.

Also, this actor's acting was so oddly .. off, that I immensely enjoyed every scene he stumbled his way through. I may actually seek out other movies that this guy is in to see if he is like this all the time. The unintentional hilarity of his performance is what sells this to me as an awesome 80's slasher flick.

Kudos for his car too, I hope real detectives get better car's than that one! LOL!

If you want this type of movie, you found it and you will love it.

come for the soundtrack, stay for the outfits

[warehousereviews · 6/10 · 12 August 2021]

Some great outfits in this one! Bring back the 80s fashion!!

Really want to get into aerobics after watching this movie..

would definitely watch segments of this movie again..

Feels like a work out watching this.....

[FlashCallahan · 4/10 · 9 March 2016]

It's almost pointless to give a film like this a proper plot summary.

Girl has an accident on a sun bed, flash forward two years later, and someone is killing members of a gym with a giant safety pin. It doesn't matter though the patrons are more or less seeing the murders downright before their eyes, but still return the next day.

So it's up to your atypical grizzled detective from the eighties to solve the crime, not that you'd need a degree in criminology to guess the outcome of the film......it's not exactly Se7en......

If you were to take away the prolonged dance sequences and workouts, then you would a have a very short film indeed, and this is because the makers wanted to pad their film, because there isn't much of a plot, and even less of a narrative.

So all you can do is sit back and tolerate the garish eighties clothing, the wonderfully ridiculous big hair, and the occasional murder with a giant safety pin.

There is some sort of strange twist at the end of the film, featuring the tables being turned, but even though it's only a slight film, you feel like you've sat through a four hour training video on how to use gym equipment safely.

Not good, the burn make up almost makes the film worth watching, but at the end of the day, it's only a cash in on the slasher movie.

See Death Spa instead.