It is a performances centric movie

Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

"The Redeemer" follows a group of six adults who are conned into attending a high school reunion party at a the remote academy they all graduated from. Among them are a vain actor; an avaricious lawyer; a woman who married for wealth; a frivolous (albeit kind) woman on her umpteenth divorce; a lesbian in a committed relationship; and a man who is a lite gourmand. When they realize they are the only ones there, they grow somewhat suspicious of the supposed "reunion," and it isn't long before they find themselves locked inside the building. Like rats in a cage, they are systematically knocked off according to their "sinful" proclivities. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the film is inexplicably bookended by the literal son of Satan emerging and entering a lake...or something?Opinion on "The Redeemer" (also released as "Class Reunion Massacre") seems to be divided, with some reviling the film for its religious overtones and sloppiness, while others herald its surreal disposition and dread; I tend to fall in the camp of the latter for a handful of reasons. While it is admittedly no masterpiece, "The Redeemer" does weave a spell on its audience, and the entire thing feels like it could have been borne out of the writer's fugue state. A large part of this weirdness is due to the bizarre supernatural angle that is woven into the film; the beginning and end almost feel as though they are part of a different movie entirely, while the mid-section is a fairly conventional (albeit atmospheric) slasher. In the beginning and end, there is a boy coming out of a lake and interacting with a lunatic preacher (i.e. the killer); the boy is ostensibly the son of Satan-at times one wonders if the boy is the childhood version of the preacher/killer-the reality is that we'll probably never know. Promotional material for the film tried to tether it to the success of "The Omen," which leaves me wondering if these bookended sequences were added as an afterthought to cash-in on the "supernatural child" motif that was en vogue at the time.The bulky midsection of the film is remarkably atmospheric, at times reminding me quite a bit of another oddball proto-slasher, "Savage Weekend." There are a few artful sequences leading up to the characters' arrival at the school that predate similar sequences in countless slasher films, and there is an unnerving score that permeates the entire film. The killer's appearance alternates from victim to victim, though each is marked by theatrical pontification; some, such as a shotgun murder, are twisted and ingenious in a tongue-in-cheek way while others, such as a protracted murder in a bathroom, are far more grim and unpleasant to watch. Each of the adult characters have a bit of personality and humanity to them which is supplied by capable performances, so there is an emotional gravitas to the film that makes the killings feel particularly mean-spirited; it also lends a potentially subversive ethos to the proceedings, as the extent to which the characters are truly "sinful" remains questionable as we watch them like lambs to the slaughter.In the end, it all comes crashing down in the same way it began. Who is the boy with the three thumbs, and why does he come out of the lake? What is his connection to the killer? Why this particular group of "sinners"? Is the film a commentary on religious delusion, or is it a mythological Christian morality tale dressed as a slasher movie? Was the director on acid? I don't have patent answers, but I can say that I find the film endlessly perplexing. Accidental or intentional, there are macabre strokes of genius here. For those who are attracted to the weirder side of the slasher spectrum. 8/10.

Six folks gather together for a ten year high school reunion at their old alma mater located in the remote countryside. The motley bunch are knocked off by a mysterious moralistic psychopath (a gloriously hammy, stylized, and theatrical performance by T.G. Finkbinder, who went on to become an English teacher after he quit acting!) for their various "sinful" indiscretions. Director Constantine S. Gochis, working from an unflinchingly dark and grim script by William Vernick, does a sound job of building a considerable amount of gut-wrenching suspense and delivers a potently brooding atmosphere of pure dread and absolute hopeless gloom. Moreover, the murder set pieces are quite brutal and upsetting: one guy gets set ablaze with a flamethrower, another fellow has a dagger dropped on his head, a woman is drowned in a bathroom sink, and so on. The solid acting by the capable no-name cast helps a lot, with praiseworthy work from Damien Knight as greedy, cynical shyster lawyer John Sinclair, fetching future 80's "Head of the Class" sitcom regular Jeanetta Arnette as sweet, but promiscuous harlot Cindy, Nikki Carter as stuck-up rich snob Jane, Michael Hollingsworth as vain, preening actor Roger, Nick Carter as gross, lazy glutton Terry, and Gyr Patterson as lovely lesbian Kirsten. Moreover, the main characters are surprisingly well-drawn and even pretty sympathetic individual beings who aren't totally deserving of their ugly untimely fates. In addition, there's a striking ambiguity evident throughout which gives this picture an additional profoundly unsettling flesh-crawling creepiness: Whether this singularly sick and mean-spirited film is a savage condemnation of a rigid puritanical ultra-conservative morality run viciously amok or a stark endorsement of the same warped religious values is certainly open for the viewer to decide. Harsh and unpleasant for sure, with some perplexing oddball touches (what's that vague wrap-around stuff about an extra possessed thumb all about?), but undeniably effective and often genuinely harrowing just the same.

What is it with all these folks in horror movies? Most of them look like the type of people who would watch gore films all the time, but except for the characters in the SCREAM series, it's as if all these dumb dodos have never seen even ONE slasher flick in their soon-to-be-curtailed lives. They always persist in running off alone on pointless errands, instead of sticking together and overwhelming an often vulnerable looking killer (such as the "Redeemer" here) through the sheer force of a mass attack while they still have the advantage of superior numbers. And Jeanetta Arnette, who plays former high school glee club singer Cindy (destined to be drowned in the sink of the girls' john), did you realize you spoiled the whole movie by flopping around about two minutes after you were supposed to be "dead"? Sheeesh!

Well, this flick from the 70s proving that religion has its repercussions. This pre-Halloween movie follows more in the venue of Italian "giallos" films, except you get to "see" the killer function like a chameleon constantly changing props and costumes with different setting for each killing.There was some great chilly moments such as the theater stage scene where one of the characters gets a sword in his head. There was even a lesbian subtext (in the beginning each character is given vignette to show us their hidden lives and "sins") to satisfy the "straight" male interest. Each killing relates to each of the seven deadly sins, a "killer" if you are Christian!There was some quirky film-making moments, which added on to the "weirdness" of the film in how the characters interact with each other. Watch out for the scene where the freeze framed image (70s motion picture technique) of the killer wearing a black cloak outfit with a skull mask, with his eerie laugh echoing, fun stuff!