Simply A Masterpiece

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As Good As It Gets

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The Redeemer (T.G. Finkbinder) is gathering some old classmates together for a supposed reunion. What he really wants is to punish them for their sins.It was particularly hilarious that they had the six classmates eating at a table reminiscent of The Last Supper.It should't be a big surprise that being gay is particularly distasteful to this self-righteous preacher. A couple of the classmates fit the stereotype.And, somewhere he managed to miss "Thou shalt no kill as he stabs and burns and shoots and drowns.Accompanied by some really irritating music. It didn't appear to know where to end, so it just kept going to some magical end that made no sense..

This offbeat little curiosity happens to be one of my absolute favorite slasher films. In fact, only 1974's "Black Christmas" (which is also my pick for best of the horror genre in general) beats it. Released mere months before Carpenter's "Halloween" would kick start the core slasher movement, it's an extremely eerie picture. There's a sense of the foreboding here that is more prevalent than you'd expect. It focuses on a mysterious morality killer who tricks a group of "undesirables" into attending a fake high school reunion, only to begin picking them off once they arrive. If you think this sounds a bit like "Slaughter High", you'd be right. This came first and is the infinitely better of the two. It's religious subtext alone makes it far more intriguing than that popular, but ultimately quite bland effort.The six so-called degenerates include a lawyer, a gay actor, a lesbian, a cute girl who takes pride in her appearance, a rich snob and a cocky former football jock with gluttonous tendencies. Despite negative comments about the acting on this site and in a horror reference guide of mine, the six main characters are perfectly believable people. In fact, all but the glutton wind up being rather likable, particularly Cindy, played with a free-spirited innocence by the lovely Jeannetta Arnette. The Redeemer himself comes off as over the top at times, which actually works in the character's favor, really making him seem like an absolute lunatic. His Shakespearean rant in the auditorium is a highlight. Props to T.G. Finkbinder for going all in with the role and, in turn, bringing to life one of the most memorable psychos on film.Indeed, the Redeemer is a very creepy individual. Throughout, he dons many different costumes (as "Terror Train"'s killer did a few years later), each one representing an aspect specific to his victims' lives. It's an unsettling touch that really adds to the overall tone. Perhaps the creepiest scene in the entire movie is when one of the girls is yelling for someone in the distance to let her out of the locked down school. Said individual turns out to be the Redeemer, dressed as the Grim Reaper, who proceeds to pound on the barred window with his scythe.This film is an exercise in the surreal, the above mentioned sequence being positively nightmarish in execution. The film's ambiguous opening and closing segments revolving around a sinister child reinforce this feeling tenfold. The school itself is an atmospheric setting, imprisoning our characters like a tomb. The rural area surrounding it certainly lends to the feeling of hopeless isolation.Having originally seen this via the big box "Class Reunion Massacre" VHS at my local video store, I was instantly taken with it. Not easy to forget, it's a bleak, dread-inducing slasher with a unique utilization of religious themes and well worth rediscovering. It should be regarded much more highly. It truly is one of a kind.

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!