Anyone that watches slasher films is familiar with the common holiday theme that a lot of these films have. There are a ton of Christmas slashers, Halloween, I believe a couple for new years, Friday The 13th of course, Valentines Day, and even one for April Fool's Day. So what ever happened to Thanksgiving? You'd think that it is an easy cash grab. Well, there's Blood Rage.
Blood Rage opens in the 1970's at a drive in theater where Ted Raimi sells condoms as though they are an illegal substance. Todd and Terry are identical twins who are being dragged along on their mother's most recent date. But when the neglectful mother starts getting intimate with her boyfriend, the twins sneak off to cause havoc. Terry finds a hatchet (at a drive in theater) and proceeds to murder a teenage boy in the middle of intercourse. Todd witnesses the entire crime and goes into a catatonic state out of shock. Terry utilizes the opportunity to give Todd the weapon and blame the entire murder on him. 10 years later, Todd finally recovers from his catatonic shock escapes the mental institution. Terry decides that he can use the opportunity to kill once again.
So is this the hidden Thanksgiving gem that slasher fans have been craving? Not really. The only thing that this film has to do with the holiday is that it takes place on it. Well, that and it's repeated attempts to really drive home the line, "Its not cranberry sauce." (Used 5 times exactly.) Blood Rage really could have taken place on any other day and it wouldn't have affected the movie. I don't think anyone is going to go out of their way to defend this as a Thanksgiving film.
The film stands out among its other obscure slasher peers because of its superior gore effects and killer synth driven score. Most of these kills have ample blood to quench any gore hounds thirst and some really cool effects as well. One scene has an amputated hand still moving its fingers on the ground as blood pours all over. Another scene shows an up close and personal look at the brain matter of a split head. Its some great stuff!
The acting is comically bad for the most part. Terry and Todd (same actor) can be pretty funny as they read the lines of this below par script. Their mother, however, just becomes irritating to watch as she descends into madness throughout the course of the film. We also have an entire cast of your stereotypical horn dog teenagers to provide us with laughs. There's definitely been worse acting in the genre. But this doesn't deserve any praise.
Overall, Blood Rage is an above average slasher film that can be a lot of fun. It does find itself lacking any sort of suspense. It's reasonable body count and awesome gore effects will still satisfy fans, Throw in some great synth and you have yourself a good way to spend 87 minutes. Just don't expect too much turkey talk.
Body Count: 9
Side Note: Originally filmed in 1983, Blood Rage wasn't released theatrically until 1987 under the title: Nightmare at Shadow Woods. This version was heavily edited to remove all the gore, but the VHS tape restored it. There are three versions of the film. All of which are now available on Arrows recent blu ray release.
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