The plot is familiar one: normal dude becomes a murder suspect while the 'real killer' is still out there. He has to solve the crime and clear his name. It was an effective story device in the hands of a master like Hitchcock, but here it's just hackneyed and obvious. The real killer turns out to be one of those 80's style near-invincible slashers and a cop, a fact that other in his department are covering up. This is all made clear to the audience early on, leaving little further mystery to be solved, while most of the movie's running time gets taken up by bad 80s chase action and bad cop 80s dialogue.
This was the sort of movie sold as 'horror' back during the heyday of 'slasher' movies, but really it isn't. It has the plot of a mystery thriller, but with a little extra splatter to make up for its weaknesses as either a mystery or thriller. This is poor compensation. There is no strong atmosphere of threat here, an absolute requirement of any thriller, and little in the way of originality or cleverness in the narrative. If you can see events coming twenty minutes ahead, how effective a mystery are you seeing? Exactly. The main baddie, hulking Robert Zdar of Tango and Cash, makes a strong visual impact in the title role, but beyond him there is really very little here that we have not already seen way too many times.
This was the sort of movie sold as 'horror' back during the heyday of 'slasher' movies, but really it isn't. It has the plot of a mystery thriller, but with a little extra splatter to make up for its weaknesses as either a mystery or thriller. This is poor compensation. There is no strong atmosphere of threat here, an absolute requirement of any thriller, and little in the way of originality or cleverness in the narrative. If you can see events coming twenty minutes ahead, how effective a mystery are you seeing? Exactly. The main baddie, hulking Robert Zdar of Tango and Cash, makes a strong visual impact in the title role, but beyond him there is really very little here that we have not already seen way too many times.