The first half of this horror film, about strange experiments going on at a small campus, is very good. It was very effective thanks to a chilling score by Tangerine Dream and had some expert cinematography. It also had some big names in the cast. Michael Murphy (M*A*S*H), Louise Fletcher(One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) and classic film actor Charles Lane.
But then, maybe 3/4ths of the way through, it gets terrible. And it gets there quick. I think the scene that convinced me this movie was no longer good was the one where Michael Murphy's character is talking to Louise Fletcher's at the kitchen table. He talks about this evil scientist like he's some cartoon super villain. In fact, the plot to this whole movie becomes a ridiculous mad scientist/ revenge story like you would see in a Poverty Row production from the 30s or 40s, with hilariously campy lab scenes straight out of a bottom of the barrel James Bond flick. It loses all credibility here. It loses it's atmospheric feel , the blond kid acts like he's high for most of the rest of the film, and it has a climax that is very predictable and feels like it was thought up right on the spot. It also has one of the most pointless and confusing (to me anyway) "last lines" in movie history, and ends abruptly. I would also like to note that, unless I missed something, we never find out what happens to any of the kids that the mad doctor experiments on. (SPOILER) They just kill and disappear from the film altogether.
So to me, it just seems like the filmmakers stopped caring halfway through. They don't even try to cover up this one kid's New Zealand accent (it's set in Illinois, but was shot in New Zealand.)
This movie is included in the same set with "Patrick". It is marginally better than that film but alas, only marginally.
But then, maybe 3/4ths of the way through, it gets terrible. And it gets there quick. I think the scene that convinced me this movie was no longer good was the one where Michael Murphy's character is talking to Louise Fletcher's at the kitchen table. He talks about this evil scientist like he's some cartoon super villain. In fact, the plot to this whole movie becomes a ridiculous mad scientist/ revenge story like you would see in a Poverty Row production from the 30s or 40s, with hilariously campy lab scenes straight out of a bottom of the barrel James Bond flick. It loses all credibility here. It loses it's atmospheric feel , the blond kid acts like he's high for most of the rest of the film, and it has a climax that is very predictable and feels like it was thought up right on the spot. It also has one of the most pointless and confusing (to me anyway) "last lines" in movie history, and ends abruptly. I would also like to note that, unless I missed something, we never find out what happens to any of the kids that the mad doctor experiments on. (SPOILER) They just kill and disappear from the film altogether.
So to me, it just seems like the filmmakers stopped caring halfway through. They don't even try to cover up this one kid's New Zealand accent (it's set in Illinois, but was shot in New Zealand.)
This movie is included in the same set with "Patrick". It is marginally better than that film but alas, only marginally.