Bloody Murder (2000)

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There's some spoilers in this review. Hold on to your hats- a chainsaw-wielding, hockey-mask-wearing murderer is on the loose at a summer camp, taking nubile young counselors one by one until the final showdown with the virginal heroine- and before you get all misty-eyed for the early 1980's, this film was released in 2000.

After the prerequisite opening murder, where a guy is killed by the aforementioned maniac, skip forward a few years to counselors going to camp to get it set up before the kids get there. Every cliche left over from the 1980's in reintroduced here, and the film makers keep a straight face the entire time. After playing a game of bloody murder, kind of a team tag, and playing a joke on one of the counselors, the new counselors are stalked by an unidentifiable maniac. Red herring suspects also begin to pop up all over the place. There is even an old senile man who comes around corners and scares everyone with premonitions of doom and gloom. Eventually, the heroine suspects her cabinmate because the cabinmate's father was the one who was murdered in the opening. Julie is sitting at her desk, and imagines her cabinmate of doing away with all the supporting cast, then jumps up and announces her conclusion to law enforcement and everyone else standing around. Fine. Except that the victims have all "disappeared," and Julie has no idea they have been murdered, much less knowing the way they were murdered. Of course, the cute cabinmate is not the killer, the film makers just wasted all of their ideas trying to make us think so.

If this review is lacking certain things like character names, that is because I could not remember any. The film is that unmemorable. This is not even as good as the decades old films they are trying to copy, and anyone looking for another "Scream" or "Scary Movie" are really going to be disappointed. The writer must have had this in his desk drawer for a few years and pulled it out to try and make a little dough. Well, he got my two bucks. I do not recommend this cheap, unsuspenseful junk. Followed by a sequel.

Stats:
(2000) 88 min. (1/2 *) out of five stars
-Directed by Ralph E. Portillo
-Written by John R. Stevenson
-Cast: Jessica Morris, Peter Guillemette, Patrick Cavanaugh, Crystalle Ford, Michael Stone, Justin Ross Martin, Tracy Pacheco, Lindsey Leigh, David Smigelski, William Winter, Michael Prohaska, Jerry Richards
(R)