Released two years after Friday the 13th, with basically the same plot: crazy guy mows down naughty camp counselors. Except this guy has a way more awesome back-story (and his own theme song): Madman Marz (Paul Ehlers) was an evil farmer/axe murderer who was hanged by townspeople and left for dead. At the mention of his name he comes a’runnin,’ “searching for people so he can chop their heads off with an axe.” At the summer camp in question, one particularly dumb camper calls his name and then takes off for much of the movie, ironically being one of the only survivors. Madman strikes again!
It’s a classic slasher movie—common and predictable. It’s also quite low-budget. The actors don’t even look like they’re from Hollywood; well, they look like they’re in their thirties of course, but they look like regular people. The film is also fairly funny when it’s not trying to be, so it’s still entertaining. For example the scene when a counselor strolls around singing about Marz to scare the campers. But my favorite scene is when a few of the counselors get ponderous:
Stacy (Harriet Bass): “Great fire, Bill.”
Bill (Alex Murphy): “Thanks. I love to feel the flames devour the wood. Who says there’s no beauty in destruction?”
Ellie (Jan Claire): “I don’t think there’s beauty in any kind of destruction, for any reason.”
Dave (Seth Jones): “I’d say that depends on the reason, for as long as our reason stays reasonable. That’s the most frightening thing about us humans.”
(No Dave, the most frightening thing about us humans is that we make movies like this one.)
If you’re looking for a sequel-free Friday the 13th clone with fair acting and special effects, here you go.
GhoulieJoe 