Nightmare at Shadow Woods

Entertaining first two acts pave the way for a disappointing last act

In Jacksonville, a single mother (Louise Lasser) finally finds the right man after raising twin brothers, one in a mental institution. When the latter escapes all hell breaks loose.

Made in 1983 but not released until 1987, "Blood Rage" was originally called “Slasher” (as the title card reads) and recut as “Nightmare at Shadow Woods,” which abbreviated much of the gore and nudity to avoid an ‘X’ rating in other regions. Speaking of which, there is quite a bit of well-done gore in the full version, if that’s your thang. The nudity is pretty much par for the course with maybe a bit more than usual.

Lisa Randall stands out in the feminine department as curvy Andrea. Unfortunately, this was her only acting role. Meanwhile Julie Gordon (Karen) is the proverbial final girl. On the other side of the gender spectrum, Mark Soper is great as the twin brothers; he’s really able to distinguish the two (and I was seriously wondering if they were played by two different actors).

The first 55 minutes are quite good for a 2nd tier slasher (think “Sleepaway Camp”) with its quaint early 80’s electronic score. But the last act fumbles the ball and becomes increasingly tedious. A certain person shouldn’t have been removed from the proceedings.

The film runs 1 hour, 22 minutes, and was shot in Jacksonville, particularly the University of North Florida, whereas the drive-in theater interiors were done in New Jersey.

GRADE: B-/C+