Point of Terror (1971)

Admirable film.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Time has not been kind to this over long not very good thriller. I think time has erased any and all good will that the filmmakers had, which considering how dull boring and jaw droppingly awful this film can be wasn't much to begin with. The basic plot has a lounge singer (at the local Lobster House) having dreams of murder and adultery. Actually its a dream that seems to be coming true. This is one of those hip and happening films that was made in the late sixties and early seventies that was made by a bunch of people who didn't know what hip and happening was. they were the sort of people that were into Plastics, like in the Graduate. I can't see this film ever connecting with an audience. The musical sequences have to be seen to be believed, certainly the opening jumpsuit piece deserves to be more than enough proof that some people should never be allowed to dance. Recommended only for insomniacs and those wishing to atone for some past wrong.

A woman cowering in fear. A masked madman brandishing a butcher knife. "Demons long locked in the depths of the mind come out to destroy the weak and believing!" Explore "the outer limits of fear". That's the poster. I don't think I've ever seen a movie so misrepresented by the advertising. Or happier about it. Not another tired, early 70s slasher film by any means, this riot is about a sleazy side-burned lounge singer (Peter Carpenter) picked up by a sleazier female record promoter (Dyanne Thorne) who sees something special in the guy. We can guess what it is, since most of the movie is shot at Carpenter's crotch level. Meanwhile, Thorne's jealous wheelchair-bound husband isn't going to take his wife's infidelity sitting down. Enter Thorne's kittenish daughter Lots of wonderfully bad faux 70s pop songs, over-heated dialogue and teeth-gnashing, and two outlandish murders. Dig it.

I gave this film a 6 and is that ever generous. The reason I gave it that much is simply because of Dyanne Thorne. Without her, this movie would have totally tanked and there'd be no legitimate reason to ever see it. The problem with this mediocre film is that it doesn't go far enough. There should have been more nudity instead of those god awful songs. The singing isn't so bad but oh those lyrics just make my brain hurt thinking about 'em! The sexploitation elements are all there alright but they are very underused, which basically was the trouble with a lot of these kinds of films made in the 70's: they just didn't go far enough. Had they pressed a hard R rating instead of a very soft R, this movie probably would have been a lot more watchable than it is.

Point of Terror huh? I don't think so. Maybe Point of No Return or Pointlessness, or even Point Blank - but Terror - NO WAY! This is one of those cheesy, sleazy seventies offerings that are known for real bad acting, virtually little plot, and lots of skin. Point of Terror has all that, and it has so much more. I knew what this film was going to be like right from the beginning when Pete Carpenter, the male lead, dances in the foreground of a ridiculous bright red background ala a poor man's Tom Jones in red attire from head to toe. Things then move to Carpenter, perhaps having one of the biggest self-inflated egos I have seen in any film, play with a girl who loves him but can not offer him any career advancement. Carpenter then lies on a beach, finds an older but beautiful woman(the lovely, buxom Dyanne Thorne), realizes she happens to be married to the man in charge of a recording company that could give him his big break, and you can imagine where things go from there. The story is not overly inventive at all, the acting is quite pedestrian with Carpenter doing a less than workmanlike job parading shirtless and wearing pants made for adolescents. Carpenter, who is credited with writing this as well, even feels compelled to show his backside and then act - with his "skill" and the script - like he is doing all of womanhood a huge favour. One big Yikes! and Yawn. Despite all of this film's problems - and they are legion, Point of Terror is easily very watchable, laughable, and fun in a so bad its good way. And as an extra bonus, there is a scene, probably the best in the film, where Ms. Thorne disrobes and show us why she was in so much demand during those years. Her attributes easily overshadow her unconvincing yet somewhat credible acting style. As for the rest of the thespians, everyone does an OK job. None of the actors are real good nor real bad. The story, although obvious from the beginning, is also at least handled with some flair from the director Alex Nichol. Terror surely was misused in the title as there is virtually no horror at all in this film - a couple of rather tame deaths, though one is with a man in a wheelchair being goaded like a bull with "Ole" into a pool. You will only find something like that in the seventies for sure!