Body Count (1986)

Truly Dreadful Film

Really Surprised!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

To begin this review I'll start by saying I didn't care if a single one of them died. I mean most of them didn't have strong enough personalities which really was kind of a disappointment. At least it had decent acting for being a mediocre 80's slasher film. I really liked the way the killer looked and how the ending was pretty epic. If they ever get the chance to remake this film I say they should create better and more iconic characters because most of these characters were just ridiculous idiots. I liked most of the build up of when they'd kill a character off like when Tony is chased in the woods before he gets killed. The music makes this film really stand out from rest of the slasher movies. It's intense and adds to the creepiness of the setting which is obviously the dark woods. It's a 5 out of 10.

I'm not sure if the version I watched was cut, but it certainly seemed so...anyway....This is a late eighties Italian slasher flick starring no less than Mimsy Farmer (Black Cat), John Stiener (Tenebrae), Ivan Rassimov (Deep River Savages), David Hess (Last House on the left) and Charles Napier (every film every made in the history of mankind). It's late eighties Italian film, as I said, so everything is much more toned down and cheap looking that we're used to...there's also a lot of 'inspiration' from what's current in the US film market. So Camping del Terrore is a rip off of Friday the 13th/Sleepaway Camp etc etc.Don't be put off though - The director is no less than Ruggero Deodato, the man who put everyone off eating turtle in Cannibal Holocaust! And Phantom of Death! Not seen that one? Oh well, never mind- I haven't either and I've owned it for months. What I'm trying to say is that Ruggero ain't just the master of needlessly murdering animals just to make some cash! He can also make almost coherent films.SO, what you've got here is a slasher film 'like' Friday the 13th set at an abandoned somewhere came where years before a murder toozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. You know what I'm talking about or you're looking at the wrong film. There's teenagers here. They get killed one by one. There's about 5 or 6 suspects. The killer isn't who I imagined it would be, but then, as this is an Italian horror, the ending took off in a spaceship and headed to Gleise 581, also known as 'The Star where the endings of films make no sense whatsoever'.The only version around seems cut. It's quite good, with some sub plots that don't have anything to do with the killings. But...it's a generic slasher really. For sad pathetic Italian horror movie fans only. All 12 of you. And that includes me.

Camping del Terrore (1987)* out of ****Directed by Ruggero DeodatoWith Luisa Maneri and David HessNo novelty if you have seen "Friday the 13th". Campers goes to for a weekend of sex but they find a crazy killer out there; each by one going to be killed. End of plot. Interesting Simonetti score but not so good as its other works. Sensacionalist Deodato almost do it with some camera moves and one "flashback" scene, but that don't help much. Look for David Hess ("Last House on the Left" and it's rip-off "House on the Edge of the Park" - other Deodatto! -) in the same pulse of always. Nehh.

Let's be honest here: the movie is not a masterpiece and that should never be argued. But I will say this: if "Body Count" got all this negative reviews, is mostly because people were expecting something brutal, merciless and shocking like "Cannibal Holocaust" and instead, they got an Americanized Ruggero Deodato, who was probably trying to approach a different audience. Can we blame him for trying? Yes!... but I, for one, enjoyed this film, even though I understand that it is less than perfect and obviously not even remotely memorable.In "Il Camping del Terrore", a group of moronic friends go on a vacation trip with no specific destination. In the middle of the road, they pick up a hitchhiker (of course) named Ben, who invites them to his parents' campsite. Ben's father, who is not a very friendly guy to begin with, starts setting some deadly traps all over the woods, with the purpose of catching the ghost of an old Indian shaman who wanders around the place (yes, he actually wants to catch a ghost with bear traps). According to an infamous legend, many years ago, a witch doctor put a curse on his tribe and captured their spirits in the woods. Every once in a while, this old Indian shaman leaves his mysterious lair to take new victims. Ben chooses not to tell anyone about the whole "ghost of an old Indian shaman" story with his new friends. However, when one of the guys appears viciously attacked and ends up in a coma, Ben breaks down and tells the truth. Of course, nobody believes him, and everyone stays at the campsite, because... seriously, who would actually believe that there's a ghost wandering around the woods? As a result of their skepticism, one by one, they all start to disappear. Meanwhile, Ben's parents, who are far from being a perfect couple, are in the middle of a major marital crisis that will bring terrible consequences for everyone... because if you thought that the old Indian shaman was as bad as it could get, you were dead wrong!Like I said before, this film is another example of the "slasher fever". It contains all the elements: a campsite, stupid characters who are about 30 years old and behave like teenagers and a mysterious killer. Rip-off or not, I think what makes this movie appealing to slasher fans, are the silly flaws that probably embarrass most of the crew members who were involved in this project back then. I for one, find it impossible not to like this film regardless of these flaws, or maybe precisely because of them My favorite tacky special effect would be the part in which the shaman hits one of the characters with a axe in the middle of her face... but the face is actually a motionless wax figure. Was Rugero trying to copy Tom Savini's axe-in-the-face from "Friday the 13th"? Of course, this flick also provided some good things. For instance, the outlandish nightmare sequence (that I will not spoil), or the scenes in which the shaman subtly appears from the trees, threatening his victims. Those are the scenes that make full contrast with the harsh comments and prove in a way, that regardless of the evident faults, Mr. Deodato is after all a talented director who can develop good moments of plain horror.So, yes, "Il Camping del Terrore" is clearly not an example of subtle and refined horror for "serious" movie lovers. However, the film doesn't fail when it comes to entertainment and it provides some really great scenes of butchery, with good music composed by Claudio Simonetti from Goblin (also in charge of the music in "Suspiria", if that works as a gentle reference). So, despite the technical atrocities, this little slasher is highly entertaining to me and anyone who can appreciate silly slashers for what they are will probably agree.