This is an old movie that I had not seen until this anniversary 3-disc edition.
The enjoyment that I derived from viewing the movie was to see how things were done once upon a time. The gore was humorous. It seems that, back then, fake blood looked more like red paint in a child’s arts and crafts class rather than an attempt at a simulation. Flesh was rubber – it stretched, as is seen during a decapitation. But the funniest gag is the blood squirting from behind a knife – the side of the blade that you don’t see. I keep hearing that this was once a shocking image, but I disagree. When I was a kid, I didn’t know the exact method for the gag, but I had fun putting ketchup on the side of a knife that a person wouldn’t see, and I pretended to cut my arm, so I don’t see how this was innovative or scary.
I don’t know if this period of movies was just giving the viewer the barest essence, as if it were a play. I thought that this was why older TV shows show just a red dot when someone gets shot, but after talking to a detective, he said that there is no blood spurt – people bleed internally. Yes, there are exceptions, but it seems that the modern way of having squibs is just as silly as the gore of yesteryear, or yesterdecade, ha ha.
There are two unrealistic things about the movie. One is that Caroline Munro’s character would be involved with the slob who plays the maniac. The more striking error is that the maniac is asexual. All serial killers are sexual predators, whether the victim is alive or dead. This is the problem with many movies – there is only surface level knowledge. However, there is some merit to the maniac being stuck in a childhood experience.
No, I don’t hate this movie, and I don’t regret the time I spent watching it. I liked the spirit of the movie – it felt like a passion project. The behind-the-scenes extras provided proof of that. It was a step back in time to see how things were done in those days. There are also time-capsule elements like rotary phones and cars that weighed a lot more, ha ha. It’s a peek into the past.
