The Initiation (1983)
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| Anchor Bay (USA). Region 1, NTSC. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 2.0 Mono. 97 minutes |
| The Movie |
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| Credits |
Director: Larry Stewart
Starring: Vera Miles,
Clu Gulager, Daphne Zuniga and James Read
Screenplay: Charles
Pratt Jr.
Music: Gabriel Black
and Lance Ong
Tagline: "Be young,
stay young… and die young"
Country: USA |
Anchor Bay, having already given us the likes
of the Sleepaway Camp trilogy, Hell
Night and Prom Night, treat us to yet
another dose of early 80's teen slasher mayhem.
This time in the form of Larry Stewart's The
Initiation.
Take a central female character (Daphne Zuniga)
with a dark and mysterious past, put her in a
college with a load of fellow sex-starved students
and then take those students and lock them in
a shopping mall for the night with a madman on
the loose. That's pretty much the scenario of
this film, if you're looking for something more
profound then you're in the wrong genre. What
you have here, to cut it down to basics, is lots
of teens having sex, goofing around and getting
slayed one-by-one. There are better examples of
the genre, but this is enjoyable enough.
There's really nothing new here, but the ending
caught me out, I have to admit. I really hadn't
figured that one out, not that I'm going to give
anything away, you'll just have to find out for
yourself!
Not a great film by any means, but a pleasant
enough time-waster. There's plenty of gratuitous
nudity, bad dialogue and reasonable gore (though
not excessive) to keep most trash fans happy though,
so it's not a complete loss. Larry Stewart directs
competently, if without flair, and gets the job
done reasonably well - but he's no Carpenter that's
for sure!
Best performance? Well.there isn't really, the whole
cast is pretty crap! Zuniga does her best, but comes
off as being wholly unconvincing. The gore isn't
too good either, pretty poor actually.
I'm not really selling this to you, am I? If
I said something like "Look at those tits!" -
would that convince you to buy it? Probably not.
However, as a whole, the film is highly entertaining.
Of course it stands to reason that when you start
breaking down things as I have, that it will start
to sound like a pile of shit. And I guess it probably
is shit too, but I'd still recommend a viewing,
as it is highly enjoyable. |
| Video |
| It's not a bad transfer at all, though it looks
ever so slightly scratchy in certain places. But
these are few and far between and absolutely nothing
to be concerned about. On the whole this is an extremely
nice looking print. The image is sharp (ignore the
opening sequence as it's a flashback and shot 'soft'),
the colours are stable, if a little washed out,
throughout and there are no glaring print defects.
Perfectly acceptable. |
| Audio |
| The only audio provided is a rather disappointing
mono track. It's rather tinny and lacks the bottom
end bass it really needs. However, it did the job,
if not very well. Bit of a letdown really. |
| Extra Features |
| Extras are practically non-existent save for a
theatrical trailer. A poor show from Anchor Bay
on this one. |
| The Verdict |
| Despite how it sounds, it is a highly entertaining
movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If slashers are
your bag, baby, then you'll love it. The more demanding
viewer, however, may find it a little disappointing.
It's a pretty good disc from Anchor Bay, and viewers
will be quite happy with the presentation (disappointing
audio aside). Well, I'd recommend it anyway! And
for those with region-specific players, despite
the packaging not displaying a R1 symbol, the disc is coded R1.
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