Unhinged (1982)
By: Drexl on October 12, 2004.
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| IndieDVD Ltd (USA). All Regions, NTSC. 4:3. English 2.0. 80 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Don Gronquist
Starring: Laurel Munson,
J.E. Penner, Sara Ansley
Screenplay: Don Gronquist,
Reagan Ramsey
Music: Jonathan Newton
Tagline: 'Violence
beyond reason…victims beyond help.'
Country: USA
AKA: Stark Raving Mad |
Whatever the quality of the content, IndieDVD
sure know how to sell a DVD via it's packaging.
Take a look at that cover art - a splashy pic
of a splatter-kill victim graces the front of
the sleeve. The back of the sleeve carries more
pictures of bloody carnage and the warning/promise
that the feature 'contains nudity, violence,
language, disturbing themes.' Further blurbs
inform the potential purchaser that 'Unhinged outsold Poltergeist before banned.'
[sic] and that 'graphic violence and full
nudity caused the English Parliament to ban Unhinged in 1985.' Well heck, how could any fan of
trash cinema resist handing over their hard-earned
after reading that!
Unhinged kicks off in very familiar fashion:
a trio of teenage girls are on their way to a
music festival when, due to bad weather, their
car skids off the road (very unspectacularly)
and into a ditch. The car is trashed and the girls
are knocked unconscious. When they wake, the girls
find themselves tucked up in a creepy mansion
stuck in the middle of nowhere and in the care
of a shifty middle-aged woman and her obnoxious
old bag of a mother. One of the girls is bedridden
due to her injuries, forcing the other two to
hang around, much to their dislike. Things become
even more sinister when, in time-honoured slasher
fashion, someone starts to creep around the house,
peering through the windows at the girls and spying
on them in the shower (accompanied by a soundtrack
that wouldn't be out of place in a porn
flick). Needless to say that the girls are now
thoroughly spooked and so one of them decides
to take off to the nearest town and find help,
while the other stays with their injured friend…
Most of you will have already made up your minds
about adding Unhinged to your collection,
(possibly by the end of the first paragraph.)
While it's hardly high-art, Unhinged is a pretty good example of the trashy splatter
pictures that poured onto video-store shelves
in the early eighties. The film certainly delivers
what the blurb on the back cover promises with
the obligatory nudity and violence being present
and correct, although it's nowhere near
as graphic as the UK's moral guardians made
it out to be. Nothing in the whole of Unhinged's
80 minutes of screen-time approaches anything
near originality; ideas are blatantly stolen from
other genre efforts, the kill scenes are carbon-copies
lifted from elsewhere and the 'creepy old
house' scenario has been done to death.
The final scene, where the killer is finally revealed,
even manages to outdo the rest of the film as
far as thieving ideas goes. A review elsewhere
states that 'one gets the impression this
is homage rather than a rip-off.' I can't
say I agree but anyone willing to take the plunge
and bag this disc can make up their own minds.
The above paragraph may well give the impression
that I hated every second of this trashy little
movie but it's quite fun in its own tacky
little way. It manages to be a little bit creepy
in places, thanks to a fairly effective electronic
score, and since all the ingredients for a successful
slasher pic are present and correct, it's
well worth fans of this sub-genre investing a
couple of hours of their time in checking this
disc out. Sure, it drags in places but the liberal
splashes of sleaze, the gratuitous nudity and
the occasional bloody kill scene make for a fun
time for those wishing to switch off their brain
and enjoy the tackiness of it all. A 'guilty
pleasure' if ever there was one… |
| Video |
| Unhinged is given a decent quality transfer
by IndieDVD. The print used is more-or-less free
of damage and quite colourful. The transfer lacks
detail during the darker scenes and seems a touch
dark overall, plus it carries some quite heavy grain.
Saying that, it certainly looks better than I expected
it to and is therefore an acceptable transfer. I've
seen much worse, that's for sure. |
| Audio |
| As with the video, audio is serviceable - nothing
more, nothing less. At times the dialogue seems
a little muffled but, other than that, it's
an adequate track. Music is clear and the track
is free of hiss and distortion. |
| Extra Features |
| The disc carries a commentary track from a
group of people who 'have nothing to do
with the film' calling themselves 'The
Detractors'. This mob simply chatter away
over the top of the movie, crack a few jokes and
generally just take the piss out of the film,
giggling like a bunch of school kids during the
nude scenes, much to the disgust of the lone female
in the group. Some viewers might get a laugh out
of it I suppose but I got bored of it after about
20 minutes, so there you have it. Next we have
a TV interview featuring the Director and one
of the 'stars' of the movie. Not especially
interesting but it does contain one priceless
moment when the interviewer asks the Director
what makes the film so scary and he just sits
there in uncomfortable silence. The clip runs
for around six minutes. The last bonus on the
disc is a few trailers for other films from the
same distributor.
Inside the case is a small insert carrying a
poster reproduction and some liner notes detailing
the film's run-in with the UK Government.
The 'powers that be' feared that UK
citizens would, (after being suitably corrupted
by this film), run amok in the streets with a
copy of Unhinged in one hand and a chainsaw
in the other, therefore the film was banned during
the introduction of the video recordings act and
has, until recently, been unavailable in the UK.
Happily, the BBFC have now come to their senses
and granted the film an uncut release.
The disc is broken into a generous number of
chapters but, oddly, I couldn't track down
a chapter selection menu. The menu screens are
animated and scored. First-time viewers should
avoid the 'special features' menu
as it shows one of the kill scenes from the movie
and, therefore, must be considered a spoiler. |
| The Verdict |
It's hard to really 'recommend'
(in the truest sense of the word) anyone pick up
this disc as it's undeniably a trash movie
and, therefore, a fair percentage of viewers will
hate every second of it, finding it unimaginative
and tedious. Others, looking for an undemanding
slice of sleaze will no doubt gain some entertainment
from it due to the frequent nudity and gore. Me?
Well I'm pretty glad I picked up this disc
as the film is fun in its own tacky little way.
While I was typing up this review, I had a scout
around a few on-line retailers for the accompanying
cover-art and it seems that this disc is now quite
hard to find on-line as very few, if any, etailers
now carry it in stock. Anyone wanting to grab
a copy may have to resort to eBay (as I did) or
bag the newly-released UK disc, (which I haven't
viewed and, therefore, cannot comment on how it
compares to the US release reviewed here.) |
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