★ 6 / 10
**_What if a killer hunts people like he’s
Wuchak
**_What if a killer hunts people like he’s gone fishin’?_** A 21 year-old youth (Mark Jacobs) inherits his family’s cabin in remote northwestern Wisconsin and…
**_What if a killer hunts people like he’s gone fishin’?_**
A 21 year-old youth (Mark Jacobs) inherits his family’s cabin in remote northwestern Wisconsin and promptly brings four friends to check it out and have some vacation fun at the lake during an annual fishing contest. Unfortunately, the cicadas are out and someone has a mad habit of literally fishing for people!
"Blood Hook" (1987) was shot in ’86 and only cost $200,000 by a director that went on to work for Mystery Science Theater 3000. As such, this is low-budget slasher with camp and a wink of humor.
It comes across as a mixture of Tobe Hooper’s “Eaten Alive” (1976) and the forthcoming "State Park" (1988), aka "Heavy Metal Summer." While it’s better than Hooper’s flick in some ways, it’s not quite as entertaining as the latter. It’s like a tale from Steve Gerber’s Man-Thing comics of the 70s, just without a swamp monster
Sara Hauser (Kiersten) stands out on the feminine front, although Sandy Meuwissen (Bev) is worth a mention. Meanwhile Lisa Jane Todd (Ann) is an interesting character.
To appreciate this movie you have to be willing to give it a chance. If you do, there are quite a few rewarding bits despite its comic book tone and lack of funds, especially in the second half. For instance, some of the humor is genuinely amusing in a low-key way; plus you get to know the characters, like the half-crazed Vietnam vet (Bill Lowrie as Evelyn), the psychology major (Ann) and the main protagonist (who looks like Nicolas Cage in the mid-80s).
What sets off the killer is actually quite creative, tying into diabolus in musica, aka "the devil in music,” which refers to the so-called devil’s chord or devil’s tritone. Meanwhile the gore effects are good all things considered.
The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, but there’s a 92-minute version by Troma on disc (Blu-ray). It is true that the original version is too long by about 20 minutes, but I prefer it to the short rendition due to the character development.
It was shot at Hayward & Hayward Lake, Wisconsin, which is located in the northwestern part of the state, about 40 miles south of western Lake Superior and 30 miles east of the border of Minnesota.
GRADE: B-/C+
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★ 4 / 10
Ironically, the producer of MST3000 made a pretty bad movie himself.
Aaron1375
It is kind of funny that someone who would later be one of the forces behind a television show that made fun of bad movies would have one on his resume. Not…
It is kind of funny that someone who would later be one of the forces behind a television show that made fun of bad movies would have one on his resume. Not that it is all bad, for a Troma movie it does have its moments. This one is not as goofy as a lot of Troma movies get, in fact it is one of the more straight horror movies I have seen from them. The only thing odd is that people are being killed with a fish hook and reeled in like fish. And no the people are not being killed by a giant fish (though that would have been rather good). This one instead is a basic slasher with the mode of death being the only real unique touch to it. Unlike newer Troma movies this one is a real movie too. They had a movie advertised on my copy of this called "Tales from the Crapper" and it basically looked like a tape of Girls Gone Wild. So this one looks great by comparison. Like a lot of slashers you don't know who the killer is and they try to fool you, but in this case once you know the killer the movie goes on a bit too long after. It runs about 10 minutes more than it should. Though this is not a cinematic classic it is not all bad especially considering it is a Troma picture.
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Sound OK for me (Oct 2020)