The girls at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic School are up to their teased-out tresses in trouble.
If they aren’t constantly in danger of being caught by staff as they get hot n’ horny with the boys from nearby Winchester School (and occasionally a local or two… who just so happen to be the eternal subject of those rich Winchester lads bullying), there’s a killer on the loose on Lover’s Lane offing the student bodies of both academies with his barbwire killing implement!
As the bodies (and suspects) go up exponentially the gals n’ guys must keep their wits about them if they are to survive this deadly ordeal with their Aquanetted coifs in-tact… and the rest of their bodies as well!
Director Alec Mills certainly wanted to emulate the slasher genre that was sweeping America in the eerie ‘80s, and along with screenwriter Robert Brennan he does just that… but given the fact this film was produced in Australia we get a few unique flourishes that make Bloodmoon a lot of fun for fans of the genre!
For starters, the small college town being seaside is a nice break from the familiar rural deep woods settings of these types of films (though that is sort of represented here as well via that aforementioned wooded Lover’s Lane) as are the Aussie accents, talk of surfing… I guess some of this shit could have been in a California or Florida-lensed stalk n’; slay effort, but those aren’t nearly as plentiful as the forest based frights of a Friday the 13th clone.
Of course, the biggest stand-out here is the “Fright Break”; a not needed yet totally welcome break from the murderous mayhem on screen that not only insults the audience but presents a gimmick that no doubt the Force ghost of William Castle looks upon with nodding approval!
Actually, I stretched the truth there a bit… the absolute biggest stand-out with movie is it’s score/soundtrack. Composer Brian May (no, not the one from Queen) provides this fright fracas with a score that would be right at home on a schmaltzy sitcom for the majority of the picture… then brings the expected stings and suspense when needed…. but the heavy lifting is done to Queensland answer to Poison; Vice, who both appear in the film in all their hair metal glory, but provide three bangers that really up the charm and also delightfully date the picture in the best possible way!
As for special features to accompany this sinister slasher, we get an archival audio interview (that can be played over the feature) featuring Actor Leon Lissek (moderated by author Paul Harris And filmmaker Mark Hartley), an interview With Actress Christine Amor (sourced from Hartley’s documentary covering Australia’s exploitation cinema, Not Quite Hollywood), and trailers for both the film and the “Fright Break”.
Possessing a unique locale, some quality sleaze, rockin’ tunes, and a cool lil’ murder implement; Bloodmoon is a slasher you just may not have seen, but really should… especially if you love the ol’ ’80s-era stalk n’ slay biz!
