The Mutilator

Slasher movies post-Friday The 13th tended to fall into two categories: 1) Movies that tried to expand on the formula with different twists, but still kept the slasher DNA. The Prowler's mystery and having the Final Girl aware of the murders so early. Sweet Sixteen's town-wide mystery, active police, and the title character never actually being in danger. My Bloody Valentine centering on 20-somethings, and setting the movie in a mining town. 2) Movies that slavishly adhered to the formula, because there was money to be made. Final Exam's lazy plagarism of Halloween. Prom Night's slow, dull, obvious non-mystery. Just Before Dawn's uninspired mash-up of Friday and The Hills Have Eyes. The Mutilator is a painful example of #2, and it tries to stretch into #1's territory, it fails with spectacular results. The movie in and of itself plays like a checklist. Young people? Check. Remote area? Check. Drinking and sex? Angry lunatic with a bloodlust? Check. Nudity and gore? Check. The phrase "if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all" could not be more appropriate here. The elements of The Mutilator are as stock as it gets. The acting is sub-par, the dialogue is as unnatural as a Twinkie, and the direction is as perfunctory as the programmed outgoing voice mail message on your phone. The only element that gets special mention in a positive light are the gore effects; this movie definitely tries to wow you with the kills. Whether that's an intentional choice to cover up for the movie's many, many shortcomings is up to you. I certainly think so. But then there are the little things, tiny shining attempts at personality and uniqueness, that make this movie even worse. The credits music, that sounds like the B-side to "Holiday Road". The way the score occasionally sounds like alternate takes to sitcom theme songs; in particular, as two characters are going skinny dipping in a pool, there's a weird piano piece that sounds like someone turned the Cheers song inside out, and it DOES NOT FIT. Nor does the light, jazzy piano piece where several characters walk on the beach, that sounds like a voiceover should be extolling the virtues of easy living, good friends, and Schlitz Malt Liquor. There's a scene later on in the movie where one of the female characters tells her boyfriend if he goes downstairs and locks up, she's got something to show him (as she plays with the buttons on her shirt). Suddenly, the film speeds up as he scrambles to put a shirt on and go downstairs; it's the kind of scene you'd expect in a low-brow 80's sex comedy, complete with "Yackety Sax" playing, not a scene in an honest-to-God slasher movie. Or there's the extended sequence of the main character giving his friends a tour of the condo they're at, as he describes each of his father's wall decorations in extensive, exhaustive, unnecessary detail. Oh, that flounder was 28 pounds, you say? WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THAT?!? Ultimately, this is a forgettable cash-in-on-the-trend slasher movie. The gore effects are what keeps it from being a single star, and even then, there's tons of other slashers with good gore. This isn't sleazy enough for people who like B-movies, it isn't cheesy enough for people who like unintentional comedy, and isn't scary enough to be an effective slasher. It's just a big pile of nothing.