Aha. Yesterday I had a revelation. That's not a blow-up doll on the cover of Death Valley, it's a very androgynous drawing of a little boy looking scared. I think the ugly cover might be one of the reasons I've avoided this movie my whole life. It looks cheap and ugly and tacky and doesn't really ooze horror the way I want it to ooze horror. It just looks odd. Anyway, I'm happy I finally fell for the hype and bought it, because Death Valley is a fine, fine slasher-esque thriller with a lot more ambitions than I ever could imagine. And it might be the only genre movie from the eyes of a small kid that I actually think is worth watching! Yes, believe it or not, a non-annoying smart child character!
Little Billy (Peter Billingsley) is going on a road trip with his mother Sally (Catherine Hicks) and her new boyfriend Mike (Paul Le Mat). He reluctantly leaves his father in New York for the chance to see the desert. It doesn't take long until he, after wandering away from his mother, finds an empty RV standing in the middle of nowhere. He steals a necklace, a golden frog (it looks like), without telling about it. Hours later they see the RV crashed by the side of the road, all three passengers killed - well, that's the official explanation anyway. They're all been brutally butchered by a serial killer and now this killer is after Billy and his family!
I would say Death Valley is a pretty unique thriller, it feels like - to quote horror queen Hollie - a "family-slasher", and that's very correct. Imagine Goonies... or The Monster Squad, or The Gate... maybe Gremlins, but set in a very adult slasher-environment. Amazingly enough it works, mostly because a very likable cast and the genius of a good child actor who plays smart - but not too smart. He's like boys are most, curious - too curious - and not always totally honest. Death Valley is also far from being family-friendly. We're not talking extreme violence like The Burning or some of the early Friday the 13th's, but it has graphic and bloody violence and nudity, stuff taken directly from something more aimed at an adult audience. It's pretty well-made also, without going Tom Savini-detailed.
What I like the most is probably how classy the production is. This is made by someone who clearly knows how to point the camera. The angles, the tension created by the rhythm in the editing - everyhing smells quality. It is suspensful, it's not just victims wander in and out of the frame, it's something more. It reminds me - in atmosphere - of Richard Franklin's Roadgames, from 1981 (you know the one with Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacy Keach). Anyway, in the last 10-15 minutes the movie gets weaker. There's a twist, which seems pretty pointless, and the final feels a lot more generic than the rest of the movie. Like the screenwriter gave up a little bit and hurried to finish the script. This doesn't take away the entertainment value of the whole movie, or the overall quality, but it's sure a small let-down when comparing it with the high class of the rest of the production.
I'm happy I finally saw it. It's one of those flicks I will revisit again... and again.
"I think the ugly cover might be one of the reasons I've avoided this movie my whole life. It looks cheap and ugly and tacky and doesn't really ooze horror the way I want it to ooze horror."
I think it looks ok, but you have your personal preferences......you don´t like, you don´t like it.
"And it might be the only genre movie from the eyes of a small kid that I actually think is worth watching! Yes, believe it or not, a non-annoying smart child character!"
Aw, come on Fred.....didn´t you like Lady in White(1988)...?
Just a little bit, tiny, weeny, tinsy...errrr....yeah, you know what I mean.
Surely there must be others?
"Imagine Goonies... or The Monster Squad, or The Gate... maybe Gremlins, but set in a very adult slasher-environment."
Sounds like an weird mix, but you got my attention.
"What I like the most is probably how classy the production is. This is made by someone who clearly knows how to point the camera. The angles, the tension created by the rhythm in the editing - everyhing smells quality. It is suspensful, it's not just victims wander in and out of the frame, it's something more."
High production values with other words......and shot in an desert, great for a slasher.
"It reminds me - in atmosphere - of Richard Franklin's Roadgames, from 1981 (you know the one with Jamie Lee Curtis and Stacy Keach)."
I loved Roadgames (1981), The Hitcher (1986), they used the landscape in a very good way.
"I'm happy I finally saw it. It's one of those flicks I will revisit again... and again."
I will see this someday, great review and thanks Fred, never seen it.
Posted by: Megatron | July 25, 2013 at 14:58