by Robert Firsching
synopsis
This is a very enjoyable tongue-in-cheek horror film about some homicidal maniacs who break out of an asylum and terrorize a psychiatrist's family on a dark and stormy night. Martin Landau and Jack Palance are particularly funny, but there are some genuine scares as well. One scene, in which a frightened woman is menaced on her bed by a maniac thrusting a butcher-knife up through the mattress, is a clever send-up that will nevertheless linger in the memory. The coda, in which the crazy Palance has a bizarre encounter with a spaced-out punk chick in a nightclub, is a real gem. Recommended.
characteristics
- Asylum [mental Hospital]
- Psychopath
- Escape
- Psychiatrist
- Psychotic
- Lunatic
- Out For Revenge
- Rampage
- Revenge
- Retribution
- Retaliation
- Vendetta
- Mental-institution
- Family
- Vigilante