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‘Blood Rage’: The Insane, Gory ’80s Slasher You Need to Watch This Thanksgiving

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“That’s not cranberry sauce!”

It’s Thanksgiving season again, which means it’s time to watch Thanksgiving horror movies… right? Well, unfortunately for us horror fans, there are only a few watchable movies that include the holiday, such as the Thankskilling movies and of course, Eli Roth’s faux Thanksgiving trailer in Grindhouse.

But that’s not all.

Thanks to the wonderful Arrow Video, we have the best Thanksgiving horror movie in beautiful 2K, Blood Rage, which was released a couple years back.

Filmed in 1983, but not released until 1987, Blood Rage revolves around twin brothers, Todd and Terry. As kids, Terry murders a teen at a drive-in and Todd takes the blame. Ten years later, Todd escapes and murders start happening again.

Blood Rage is a wonderful movie, filled with over the top insanity, great Thanksgiving scenes, strange performances, and amazing gore. I could call it a “so bad its good” movie, but it goes beyond that for me. What I enjoy about the movie is while they’re trying to cash in on the slasher craze, the movie also brings in new ideas and an over the top tone that makes the movie feel a bit fresher than your standard Halloween ripoff. While we wait for Eli Roth to make Thanksgiving, I highly recommend Blood Rage for a Thanksgiving watch if you haven’t already.

Mind you, Blood Rage isn’t exactly in your face that it’s a Thanksgiving movie (certainly not as much as Trick ‘r Treat is for Halloween, for example), but you have to appreciate what we’ve got. For instance, every once in a while, the murderer will see blood and say, “It’s not cranberry sauce.” It’s a hilarious line that reminds that yes, this is indeed a Thanksgiving slasher.

As per usual, the movie does have the cliched characters that come with many cheap slasher movies, including the final girl, goofy idiots, a frat type jock, and the promiscuous young woman. But this movie also has some fairly strange, but entertaining performances from Louise Lasser and Mark Soper. Now, they aren’t exactly well-acted performances, but they allow for much more colorful characters than you usually found in ’80s slasher movies.

Louise Lasser, who plays the mother of the twins, gets a lot of focus in the movie. Lasser brings an over-the-top seriousness to the movie that somewhat fits in perfectly with the insanity. I wouldn’t really say its a bad performance, but I also wouldn’t say it was good. The way she portrays Maddy on the brink of a nervous breakdown after learning that Todd has escaped the mental institution is entertaining to watch. She spends a lot of the movie cleaning, drinking wine, sleeping, worrying, and calling a phone operator so she can reach her fiancé. One scene has Maddy sitting on the kitchen floor, grabbing handfuls of Thanksgiving leftovers and shoving them in her mouth. It’s all very weird and surreal. And you can’t help but love it.

Mark Soper’s dual performance as both Todd and Terry can be awkward at times, but Soper does do a great job separating the twin’s personalities and portraying two completely different characters. He has weird moments, such as putting lots of unnecessary emphasis on lines like, “You play tennis?”, and giving shoddy delivery on important lines such as, “He’s got to be stopped!” His performance is truly based on whether or not he’s trying at any given moment. But Soper looks like he’s having a great time, and that’s what counts for a movie such as this.

The best thing Blood Rage has to offer is unquestionably the phenomenal gore and realistic looking effects. Ed French, who also plays Bill in the film, did a great job with the kills. 90% of the deaths were impressively creative and had more to them than being simple wounds. I have to admit, I was shocked to see how realistic it all looked. They almost feel out of place in the movie, because the effects artists are the only ones who gave their 100% to the project – but I suppose that’s often the case when it comes to slashers, huh?

Blood Rage is not perfect, or even very well made, but I can’t help but love the movie. I can’t even call it a guilty pleasure. The movie is so remarkably insane that I can’t help but feel it deserves a much bigger following.

Currently, Blood Rage is available on Amazon Prime and Shudder, and you can also buy the Arrow Blu-Ray, which includes some great interviews from some of the cast, including Louise Lasser, Mark Soper, Ed French, and even Ted Raimi, who makes a small cameo in the opening.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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