Blood Rage (aka Nightmare at Shadow Woods)

Blood Rage (aka Nightmare at Shadow Woods) is a 1983 slasher film written by Bruce Rubin and directed by John Grissmer (Scalpel/False Face, 1976). It stars Louise Lasser (Frankenhooker), Mark Soper (Graveyard Shift II), Marianne Kanter (who also produced this and Dark August in 1976), Julie Gordon and sfx makeup artist Ed French (Amityville II: The Possession, Sleepaway Camp, The Stuff). It is not to be confused with the 1979 film Bloodrage (aka Never Pick Up a Stranger).

Although the film was shot in 1983, it was given only a limited release theatrically in the United States by the Film Concept Group under the title Nightmare at Shadow Woods in 1987. It was released on VHS by Prism Entertainment the same year under the title Blood Rage and this is the title it is now best known by. The Nightmare at Shadow Woods version is missing an early scene where Maddy visits Todd at the mental hospital, but includes a swimming pool scene not found in the Blood Rage version. The Nightmare at Shadow Woods version had a budget US DVD release in 2004 by Legacy Entertainment, but as of September 2011 is out of print.

Plot:

Todd and Terry are twins. They are blonde, cute, bright and identical in every respect, with one exception. One of them is a murderer. This starts one night at a drive-in theater when a teenager was slaughtered in the back seat of his car while his girlfriend watched. Todd is found guilty for the heinous crime and is locked away in an asylum.

Years passed and Terry lives happily with his mother (Louise Lasser), who smothers him with enough love for two sons. All is fine until one Thanksgiving when they receive news that Todd escaped. Terry goes on a killing spree to ensure that Todd goes back to the asylum. His first kill is his mother’s fiancée, when he chops off his arm with a machete, before stabbing him to death. Meanwhile, Dr. Berman and her assistant, Jackie, go out in search for Todd. Jackie meets a sticky end, when he is stabbed by Terry. Dr. Berman also suffers the same fate. Whilst in the woods looking for Todd, she comes across Terry, who cuts her in half with the machete, leaving her to die…

Reviews:

“This fantastic slasher film impresses with some very ballsy gore; everything from bloody severed heads and split open brains to women chopped in half and guys stabbed in the neck with barbecue prongs. While the film doesn’t offer much but killing and running, and I really would have liked some more meat with my potatoes, it still manages to be enthralling and an honest to God stand up and cheer blood bath. This is really all you need in a good slasher movie.” Jose Prendes, Strictly Splatter

“It’s all rather amusing yet somehow cruel at the same time, and it’s this element of mean-spiritedness that runs consistently throughout the film and hurts it to a degree … never quite knowing how to react in certain scenes had me a little alienated and made some of the funny stuff seem almost tacky or inappropriate. And the last scene, while ultimately fitting and not entirely downbeat, still resonates an eerie and disturbing message about parents who show favoritism toward their children, and will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.” Hysteria Lives!

“While the body count isn’t jaw-dropping, there are still nine impressive kills by Terry that are, shall I say, “gore-ifying.” The acting was all quite good, and they only terrible acting I can really pinpoint is by Marianne Kanter as Dr. Berman, Todd’s doctor. Just look at her acting in her death scene to see what I mean. The rest are all quite good, even if the “mom” character was pretty over the top.” HorrorBid.com