Carnival First! Then The Woods!: House of Death (1982)

House of Death (1982) ("Death Screams")

Rating: ***

Starring: Susan Kiger, Martin Tucker, William T. Hicks

A standard slasher can be a darn enjoyable one if it plays its cards right.

Some group of teens volunteering for the town fair that weekend decide to hang out later that night around the nearby woods to rest and relax under the stars. What they didn't know is that a psycho is loose within the forest, already murdering a kissing couple one evening by garroting their necks together. It looks like these hapless bunch might be next on his cutting list as he prowls and corners them inside a dilapidated cabin.

House of Death (1982) may look like just another slasher in the woods and, for all honesty, it kinda is. What do sets this title apart from most is that it did take its time to build some likable cast and a good climax, even if the first two-thirds of the film could test your patience.

After the double murder in the opening act, we spend the next hour or so watching our would-be victims have fun running and playing around the fair. Not exactly very slashery nor frightening unless you count bouncy castles and high strikers frightening, but it did get into familiar footing sonce night falls and the kids venture into the woods; spooky stories are shared and old creaky houses are found, it soon leads up to the group finding one murdered friend followed by a series of machete madness. It's this payoff alone that made the wait worthwhile when wild assortments of hacked off body parts and clever set-pieces ravage our victims one by one.

Direction might be a little faulty, thus taking some points off for plotting (the killer's motive is as randomly cuckoo as ever) but House of Death (1982) exists merely to entertain. True it holds nothing compared to heavy weights like Friday the 13th (1980) or even The Burning (1981), both of which also took their time brooding their way to a massacring climax, but on its own, this one is still a gleefully fun dead teenager flick that saves the best scares and thrills for last, making sure the experience is very rewarding for those who thought twice on ejecting this movie early from their players.

Rented or owned, this one is a welcome lookie-look for slasher fans and completists alike.

Bodycount:
1 male and female garroted together with a noose
1 female shot on the back with an arrow, smothered with a plastic bag
1 male hacked with a machete
1 female had her throat cut with a machete
1 male found with throat cut
1 male decapitated with a machete
1 female hacked to death with a machete
1 male had his hands lopped off with a machete, left for dead in an empty grave
1 female cut in half
1 male had his throat cut with glass shard, later falls through window and had his head shot off
Total: 11