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Unhinged (1982)

Dir:Don Gronquist

Three girls, Terry (Laurel Munson), Nancy (Sara Ansley), and Gloria (Barbara Lusch), are on a trip to attend a rock concert, but the weather changes on them and in the driving rain they take a wrong turn down a remote woodland road and end up crashing the car. All are knocked unconscious.

Terry wakes up in the home of Marion Penrose (Janet Penner) and her wheelchair bound Mother, Edith
(Virginia Settle) where she learns that Nancy is okay but Gloria is hurt quite badly and needs to rest in bed.
The two women live alone I the house and there are no phones, the road is also washed out and it’s a 3 mile hike through the forest to the nearest civilisation.

At dinner Terry and Nancy are witness to the frosty relationship between Marion and her Mother. Edith takes every opportunity to belittle and insult her Daughter and goes so far as to call Marion a “Slut”.
Edith also lets slip her hatred of men.
It turns out Edith and Marion are the faded and decayed remnants of a once rich and influential Rhode Island family,.
Edith also doesn’t want to talk about the whereabouts of her ‘waste’ of a Husband who was seemingly to blame for the family’s downfall.

That night though terry hears what she believe to be a man’s heavy breathing coming from the floor above…..

One of the more famous British ‘Video Nasties’ of the 80’s, “Unhinged” has recently re-surfaced on DVD, including a belated (though uncut) UK release.
But what was so bad in 1983 to ensure that this film was deemed a danger to society? Well, not much actually!

The electro score by Jon Newton may be slightly dated but it’s still an effective mixture of the pounding and the sombre and kicks off the film nicely.
As does Terry’s shower scene which (along with a more explicit, full frontal, shower scene later on) hints that a full on Exploitation flick is about to unspool.
It’s not.

The very long and slow build-up (we are an hour in before anyone dies!) has to rank as one of the most drawn out in Slasher film history and the variable acting on show (the girls are all pretty bad) makes this dialogue heavy section rather hard going at times.
Basically any horror film with such an extended opening should start with a slamming bit of nastiness to get us in the mood. “Unhinged” falls at this first hurdle though.

Thankfully all is not lost as the music, an effective atmosphere, and the entertaining turns by Janet Penner and Virginia Settle, as one of cinema’s most hateful and weird Mother and Daughter relationships, help to keep you engaged and the clock watching may not be held at bay but it’s at least kept to a minimum.

Director Gronquist obviously has a low budget to work with but handles it well and the opening (rather overused) aerial tracking shots of the car show that he’s trying to get the film to look as polished and professional as possible. And it’s to his credit that the long lead up, that is not really full of any stand out incidents, is as engaging as it could be given that the viewers appetite for mayhem is not being sated.

When the ‘action’ does kick in though it’s surprisingly effective and bloody.
The loud and driving electronic backing that kicks in during the first kill scene (which is pretty drawn out and violent) reminds you of a cut-price Argento set-piece, though with far less visual flair and a lack of the grande guignol. Though the choice of a huge scythe as a murder weapon (something that gave the film it’s stylised UK cover for it’s ill-fated VHS release) adds a certain gothic over the top styling.
The scene is only really let down by the less than stellar acting/reactions of the victim.

We also have a well edited axe in the head demise to keep us ticking over until we get to the ‘shock’ finale.
The low, low body count and lack of general grue throughout the film does make that finale more striking though, as it delivers a few good and gory sights and the movie ends on a wonderfully deranged (dare I say unhinged) splatter filled climax that delivers a fun twist, though does leave a few questions about earlier possible victims unanswered.
This mention of other missing girls (no explanation is provided on how they were all linked with the house) does bring up a very funny news bulletin heard over the girl’s car radio though. The reporter mentions that more girls have gone missing and that it brings the number up to…wait for it…23!
Quite how this massive number of disappearances hasn’t made the area into the world’s most famous and crowded crime scene we are left to ponder for ourselves!

Overall then “Unhinged” is an extremely slow, low body count Slasher/psycho flick that is in no hurry to get anywhere until the last 20 minutes and does disappoint a bit.
But there are some engaging moments here and there, a nice score, a couple of well crafted and messy kills and a highly memorable, mania filled, blood spattering finale to round it all off.
No classic but it has a certain something that appeals and when it eventually delivers it delivers pretty damn well.