Bloodmoon (1990 film)
| Bloodmoon | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alec Mills |
| Produced by |
Graham Burke Gregory Coote David Munro Stanley O'Toole |
| Written by | Robert Brennan |
| Starring |
Leon Lissek Christine Amor Ian Williams Helen Thomson Craig Cronin |
| Music by | Brian May |
| Cinematography | John Stokes |
| Edited by | David Halliday |
Production company |
Michael Fisher Productions Village Roadshow Pictures |
| Distributed by | Roadshow Entertainment |
Release dates | 22 March 1990 (Australia) |
Running time | 100 min. |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Box office | A$419,769 (Australia)[1] |
Bloodmoon is a 1990 Australian slasher film directed by Alec Mills. It was featured in the famous documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!.
Plot
One night, young couple Leigh and Cora reenter their Christian boarding school at night to steal things. They later end up making out. A person dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and a wolf mask stalks them through the school. When Cora goes to use the bathroom, the killer abducts Leigh and rakes his chest with pencils before beating him with a textbook. Cora searches for her boyfriend and eventually finds his dead body in her locker. The killer then chases Cora through the school and eventually throws her down a stairwell. Cora survives and tries to crawl to an emergency door, but falls into a Punji spike trap and dies.
When the police investigate the deaths, they find several traps hidden throughout the school. They then decide to let out the school for summer vacation early. Later, six friends (Beth, Chloe, Courtney, John, Marie and Sasha) break into the school to party during the summer. When Chloe decides to wander off, she is chased by the killer and hides in the janitor's closet. In the closet, she trips a button and a spike comes out of a hole in the wall, impaling and killing her. Marie becomes worried about Chloe and goes to look for her, but cannot find her. She becomes enraged when the others say that Chloe probably just left and decides to leave herself.
Some time later, Courtney makes out with Beth in the hall. When Beth investigates a noise, the killer slams an axe into Beth's head, killing her. Courtney flees through the halls and eventually runs into John and Sasha having sex in a classroom. John becomes enraged and does not listen to Courtney's claims. However, Sasha accidentally trips a wire and a shower of acid is poured on Sasha, killing her. The killer then appears behind her dead body holding Marie's severed head. Courtney and John run through the halls and eventually down a staircase, where they find a tarp with the dead body of Chloe. Courtney hides in a locker and John hides in a coffin. The killer enters the basement. John accidentally makes a noise, and the killer places a padlock on his coffin.
The killer is then revealed as Misty Mullens, the former headmistress of the school, who resigned after a prank led by the teens left her disfigured. Misty pushes John's coffin into a wood-burning stove, burning him alive. Courtney tries to save him, but finds that she has been trapped in the locker. Misty then prepares to kill Courtney with a drill. However, when she thrusts the drill through the door of the locker, Courtney manages to jump out. Misty chases Courtney up the stairs and into the school's parking lot, where Courtney hides in a dumpster. When Misty stands in front of it, Courtney leaps out and tackles Misty. After wrestling her, Courtney is able to take away Misty's knife and use it to stab Misty to death, ending the rampage. Courtney leaves the school just as the sun begins to rise.
Production
It was shot on the Gold Coast.[2]
Release
The film was released with a "fright break" towards the end where the audience had a chance to walk out and claim a refund.[3]
Critical reception
AllMovie called it a "silly Australian slasher film".[4] Jim Schembri wrote in Cinema Papers that:
It is an unspeakably funny film, but in the saddest possible way. It is a film promoted as a horror film, and it is for anyone with any faith left in Australian mainstream film... For a film as awful, as cliche ridden, as derivative as unimaginative and as poorly made as Bloodmoon to be made in Australia in 1990 is a cause of national mourning.[3]
References
- ↑ "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria accessed 24 October 2009
- ↑ Jim Schembri, "Bloodmoon", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Press, 1993 p294
- 1 2 Jim Schembri, "Bloodmoon", Cinema Papers May 1999 p66-67
- ↑ Firsching, Robert. "Bloodmoon (199) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
External links
- Bloodmoon at the Internet Movie Database