Bloodmoon (1990) Online

Not to be confused with Bloody Moon, Jesus Franco's gore feast of 1980; this Australian lensed slasher imitates the popular ‘killer on campus' plotline that's so frequently used by its US counterparts. It's fairly amusing just how much Alec Mills tries to make this as American as he possibly can, but thankfully he refrains from asking the cast to perform unconvincing accents. As a matter of fact, the characters that are actually supposed to be from the States still speak in flawless Aus! Hmmm!

In the small town of Coopers Bay, there are two Hi-schools situated right next door to each other. There's Winchester, an all boys comprehensive and St Elizabeth's, a girl's only Catholic faculty. They are separated by woodland where pupils from both can meet and engage in things that they'd rather their teachers didn't witness! An unseen killer begins murdering the youngsters as they fornicate, strangling them with a length of barbed wire before removing their eyes and burying them under the soil. Mary, the daughter of a Hollywood movie actress, becomes involved when the killer targets her and Kevin, her boyfriend. But who is this twisted psychopath and why does he want to kill all the kids?

Blood Moon opens with a terrific score courtesy of Brian May and some superb cinematography. The dense woods in which the kids are pursued is brilliantly lighted and I was immediately rather impressed by the general production. After a couple of murders, were introduced to a predictable troupe of troublesome teens and our obvious final girl. There's an interesting subplot that sprouts as one of the local poor kids falls for Mary, the daughter of an actress. The rich Winchester boys hate the local working class, so it's almost like a homage to Romeo and Juliet or West side story but without the Rock and Roll (Instead we get ‘reach for the earplugs' Heavy Metal!). Shakespeare and the slasher genre, what a combination! I bet the poor author would turn in his grave!

There's one really gruesome – if not graphic – murder, involving a desk, a young girl's head and a deranged killer! But aside from that, there's hardly any gore and most of the killings are left to our imagination (boo!). The performances are fairly poor throughout, although Leon Lissek gives a decidedly nasty portrayal. Although it mostly keeps things directly by the book, there are a few twists that you probably won't guess and we also get some background on the reasons for the killer's insanity.

British born Alec Mills' lackadaisical direction left a lot to be desired and he failed to generate as much suspense as was needed. He's better when he works as a camera man as he did on Return of the jedi and various James Bond movies through the seventies and eighties. It's a fairly slow-moving story, but when the killer is revealed things begin to perk up right up until it ends rather suddenly leaving one or two unanswered questions. Like what happened to Kevin? Did he survive? Even though the bodies start piling up toward the finale, the story certainly could have benefited from a few more excursions into the well-lighted woodland with the killer and his length of deadly barbed wire. As it stands, there was too little horror and an excessive amount of teen frolics that didn't really do the movie any favours.

You can ignore most of the bad reviews that slate Blood Moon; it really isn't all that bad. Its just that its not particularly memorable, the sort of film that you'll watch once and forget about immediately after. Perfect for some late-night slicing shenanigans on the TV, but hardly worth the effort of hunting down. As far as Australian slashers go, it manages not to feel as cack-handed as Houseboat Horror, To Become One or the over-rated Cut, but then that's still not much of a worthy compliment. Oh and make sure to place them earplugs back in as soon as you see the end credits. The last songs a killer: `Blood moon is rising, stay home tonight' and `Blood Moon arising over building and over hill, take care if you will!' You get the picture!

Those were the days... Where this kind of slashers were a reason for staying home on a Friday night when being 12 or 13 years old.

I remember this movie airing on USA NETWORK almost every 6 months, but it wasn't until the 10th time it aired that I decided to watch it. The first 10 minutes are kind of creepy, then the movie gets boring until the expected end. The killer is no way scary, and even the plenty of gore and hot girls doesn't help "BLOODMOON" being a slasher to be remembered.

Just for die hard fans of the genre.

The first half is a generic slasher film that follows the sex-and-death formula dutifully, has waaaay too much filler and suffers from a strange lack of central characters; the glimpses of gratuitous nudity are virtually all this half has going for it. Then the killer is revealed, and the rest of the film looks as if it was made by a different director; one who knows a thing or two about suspense, and how to actually quicken your pulse. There are two major confrontations with the killer, and they are both particularly well-handled. I really don't know what happened midway through production, but just as you're ready to give up on the movie, it surprises you by turning out not-too-bad after all. By the way, be careful when you read some of the other reviews for this movie, they include some pretty big spoilers! (**)

By reputation "Bloodmoon" doesn't seem to stand up so well, nonetheless it just seemed to draw me in (well captivating poster artwork helps a lot too) and since it just got a local DVD release (thanks to the 2008 documentary "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!") it was easy to get a hold of. It turned out to be competently stylish, but a generically penned (if sexually charged) Aussie slasher that after the opening sequence it seems to find itself in soapy TV material. This aspect is rather distracting and stodgy, before it finally goes on to build a head of steam for the last half hour of outrageous acts and jarring suspense. While not particularly successful as a whole, as it can be sloppy it still kept me watching. Something about the choice of locations constructs an effective small coastal town atmosphere (very similar to that of 1981 quirky Australian slasher "Dead Kids") and it's lit with moody visual shadings by director Alec Mills. The stalk and slash scenes are actually well executed and framed, especially in the latter half with a couple twisted acts of uncontrollable violence… but when the focus (during some long periods) is on the dramas / antics of the locals and a group of neighbouring boarding schools (girls and boys -- who are on heat with constant flashes of female nudity) the suspense is truly forgotten about and its kept grounded with an authentic flavour but the cheesy handling doesn't help and so did the lack of any development of recurring characters / side-stories. The patchy story doesn't really offer any surprises (well maybe one moment --- a death towards the end) and the revelation of the killer midway though shouldn't really come as a surprise. Actually I thought it was better off unmasking the killer, because it was obvious but their choice of weapon a piece of barb wire would leave an unpleasant mark. The performances are surefooted with the likes of Christine Amor (immensely dominating), Leon Lissek (unusually picture-perfect), Ian Williams and Helen Thomson. Australian music composer Brian May has crafted out some stunning scores, but on this occasion it isn't one of his best in what is a vibrant, but heavy-handed arrangement. When it was being ominous it worked, but for those softer and playful cues it doesn't come off. It just lacked the fineness. Nothing sensational, but a better than labelled slasher.

Bloodmoon is one of those rare instances where a rather demandingly tedious first half is redeemed by a thoroughly satisfyingly suspenseful and shocking second half. The plot centers on an Australian community which contains a private boy's school and female boarding school right nearby each other and the students often engage in sexual activity and relations outside of classes. The headmistress and her pu$$ywhipped biology teacher husband of the St Elizabeth's Catholic School for Girls arrived from California fleeing a sordid situation where boy-girl couples were found slaughtered near a lover's lane. We discover that Virginia Sheffield likes young boys and that she has a psychological stranglehold over her husband, Myles(Leon Lissek)using his inability to sexually satisfy her as an object of ridicule, which in turn causes a psychotic mania which motivates a rage to kill girl-boy couples that make love(..have sexual rendezvous)in hidden places. The first section of the film plays like a saucy after-school special featuring local boys who often bicker and fight with the rich snobs of the private school, while the Catholic school girls get naked a lot, freely agreeing to meet males away for some action. Kevin Lynch(Ian Williams), a middle class local surfer with a kind heart, and American Catholic school student Mary Huston(Helen Thomson), whose mom is a Hollywood movie star with a career that seems more important than her daughter's life, blossoming romance is highlighted because Myles is fixated with her. Their relationship and well being will be threatened as Myles makes preparations to execute them, arranging a meeting between the two in the woods(..a place which separates both schools and is used as a means to hook up for making out and having sex). We also see how Myles is mistreated by Virginia who insults him, and this unpleasant relationship, and her naughty behavior with a male student from the private school, are peeks inside a very volatile marriage.

I think if the viewer can make it through the opening thirty or so minutes, where we are treated to the lives of school girls and boys, their misbehaving and other minor melodramas, the film rewards your patience when Myles goes off the deep end and we see the monster for the first time when he viciously attacks two female students who break into his biology class to steal exam questions and instead find a bottle of fingers and eyes, keepsakes of the psychopath from past "conquests." What makes the attacks as shocking is that the girls actually look like real teenage students and Myles just can not stop himself from really inflicting damage. He repeatedly bashes one poor girl's face into a table, several times after she's clearly dead. The chase of another girl, who hurts her ankle falling down steps attempting to flee frantically as the killer is in hot pursuit, only to reach the building's exit, locked by Myles as he buries the knife in her back, is another well established terror scene(..not to mention what she does to him with a cutting tool used for dissection, attempting to escape as he tries to assault her). He loves sticking blades into the torsos of girls as well. We see the aftermath of one teenage boy's murder, his eyes gouged out. The strangulations from a barbwire garrote aren't elaborated for effects, we simply know that this is a method for which he uses on them. One chilling scene has Myles sticking his knife into the stomach of a young girl used to set up Kevin's meeting with Mary, and we see her falter as blood runs down her shirt with the deranged madman escaping as the camera pans back..a very well designed and cold-blooded sequence which might be the best of the film. Great aftermath of acid to the face and Leon's toady bug-eyed killer is a very effective creep. Christine Amor as Virginia is quite a nasty piece of work, really cutting her husband to the bone with accurate skill..we can see that this has been occurring for quite some time, and the profound impact on Myles' behavior is quite visible. I think composer Brian May's work bugged me more than anything else. His music during the opening of the movie reeks of sugary soap opera and episodic television..and, while more effective during the suspense scenes at the end, the music can be so loud across the soundtrack that the dialogue is hard to hear. Not a bad Aussie attempt at the American slasher(..which, in essence, is a reworking of the Italian giallo sub-genre)..does feature enough gratuitous elements to satisfy the desired audience, I believe. A lot more nudity than I was expecting and the dialogue can be raunchy at times. The teens of the film are coming of age with a sexual awakening which does contribute to such lurid details provided throughout. The film also follows the small town chief as he eyes Myles as a possible suspect responsible for a growing number of student disappearances.

Teenagers on a college campus are brutally murdered while doing the dirty. This starts out as a typical crap 80s slasher snoozer. For the first 40 minutes I kept thinking to myself "Wow, the late 80s/early 90s was an even WORSE time for style and horror in Australia than it was in the US!" Teenagers with side-ponies stripping out of their stonewash jeans are everywhere! The theme of this slasher seems to be a killer with a circular barbed wire thingie that he uses to choke, causing his victims to see a, um, bloodmoon? I have no idea. What I DO know is that about halfway through, this movie turns from a below-average slasher, to a fabulously trashy episode of "Dynasty Down Under," thanks to the camped-out performance by the hilarious Christine Amor (who was likewise the only good thing about the Linda Blair crapfest "Dead Silence". Oh yeah, be careful because most reviews (and even the Netflix envelope) feature spoilers, but it doesn't really matter because the movie is only worth watching for the soap operatics in the second half.

Wretched slasher from director Alec Mills should have had its negative impounded and burned by parliamentary decree. Mills, who shot some Bond films, shows no enthusiasm for the genre and doesn't have a clue about generating suspense. Despite the fact that the film had a reasonable budget, it is overlit and totally lacking in mood. There is little gore and most of the murders happen quickly and off-screen. The entire affair has an American feel to it, but the film was lensed in Queensland, Australia, and was released in that country with a William Castle-style gimmick -- patrons too terrified to watch the film all the way through could ankle it to the "chicken cage" in the cinema foyer and collect a refund. As slashers go, it's right down there with "Final Exam". Brian May clearly did this gig for the money, just like the director. Some of this film's producers would later be involved with "The Matrix" films, the godawful "Torque" and the very average "Hurricane Smith".

Compared to other serial killer stories, this one is above average ; when "Friday the thirteenth "and stuff like that consists of killing teenagers one by one, teenagers we hardly know before they get slain.

Here,there is a decent screenplay and chiefly , the screenwriters did create characters ;even though we guess who the killer is long before the end ,his behavior makes sense .If the youngsters are rather bland and conventional, the adult characters have some substance : the nun (the ending sees her play the part of the sister of "vertigo" ), the nymphomaniac headmistress and her impotent husband,the biology teacher , the policeman .

The rivalry between the wealthy students who" will become doctors and lawyers and the prole ones" is not fully exploited and it's too bad;but good scenes such as the maleficent relationship between the teacher and his wife, the two girls who try to see the tests before the exam so as to get only As make up for it.

Pretty good entertainment in this Australian thriller.

Plot = A private girls school St Elizabeth's becomes a terrifying place to be, when girls begin to get killed off by maniacal killer and quickly buried, the police become baffled at these disappearances in a small town in Australia.

This was Australia's effort at the ever growing popular slasher boom that started in the early 80's but unfortunately this came out in 1990, which was when the slasher boom simply died down, and this really didn't do anything to raise to dying craze.

Okay this isn't a bad movie I actually quite enjoyed it, although the murder scenes are either quite tame or off-screen which I hate, apart from the scene where a girl has her face smashed into a desk, which is this movie's main highlight in my opinion. But what annoyed me at times is the random interactions between the teen cast as some we see for the first part of the movie but when the killings start again we never see them again. And the fact that the killer is revealed quite early on.

The acting is fairly good by some, but fairly bad by others. Leon Lissik was quite enjoyable as the biology teacher Miles Sheffield who I really felt for when he was being cruelly dominated by his wife the head mistress, I also liked how his character quickly developed his true colours ranging really well. His wife Virginia (Christine Amor) did okay playing a total bitch but other than that she was a terrible actress. Helen Thomson played the final girl pretty well, very likable and attractive a character to root for and the nun played by Hazel Howman really kicked ass, especially in the end when she throws acid in the killer's face, she was cool.

All in all a routine slasher flick that won't break any new ground but was a fun waste of time.

Basically this is a horror movie done Australian style. I can tell you it doesn't add up to Wolf Creek. It's your basic whodunit serial killer type story. There's naked Australian girls and an average, run of the mill storyline as well. I would recommend this only to completest of the genre. I give it a 4 which is high. I guess the naked Australian girls is what made me take it up a few notches... Since I'm a collector of 80s horror movies I ended up having to give this a viddie. Not that I regret it or anything but I don't see myself pulling this one off the shelf again anytime soon. But still not all that bad for a one time view...

BLOODMOON had major airplay on the USA NETWORK on Friday nights during some years. After 1997 I haven't seen this slasher but I can remember about it.

It's night, full moon, a killer with a barb wire terrorizes a girls school. Great premise for a slasher! The murders are so so as the killer has only a way to kill the ladies. Anyway this is pure slasher fun, much in the style of HOUSE ON THE SORORITY ROW. The plot tries to be somewhat complex, but fails on being interesting and turns to be dumb. You discover who the killer is after 30 minutes of the movie. Slasher fans do not care about it! Don't expect too much from this slasher, just watch it and have some fun. It gets boring at some point, but it's worth a watch.

I recommend it only for slasher fans, watch it at your own risk.

3/10 -Terrible but tries to stand out of the garbage

The Australian film industry over recent years has received many accolades for its fine productions and have gladly suffered the "American remake" which is a testament to their outstanding quality. This film however, is not among them.

Why oh why when we have some many great story lines to persue do we copy shoddy American horror films. And this is a perfect copy of one of those forgettable horror flicks. Basically as the story goes, A demented high school science teacher goes on a murderous rampage through a posh boarding school and is protected by his shag-anything wife and finally caught out by an intrepid Nun. It's actually quite funny, really.

However, the sad thing about this film is it is not bad enough to be cherrished in the Hammer tradition. Oh well. The best thing about this film was Baby Desmond. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is my cousin, of course.

Flaskback to 1990 at the Wollongong Town Cinemas where this movie being shown. You can notice some scenes were badly out to get the M rating for starters and the film felt like watching a "Home & Away" episode coz the performances were hammy as hell! The first three quarters of film were borring to boot with a borring story and without any horror to be seen... And then came on FRIGHT BREAK where the audience had the chance to leave this borrfest and have your money refunded by going to Chickens Corner located in the foyer. You had about 30 seconds with snippets of what's is promised to be a intense horror experience (which doesn't happen anyway). Well it got a bit more gory without suspense and ended really weirdly which ended the audience booing the film off. This film bombed badly in Australia and little wonder why

This Australian entry into the slasher canon is one of the more tedious. The movie lurches along as though its makers didn't bother with a script, squandering any interest the movie generates with its characters and plot points at the beginning, almost all of whom are forgotten by the end.

I have seen many slasher movies in which the identity of the killer is a surprise kept secret until the end. Less common, but still significant, are those where the killer is known right from the beginning: the source of suspense is wondering when or if they'll get found out.

This may be the first I've seen where the killer is revealed as if as an after thought somewhere in the middle of the movie. It feels like the movie trying to start over again with a different tack; the soap opera drama of the story is forgotten about and it becomes more about the killer, his weird, only-in-filmland relationship with his much more attractive wife, and who he's going to off next.

Despite the title, the movie has very little violence and there's not much nudity or sex. There are, however, many impeccably groomed mullets, and the cast all look like rejects from Home and Away.

If you want to see the worst Australian movies have to offer then watch this one. This show was launched in Australia with a brilliant promo that worked.... with dire warnings of possible heart problems from viewing and working on fear of public humiliation, the distributors dared viewers that if they were too scared to watch the last half hour of this "the most scariest, frightening, goriest film ever made", they would be refunded their ticket money, the only catch was they had to remain in a roped off area in the lobby signed "I was too chicken to watch". The movie was sheer torture to watch and I'm embarrassed to say the promo sucked me in. If only I had of gone for the refund, as its a 100 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Awful acting, bad scripting, very poor special effects. Some movies are fun to watch because they are awful, this stinker doesnt even entertain and cant even be considered B grade. 0 out of 10

It's sad this film hasn't seen more publicity, it's a great watch and just shows the Aussies do it better every time! Any film with Christine Amor has to be good and Leon Lissek is suitable weird in an offbeat role of the school teacher. I am now the proud owner of an authentic film script and it is my favourite piece of film memorabilia...if you ever see this film, watch it, you'll be pleasantly surprised. It lulls you into a false sense of security, you think you've seen it all before, then does the unexpected. Watch it!

A crazed science teacher at a posh boarding school kills off students at the local lover's lane.

Yet another teen slasher flick made towards the decline of the genre, but more forgettable than most. Poorly plotted and scripted. The acting is so-so and the direction is almost non-existent. Avoid this mess. 4 out of 10.

Bloodmoon (1990)

* (out of 4)

Ozploitation about a serial killer going around an all girls Catholic school where he wraps a piece of barbed wire around the victim's necks. BLOODMOON is one of those films that seemed to build its reputation on hype and then when people actually saw the picture they realized that there really wasn't much to it. The idea of barbed wire being wrapped around someone's neck makes one think that you're about to view something graphic but that's certainly not the case. It almost seems as if the filmmakers watched a few American slashers and decided to copy them. It also seems like they read some negative reviews to stuff like Friday THE 13TH that put the films down for not having any sort of character development. It further seems that the filmmakers wanted to "get it right" so we're given non-stop scenes with so-called character development. There's no other way to put it but this movie is extremely bad from start to finish. There's an incredibly drawn out and downright boring dance sequence, which seems to run as long as the wedding sequence from THE GODFATHER. This scene just keeps going on and on and when it's over you realize that there wasn't a need for it. No need for it is something that most of these scenes here have going for them. The entire picture just drags along and at times you wonder if the filmmakers forgot they were making a horror film. The first hour drags by so poorly that most will probably hit the eject button. The majority of the death scenes take place off camera so we're not given too much there. What little blood there is comes from scenes showing the victim's missing their eyes. The film does offer up quite a bit of nudity but this here isn't enough to save the picture. Fans of the genre will probably be curious about this one due to its hyped reputation but sadly the film itself is quite poor and well worth skipping.

A very weak Australian slasher. I had also the chance to watch it on USA Network, in fact, it was played very often. For coming out in the late 80's BLOOD MOON doesn't offers anything you haven't seen. The box cover fooled me as it seemed to be a straight slasher. I consider this as a soap opera with slasher elements.

An unknown prowler wanders the territory of a private a school for women and the school next to it of men. This prowler kills people from both schools using a barb wire.

There's a subplot of romance and some conflicts between teachers. Nothing interesting from this movie to be saved.

Almost no gore, scary scenes, annoying characters, and a lame killer. Don't expect nothing from this movie. BLOODMOON is boring even for the gorehounds. Only die hard fans of the genre could watch it completely.

3/10.

Bloodmoon is one god awful horror flick, dreadful, and is just another reason, most horror films in the good ole land of Oz, suck. It reminds me heavily of two other horror films, Splatter University and Fatal Pulse. This film I sadly say, almost doesn't have one. The whole film is dreadful. Yes some beautiful co eds, real lovelies, are being disposed of by a sick knife slashing maniac, duhh.... you think it's one of the faculty? Even the killer's ties to sexy headmistress, Christine Amor who you could say, overacts a storm, had me in disbelief. Watching her go off at him when learning her husband's murderous habits, had returned, was painful. Oh, yeah the Bloodmoon challenge, a sort of suspended intermission, if trying to suspense it up, and failing a hundred percent, just holding the movie up. What was that about? I did like the boy and the girl, from different scholastic backgrounds, where the boy and his mates were having run ins with the other scholastic pricks from wealthier backgrounds. Honestly suspense failed me as everything else did in this bomb. I would say the whole thing in another context was a limited and in parts, unbelievable affair, mostly concerning our strange couple. Some moments of the movie were repulsively awful. The film somehow felt short sheeted as what went to film from script, where may'be there was a bit too much editing. Honestly, Bloodmoon, something that showed enthusiastic promise, sadly results in a unimpressive project on all fronts, that took a nose dive fast. Released in cinemas with a M rating, where an R 18+ went to video.

Since I just watched Jess Franco's BLOODY MOON, my film addled brain logically felt this Aussie slasher is what I should watch next. Bad move, brain, bad move. A killer is offing girls at a private school, which spells trouble for our two lovebird leads. This is pretty standard stuff but the filmmakers absolutely blow it about 50 minutes in. Our killer - always in the shadows - wraps some barb wire around the next of a young guy and, inadvertently, steps into the light for a second and you see their face! They left it in but keep playing the "Who is this crazy killer?" angle for the rest of the film. Director Alec Mills is usually a DP who has done work on some big films (the two Dalton BOND flicks, for example) so the mistake is doubly embarrassing. Avoid, even if your brain tries to tell you a double feature of BLOODY MOON and BLOODMOON is a good idea.

An all girls private boarding school is being plagued by a series of gruesome murders in which the killer kills his victims with a piece of barbed wire at a popular make out spot on campus. Slow moving slasher flick with a bit more character development then usual, but no scares, no humor, and no suspense sink it. Poorly plotted to boot.

Rated R; Graphic Violence, Nudity, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.