Bodycount / Old Negative review

 I have fresh thoughts coming but thought I'd include old user comments from my IMDb account. Although the dialogue is a laugher --i have to believe the translation was purposely lewd and crude, though the delightfully off-kilter Italian touches are all over this -- I had a good time watching this tonight. The below review was rated 4/10 by me at that time.

July 2012

Some psycho in a Shaman mask is bumping off young adults who stop off to stay at an old camping grounds to hang out and have some fun. Free-spirited, goofy, sexually liberated, loud, with constantly misfiring jokes and pranks played on each other, the victims of the killer are your typical bunch of rowdy kids right out of high school, on the road in a RV, who so happen to park this vehicle in the wrong place. Slayings of two teenagers (with two others considered victims of bear attacks) closed the campgrounds, owned by a bickering couple who can't stand to be around each other (David Hess and Mimsy Farmer). This married couple's son is picked up by the RV gang (some of the girls want to shag him) which led to their taking him to the campgrounds, spending the night, and becoming objects to stab. Introduced into the mix is Sheriff Charlie (Charles Napier) who loves (and has been an affair for decades with) Mimsy; their affair might be a link to the murders. If notorious director Deodato wasn't the director, and the likes of Hess and Napier weren't in the cast, I imagine Body Count would be just another forgettable slasher that clogged itself on the VHS shelves in the horror section of movie rental stores alongside Slaughterhouse and The Newlydeads. It's all standard stuff, the chase scenes through the woods into the old rickety designated shower building, the basic large knife to the back/ax to the head/spear out the mouth violence associated with films out of the Friday the 13th mold. Claudio Simmonetti of Goblin gives the movie a boost of energy with his score, but, sadly, the recognizable faces of the cast, especially Hess, do very little to give the film the much needed value so it can be evaluated by slasher enthusiasts in a positive light. Deodato seems uninspired here, just cashing in on the slasher craze prevalent at the time, nothing in particular stands out, calling attention to his film; even Cut and Run has an energy in the filmmaking that gets you involved visually (although, the cast in that film, for the most part, deliver as well, unlike Body Count). Slasher purists are a dedicated, determined bunch, so I imagine many have already checked this out, but, as one enthusiastic about finally retrieving a copy, it doesn't have anything that warranted such anticipation to see it.