Review by Matt Harries
Ooh, a video nasty! Unhinged, made when I was a mere pup, is one of the 72 infamous films that made it onto the BB of FC’s tabloid bothering list back in 1983. I must confess I haven’t exactly gone out of my way to hunt down all of these documents of unbridled savagery. Nonetheless I was quite interested when the chance to review one came along. How would the once great threat to western civilisation stack up? Would the nasties become a hit list of future viewing material or, in the age of ‘torture-porn’ an object of faint ridicule?
Let’s face it, the noteworthiness of Unhinged is all about that early notoriety. The cover of one version has ‘BANNED IN THE UK’ plastered across it. By association it becomes part of that group of films which have entered the realms of the public conscience as being ‘dangerous’, or at least regarded as such by the nation’s moral guardians of the time. Despite the aura some of these old films give off their power as pieces of cinema is often rather less than horrifying. So it is with Unhinged, which although not a particularly violent or bloody film by modern standards, does have a limited lo-fi appeal.
In some ways, Unhinged strays into similar territory to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A house in the isolated countryside, a strange family. Violence more often hinted at or suggested than actually witnessed directly. One thing it clearly lacks in comparison to the fully fledged cult classic that TCM has become, is an iconic figure such as Leatherface. The sight of him swinging his buzzsaw around in gay abandon, or hanging bodies on the meathook, is something that remains in the memory long after the rest of the film fades away. I honestly doubt I’ll be recalling much from Unhinged in a few years’ time. Having said that the closing revelation did make me chuckle, harking back to Psycho somewhat in its gender -ending climax.
The basis for the story is a road trip through the wilds of America to attend a jazz festival. Our three intrepid explorers are of course all female; greenhorn Terry (Laurel Munson), the more experienced Nancy (Sara Ansley) and Gloria (Barbara Lusch) who, er, doesn’t really establish much of a character before the fateful car accident that irrevocably changes the course of their journey. As they wind through the forested hills they enjoy a spot of mary jane and a bit of gossip. A sense of foreboding is delivered through the time honoured technique of the overhead helicopter shot, accompanied by some heavy handed John Carpenter by way of Airwolf-era Tangerine Dream-style synth work. There’s not a single car on the road as they drive on into isolation, the radio telling them of another in a string of missing girls reported in the area. Down comes the rain and off the road they go, crashing into a ditch. Terry comes round in bed, in an old house. Her eyes focus upon the rather imposing sight of Marion Penrose (JM Penner), who lives in the house with her battle-axe mother (Virginia Settle). Naturally, their relationship is not the happiest, nor the most conventional.
Being saddled with the ‘banned’ and ‘video nasty’ tags seems to promise violence, blood and gore, perversion and blasphemy. And that is precisely the problem with Unhinged; there really isn’t a great deal to get worked up about. Sure, we see a couple of the girls in some gratuitous (but rather un-erotic) shower scenes. There’s a bit of blood flying around, most of it on Steve Lamacq-in-drag Marion at the film’s conclusion (speaking of which I thought the fake blood was quite good – no tomato soup looking stuff here). However the impact of the scythe or machete is never seen in any detail. Even at the end it’s hard to shake off a sense of disappointment. Although hardly one of the most infamous of the banned films, Unhinged rarely deserves the notoriety that comes from being on the ‘banned’ list.
Far too much time is taken up with exposition, as the girls sit to dinner with the dysfunctional duo, or later when Terry speaks with Marion alone, her friend Nancy having made the predictably fatal mistake of attempting to walk for help. The backstory is told mainly through Marion, recalling the murky past of her family through these wearisome conversations, all the while accompanied by the increasingly plodding synthesiser which really begins to grate. The acting is what you’d expect from a low-budget slasher like this. The problem is we have to sit through far too much of it. Screaming wide eyed and flailing around in puddles of blood – in fact the general overacting required by all good cheapo horror – is where these unknown thespians really come into their own. The cast give the actual acting their best shot, but the lulls when they do so are quite pronounced.
Still, it only runs to just over an hour, and there are a few enjoyable moments that make Unhinged reasonably watchable all told. My pick of these came right at the end, as Marion finally relaxes those vocal chords and the startled Terry catches a shocking glimpse of thick chest hair where there should be ladylike decolletage. For Terry her final moments are spent in realisation that what she thought she knew was a lie. Having watched Unhinged I almost understood that feeling of being cheated. I didn’t shudder or gasp or recoil at any time during this semi-infamous, once banned video nasty. It wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. Have we as an audience really become so desensitised that what once inflamed the moral crusaders of the not too distant past now appears faintly amusing and rather dull? Maybe so. I’m hopeful though, that most of that list of 72 contains much greater levels of horror than we witness here.
Unhinged is out now on Region 2 DVD from 88 Films.