Spine (1986)
Review By Madeline DeeringSomeone is murdering nurses, stabbing them to death and mutilating them. He believes these women to be someone from his past named “Linda,” but why? Linda could be anybody! Two detectives try and solve the crime before he can commit any more murders.
Spine is a really interesting movie, to me. It is part slasher film, and part cop drama/mystery. It feels almost like an ancient shot on video version of Criminal Minds. Its fun to watch as the mystery unravels as to why this madman is stalking nurses, and who Linda is. It is a bit reminiscent of “Black Christmas,” as the killer’s ramblings and to who he is talking about and why he is killing.
The actor who plays the killer, R. Eric Huxley, is creepy and does an excellent job hiding in the shadows and stalking his victims. His reflective glasses make for some super cool shots. It’s sad he wasn’t in many films after this one. I believe all the actors did a pretty good job in this film, many of them being friends of the directors. The detectives don’t look like detectives at all, which is kind of funny. One detective is played by co-director John Howard. He was forces the play the role at the last minute, when the actor didn’t show up. And the leads did great as well, including Janus Blythe, best known for acting in The Hills Have Eyes!
I was also impressed with a lot of the locations, the basement of the hospital being a really cool location as well as the main house. It definitely adds a lot of production value here. The score is also something about the film I really enjoyed, as well as some cool shots. There is definitely some strange voice dubbing that is a bit laughable in one spot as well. This movie includes a good bit of unintentionally hilarious scenes that will be fun for any group viewing.
The ending, however, is definitely strange and drags on a bit longer than it should. Overall, this is a fun movie to watch and I would recommend it to any fan of SOV. The commentary on the Massacre Video DVD is also worth the watch and points out a lot of fun stories about the film. I wish it had a bit more gore, but for what this is I find it totally worth watching.
