Sledgehammer

Plot synopsis:
In a remote house, an abusive mother locks her young son in a closet, then goes into another room to meet the man she is cheating on her husband with. The man and woman intend to abandon their respective spouses, but their plans are cut short when an unknown killer appears and murders them with a sledgehammer. The bodies were found by the authorities, with the exception of the boy, being missing and is presumed dead.
Ten years later, seven friends acquire the house to party in, and travel to it in a van, which they leave with a mechanic. When night falls, Chuck convinces the others to participate in séance to try and summon the spirits of the couple that died in the house, so they can learn who killed them. The séance is just a means for Chuck and Joey to prank their friends, but it succeeds in bringing forth the ghost of the missing boy, which appears as a towering man in a smiling translucent mask. The spirit hides Joey's body after stabbing him in the neck, and the next day it attacks Jimmy and Carol while they are having sex, bludgeoning the former with a sledgehammer, and snapping the latter's neck.
Discovering the fates of their friends, the remaining four teenagers decide to hold up in the house until morning, at which point they will try to reach the nearest town. When the others fall asleep, John grabs a knife and goes off in search of the killer, and finds the boy's skull in a closet, a newspaper mentioning his disappearance, and Carol and Jimmy's bodies seated at a table, near Satanic imagery painted with blood. John is confronted by the ghost, and tries to fight it off, but is stabbed in the back. The phantom then captures Mary, and is found (as the boy) stabbing her to death by Chuck and Joni. The spirit assumes its adult form, wounds Chuck, and goes after Joni.
Joni fends off the ghost long enough for Chuck to recover, and help her defeat it with its own sledgehammer. As the sun rises, Joni and Chuck flee from the house, unbeknownst that the killer's young form is glaring at them from the house's top window.

Tags: murder

Review:
This is a homemade 80's slasher film that appears to have cost about 14 bucks to make and looks like it was shot on a VHS camcorder (I'm not kidding).
The film begins with an abused child being locked in a closet while his mother has a drunken fling with a character referred to in the credits as the "Lover".
A title card (old ass 80's camcorder text) tells us it's 10 years later and we are introduced to seven potential victims as they go for a weekend retreat in the home of the previous murders where they are systematically stalked and killed by the same sledge wielding madman.
OK, I know it all sounds very derivative and there are much better, more professional cheap ass slashers out there, but this movie is "special" in a lot of ways.
First off, the low production value and it's cheap, home video quality cinematography actually enhance the film a lot.
That combined with a simple, yet effective, bass heavy synthesizer score, an amateur cast made up of muscle bound jocks and big hair bimbos, and a freakishly tall killer who wears a clear plastic mask and is genuinely creepy looking make this movie transcend into a weird kinda art piece.
It's like if Pinter made a slasher movie at a friends house one weekend for beer money on his home video camera.
The killer is SO big he barely clears the hallway's ceiling as he chases a victim and he holds his sledgehammer in one hand the way most normal people hold a regular hammer.
Offers some fun for bad movie lovers..
A young boy (Justin Greer) is locked in a closet so his mom (Mary Mendez) - obviously no candidate for mother of the year - can get it on, in peace, with her lover (Michael Shanahan).
Fast forward ten years later, and one of the most obnoxious groups of young adults that you'll ever see makes it to the very same house for some hard partying.
After we're made to watch a great deal of their tomfoolery, our psycho killer makes their appearance, once again putting a sledgehammer to good use.An early credit for "Deadly Prey" director David A.
Prior, this stars Davids' hunky brother Ted in the role of Chuck, one of these merry morons.
Overall, "Sledgehammer" is nothing special, and it may not appeal to slasher fanatics across the board because one, there's no nudity, and two, it's really not that gory until the big finish.
All of that said, it's reasonably enjoyable in typical bad movie fashion.The main problem is that David A.
"Sledgehammer" only runs about 85 minutes, but several minutes easily could have been cut out without affecting the movie.
The inane antics of our intended victims go on for quite a long time, so if one is not amused by these characters right off the bat, just imagine having to put up with them for over 40 minutes or so.The gore might not be that much, but it's fun in a predictably tacky way."Blood Cult" may get erroneously credited as the first shot on video regional horror flick, but this one predates it by a few years.Six out of 10..
Watchable shot on video horror film....
It's very cheap, has acceptable (Sandy Brooke, Ted Prior, Linda McGill) to downright bad (George Eastman, Steven Wright, Tim Aguilar) acting, standard direction, poor screenplay, and okay photography.It is about a woman and her lover who is killed by her young son(looks about seven years old, kinda young to be insane).
Ten years later a group of vacationing teens (they look like their in their 30's, serious!) show up looking to have a weekend full of sex, booze, and fun.
Their fun turns to sheer terror as their weekend is interrupted by the raving maniac's spirit.It was directed by David Prior (KILLER WORKOUT, LOST PLATOON, MARDI GRAS FOR THE DEVIL) who does an okay job with the camera (for being a video movie) and creates a real film feel but when the action starts, he results to too many slo mo shots.
Too bad she was in this movie.It was shot on video before "BLOOD CULT" though and is wwwaaayyy better than W.A.V.E. Exploitation/Horror videos (At least SORORITY SLAUGHTER 1 & 2).
All in all an entertaining if not throughly enjoyable genre piece stricken by poverty ($40,000 U.S. dollars).5/10 (based on shot on video horror features).
A shot-on-video pioneer (is that a good thing?).
Ted Prior was a Playgirl Playmate trying to get into acting, his brother David uhm, just owned a camera I guess, and so a fruitful collaboration started that has been going on for more than thirty years now.
This thing is one of the most boring slasher films I have ever seen, it's clear the dynamic duo still had lots to learn when they made this.
For example, David Prior hadn't figured out yet how to turn off the slo-mo effect on his camcorder.
Occasionally there is some almost-suspense (the clichéd slasher scene where one character tells the killer's legend isn't bad), the opening scene is also quite atmospheric, but as a whole "Sledgehammer" just doesn't bring much to the table to keep you entertained.
Flawed but decent Shot on Video fun.
"Sledgehammer" its an SOV slasher, its the infamous directorial debut of director David A.
Prior and what a film to start with.
When it comes to SOV horror "Sledgehammer" its probably among the most entertaining ones or at least the ones that have the most redeeming qualities, but as a legit horror movie it doesn't work at all.I like just how surreal it is, it doesn't try to ground itself in reality, instead, it creates its own mood and atmosphere, something I really enjoy in horror films, however, its also a severely flawed movie even by SOV standards, mainly because of the obnoxious main characters, all of them are unlikable idiots, they sink the movie really low and make it almost unwatchable.It started pretty decent but never became any more interesting, its predictable, cheesy, slow and dull but the tone its perfect for SOV horror.
We, the audience, are then seemingly beaten over the head with some of the poorest picture quality imaginable, even for shot-on-video flick, during the opening title sequence, while an imitation of the Phantasm theme is played.Obnoxious, amateur actors/ amateur porn stars gather in a farmhouse where, ten hyperbolic years earlier ( because nine years is never enough time, but eleven years is always too much time ) a double murder was committed.
At one point, the filmmakers seemingly forgot they were doing a slasher film, and meander into a food fight, which lasts for nearly eight minutes, before setting up a seance, to contact the spirit of the killer from a decade earlier.
We all have, because at this point, the filmmakers pad out the run time with a lengthy expositional flashback to the first scene from this very movie, in a Friday the 13th part 2- inspired bit, telling the audience what we already know.
Jimmy: looks likes he's killing time until the next Hall and Oates concert, or until he and Mary and Joni go have their hair permed at the same place.
Mother: tolerable, but she and Jimmy and Mary and Joni look like they all have the same hairstylist, who only knows​how to do that same perm.
I'm not saying this is * good *, but there are worse movies out there, like Blood Massacre, for example.
The beautiful outside photography and still close-ups of key symbols throughout the entire movie would make this an art house hit, but the dynamic cast and contemporary dialogue creates a demand from the mainstream.
My friends and I also based an ENTIRE CAMPAIGN ON THIS MOVIE called: "The Fantastical Sledgehammer Wars of 1997"!!!.
"Sledgehammer" is a SOV slasher flick which tells the story about the slowest serial killer in the history of hack'em up genre.The killer uses sledgehammer to murder his victims.He is plagued by traumatic past because he was locked away by his mother during his obviously unhappy childhood."Sledgehammer" oozes machismo.It stars Ted Prior of "Deadly Prey" fame as one of the main characters and is filled with a lot of annoying slow-motion scenes.The pace of "Sledgehammer" is decent and there is some cheap gore.The location sets are laughable:the action takes place inside this barren house.Upretentious in its cheese "Sledgehammer" by David A.Prior is worth checking out for slasher completists.6 sledgehammers out of 10..
Incredibly Awful Slow Motion Kills the Film.
Sledgehammer (1983)1/2 (out of 4) A young boy is being abused by his mother so he brutally kills her and her boyfriend with (you guessed it) a sledgehammer.
Ten years later a group of adults show up at the same house and soon start to get picked off.Director David A.
Prior's SLEDGEHAMMER deserves some credit for being the first shot on video slasher film but sadly there really isn't too many good things to say about it.
The film clocks in at 84-minutes and the reason it runs that long is that so much of it was shot in slow motion.
This here is what really kills anything decent in the film because scenes just drag on for no reason what-so-ever.
I will say that the death scenes were creative enough for such a low-budget movie and there was one creative shot through the killer's eyes.
Sadly that's about all this film has going for it but you have to give credit to Prior for making his own film and this helped give a rather long career off the ground..
"Sledgehammer" is another one of those forgotten 80's slashers and yes this one isn't less cheesy than the others and okay it's not perfect or great but what I found is that this movie was quite fun and has heart, which is very much rare these days.The beginning kept me interested where we have a small boy cruelly locked in a cupboard by his mother so she can carry on with her lover and then things get out of hand and the boy finds a sledgehammer and dispatches his mother and her lover.
Then fast forward 10 years and we get a group of 30 year old teenagers partying at that same house and well you know what's gonna happen next.Sledgehammer doesn't rank as one of the finest slasher movies from this period there are quite a lot of flaws, but despite that this movie is a lot of fun, the killer is very menacing and creepy and the kills are quite effective despite lacklustre effects.
The setting itself was rather dull and tame, too much white and made this movie look dull and this movie holds the distinction for being the first shot on video slasher and it shows, like the shaky camera work and the supernatural angle just didn't work for me and the slow motion scenes were pretty annoying and overused.
But despite these flaws "Sledgehammer" does deliver entertainment in some departments, the acting was pretty bad but I've seen a lot worse, they were still quite likable and the party scenes were quite fun and when the killer shows up ready to dispatch the cast, these scenes are quite tense as the killer does seem quite impossible to get away from as he's literally everywhere which was a definite highlight.
I am a fond lover of the horrible straight to video shot on camera horror movies of the eighties but this one was just UNWATCHABLE.
Well first it starts off with this mother locking her son in the closet so she and this guy can do the naughty but I guess as any normal person would the kid does not like this and comes out and kills his mother and his mothers "friend".
Well over the next years a group moves in and...you can pretty much guess what happens later on....the son is somewhat older and kills the people off.
The worst thing about this movie is that the director shows the same scene for a good 10 minutes and it gets just a tad bit boring.
This is the same director that made the awesome "Killer Workout" so I cant call this movie a complete waste of time but I know for sure I won't take another hour or so to watch it again.
With any slasher movie, you have to understand that it was never intended as the next "Citizen Kane".
For starters, it's obviously shot with a video camera, and probably a hand-held one.
Look, don't make me waste your time trying to explain how awful this movie is.
Prior's debut three years before Killer Workout!.
Sledgehammer was the slasher debut of David A.
I must admit that I expected more of the same from Sledgehammer as it was released three years before the aforementioned throwaway hit the shelves, which could only mean that it was bound to be considerably worse than its follow up.
Its very rare that my initial expectations have failed me throughout the slasher genre, but I must admit that I held a glimmer of hope that Sledgehammer might just be a forgotten gem.We start with a mind numbingly long and equally pointless shot of the outside of a country home.
Finally the camera pans inside where we see a mother struggling to silence a young brat who doesn't look too interested in the fact he's in a movie.
Before you can say 'by the book', the maniac cranks the unsuspecting playboy on the head with a sledgehammer (hence the title.)- Great gore scene by the way!
Bad move, because before you know it a masked sledgehammer-wielding killer has been resurrected from beyond the grave to cause havoc amongst the hapless revellers.Many fans of the eighties slasher craze enjoy watching these back-dated titles mainly for the shameless amount of cheese that's spread thick and fast all over the cheap video tape like butter on a piece of toast.
There are plenty of bad movie moments to be found here, which are mainly supplied by the hilariously daft cast members and their shockingly out-dated eighties fashions.
But the good news is that when the horror starts, David Prior does well to build a creepy atmosphere and the movie manages to switch between moods quite effortlessly.
It's a shame that such a gooey opening gore shot was not bettered as the runtime grew, but instead the effects seemed to dry out as the film drew to its conclusion.
I especially thought that Ted Prior tried his hardest and funnily enough that was proved by the fact that he would continue to work with his brother on many of his later film projects.Shot on video features are not the best quality productions even today, so you can guess how sketchy this looked being released over twenty years ago.
It's true that the camcorder-like cinematography does show its limits at times, but thankfully the sets are competently lighted and Prior makes the most of the minimal budget.
Only problem was that David Prior - like a child with a new toy - irritatingly overused the effect ad nauseum.
With that said though, slasher fans will enjoy the odd gore shot and some of the silliest dialogue ever placed on cheap videotape.
"Sledgehammer" is more than just a lousy and nearly insufferable early 80's slasher flick!
Nearly forty bad films in thirty years, that's what I call perseverance and dedication!
And David doesn't operate all by himself, in fact, since practically his entire repertoire stars his hunky beefcake brother Ted. The two heroic brothers started out with horror flicks ("Sledgehammer" and the equally horrendous "Killer Workout"), but then quickly turned to jungle adventures and Vietnam action vehicles probably because they realized Ted's posture is more fit for that type of movies.
Their absolute highlight inarguably remains the phenomenal 1987 "Deadly Prey", which is – I believe – a movie that everybody in the whole world needs to watch.But back to David & Ted's first venture into the movie industry, entitled "Sledgehammer", which is  a lousy and nearly insufferable early 80's slasher flick!
We're talking horribly weak camera-work, a complete lack of editing, pathetic stereotype characters, limited set-pieces, atrocious acting performances, zero attempt to build up tension and/or atmosphere, insufficient plot material to fill a long feature film (resulting in a dreadful amount of irritating padding footage) and laughable gore effects accomplished with kitchen equipment!
A bunch of idiots invade a countryside mansion for a weekend of booze and childish fun, but during the opening sequences we witnessed already how a woman and her lover were "brutally slain" with a sledgehammer in the same house one decade earlier.
Following the worst amateur-séance in history, the group members are butchered one after the other by  a guy with a sledgehammer!
Although I probably shouldn't waste any further words to this awful stinker, I would still like to highlight two elements in "Sledgehammer": the characters and the padding footage.
Ted Prior is quite embarrassing as the "leader" exposing his muscled torso the entire time, but strangely enough he still is the most authentic masculine character.
There's a dude called John, who looks like a wardrobe closet and doesn't have more than 2 brain cells (1 for beer, 1 for food).
There's a pointless "we are walking in the garden together" collage (in slow-motion!) and the absolute masterwork of stretching time is a pitiable food-fight sequence.
We all know the drill: A young boy murders his abusive mother and her smarmy lover with a sledgehammer just as they are ready to get down to business.
Ten years later a gaggle of obnoxious teenagers crash at the house where the killings occurred and not surprisingly the graphic carnage begins anew.