Blood Hook (1986)

 

 

Just doing a random search on one of the apps that come with my overly priced monthly cable service I found Blood Hook listed.  Having had zero prior knowledge about the film I was interested just by seeing the artwork on the movie poster.  The 80's had some great movie posters when it came to horror comedies and this one was a perfect example.  I assumed I would be disappointed but I gave it a shot.  Am I glad I did?  Sort of.  Let's dive into this one and see what we catch.  First thing that happens when the movie starts is I hear the familiar tones of Tromaville music telling me this is a Lloyd Kaufman joint.  The film is directed by Jim Mallon who supplied the voice of Gypsy on Mystery Science Theater 3000.  He also produced and directed episodes of the show as well.  Nobody in this has very an impressive resume before or after this film was made.  There's a reason for that and that reason is most of these people have no business being in movies.  They cannot act a lick!

 

 

 

Now just because they can't act doesn't mean the film is terrible.  Sometimes, especially in horror comedies, terrible acting can actually make these better.  So we have a young man coming back to his family's lake house to deal with some personal issues.  A short prologue in the beginning of the film shows us that 17 years before the guys grandfather died under mysterious circumstances while fishing off of the family's dock.  There's an On Golden Pond reference slipped in somewhere and who saw that coming!  When the friends get there the town is in the middle of a fishing tournament named Muskie Madness and now you know the shit is on!  The first kill is hilarious!  A woman walks out on a fishing dock at night after dinner and the biggest fishing lure I think I've ever seen comes and catches the woman in the neck.  And well she was horror comedy gold that's all I can say.

 
 

 

 

Speaking of comedy gold there's also Wayne and Evelyn a couple of the local fishermen/ eccentric whack jobs.  They are father and son Evelyn is a dude.  They try to help catch the killer who has some connection to Peter's grandfathers death 17 years ago.  At one point the killer pulls the dead bodies from the lake and they are strung together like a bunch of fish would be under normal fishing circumstances.  Right through the cheek!  The makeup effects are both comical and horrifying.  It's an original idea - a slasher flick where the killers main weapon is a fishing pole so it has that going for it and it's gotta be the best one I've ever seen.  Probably the only one!  There are some slow spots and the bad acting cost this one just enough to keep it out of the great neighborhood.  Add in that it falls apart a bit with about fifteen minutes left but I was entertained.  I'll give this one three devil's tritones out of five.