Sledgehammer was the slasher debut of David A. Prior whose name you may recognise as the mastermind behind the grated cheese extravaganza that was Aerobicide (aka Killer Workout). Although Aerobicide was hardly a work of art, it was mainly memorable for the fact that it was so inadvertently humorous that it caused a damn site more giggles than it did chills down the spine of its viewers. 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. The middle-aged woman is your typical clichéd sadistic parent, and she proves it by locking the boy in a closet for the evening, much to his unconvincing distaste. She returns downstairs to her seventies-throwback boyfriend and tells him, "Don't worry about the kid, I took care of that little b'stard, he won't be bothering us again tonight." The couple start getting jiggy, which leaves them blissfully unaware that a silhouetted assailant is creeping up behind them. 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! After the mother too is measured up for a body bag, the screen fades to black
Fast-forward fifteen years and a van pulls up outside that same now-abandoned abode. Out pops a gang of outrageously mulleted muscle bound jocks and their scrawny girlfriends, who have presumably turned up only to party-party-PARTY! We never find out why they've picked that particular venue for their gathering, but I must admit that it doesn't look too shabby for a place that's been abandoned for a decade and a half! I should tell you that this motley crew's idea of a 'great party' is somewhat inexplicably bizarre. Yes I agree that the continuous beer swigging and contagious flirtation is par for the course. However I struggle to believe that dancing like a headless chicken and pulling bizarre faces whilst covering each other with the contents of the kitchen cupboard ranks highly on anyone's list of classic fiesta ingredients. Eventually things take a turn for the sinister when someone mentions holding a séance. 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. Well if you're one of that number you'll be pleased to hear that watching Sledgehammer will make you believe that you've fallen asleep and woken up in a dairy. 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. The cast here do a pretty good job wow did I really just say that? No honestly, although none of them could ever be labelled as great or even good thespians, they weren't distinctively horrendous. 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. The maniac could have been given a better disguise; because a hulking lumberjack in a plastic see-through mask was hardly nightmare inducing. Perhaps the flick's only attempt at any originality was allowing the killer to appear and disappear as if he were being beamed up by Scottie every time he needed a rapid escape. Only problem was that David Prior - like a child with a new toy - irritatingly overused the effect ad nauseum. And whilst we're listing the film's numerous flaws I must mention the 'must-have' sex scene, which has to be the most unconvincing reconstruction of the exercise ever filmed. It makes you wonder if the actors involved were perhaps the oldest virgins on the planet?
Sledgehammer is as clichéd as an Elvis look-alike contest and makes no attempt to conceal its magpie nature. With that said though, slasher fans will enjoy the odd gore shot and some of the silliest dialogue ever placed on cheap videotape. I doubt you'll ever be able to track a copy of this rarity down, but if you do manage to uncover it somewhere, then give it a go - if only for a quick giggle
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. The middle-aged woman is your typical clichéd sadistic parent, and she proves it by locking the boy in a closet for the evening, much to his unconvincing distaste. She returns downstairs to her seventies-throwback boyfriend and tells him, "Don't worry about the kid, I took care of that little b'stard, he won't be bothering us again tonight." The couple start getting jiggy, which leaves them blissfully unaware that a silhouetted assailant is creeping up behind them. 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! After the mother too is measured up for a body bag, the screen fades to black
Fast-forward fifteen years and a van pulls up outside that same now-abandoned abode. Out pops a gang of outrageously mulleted muscle bound jocks and their scrawny girlfriends, who have presumably turned up only to party-party-PARTY! We never find out why they've picked that particular venue for their gathering, but I must admit that it doesn't look too shabby for a place that's been abandoned for a decade and a half! I should tell you that this motley crew's idea of a 'great party' is somewhat inexplicably bizarre. Yes I agree that the continuous beer swigging and contagious flirtation is par for the course. However I struggle to believe that dancing like a headless chicken and pulling bizarre faces whilst covering each other with the contents of the kitchen cupboard ranks highly on anyone's list of classic fiesta ingredients. Eventually things take a turn for the sinister when someone mentions holding a séance. 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. Well if you're one of that number you'll be pleased to hear that watching Sledgehammer will make you believe that you've fallen asleep and woken up in a dairy. 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. The cast here do a pretty good job wow did I really just say that? No honestly, although none of them could ever be labelled as great or even good thespians, they weren't distinctively horrendous. 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. The maniac could have been given a better disguise; because a hulking lumberjack in a plastic see-through mask was hardly nightmare inducing. Perhaps the flick's only attempt at any originality was allowing the killer to appear and disappear as if he were being beamed up by Scottie every time he needed a rapid escape. Only problem was that David Prior - like a child with a new toy - irritatingly overused the effect ad nauseum. And whilst we're listing the film's numerous flaws I must mention the 'must-have' sex scene, which has to be the most unconvincing reconstruction of the exercise ever filmed. It makes you wonder if the actors involved were perhaps the oldest virgins on the planet?
Sledgehammer is as clichéd as an Elvis look-alike contest and makes no attempt to conceal its magpie nature. With that said though, slasher fans will enjoy the odd gore shot and some of the silliest dialogue ever placed on cheap videotape. I doubt you'll ever be able to track a copy of this rarity down, but if you do manage to uncover it somewhere, then give it a go - if only for a quick giggle