Blood Moon (1987)

Blood Moon: Directed by Gary Graver. With Britt Ekland, John Phillip Law, William Smith, Lewis Van Bergen. Ex-soldiers on a yachting trip run into the ghosts of victims of a massacre.

“A dangerous lunatic escapes from a hospital, killing a doctor and a salesman in the process. Worried about a potential scandal, the hospital hires private investigator Richard Vargas (Don Scribner, who looks like Christian Bale) to find the missing patient. The investigation leads to a yacht where the only passenger, a catatonic woman (Britt Ekland), stabs Vargas in the stomach.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA few days later, the woman, Linda — now in hospital and a little more lucid — explains to Dr. Khorda (Robert Quarry) the events leading up the disappearance of her fellow passengers: her newlywed husband Allen (John Phillip Law), his wartime buddies Burt (William Smith) and Mark (Louis Van Bergen), and their girlfriends Claire (Jillian Kesner) and Isabel (April Wayne).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen a film clearly isnu0026#39;t working, at what point do you call it a day, cut your losses, and shelve the whole thing? In the case of Moon In Scorpio, not soon enough. Not happy with their movie, the producers tried to salvage something from director Gray Gravers original cut by re-editing it, turning it from what was apparently originally intended to be a supernatural horror into a cheesy slasher. It didnu0026#39;t help: the film is still incredibly bad.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe direction is about what you might expect from a porn film-maker like Graver, but one would hope for more than porn-level acting from the cast: sadly, the usually reliable Smith is seriously off-form, and both Law and Ekland prove that it was looks and not talent that got them noticed in the first place. Kesner and Wayne were obviously hired for their bodies and a willingness to flash their boobs when asked.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhoever re-edited this garbage had an unenviable task, but failed to rise to the occasion, the final film an incoherent mess that should have been consigned to the trash. Ekland provides a voiceover to try and help explain matters, but it doesnu0026#39;t help any: half the time, the actress is merely describing exactly what is happening on screen (u0026quot;Alan tried to strangle meu0026quot;… WE KNOW!).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePerhaps if the killings had been more creative and gorier, the film might have been bearable, but the deaths are unimaginative, repetitive, and not all that splattery (Iu0026#39;ve had bloodier paper cuts than some of them). The killeru0026#39;s spiky glove weapon with retractable barbs is certainly unique, but isnu0026#39;t put to good use.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e1.5/10, rounded up to 2 for the gratuitous bare breasts, and the wholly unconvincing Vietnam war scenes — dense jungle has never looked so much like the local park.”